My son learned in school today that if you have a place to live, food in

[panader0]

the fridge and some money in the bank, that you are among the top 8 percent of people in the world.
Well, I have a house, food in the fridge, and a coupla hundred in the bank, and I'm at the poverty level in the USA.
Kinda puts things in perspective.

[Oregone]

1. Thats just a load of BS

People try and spout this stuff to marginalize the poor in America and dismiss the impact of relative poverty.

Being poor in America, despite being in top 8 percent, means you can still starve, have your babies die, develop neurological disorder from poor nutrition, have no chance to improve your life, be denied healthcare....

This absolute poverty crap is bullshit. Some people with less wealth in much poorer areas can possibly thrive (or at least exist) more aptly than Americans below the poverty line. Their services/healthcare may be cheaper and their agricultural base may be stronger and localized. If you make $5-10 K USD a year in some countries, you are upper class and can live the good life.

You can't measure poverty with a dollar amount when you talk about the globe and apply percentiles. You have to measure it in hunger and pain.

[panader0]

4. Agree, but do they have a bank account?

There were three criteria. Home, food in refrigerator, and money in a bank.

[Oregone]

6. Well, if thats your criteria, but anyone can make their own

And mine has more to do with pain, hunger, disease, and the ease of meeting sustenance level needs.

Now I'm not saying all the poor in America are worse off than all the inhabitants of the third world. I'm just saying there are clear exceptions and you cannot put a global dollar mark on what "poverty" really is. Doing so is incredibly deceptive.

[tjwash]

5. Co-sign...I have lived in third world countries, and in several U.S. cities.

The impoverished parts of all of the major U.S. cities I have been in, bear a remarkable resemblance to a lot of the so-called "third world" countries that we so love to look down on here.

In many ways it is worse here in the U.S. to be in poverty, than to be in a country such as Malaysia, where they have some semblance of a national health care. Think about when you retire. Yeah...big deal. I've scraped and saved my whole life and own my house outright, and have the equivalent of 40000 a year income because I got lucky on my investments over the course of my earning years.

Now I have to come up with the equivalent a a big months rent every month for the rest of my life to pay for health insurance. You get sick without it...they sieze your house and toss you in to the cold.

Nope...agree with you a hundred percent. It's just marginalizing poverty here in the U.S. when they do that.

[shari]

7. I agree also

By the way, you forgot to add.....TAXES.

[Zywiec]

2. There used to be a website where you could enter your yearly salary

and see how it compares with the rest of the world.

It also was pretty eye-opening.

:hi:

[ConcernedCanuk]

9. It really IS eyeopening - with only $7,000 per annum - I'm in the top 14% - LINK

.
.
.

http://www.globalrichlist.com/

[stillcool]

3. all kinds of shit was happening..

to people in China when I was growing up. They didn't even have peas.

[juno jones]

8. It's damn expensive to be poor in the US. n/t