USA poverty rate up

[GodBlessAmerica]

AP/WASHINGTON
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/08/30/D8CA6ME80.html

The nation's poverty rate rose to 12.7 percent of the population last year, the fourth consecutive annual increase, the Census Bureau said Tuesday.

The percentage of people without health insurance did not change.

Overall, there were 37 million people living in poverty, up 1.1 million people from 2003
****************************************************************************************************

Two words explain the greatest increase in poverty and all the massive new costs to United States in the social services Those words are IMO: "ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS".

They cost us billions in California for sure and the ILLEGALS who come here are pretty much all the bottom of the barrel from third world nations like Mexico.
****************************************************************************************************
Regarding NON ILLEGALS, can you be living in "poverty" and own cell phones, cable TV, Xbox, cars etc? I'm always very suspicious of these reports.

The poor who are here legally in the United States continue to do things that make them poor, and the rich do things that make them rich.

Of course the class warfare warriors always try to say the rich are only rich because of luck, or their cheating the system in some way. It is never because the rich worked hard, and made good decisions, but that is the way it is.

We are the out come of decisions we have made in life, and continue to make. This is the hardest thing for someone to say. It is human nature to blame someone else. The hardest thing to do is to look in the mirror, and say I am the result of my decisions.
**************************************************************************************************** *
The following are facts about persons defined as "poor" by the Census Bureau, taken from various government reports:
http://www.heritage.org/research/fea...inequality.cfm

* Forty-six percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.

* Seventy-six percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, 30 years ago, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.

* Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded. More than two-thirds have more than two rooms per person.

* The average poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)

* Nearly three-quarters of poor households own a car; 30 percent own two or more cars.

* Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.

* Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.

* Seventy-three percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and a third have an automatic dishwasher.

By this definition, most people from other countries would be happy to be poor in America."""

**************************************************************************************************** *
Please feel free to comment and leave your own opinion. Have a great day folks.

[lsbskins1]

I will grant that "poor" is a relative term in the United States. This being stipulated, who out there who is classified as "wealthy" would trade places with someone classified as "poor" and be satisfied? So, understanding that all is relative, lets look at how the disparity in wealth is greater than it should be.

Quote by: GodBlessAmerica We are the out come of decisions we have made in life, and continue to make. This is the hardest thing for someone to say. It is human nature to blame someone else. The hardest thing to do is to look in the mirror, and say I am the result of my decisions.

Oh, if only life was really that simple...

The child of a CEO can inherit millions of dollars. What choice or decision did that child make that caused them to be better off than the child of a coal miner? Are the children of the rich smarter and richer by luck or because of "hard work and personal decisions"?

Billy Ray Cyrus recorded Achy Breaky Heart and made millions of dollars. He was not the first to record the song. He did not write the song. I know someone who worked as a recording engineer on one of his albums and he tells me he is less talented than most people he has worked with. He undoubtly works hard, but some people with more talent work just as hard and never make it? Could,ummm, luck have played a part in his success?

I do not deny that you can rarely be successful if you are not willing to work hard if you are starting from zero. If you start out from 15 or 20 million ahead and are pretty lazy, you can still stay ahead of the curve of those with not much who work 10 times harder than you do.

Sometimes, most of the time, circumstances beyond the control of those living in poverty have more impact on their life paths than the circumstances they do control. It takes a combination of luck AND hard work to change the path. Hard work simply is not enough.

[lily]

Godbless. What your article describes as poor, I would consider to be middle class. Left out of your C&P

Since welfare reform, the poverty rate among black children has dropped by one-fourth, falling from 41.5 percent in 1995 to 30.0 percent in 2001.8 For the 25 years prior to welfare reform, the percentage of black children living in poverty remained virtually unchanged. But due to welfare reform, the black child poverty rate is currently at its lowest point in U.S. history.9 Overall hunger in America has declined. In 1995, 4.1 million households had at least one person who experienced hunger at some point during the year. By 2002, the number had fallen to 3.8 million households.10 Hunger among children has declined substantially since the mid-1990s. The number of hungry children was cut by a third between 1995 and 2002. According to the Agriculture Department, in 1995, there were 887,000 hungry children. By 2002, the number had fallen to 567,000.

As for owning DVD, VCR and microwaves. In this day and age, those are hardly extravagant.

[RVonse]

Quote by: GodBlessAmerica AP/WASHINGTON http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/08/30/D8CA6ME80.html **************************************************************************************************** Two words explain the greatest increase in poverty and all the massive new costs to United States in the social services Those words are IMO: "ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS". They cost us billions in California for sure and the ILLEGALS who come here are pretty much all the bottom of the barrel from third world nations like Mexico. **************************************************************************************************** .

