For example: In America our poor have food, shelter, and coffee makers.
So clearly we're doing fine when our metric for success is having a higher standard of living than, say, Haiti or the poor parts of Mexico.
For most Americans, the word “poverty” suggests destitution: an inability to provide a family with nutritious food, clothing, and reasonable shelter. For example, the Poverty Pulse poll taken by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development asked the general public: “How would you describe being poor in the U.S.?” The overwhelming majority of responses focused on homelessness, hunger or not being able to eat properly, and not being able to meet basic needs.[1] That perception is bolstered by news stories about poverty that routinely feature homelessness and hunger.
Yet if poverty means lacking nutritious food, adequate warm housing, and clothing for a family, relatively few of the more than 30 million people identified as being “in poverty” by the Census Bureau could be characterized as poor.[2] While material hardship definitely exists in the United States, it is restricted in scope and severity. The average poor person, as defined by the government, has a living standard far higher than the public imagines.
Hold up....ooh! Let's apply this same sort of thing to the US Economy! Ooh! By International standards, the American economy is doing GREAT! We have the largest GDP in the world by far, we have low inflation, we have food and raw materials in abundance, we have coffee makers!
America's economy is doing great! By international standards. I don't know what these TEA Partiers and conservatives are pissing and moaning about. By international standards, we have an awesome economic situation. We have enough food to feed people, we have cable TV, we have coffee makers... what's the problem? Geeze guys, stop being so ungrateful.
No need for reforms, then, I guess.
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