America's Poor:

[eyer]

To qualify, a family of four in 2010 needed to earn less than $22,314. Some 46 million Americans, 15 percent of the population, qualified.

...99 percent had a refrigerator and stove, two-thirds had a plasma TV, a DVD player and access to cable or satellite, 43 percent were on the Internet, half had a video game system like PlayStation or Xbox.

Three-fourths of the poor had a car or truck, nine in 10 a microwave, 80 percent had air conditioning. In 1970, only 36 percent of the U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.

America’s poor enjoy amenities almost no one had in the 1950s, when John K. Galbraith described us as “The Affluent Society.”

...fewer than 10 percent live in trailers, 40 percent live in apartments, and half live in townhouses or single-family homes.

Forty-one percent of poor families own their own home.

The average poor person’s home in America has 1,400 square feet – more living space than do Europeans in 23 of the 25 wealthiest countries on the continent.

Two-thirds of America’s poor have two rooms per person, while 94 percent have at least one room per person in the family dwelling.

Only one in 25 poor persons in America uses a homeless shelter, and only briefly, sometime during the year.

The daily consumption of proteins, vitamins and minerals of poor children is roughly the same as that of the middle class, and the poor consume more meat than the upper middle class.

Some 84 percent of America’s poor say they always have enough food to eat, while 13 percent say sometimes they do not, and less than 4 percent say they often do not have enough to eat.

Only 2.6 percent of poor children report stunted growth. Poor kids in America are, on average, an inch taller and 10 pounds heavier than the youth of the Greatest Generation that won World War II.

In fiscal year 2011, the U.S. government spent $910 billion on 70 means-tested programs, which comes to an average of $9,000 per year on every lower-income person in the United States.

Among the major programs from which the poor receive benefits are Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, the Earned Income Tax Credit, Supplemental Security Income, food stamps, the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) food program, Medicaid, public housing, low-income energy assistance and the Social Service Block Grant.

Children of the poor are educated free, K-12, and eligible for preschool Head Start, and Perkins Grants, Pell Grants and student loans for college.

Federal and state spending on social welfare is approaching $1 trillion a year, $17 trillion since the Great Society was launched, not to mention private charity.

“Today … 67.3 million Americans – from college students to retirees to welfare beneficiaries – depend on the federal government for housing, food, income, student aid or other assistance. … The United States reached another milestone in 2010. For the first time in history, half the population pays no federal income taxes.”

Patrick J. Buchanan, Did 'The Great Society' Ruin Society?

His entire piece @

http://www.wnd.com/2012/02/did-the-great-society-ruin-society/

 

[Lord_Steve]

Patrick J. Buchanan, Did 'The Great Society' Ruin Society?

His entire piece @

http://www.wnd.com/2012/02/did-the-g...-ruin-society/

i think the most convincing part of your argument is where you posted a broken link to an obviously biased website and didn't include any sources for the incredibly specific data this article ostensibly draws upon.

here let me try:

98% of Americans agree that ayers can't construct a convincing argument.

-source: ihateallconservativesandhopetheyperishhorribly.blogspot.com

look! my argument is just as sound as yours!

 

[eyer]

i think the most convincing part of your argument is where you posted a broken link to an obviously biased website and didn't include any sources for the incredibly specific data this article ostensibly draws upon.

here let me try:



-source: ihateallconservativesandhopetheyperishhorribly.blogspot.com

look! my argument is just as sound as yours!

Thanks, troll, for pointing out the broken link...

...it should work now.

 

[Lord_Steve]

Thanks, troll, for pointing out the broken link...

...it should work now.

is it trolling to point out that literally the only source your article cites is the Heritage Foundation, "whose mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies" (quote from the Heritage Foundation website, btw)?

that's a pretty cool objective source of rational data you have there. a-yup.

 

[eyer]

is it trolling to point out that literally the only source your article cites is the Heritage Foundation, "whose mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies" (quote from the Heritage Foundation website, btw)?

that's a pretty cool objective source of rational data you have there. a-yup.

Hey, it's okay...

...you play troll on the GB much more naturally than that "dom" dick deal you try swinging @ BDSM.

And anything you can play at that postpones cleaning up that pile of sh!t you self-generously call a blog probably works well for you, anyway...

