WHEN IS POVERTY NOT REALLY 'POVERTY'…

WHAT 'REAL' POVERTY LOOKS LIKE

So, what's it really like to be living in 'poverty' here in America? Well, apparently not nearly as bad as you might think, or would actually expect whenever listening to members of the Democrat Party describing it. Because Americans who live in households whose income is below the federal "poverty" level typically have cell phones, as well as landline phones, computers, televisions, video recorders, air conditioning, refrigerators, gas or electric stoves, and washers and dryers and microwaves. At least that's according to a newly released report from the Census Bureau.

In fact, it's 80.9 percent of those households below the poverty level who have cell phones, and a pretty healthy majority, or 58.2 percent, who actually have computers. Fully 96.1 percent of American households in "poverty" also have a television to watch, and 83.2 percent of them have a video-recording device should they be unable to make it home from the welfare office in time to watch their favorite Jerry Springer show and want to be able to record it so that they can watch it later. Also, 97.8 of households own a refrigerator and 96.6 percent own gas or electric stoves.

Also, microwaves seem to be standard equipment in 93.2 in the homes of those Americans in currently living in what's described as "poverty." And more than 83 percent also have air-conditioning. Interestingly enough, the appliances surveyed by the Census Bureau that households in poverty are least likely to own are dish washers (44.9 percent) and food freezers (26.2 percent). However, most Americans in "poverty" do not need to go to a laundromat. According to the Census Bureau, 68.7 percent of households in poverty have a clothes washer and 65.3 percent even have a clothes dryer.

The estimates on the percentage of households in poverty that have these appliances were derived by the Census Bureau from its Survey of Income and Program Participation. The latest report on this survey, released this month, published data collected in 2011. Here are the percentages of households below the poverty level that the Census Bureau estimates had the following appliances:
Clothes washer: 68.7%
Clothes dryer: 65.3%
Dish washer: 44.9%
Refrigerator: 97.8%
Food freezer: 26.2%
Stove: 96.6%
Microwave: 93.2%
Air conditioner: 83.4%
Television: 96.1%
Video recorder/DVD: 83.2%
Computer: 58.2%
Telephone: 54.9%
Cell phone: 80.9%

So, maybe, just maybe, it's not so rough living below that magic poverty line here in the good old U.S. of A. Especially when you start comparing the lives of those here to the lives of those in other countries who really are living in what can only be described as being abject poverty. I don't really have anything that any of those living in supposed poverty don't have. Sure I may have two cars but one them is 16 years old and the other one is 10 years old. When looking at things objectively, it is only a small percentage of the general population in America who actually lives in the kind of poverty experienced in other countries.