Continuing on this theme I have been on for the past few days, allow me to present to you an article I came across a while ago entitled “How ‘Poor’ are America’s Poor?” If we are going to make a fair assessment on how to effectively address the needs of the poor amongst us, we must first make sure we are looking at this issue from a very accurate perspective. I think that the “sky is falling” approach in addressing issues like poverty is very unwise because it places emotionalism and guilt in the driver seat instead of effective mechanisms that can accurately measure and implement ideas that will provide long-lasting results.
You will also find that the way we define “rich” is just as inaccurate.
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**excerpted**
Examining “Poverty” in America
In addition to the serious deficiencies of the Census Bureau’s measurement of income, the government’s view of what constitutes “poverty” would be surprising to most Americans. Government data on the possessions of officially poor households starkly contradict the general public understanding of what it means to be “poor.”
Example: Nearly a third of all “poor” American households have microwave ovens.
Example: Sixty-two percent of “poor” households own a car, truck or van. Fourteen percent own two or more cars.
Example: According to government figures, over 22,000 “poor” households have a heated swimming pool or a Jacuzzi.
Today, officially “poor” households are more likely to own common consumer durables such as televisions and refrigerators than the average family in the 1950s. In 1930, nearly two-thirds of U.S. households did not own a radio; over half had no form of refrigeration. Among the poor today, less than one percent lack a refrigerator.
Seventeen percent of U.S. households in “poverty” have automatic dishwashers, well above the rate for the general West European population in 1980. Among America’s “poor” there are 344 cars per 1,000 persons. This is roughly the same ratio as exists for the total population of the United Kingdom. A poor American is 40 percent more likely to own a car than the average Japanese; 30 times more likely than the average Pole; and 50 times more likely than the average Mexican.
Housing Conditions of the “Poor”
According to the 1987 U.S. Census Housing Survey, 38 percent of poor households own their own homes, with a median value of $39,205.18 Nearly 50 percent of officially poor households are air conditioned. 19
The homes of these households, whether owned or rented, also are on average quite spacious by historic or international standards. By American standards, “crowded” housing means more than 1.5 persons occupy each room. Less than 2 percent of “poor” U.S. households were “crowded” in 1987, according to this definition, and only 7.5 percent of poor households had more than one person per room.20
On average, officially poor U.S. households have 0.56 persons per room, which means they have more space than that available to the average American household in 1970, and the average West European household in 1980.21 By contrast, the average Japanese lives in a home with 0.8 persons per room, the average Mexican lives in a house with 2.5 persons in a room, while the average citizen of India lives in a house with 2.8 persons per room.22
Nearly all officially poor U.S. households, moreover, are equipped with basic modern plumbing, including running hot and cold water, indoor flush toilets and indoor baths. While 30 percent of all Americans were without indoor toilets, in 1950, less than 2 percent of poor Americans lacked them by 1987.23 As Table 7 shows, America’s poor are less likely to lack indoor plumbing than the general population in Western Europe. The average Japanese is 22 times more likely to lack an indoor toilet than is an American officially classified as “poor.”
The houses and apartments of America’s “poor” are in far better condition than generally assumed. The median age of such housing units is only seven years greater than the median age for the overall U.S. housing stock. The overwhelming majority of this housing is in sound condition. According to the 1987 American Housing Survey of the U.S. Census, only 2.4 percent of housing units owned or rented by households deemed “poor” had significant structural defects such as crumbling foundations or missing roof material. Some 9 percent of poor households reported being uncomfortably cold at least once during the previous winter due to inadequate insulation, inadequate heating capacity, or equipment failure. This was roughly double the rate for the general population. (more…)
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