illram said:
First off, I wasn't talking about America. Second of all, is $2 a day any better? Does that invalidate my point? No. I admit to being guilty of writing that from memory and using hyperbole. I should check myself before doing that and I apologize. Cyrus just kind of pisses me off. Anyways, maybe I am wrong with the numbers, but my point still stands with your number just as well. Would you like to live on $430 a year? Of course not.
Poverty in our country, as you correctly point out, is a higher standard than others, but it is not "owning one car and two TV's." To say that's the standard is an oversimplificaiton and "off the cuff," similar to the statement I was guilty of earlier. The census bureau's official method is complicated, but essentially a five family household earning less than 20,000 a year is considered below the poverty line. Thats still pretty bad, but rich compared to world standards. (But then again poverty is relative, cost of living is higher here so living on 20K a year could be called the equivalent to earning a couple bucks a day somewhere else. This is a whole different discussion.)
However, America is a small % of the worlds population,and all of this is getting off the topic here. My point (or one of them, at least) was that in general, a majority of people are poor and not well off, and that the term "civilization" (whatever it means) is a misnomer, and Cyrus' categorizing people as "civilized" and "uncivilized" in order to try and define superiority and inferiority reeks of colonialism and prejudice. I don't think that's being silly, it's being honest.
like i said in my post, i'm not saying it's okay... you neglected that part. not to mention that the tirade about american poverty was a MINOR part of my post. the UN's own website on world poverty says $2 a day for the world's poorest 3 billion... i said that's terrible, but it's still 400% more than what you said.
and YES the poverty studies in america calculate how much stuff you own. psrt of that is the amount of televisions per household and the amount of cars per household.
The following are facts about persons defined as "poor" by the Census Bureau, taken from various government reports:
Forty-six percent of all poor households 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 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 European cities. (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 a microwave oven, more than half have a stereo, and a third have an automatic dishwasher.
Overall, the typical American defined as poor by the government has a car, air conditioning, a refrigerator, a stove, a clothes washer and dryer, and a microwave. He has two color televisions, cable or satellite TV reception, a VCR or DVD player, and a stereo. He is able to obtain medical care. His home is in good repair and is not overcrowded. By his own report, his family isn't hungry, and he had sufficient funds in the past year to meet his family's essential needs. While this individual's life is not opulent, it is equally far from the popular images of dire poverty conveyed by the press, activists and politicians.
ok, we have reached a point where this might get ugly. This is to all(even though i think many may think this unfair):
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