Wealthy America?!?

[Busyman]

Originally posted by barbarossa@31 March 2004 - 07:54
...and also, how can you have half a bath??? What use is half a bath anyway, all the water will run away...

Your joking right?

No tub mate.

[FuNkY CaPrIcOrN]

What a bunch of crap.Show me a man who is makeing $5.25 an Hour(which is the minimum wage here) with a three-bedroom home after supporting a wife and 3 kids..Yeah right!

He is lucky if he has a 3 Bedroom Trailer for them kids.

And do not believe nothing you see on TV.Nothing but a bunch of crap.One of the most real Shows to ever be made was Rosanne.Yes that Rosanne.Real working class people who was barely getting by.Not that shit you see on Friends.


And sorry to any of you people who say you are a poor college student.Yeah right.Nobody who hangs out on this Forum and who is from America is Poor.You would not be here.

Some of us here might be what is called "lower class" America.But we are not Poor.We might not have hardly anything.But thank you Lord.....we are not Poor.


heritage.org can kiss my American White Ass!


*sorry.Just had to comment on that.....being a High School American drop out with a Mother who has been a Waitress almost her whole life and Father who worked in a Factory all of his.*

[MagicNakor]

Population/square miles (or kilometres) of the area = people per square mile, or population density.

The United States has a population density of 30.15. Pretty much 30 people per square kilometre. France has a population density of 110.01. Obviously the average guy from the US (poor or not) is going to have more "living space" than the average guy from France.

People tend to congregate in favourable areas. Alaska, for example, isn't in danger of being overpopulated. However, that doesn't change the population density of a country when being compared to the population density of other countries, which is what The Heritage Foundation did.

[Barbarossa]

Population Densities of Countries

[j2k4]

Actually, the only relevant comparisons are at the absolute extremes of the spectrum.

Are the poorest of the poor in the U.S. as poor as those in, say, Haiti?

Not by any stretch of the imagination.

They are, however, probably poorer then the poor in France or Germany.

The line gets a bit blurry when the U.S. government decides to define poverty, which condition might be considered absolutely luxuriant by world standards.

I'll leave off discussing the rich; they don't warrant space in this thread.

[FuNkY CaPrIcOrN]

Originally posted by j2k4@31 March 2004 - 10:25
Are the poorest of the poor in the U.S. as poor as those in, say, Haiti?

Not by any stretch of the imagination.

Ok.I will agree to that.Hell, I would rather be the poorest man in American then some Places I have only seen on TV and read about.

[vidcc]

There is a problem with poverty in the usa where people have to make choices such as food or electricity, healthcare or fuel at times. We don't have the benefit system than they have in the UK
The point of home ownership is kind of complex, The type of abode isn't taken into account with the statistics. Some homes are nothing more than shacks and trailers (air conditioning might be in the form of a cheap to buy "swamp cooler" which is very different from refridgerated temperature controlled air con). The building codes in many areas mean houses are cheaper to build, made of a type of partical (chip) board with stucco plaster coating and felt roof tiles instead of slate or clay...why do you think they burn so well? Also to someone in the Uk airconditioning seems like a luxury...but then where i live we wouldn't have central heating because most of the year the temp. is in the 100.f.
In the cities property is more expensive because of the employment availability and the denseness on population making homes more in demand therefore the price is higher. However out in the rural areas, dependent on location of course it's possible to buy a 3-4 bed house starting from about $20,000....for the English here let me put that in a shocking term...1 uk pound is worth almost 1.9 us dollars.
Land is cheap in many areas and as pointed out many houses are in poor condition.
realtor.com
try for yourself and see where the cheapest 3 bed house is....make the max price 30000 tip...the mid south west is a good place to start..or if you like water...try niagra falls

[j2k4]

Originally posted by vidcc@31 March 2004 - 11:41
There is a problem with poverty in the usa where people have to make choices such as food or electricity, healthcare or fuel at times.

I had the impression the subject was the relative wealth of America's poor compared to the poor in other parts of the world.

The unfortunate circumstance of having to decide between food, electricity, fuel or healthcare pales when compared to having no such choices to make, and no prospect of change.

I think that is what is meant by the term "grinding poverty".

[vidcc]

j2 i know this will proably freak you out....but i agree 100% with you about the subject being about the relative poverty to other parts of the world ......HOWEVER..... i was pointing out the sort of things that do go on here...i wasn't suggesting that we have it worse than anyone else. That said in a country such as this the excuses that such things could happen seem pitiful and immoral. And the question was about how americans see the report.
In making comparisons worldwide you have to decide what is actually poverty and the definition is relative to the general lifestyle and developement of the nation.
Mudhuts are common in parts of the world, but that is the way they have always been. they are not developed by our definition but they live the way their ancestors have..does that mean because they don't have mcdonalds that they are impoverished? of course not...However a family that lives in the heart of a city that has no money and can't afford heating because they need food would be.if we set the standard at US or european adverages then possibly 60+% of the worlds population live in poverty.
don't misunderstand me......i am a humanist and i want everyone to live a life enjoying the best we can offer (not talking luxury just a basic standard)

[Biggles]

I would tend to agree that it is relative poverty that counts here.

However, the poverty that really gets people down is not the relative poverty of living in a poor area of the US to, say, living in a poor area of Madras. The real issue that is in the faces (if I may use an Americanism) of the poor of, for example, LA is the wealth of those in LA.

It is hard to look on the bright side if you are struggling to put petrol in your car as someone drives by in a Rolls. Relative deprivation is what causes unrest, street riots and crime. People do not (on the whole) riot etc., because they think someone in France has a nicer life style.

The poor may envy the rich, but, by and large, their aspiration is not simply to be at the bottom of the pile somewhere else where the dung may be a little less smelly. Those that re-locate have aspirations to drive the Rolls not stand in the social security line. Consequently, once the difficulty of "making it" becomes apparent, deviant routes to success through crime etc., pull the lazy and weaker-willed off course.