[stevewig]

Census data: Half of U.S. poor or low income - CBS News

[boriscleto]

If you aren't rich it's your own fault. These people are obviously just lazy and looking for a handout. Maybe the job creators need another tax cut, or is it that there is just too much regulation.

[Nesster]

No, it's that the poor have cell phones, cars, wide screen TV's, and food.

[boriscleto]

No, it's that the poor have cell phones, cars, wide screen TV's, and food.

Refrigerators and Microwaves. They can both preserve and heat food. No one is sufficiently poor until they are living in an unheated shack with a dirt floor, surviving on nothing but potatoes.

[mikemike]

The war on poverty has been about as successful as the war on drugs or the war on terror.

[boriscleto]

The war on poverty has been about as successful as the war on drugs or the war on terror.

"Safety net programs such as food stamps and tax credits kept poverty from rising even higher in 2010, but for many low-income families with work-related and medical expenses, they are considered too `rich' to qualify," said Sheldon Danziger, a University of Michigan public policy professor who specializes in poverty.

"The reality is that prospects for the poor and the near poor are dismal," he said. "If Congress and the states make further cuts, we can expect the number of poor and low-income families to rise for the next several years."

Robert Rector, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, questioned whether some people classified as poor or low-income actually suffer material hardship. He said that while safety-net programs have helped many Americans, they have gone too far, citing poor people who live in decent-size homes, drive cars and own wide-screen TVs.

So the argument is that the war on poverty isn't successful because too many people are living in just above third world conditions.

[Wheatfield]

One day last year, I saw a wide screen TV that had been discarded beside a dumpster. I don't know if it was not working, or if it had just been replaced with a newer one, but a poor person picking it up and taking it home would then be a poor person with a wide screen TV, and therefore not living in poverty?

[boriscleto]

Who's on welfare anyway?

Since 2010, U.S. Has Dolled Out Five Times the Corporate Incentive Packages of the Entire EU

[Nesster]

Which really makes the whole mess simple to resolve.

Everyone in America incorporates. Now that we are all corporations, we all qualify for job-creating subsidies! There is no more need for job-destroying welfare programs!

[riff]

The war on poverty has been about as successful as the war on drugs or the war on terror.

I believe the "war" on drugs and the "war" on terror have been extremely successful, it's just a matter of how you define success. The US has been at "war" with pot since the 1920s.

The U.S. federal government spent over $15 billion dollars in 2010 on the War on Drugs, at a rate of about $500 per second.
State and local governments spent at least another 25 billion dollars.

Drug War Clock | DrugSense

[boriscleto]

I believe the "war" on drugs and the "war" on terror have been extremely successful, it's just a matter of how you define success. The US has been at "war" with pot since the 1920s.

The U.S. federal government spent over $15 billion dollars in 2010 on the War on Drugs, at a rate of about $500 per second.
State and local governments spent at least another 25 billion dollars.

Drug War Clock | DrugSense

Think of all the cops, prosecutors, and prison guards who aren't living in poverty.

[stevewig]

The war on poverty has been about as successful as the war on drugs or the war on terror.

Some reasons for poverty given by:

Hunger in America: 2011 United States Hunger and Poverty Facts

.....The operation of the US economic system The operation of the US economic and political system has led to certain people/groups being relatively disenfranchised.

The normal operation of the economic system will create a significant amount of poverty.

First, in a free enterprise economy, there is competition for jobs, with jobs going to the most qualified. On the other hand, there is almost always a significant amount of unemployment, so that not everyone will get a job, with the major unemployment falling on the least qualified. It might be tempting to identify them as 'unemployable' but what is in fact happening is that the private enterprise system is not generating enough jobs to employ everyone.
Secondly, the top echelon of business has the power to allocate the profits of the enterprise, and certainly they have allocated these profits to themselves in recent years.

The operation of the US political system, The US political system, which should address the major problems of its citizens, is to a great extent not focused on fundamental concerns of poor people, but on other concerns.

Military and security expenditure represent half of US federal government discretionary expenditures, much larger that expenditures to assist poor people, and this budgeting is assisted by a strong web of political and financial connections which has been termed the "military-industrial complex."
Corporations and the rich, through their ability to lobby Congress and the Administration effectively by such means as spending large amounts of money on lobbying efforts and on political campaigns of elected officials have succeeded in establishing their priorities, including tax breaks and subsidies..
The Democratic party, which used to be a party of the 'working class' has now set its sights on the 'middle class' as the target base of voters it must appeal to.

The culture of inequality

People are typically segregated by income and often race.
Jobs are low paid and scarce. This can lead to crime as a way of obtaining income, and also to unemployed men not willing to marry, which can play a significant role in developing a cultural model of single parent families.
The lack of income, as described in the poverty section above create problems, including poor housing, lack of food, health problems and inability to address needs of one's children.
As a result of their situation, people living in poverty can themselves have patterns of behavior, such as alcoholism or a 'life of crime' that are destructive to them......

[riff]

Think of all the cops, prosecutors, and prison guards who aren't living in poverty.

Heart warming indeed. The drug trade is also excellent for black ops funds and lets not forget defense lawyers.

Yesterdays local news crowed about a major drug ring bust. The man seized 20 grams of cocaine and 8 grams of pot. I imagine they are talking about that all the way to Columbia.

People Incarcerated for Drug Law Offenses this Year 10,376, cost $40 billion or only $3,855,050.11 per conviction. If that ain't value what is.

[Nesster]

The war on poverty has been about as successful as the war on drugs or the war on terror.

When I see something like this I realize that the conservatives are just as utopian and impractical as they think progressives are.

One can say that the mandated use of seat belts has been about as successful as the prohibitions on smoking.

Or that laws against murder are about as successful as laws against extra-marital sex.

[mikemike]

No, it's that the poor have cell phones, cars, wide screen TV's, and food.

Why is it always off limits to question lifestyle choices and material excesses like designer clothes, smart phones which require expensive plans, new cars, ivy league education, etc. all bought with borrowed money by people of modest means who would have been wiser choosing more modest options. These contribute to people's poverty and the interest. Likewise, the choice to have kids (and the choice/situation of raising them alone as many in this country do) and how many kids you have creates a stream of huge financial obligations that makes even someone who earns plenty of money feel poor compared to peers without children.