I am relatively new here and just finished reading some really good post. However lots of subjects stick out, that I would like to talk about. I feel that the inequalities of the rich and poor are unimportant. And they certainly should not be used as a political tool. I feel that the important matter is the quality of life of the poor, not in relation to the richest but to the poorest. How do Americas poorest compair to the worlds poorest? how does the average poor in America compare to the worlds average poor? I am asking because I do not know the answers. if you do please post. I also think it would be good if when we consider the worlds poor we take into account how they would live without aid from other countries. I could be wrong but I do not think that the American poor recieve international aid directly.
"poor" is a descriptive that can be attached to wildly different socio-economic statuses. It's not a quantitative measurable quality. Nobody dies from lack of food in the US, and yet part of the population is "poor." Or if you're a republican, poor is anyone making less than 250k. Most "international" aid takes the form of loans or grants whereby the grantees (rich country gov) spends 90 % of it on high priced useless "consultants." International aid, the UN, The IMF and he world bank are all scams created for the single purpose of finding a job for mistresses of politicians. Both the language and tone of your message betray a poorly hidden political bias insidiously & cowardly framed as "innocent" questions. McCain is your man , stop wasting my fucking time Aren't they showing re-runs of "Dancing with the stars" right now ?
How do Americas poorest compair to the worlds poorest? ---------------------------- The poor in America have a very diverse population to rob from, where as in poor countries where everyone is poor they do not have this advantage. The poor in America did have access to credit, a very important consideration to avoid jail. The poor in America have access to guns, this is unlike other countries where one can get hurt trying to conceal a spear or riding a bike with a bag of rocks.
Compared to the "worlds poorest" poor in the US are doing fine, however compared to the poor in most other industrialized countries, the US is not doing great. According to this chart, the US has 12% of the population below the (set very low) poverty line. The US is beaten by Syria even (which the US just invaded.) And the only reason that the country does as well as it does is because it sets the poverty line to an unreasonably low level. As Wikipedia says "the standard of living for those in the bottom 10% was lower in the U.S. than other developed nations except the United Kingdom" Sweden, Finland, Norway, and others aren't even listed as their poverty rates are too low to measure: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_pop_bel_pov_lin-economy-population-below-poverty-line The more poor people there are, the fewer people can afford to buy products, and the more of a drag on the economy they are. Sorry, that's wrong. In fact, (and embarrassingly) Venezuela has recently supplied subsidized heating oil to US citizens who can't afford it.
first oktiri you wasted your own time replying. Bio thanks for the numbers, but I am more concerned with comparisons to the worse off, not those (poor or not) that are living better. I am sorry if I was unable to conceal anything political from my post. I guess it is difficult to completely hide ones thoughts. Still I think I did a better job of it that oktiri. I do feel that the poor and the middle class and anyone else alive for that matter would be happier if they would only compair themselves to those less fortunate. But Americans are contsantly compairing themselves to the rich and famous. Hell I want to be rich but I am thankful I am not on welfare. That is my opinion. The reason I posted was to ask for your opinions.
Well if the US is compared to undeveloped countries, then yes, it's doing great. As I said before the poor are a drag on the economy because they don't and can't buy products and productively participate. Notice the increase since the year 2000 or so.
Biodave, Did people actually reviecve heating oil? I remeber it was offered. I was thinking for some reason prices fell a bit and the issue kinda went away. I would not be suprised though if people did accept the heating oil.
Of course they did. Why wouldn't they? That's capitalism. BOSTON â Linda Kelly of Quincy, Mass., and her family will get some help with their heating bills this winter, courtesy of Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez, who evidently can feel a US chill way... http://www.mindfully.org/Energy/2005/CITGO-Delahunt-Chavez25nov05.htm
Yes, they did through Citigo. It'll go away because price of oil has come down significantly and people have been repulsed by Chavez personality. Sorry,I thought you were one of the political hacks roaming this forum
We have not "invaded" Syria anymore than we have "invaded" Pakistan. (which btw..your boy Obama is all for)