Some highlights:
Friday, November 4, 2011
The "poor" in the USA ...
Great summary here. The poor in the USA are the rich in most of the world.
Some highlights:
80 percent of poor households have air conditioning. In 1970, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.
92 percent of poor households have a microwave.
Nearly three-fourths have a car or truck, and 31 percent have two or more cars or trucks.
Nearly two-thirds have cable or satellite TV.
Two-thirds have at least one DVD player, and 70 percent have a VCR.
Half have a personal computer, and one in seven have two or more computers.
More than half of poor families with children have a video game system, such as an Xbox or PlayStation.
43 percent have Internet access.
One-third have a wide-screen plasma or LCD TV.
One-fourth have a digital video recorder system, such as a TiVo.
Some highlights:
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I am almost 54 four years old and I can surely say that I have seen the race to the bottom happening over the last 30 years or so. Just think I can remember a kid about 20 that was working at ups in 1979 he was making about 10 dollars an hour as a package handler Today the same job pays about 10 dollars an hour.
ReplyDeleteI read your post about the poor are the rich in the united states while that is certainly true you are forgetting on thing. The difference between poor and not so poor is what direction you are going in not where you are now or have been. Soon you will have to redo the post like this 80% of the households used to have air conditioning today only 10% do. 92% used to have microwave ovens today only 10% do. Three forths used to have a car or truck today only 10% do. Two thirds used to have cable or satellite tv now only 10% do. Two thirds used to have at least one dvd player today only ten percent do. 70% used to have a vcr today only 10% percent do. Half used to have a personal computer now just 10% do. One in seven use to have two or more computers now only 1 in 100 have two or more computers. More than half of all poor families with children use to have a video game system today only 10% percent do. 43% use to have internet access today only 10% do. One third use to have a wide screen plasma TV today only 10% do. One in four use to have a digital video recorder system today only 10% do.
ReplyDeleteI don't predict that occurs. While some jobs may pay similar nominal amounts to 1979 and many pay less - many pay more as well.
ReplyDeleteThe poor and middle class today are richer than Rockefeller - often thought of as the richest person in history.
I would like to say one other thing Matthew' We are forgetting something of enormous importance here' we are only measuring quality of life in terms of material things. Its the health and lifespan of the population that is the greatest accomplishment in the last one hundred years or so' diseases like TB have been whiped out the average health of an american is considerable better today than what it would have been for the royality of two hundred years ago. One hundred fifty years ago infant mortality was forty or fifty percent or even higher. Today I think its maybe not quite sure one percent or so. In writing my response to your post about the different material Possessions that most everyone enjoys today. I hope it does not come to that worst case scenario. I do not believe that the supposedly increasing inequaliy. I will say supposedly because I don't know if you agree with that assumption or not but anyway to frame the debate. I myself do not believe that the solution to increasing inequality is to redistribute income from the rich to the poor. I don't really have a solution myself its a bit beyond me. So I would like to ask you mattthew how would you address the rising inequality between the richest 1 percent or maybe the richest 10 percent and everyone else. I hope that I am not coming across as arrogant' I don"t mean to. So If you would like to respond. I would like to hear what would you would do without involving government to reduce the level of inquality.
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