| Poor May Not Be So Poor, After All | |||
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Friday, January 23, 2004 
LOS ANGELES — Homelessness and hunger has increased an average of 16 percent annually for the last 15 years, according to a recent study by the U.S. Conference of Mayors (search), while the Census Bureau (search) has found the number of poor increasing slightly last year, to 35 million.
But while there's no question that some Americans are hungry and homeless and others live in dilapidated housing, a new study suggests the poor aren't so poor. According to a recent study by the Heritage Foundation (search), 46 percent of the technically "poor" live in their own homes, most with more living space than the average person in Paris, London or Vienna. While 73 percent own at least one car, 30 percent own two or more, and 76 percent have air conditioning. Also, according to the study, 65 percent have a washing machine, 97 percent have a color TV and 78 percent have a DVD player or VCR. "I think we should see it as good news and be very grateful that poverty in this country is not worse and in fact, material hardship, as we know it, is significantly lower than many people might have previously imagined," said study author Melissa Pardue (search). The bottom line is that a very small percentage of the 35 million people considered "poor" actually suffer real material hardships. But critics say the Heritage Foundation study is misleading, since other statistics show people really don't have enough money to eat, cars are necessary to work and the living space argument compares rural areas to cities. "I just think that measuring quality of life in the United States -- or for that matter anywhere -- by material possessions is morally bankrupt," said Bob Erlenbusch with the Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger (search). "We've got in L.A. County on any given night, 80,000 to 90,000 people who are homeless." |
My opinions may have changed, but not the fact that I am right. (Ashleigh Brilliant)
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