One in 7 Americans live in poverty: Census

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   pisean282311posted 13 years ago

   The overall poverty rate climbed to 14.3 per cent, or 43.6 million people, the Census Bureau said on Thursday in its annual report on the economic well being of US households. The report covers 2009, President Barack Obama's first year in office.

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   Evan G Rogersposted 13 years ago

   do they still have warm homes, running water, electricity, a place to sleep, food to eat and many other luxuries?

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      Mark Knowlesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      This is how the determination is made. 
      
      http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/cpstable … 35_000.htm
      
      Interesting that you consider running water and electricity to be a luxury. Where are you from where it is not a basic requirement? There are still a few homes in France where there is no running water or electricity, but they were built some time ago, when it was the norm to fetch water from a common well in a public place. These are still required by law in France - a local authority must provide drinking water ate certain intervals within the town.

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         Ivorwenposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I consider them a luxury.  I have lived without them, and it wouldn't bother me to do so again.  I would consider buying a home without them, if other things were in order, like a well or spring.
         
         But then, I grew up in a family that was categorized as below poverty level, despite never lacking or taking hand-outs.

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            Mark Knowlesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            It would certainly bother me to live without them because I need electricity to earn a living at the moment. Although - I too would consider buying a home without them and modernizing it. Unless it was on the thirtieth floor of a high rise.

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      pisean282311posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      well evan has a point..though food to eat cannot be specified as luxuries but in many parts of world even two time food is luxury...

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         Mark Knowlesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Yes - I suppose. Some people may well be worse off than america's impoverished. What does that mean?

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            pisean282311posted 13 years agoin reply to this

            that means usa politicians still need lot of work to do to reach to those level ..on serious notes ofcourse one cannot look to bottom standards..

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   alternate poetposted 13 years ago

   Funny - this was a discussion in an English class on Wednesday - you try getting across to limited English speakers the idea of how unhappy a poor American is who has to sell his BMW and buy a used VW beetle - against how happy a Chinese guy is who has just got his first bicycle !    We were discussing economics after a fashion

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      pisean282311posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      ya poverty too seems subjective matter..like family of four earning $22,000 per annum is poor in usa while in asia earning $22,000 per annum would be considered to be doing good...

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         alternate poetposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Don't quite agree with the thinking here - in Asia the same dollars are worth around 7 times as much - around 150,000 dollars in buying power, $22,000 would equate to 22,000 Yuan which is just about what a poor wage here would be in the job market, people below this are poor farmers or itinerant workers pushing carts around building sites.  About the same situaion as the US.  The only real difference is that things here are getting noticeably better every year while in the US they appear to be getting a little worse each year.

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            pisean282311posted 13 years agoin reply to this

            But Indian or Pakistani rupee?...well in India 50,000 Rs that is $1200 per month is high salary...people are happy if they get 60% of it..so for subcontinent $22,000 would be good money...

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               SiddSinghposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               That is exactly the point that Alternate Poet had made - Purchasing Power of dollar does not translate in terms of plain exchange rates.
               
               Therefore, though 1 dollar is equal to 45 INR, the purchasing power of 1 dollar in USA is different from the purchasing power of INR 45 in India.
               
               Try living in Rs 50k in Chicago!

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                  pisean282311posted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  ya thats right..i agree with ur point..i missed alternate's point though...didnt read it as a whole...

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   ksha16posted 13 years ago

   American government is only rich. the common public, citizens of America are poor. This is the reality

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      pisean282311posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      guess that is reality world over except places where people dont pay tax...

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   ocbillposted 13 years ago

   14%.. it could be lower or higher. A census person came to us after I had already mailed back the data in the SASE census envelope. At the time I was working so asked her to come back around 5. They never returned.  Our info was lost, maybe it happened to other people(1,000s) too.

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