Agreed.

Quote by: GodBlessAmerica Regarding NON ILLEGALS, can you be living in "poverty" and own cell phones, cable TV, Xbox, cars etc? I'm always very suspicious of these reports..

You can own all of that crap and still be very poor. Owning a cell phone means nothing. Having good health coverage means everything. If you want to separate who is poor and who is well off then you should look at quality of the health coverage. Rich people live longer because of this. Living is everything.

Quote by: GodBlessAmerica The poor who are here legally in the United States continue to do things that make them poor, and the rich do things that make them rich. .

Education and being born into the right family are the 2 most significant factors that determine how successful you can become in America. It is impossible for a poor person to have been born into wealth and it is very difficult for a poor person to pay for a good education.

Quote by: GodBlessAmerica Of course the class warfare warriors always try to say the rich are only rich because of luck, or their cheating the system in some way. It is never because the rich worked hard, and made good decisions, but that is the way it is..

In the case of Bill Gates, yes I agree he worked hard. In the case of most all of the Wall clan, no they didn't do anything at all to merit where they are. Ditto for the Dupont, Rockefellers, etc and other billionairs born with the silver spoon.

Quote by: GodBlessAmerica We are the out come of decisions we have made in life, and continue to make. This is the hardest thing for someone to say. It is human nature to blame someone else. The hardest thing to do is to look in the mirror, and say I am the result of my decisions. ..

About 20 % is hard work and intelligence, the other 80% is luck.

Quote by: GodBlessAmerica * Forty-six percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio. * Seventy-six percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, 30 years ago, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning. * Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded. More than two-thirds have more than two rooms per person. * The average poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.) * Nearly three-quarters of poor households own a car; 30 percent own two or more cars. * Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions. * Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception. * Seventy-three percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and a third have an automatic dishwasher. By this definition, most people from other countries would be happy to be poor in America.""" ..

Only if they don't have health insurance. If they do have decent health insurance, they would be fools to want any material crap if they can't live to enjoy it.

[RVonse]

Quote by: lsbskins1 Oh, if only life was really that simple... The child of a CEO can inherit millions of dollars. What choice or decision did that child make that caused them to be better off than the child of a coal miner? Are the children of the rich smarter and richer by luck or because of "hard work and personal decisions"? Billy Ray Cyrus recorded Achy Breaky Heart and made millions of dollars. He was not the first to record the song. He did not write the song. I know someone who worked as a recording engineer on one of his albums and he tells me he is less talented than most people he has worked with. He undoubtly works hard, but some people with more talent work just as hard and never make it? Could,ummm, luck have played a part in his success? I do not deny that you can rarely be successful if you are not willing to work hard if you are starting from zero. If you start out from 15 or 20 million ahead and are pretty lazy, you can still stay ahead of the curve of those with not much who work 10 times harder than you do. Sometimes, most of the time, circumstances beyond the control of those living in poverty have more impact on their life paths than the circumstances they do control. It takes a combination of luck AND hard work to change the path. Hard work simply is not enough.

Amen

[GodBlessAmerica]

Quote by: lsbskins1 I will grant that "poor" is a relative term in the United States. This being stipulated, who out there who is classified as "wealthy" would trade places with someone classified as "poor" and be satisfied?

Why would anyone ever seek to trade places on purpose?
Also keep in mind that many of those that gained wealth were risk takers in business who may have made and lost more than one fortune.
I know of one person who went from poor to wealthy, made a bad venture and went bust.
Not having any credit, they worked hard and did a whole other thing and got after a decade wealthy again.
What can I say, that is what America is about. You have the right to try and make more of yourself, but no outcome can ever be guaranteed.

Quote by: lsbskins1 The child of a CEO can inherit millions of dollars. What choice or decision did that child make that caused them to be better off than the child of a coal miner? Are the children of the rich smarter and richer by luck or because of "hard work and personal decisions"?

People can also be born of broke ass lazy parents who won't work and that is crippling.
You are getting more into the realm IMO of parenting and how most parents try and work hard to get a better start for their kids in life with better schools, neighborhoods and such.

There is a commandment of God those that have read the Bible will remember regarding this issue.
THOU SHALL NOT COVET THY NEIGHBOR'S GOODS!

I have no problem with parents who can leave a car, house or business to their kids. Lord knows they probably paid tons of taxes and when they die the government will get another chunk.

I think there is nothing wrong with inheriting and I do believe that without the ability to earn, any wealth inherited will be lost quickly again. So eventually that family goes back to where they began.

