I watched true life "i live in poverty" or something like that yesterday and I was shocked that this people were barely making it but the had cable bills.
Oh, I'm not surprised. I've frequently discussed my lazy, no-good cousin in discussions like this. He'd been out of work for a couple months, and when he found another job and got a paycheck, wht do you suspect he did first? Nope, didn't catch up the electricity bill, didn't fill the cupboards with food for his kids. Nope, his first move was to pay what he owed to the cable company so they'd cut his service back on.
Here are more surprising facts about Americans defined as “poor” by the Census Bureau, all taken from various government reports and included in my new paper from The Heritage Foundation called “Understanding Poverty in the United States”: . . . .
● Eighty percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, in 1970, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning. Yes, I grew up without air conditioning -- here in the South.
I grew up without air conditioning. Yes, it was uncomfortable sometimes, but we learned to adapt: To plan to be indoors reading at mid-day, to cook plenty for dinner so we'd have leftovers without heating the kitchen at lunch, etc. I don't want to do without air conditioning now, but I can afford to pay for it.
● Fully 92 percent of poor households have a microwave; two-thirds have at least one DVD player and 70 percent have a VCR.
I'd say that means nothing. These small luxuries have been out a long time, and they're now available very cheaply. I even got a portable DVD player for free once for buying some Dockers' clothing.
● Nearly 75 percent have a car or truck; 31 percent have two or more cars or trucks.
This doesn't address whether these vehicles are in safe running condition.
● Four out of five poor adults assert they were never hungry at any time in the prior year due to lack of money for food.
In my teens and early 20s I was frequently hungry because I couldn't afford to eat /wouldn't accept free school lunches. The long-term effect was that it made me work harder so that I wouldn't stay in that situation all my life.
● Nearly two-thirds have cable or satellite television.
● Half have a personal computer; one in seven have two or more computers.
On the first day of school, one of the things I ask about on my classroom information sheet is whether the student has access to a computer to use at home /internet access at home. It's a rare student who doesn't have some computer access -- though often it's shared with the whole family.
● More than half of poor families with children have a video game system such as Xbox or PlayStation.
Again, these have been out a long time, and these kids have had plenty of Christmases and birthdays to accumulate these luxuries. Even poor families have occasional moments of financial success, and extended family often buys these things as gifts. Also, poor families are likely to sell these things for a huge loss when they're in need, giving others a chance to pick them up cheaply. Anyway, I don't think one "expensive item" is particularly indicative of the family's financial status -- not in the same way that being able to qualify for a mortgage or car loan is indicative.
● Just under half — 43 percent — have Internet access.
● A third have a widescreen plasma or LCD TV.
If my kids can be believed, ALL their friends have TVs larger than our family-room TV in their own bedrooms.
● One in every four has a digital video recorder such as TiVo.
As noted, TV newscasts about poverty in America usually picture the poor as homeless or as a destitute family living in an overcrowded, rundown trailer. The actual facts are far different:
This probably varies by area. Here in the South, where winters are moderate, trailers are common.
● At a single point in time, only one in 70 poor persons is homeless.
● The vast majority of the houses or apartments of the poor are in good repair; only 6 percent are over-crowded.
● The average poor American has more living space than the average non-poor individual living in Sweden, France, Germany or the United Kingdom.
This speaks to cultural expectations and has little to do with the poor in America.
● Only 10 percent of the poor live in mobile homes or trailers; half live in detached single-family houses or townhouses, while 40 percent live in apartments.
I really suspect it's higher in my immediate area.
● Forty-two percent of all poor households own their home; on average, it’s a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio
Again, it may vary by area, but I know quite a few people who live in houses built by /inherited from their parents /grandparents -- this probably isn't all that widespread, but it is common in the rural farming community where I grew up. In fact, I grew up in my mother's childhood home. My brother owns it now. Anyway, the point is that the house may've been handed down rather than being something that the family can actually afford on its own.
I'm amazed this thread only took 5 pages to devolve into "blame the Escalade driving Welfare Queens."
You can't deny that SOME of that blame is well deserved. Just how much is anyone's guess, but that stereotype /assumption didn't come from nowhere.
While it speaks to messed up priorities more than anything else, I find it amusing that I work in a district of poverty and many kids on free lunch have iphones. It is always amusing to me what people choose as their priorities.
Yeah, I used to notice that, but I've purposefully stopped paying attention. I can't control it, and it just makes me feel bad.
Here's an oddity about teenagers and cell phones: I've seen kids flashing cell phones that have no service connected to them. Cell phones are the ultimate status symbol these days, and teens who don't have them will carry around someone else's old phone (or their own phone that's been disconnected for lack of payment) just for the look.
