We often hear that ~15% of Americans live in poverty. As with all things, it depends on how you measure. Almost every other country measures the poverty level *after* government assistance is applied; our official numbers measure poverty *before* welfare, WIC, food stamps, etc. According to Forbes magazine, if we measured our poverty the way the rest of the world does, the US effective poverty level would be nearly zero percent. This is not to suggest that those 15% are wealthy, or that we shouldnt help them, but only to recognize that we already doing a lot for our nations poor, just not measuring that. As the article says, the most effective way... to reduce the number living in poverty is to give the poor money n’stuff so that they’re no longer living in poverty. But if we don’t count the money n’stuff that is being given to the poor then we’re not going to be able to show that giving the poor money n’stuff alleviates poverty. forbes/sites/timworstall/2013/10/06/it-is-not-true-that-15-of-americans-live-in-poverty/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 12:07:07 +0000