Quote by: lsbskins1 Billy Ray Cyrus recorded Achy Breaky Heart and made millions of dollars. He was not the first to record the song. He did not write the song. I know someone who worked as a recording engineer on one of his albums and he tells me he is less talented than most people he has worked with. He undoubtly works hard, but some people with more talent work just as hard and never make it? Could,ummm, luck have played a part in his success?

Sounds more like Billy was prepared for opportunity when it came and he was able to appeal to the market for high pay days whereas others fell short.
I'm sure the one song alone didn't make the money you think it did. He probably had to promote the album, perform concerts to make money and who ever did write the song had by law to get credit and paid as well a royalty based on sales.
Sometimes talent isn't as important as your drive or appeal to a certain portion of the market IMO.

Quote by: lsbskins1 Sometimes, most of the time, circumstances beyond the control of those living in poverty have more impact on their life paths than the circumstances they do control. It takes a combination of luck AND hard work to change the path. Hard work simply is not enough.

If you are a single person, work hard and educate yourself to get a degree, in America you are going to be paid well over the poverty level.
Even if you don't go to college, but you get specialized skills, you to could be valuable in the market place.

Most people suffer their choices. If you go get pregnant before a marriage and have no skills, not only are you screwing over your kids, but you will be for the most part poor.
If you take recreational drugs you will probably be poor.
If you work a job 2000 hours a year, it is tough to remain poor.

You are also not guaranteed in life to live by yourself. You may have to live with three others in an apartment as did most in America a few generations ago.

For the most part, people should look into a mirror if they want more in life or seem to be having trouble. You have to do things, nobody can do things for you as a guarantee of life.

Thanks so kindly for your wonderful and interesting post.

[RVonse]

Quote by: GodBlessAmerica If you are a single person, work hard and educate yourself to get a degree, in America you are going to be paid well over the poverty level. .

Just exactly how does a poor person pay for a college degree? Do you have any idea what college tuition costs these days? How does a poor person support themselves while they are going to school for 4 years? You make it sound so easy but the reality is that it is impossible.

[GodBlessAmerica]

Quote by: RVonse Just exactly how does a poor person pay for a college degree? Do you have any idea what college tuition costs these days? How does a poor person support themselves while they are going to school for 4 years? You make it sound so easy but the reality is that it is impossible.

I was broke and worked grave yard (night shifts 10PM-6Am) then went to school in the morning, studied at night and put myself through college. It's not that hard, you just have to decide what you want in life.
I lost my dad at 12 and my mother was disabled at that time from an industrial injury, so I had to both make the house payment and pay tuition, auto insurance and for an inexpensive price, kids get the health care through their college.

I don't know who gave you the impression you don't work while going to college, that is only in TV.

My hard luck story was real common more so generations before me where people were homeless and had to make it. They just didn't whine and did it.

That's the key, just do it and stop complaining about how IMPOSSIBLE it is.

[RVonse]

Quote by: GodBlessAmerica I was broke and worked grave yard (night shifts 10PM-6Am) then went to school in the morning, studied at night and put myself through college. It's not that hard, you just have to decide what you want in life. I lost my dad at 12 and my mother was disabled at that time from an industrial injury, so I had to both make the house payment and pay tuition, auto insurance and for an inexpensive price, kids get the health care through their college. I don't know who gave you the impression you don't work while going to college, that is only in TV. My hard luck story was real common more so generations before me where people were homeless and had to make it. They just didn't whine and did it. That's the key, just do it and stop complaining about how IMPOSSIBLE it is.

I know exactly what it is like to work and go to school too. I got both of my degrees this way as well but unlike you I worked in the day and went to night school. It took 7 years for me to aquire my first 4 year BS degree in business. But the big advantage I had was that I was working a good manufacturing job that paid for all of the tuition. That could not happen nowdays because all the manufacturing jobs are gone. Add to that fact, tuition is rediculously expensive today unlike 20 years ago.

I can't imagine how someone today could possibly have the same educational opportunity that I had. McDonalds does not offer tuition assistance and they pay pretty close to minimum wage.

I doubt whether you could do this today either.

[tman_ndsu08]

Good, we need more cheap labor in the country.

[RVonse]

Quote by: tman_ndsu08 Good, we need more cheap labor in the country.

I dissagree.

We need more skilled and educated labor in this country. That is the only way to keep our country competitive with the rest of the world. And that will be the only way we will have a chance at solving very difficult energy problems that lie ahead in the near future.

