I appreciated your editorial on poverty in the paper Sunday morning. Unfortunately the standard for poverty was set in the 1950s and has been increased as inflation has increased, but no new studies have been undertaken.

When Harry Amend was Superintendent of schools he told me often that over 50% of the kids in the schools qualified for free or reduced cost lunches and breakfast. I found it hard to believe at the time and still find it hard to believe. I think it would be well if an investigative reporter were to go to some of the homes to see to what extent they are actually living in poverty. Of course once classified as "poor" they are open for many programs on the local level.

Obviously there are poor in our area, folks who would be judged poor by any standard. But the majority of those classified as poor are not poor by any standard. Plus, if you consider their total income you would have to consider all the government help they get.

It has been my lot to know some poor folk from time to time and I have found that a great share of the reason they were poor is that they did not use wisely what income they had. Money that ought to have been spent on food and clothing was actually spent on cigarettes and liquor. Some was spent on toys such as snowmobiles or other expensive toys that most of us do without. Others, however, classified as poor were and are doing okay. In fact at some point in our married lives with our seven children we would have been classified as poor, but lived very well simply because of the things we chose to live without. For many years we did not even have a television, and have always driven cars that were at least 10 years old.

You also have to consider that when you provide food and other necessities for children that just leaves their parents free to spend more on the non-necessary things. Really, we can help the truly poor in a face to face program of neighbor helping neighbor, best handled by churches and civic organizations.

Give it some thought.

The following is taken from a report by the Heritage Foundation:

TALKING POINTS

1 The typical poor household, as defined by the government, has a car and air conditioning, two color televisions, cable or satellite TV, a DVD player, and a VCR. If there are children, especially boys, the family has a game system, such as an Xbox or PlayStation.

2 In the kitchen, the household has a refrigerator, an oven and stove, and a microwave. Other household conveniences include a clothes washer, clothes dryer, ceiling fans, a cordless phone, and a coffee maker.

3 The home of the typical poor family is in good repair and is not overcrowded. In fact, the typical average poor American has more living space in his home than the average (non-poor) European has.

4 By its own report, the typical poor family was not hungry, was able to obtain medical care when needed, and had sufficient funds during the past year to meet all essential needs.

Abstract: For decades, the U.S. Census Bureau has reported that over 30 million Americans were living in "poverty," but the bureau's definition of poverty differs widely from that held by most Americans. In fact, other government surveys show that most of the persons whom the government defines as "in poverty" are not poor in any ordinary sense of the term. The overwhelming majority of the poor have air conditioning, cable TV, and a host of other modern amenities. They are well housed, have an adequate and reasonably steady supply of food, and have met their other basic needs, including medical care. Some poor Americans do experience significant hardships, including temporary food shortages or inadequate housing, but these individuals are a minority within the overall poverty population. Poverty remains an issue of serious social concern, but accurate information about that problem is essential in crafting wise public policy. Exaggeration and misinformation about poverty obscure the nature, extent, and causes of real material deprivation, thereby hampering the development of well-targeted, effective programs to reduce the problem.

The federal government conducts several other surveys that provide detailed information on the living conditions of the poor. These surveys provide a very different sense of American poverty.[8] They reveal that the actual standard of living among America's poor is far higher than the public imagines and that, in fact, most of the persons whom the government defines as "in poverty" are not poor in any ordinary sense of the term. Regrettably, these detailed surveys are almost never reported in the mainstream press.

Read the whole report here:

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2011/07/What-is-Poverty

Jim Hollingsworth

jimhollingsworth@frontier.com