The Americans living in poverty are doing better than they have ever been and the definition of poverty needs to be redefined, says a latest study by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C.
The study, entitled “Air Conditioning, Cable TV, and an Xbox: What Is Poverty in the United States Today?” by researchers Robert Rector and Rachel Sheffield at the Foundation, says the US Census Bureau has reported for the past 2 decades that over 30 million Americans were living in “poverty”. In recent years, the Census has reported that 1 in 7 Americans is poor. What does it mean to be “poor” in the United States?
To the average American, the word “poverty” implies significant material deprivation, an inability to provide a family with adequate nutritious food, reasonable shelter, and clothing. Activists reinforce this view, declaring that being poor in the US means being “unable to obtain the basic material necessities of life.”
And most news stories on poverty feature homeless families, people living in crumbling shacks, or lines of the downtrodden eating in soup kitchens. However, the actual living conditions of America’s poor are far different from these images.
According to the US government’s own survey data, in Y 2005, the average household defined as poor by the government lived in a house or apartment equipped with air conditioning and cable TV. The family had a car, and 33% of the poor have 2 or more cars. For entertainment, the household had 2 color televisions, a DVD player, and a VCR.