[GodBlessAmerica]

Quote by: RVonse I know exactly what it is like to work and go to school too. I got both of my degrees this way as well but unlike you I worked in the day and went to night school. It took 7 years for me to aquire my first 4 year BS degree in business. But the big advantage I had was that I was working a good manufacturing job that paid for all of the tuition. That could not happen nowdays because all the manufacturing jobs are gone. Add to that fact, tuition is rediculously expensive today unlike 20 years ago. I can't imagine how someone today could possibly have the same educational opportunity that I had. McDonalds does not offer tuition assistance and they pay pretty close to minimum wage. I doubt whether you could do this today either.

I could only afford community college and then transferred over to a state college after the first two years.

Even today, for what you get, those two types of schools are really cheap.
Community college is 1/3rd the cost of the state college and state college is about 1/10th the cost of a regular university.

College is very much in reach for everyone who applies themselves today IMO

[Boetie]

Wow it's been a long time since I've heard that work hard and you'll make it boy o boy. What if you have two people applying for the same job. One is a tall skinny hearing impaired male who says huh in response to everything you say, he has beady eyes, and a very weak voice, but he can blow the waters out of everyone in this country in the mental department. Then you have that handsome male, who mastered the art of bullshit and suck up and has a less than average intelligence, not to mention a strong voice.

The hearing impaired guy goes through a hard life, delivering papers, working alone in the freezer room of packing houses during grave yard shifts. He even gets a degree top of the class, but he is not getting it. He doesn't understand why he isn't at the top.

The handsome guy, ends up with big jobs, big bucks and a secure nest egg. He knows why he is on top, bullshit and suck up.

Has anyone ever read Candide?

[GodBlessAmerica]

Quote by: Boetie What if you have two people applying for the same job. One is a tall skinny hearing impaired male who says huh in response to everything you say, he has beady eyes, and a very weak voice, but he can blow the waters out of everyone in this country in the mental department. Then you have that handsome male, who mastered the art of bullshit and suck up and has a less than average intelligence, not to mention a strong voice. The hearing impaired guy goes through a hard life, delivering papers, working alone in the freezer room of packing houses during grave yard shifts. He even gets a degree top of the class, but he is not getting it. He doesn't understand why he isn't at the top. The handsome guy, ends up with big jobs, big bucks and a secure nest egg. He knows why he is on top, bullshit and suck up. Has anyone ever read Candide?

You sound very prejudiced against good looking people who can communicate well. LOL

First, it really depends on the market and what the job requires.

If you suggest a good looking dummy can work in a lab where custody of blood samples have to be kept straight and all, the deaf weird looking genius skinny guy will do better, get paid more and be valued.

If you are talking sales, and the deaf guy keeps saying "WHAT?" every time someone talks with them and he additionally squints and creeps out potential clients, then he better be sent to the research department IMO.

Everybody is born with different attributes and skills.
The deaf guy could get a hearing aid and then learn to talk IMO.
The good looking guy should probably get more job skills through education to make it through life better as well IMO.

Look, if you were an obese ugly old flat chested fat girl with ulcerating skin and legs like an elephant, you are not going to get hired as a runway supermodel. Can you really make a case that they are DUE a position they are not qualified to be in?

Everything is from the marketplace. You make the choices in life as to what you are presenting to the marketplace. Working on bettering yourself for the marketplace on levels you can control in your own life should easily keep you out of poverty in a modern society IMO.

[tman_ndsu08]

Quote by: RVonse I dissagree. We need more skilled and educated labor in this country. That is the only way to keep our country competitive with the rest of the world. And that will be the only way we will have a chance at solving very difficult energy problems that lie ahead in the near future.

We're already losing to many countries when it comes to manufacturing.

Their labor is so much cheaper than ours that they simply move shop over there. That's bad for our economy.

[GodBlessAmerica]

Quote by: tman_ndsu08 We're already losing to many countries when it comes to manufacturing. Their labor is so much cheaper than ours that they simply move shop over there. That's bad for our economy.

Our unions in America have IMO caused many companies to go out of the USA with manufacturing.

Problems were numerous, but some consisted of:

Many union workers on the lines making cars were on drugs and alcohol.
Lawsuits by the unions making it cost $100,000 dollars to fire a bad public school teacher.

Unions also have caused many companies to go under business by basically holding a gun to the head of the company for outrageous benefits.
The airlines and automakers are a great example where outrageous pensions make American companies go bankrupt or made it much tougher to survive.
An American car maker has to slap an addition $2,000 on an American car price to pay for past pensions, raising the price and making it harder to sell the car.

Lots of other problems, but unions are a good part of them today.

Unions can only survive in a monopoly today and are mostly in government. Unions causing lots of overpaying regarding them does create more oppressive taxes on the population which also raises the amount of poverty in the USA IMO.