 

[CHNOPS]

Did Pat Buchanan just get on this train, or is it an old article? The "but they have refrigerators" line was comedy gold and back already by last summer.

Yes, OP, I know you're griping about the oppressive and overreaching government of the good old USSA, and also that I am disingenuous.

 

[Liar]

two-thirds had a plasma TV

Not even two-thirds of rich people have a plasma TV. Most have LED TV's these days. Or, as they're more commonly known in this decade, TV's.

 

[CHNOPS]

Not even two-thirds of rich people have a plasma TV. Most have LED TV's these days. Or, as they're more commonly known in this decade, TV's.

The Daily Show--which is deep into its hacky days by now--did an EPIC takedown of this meme sometime last year. One of their cleverest, sharpest-edged and most intricate bits in years.

If only the technology existed to be able to find and view past TV clips on one's computer. Oh, well.

 

[mercury14]

Eyer is scared shitless of this guy.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

I wonder where the best place to be poor is...




Haiti?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

The latest mantra from the GOP is how half of America pays no income taxes. The GOP are become Democrats it seems.

First, income taxes were created for the 1% who brought us the 1907 Panic. Teddy Roosevelt made Wall Street fix the shitstorm it created, and income taxes for the 1% was one of the fixes. Government promised that the income tax would never affect the peasants, and that the 1/2% tax rate wouldnt increase. OK! So the income tax is no problem for the bottom feeders, so why do Republicans whine?

2nd, the government collects taxes and fees for just about everything. Peasants pay federal taxes on gasoline, tires, batteries, phones, virtually everything plus social security and medicare.

3rd, I cant name one Republican who's said squat about cutting spending. If you cant get blood from a peasant get it from government spending.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

The latest mantra from the GOP is how half of America pays no income taxes. The GOP are become Democrats it seems.

First, income taxes were created for the 1% who brought us the 1907 Panic. Teddy Roosevelt made Wall Street fix the shitstorm it created, and income taxes for the 1% was one of the fixes. Government promised that the income tax would never affect the peasants, and that the 1/2% tax rate wouldnt increase. OK! So the income tax is no problem for the bottom feeders, so why do Republicans whine?

2nd, the government collects taxes and fees for just about everything. Peasants pay federal taxes on gasoline, tires, batteries, phones, virtually everything plus social security and medicare.

3rd, I cant name one Republican who's said squat about cutting spending. If you cant get blood from a peasant get it from government spending.

Ryan...

Paul...

Just to start the list...

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Of course, you can take Boehner and McConnell off that list for they just caved in an election year and signed off on spending for the poor with no way to pay for it.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Ryan...

Paul...

Just to start the list...

Hot air signifying nuthin. Both are hot to get Granny's social security check to give to their cronies.

 

[RightField]

Patrick J. Buchanan, Did 'The Great Society' Ruin Society?

His entire piece @

http://www.wnd.com/2012/02/did-the-great-society-ruin-society/

It is an interesting article.

It's also interesting looking at census figures that indicate that being poor is often only a temporary thing although it should be noted that less people are transitioning out of being poor lately (I wonder why less people are escaping poverty...). Some say that it's because of broken families, less family emphasis on education, and schools that have no real incentive for pursuing excellence (no school choice).

 

[Saint Peter]

Some say that it's because of broken families, less family emphasis on education, and schools that have no real incentive for pursuing excellence (no school $).

fyp
yw

 

[unregistered]

 

[JohnnySavage]

Buchanan's latest book goes into much more detail. Too much for the liberals at PMSNBC.

He was just on C-Span.

Back in my Republican days, I was the one guy in Maryland who voted for him.

 

[unregistered]

 

[Lord_Steve]

Hey, it's okay...

...you play troll on the GB much more naturally than that "dom" dick deal you try swinging @ BDSM.

And anything you can play at that postpones cleaning up that pile of sh!t you self-generously call a blog probably works well for you, anyway...

it's really cool and mature of you to avoid addressing my point even a little bit and thereby reveal your unwillingness to engage in any discussion which calls your fixed worldview into question!

and why would i want to clean up my blog? it's purrfect the way it is.

 

[VoteForMe]

He was just on C-Span.

Back in my Republican days, I was the one guy in Maryland who voted for him.

I thank you for that, and may God bless you

 

[tactful]

99%, correct.