Are the Poor Getting Poorer?...

[Henry Hawk]

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2007/10/31/are_the_poor_getting_poorer


People who want more government income redistribution programs often sell their agenda with the lament, "The poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer," but how about some evidence and you decide? I think the rich are getting richer, and so are the poor.

Nearly three-quarters of poor households own a car; 30 percent own two or more cars. Seventy-eight percent of the poor have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception; and one-third have an automatic dishwasher.

Poverty in the United States, in an absolute sense, has virtually disappeared. Today, there's nothing remotely resembling poverty of yesteryear. However, if poverty is defined in the relative sense, the lowest fifth of income-earners, "poverty" will always be with us. No matter how poverty is defined, if I were an unborn spirit, condemned to a life of poverty, but God allowed me to choose which nation I wanted to be poor in, I'd choose the United States. Our poor must be the envy of the world's poor.

[tallulahdahling]

Well, the poor are using more creative ways to get what they want and still stay neck-deep in debt.

I blame check-cashing and title loan places.  They make it so easy to get money with little consequences.