[PatrickHenry]

That's right GBA, hammer the wages and benefits of working Americans, while excusing the outrageous profits of th globalist elite! What a piece of work...

[GodBlessAmerica]

Quote by: PatrickHenry That's right GBA, hammer the wages and benefits of working Americans, while excusing the outrageous profits of th globalist elite! What a piece of work...

In the market, the unions can do what they want and cause all private business to close down, retire or move if they want (which in most cases they actually have).

When it comes to government connected jobs with tax payer money where there is a monopoly like that, the unions should be limited to being paid no more for a job than what can be found on average for the same job in the private sector.
To be getting vastly over paid and outrageous pensions because the politicians want to buy them off using OUR tax dollars is disgusting an does contribute to raising the poverty index for sure.

Why should going to work for the government become like winning the lottery?

Fire, police, military and some other stuff doesn't have similar jobs in the private sector and are not attached to the points I made at all.

[northtexan]

Quote by: GodBlessAmerica AP/WASHINGTON http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/08/30/D8CA6ME80.html The nation's poverty rate rose to 12.7 percent of the population last year, the fourth consecutive annual increase, the Census Bureau said Tuesday. The percentage of people without health insurance did not change. Overall, there were 37 million people living in poverty, up 1.1 million people from 2003 **************************************************************************************************** Two words explain the greatest increase in poverty and all the massive new costs to United States in the social services Those words are IMO: "ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS". They cost us billions in California for sure and the ILLEGALS who come here are pretty much all the bottom of the barrel from third world nations like Mexico. **************************************************************************************************** Regarding NON ILLEGALS, can you be living in "poverty" and own cell phones, cable TV, Xbox, cars etc? I'm always very suspicious of these reports. The poor who are here legally in the United States continue to do things that make them poor, and the rich do things that make them rich. Of course the class warfare warriors always try to say the rich are only rich because of luck, or their cheating the system in some way. It is never because the rich worked hard, and made good decisions, but that is the way it is. We are the out come of decisions we have made in life, and continue to make. This is the hardest thing for someone to say. It is human nature to blame someone else. The hardest thing to do is to look in the mirror, and say I am the result of my decisions. **************************************************************************************************** * The following are facts about persons defined as "poor" by the Census Bureau, taken from various government reports: http://www.heritage.org/research/fea...inequality.cfm * Forty-six percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio. * Seventy-six percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, 30 years ago, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning. * Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded. More than two-thirds have more than two rooms per person. * The average poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.) * Nearly three-quarters of poor households own a car; 30 percent own two or more cars. * Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions. * Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception. * Seventy-three percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and a third have an automatic dishwasher. By this definition, most people from other countries would be happy to be poor in America.""" **************************************************************************************************** * Please feel free to comment and leave your own opinion. Have a great day folks.

No, two words explain increases in poverty since 2000: George Bush. Insofar as it is due to undocumented workers, you need not worry -- it is averaging in their low wages. But the real reason for increased poverty is Dubya -- his crusade to shift resources from the poor and middle class to the rich. Yes, also implicated are policies in place for years, including those championed by Bill Clinton, epitomized in NAFTA: the de-industrialization of the United States. Basically, new jobs that have been created are lower paying than those that have been lost; and we no longer produce much of anything. We are on a downward slide, and there is no end in sight. And don't worry about those undocumented workers: as wages and conditions deteriorate here, fewer will want to come here. In a few decades, Americans may be among the undocumented workers trying to sneak into China or India. Welcome to the third world!

[northtexan]

Quote by: GodBlessAmerica I could only afford community college and then transferred over to a state college after the first two years. Even today, for what you get, those two types of schools are really cheap. Community college is 1/3rd the cost of the state college and state college is about 1/10th the cost of a regular university. College is very much in reach for everyone who applies themselves today IMO

Hah! I'm a university professor and I know that increasing numbers of students are being priced out of higher education. This is because the states have been defunding public higher education; and the feds have been making student loans less available. Yes, some students get by in community colleges for a year or two and then switch over; but increasing numbers are unable to switch over because of the higher and higher tuition.

Apart from that, however, fewer and fewer students come to any type of higher education prepared to make use of it. Our K-12 education has been allowed to deteriorate (especially here in Texas), and American students in general are simply less capable than in the past. This especially shows up in technical disciplines, and it has long been true in the hard sciences, where international students have long prevailed -- but now with greater difficulty in obtaining visas, such students have started going to other countries. As a result, the U.S. has begun to lose yet another of its export goods -- higher education of international students.