15 Facts About US Poverty the Government Hides, by Robert Rector.
- Poor households routinely report spending $2.40 for every $1 of income the Census says they have.
- The average poor American lives in a house or apartment that is in good repair and has more living space than the average non-poor person in France, Germany, or England.
- Eighty-five percent of poor households have air conditioning.
- Nearly three-fourths of poor households have a car or truck, and 31 percent have two or more cars or trucks.
- Nearly two-thirds of poor households have cable or satellite TV.
- Half have a personal computer; 43 percent have internet access.
- Two-thirds have at least one DVD player.
- More than half of poor families with children have a video game system, such as an Xbox or PlayStation.
- One-third have a wide-screen plasma or LCD TV.
- Only 4 percent of poor parents reported that their children were hungry even once during the prior year because they could not afford food.
- Some 18 percent of poor adults reported they were hungry even once in the prior year due to lack of money for food.
- Poverty and homelessness are sometimes confused. Over the course of a year, only 4 percent of poor persons become homeless (usually a temporary condition).
- Only 9.5 percent of the poor live in mobile homes or trailers; the rest live in apartments or houses.
- Forty percent of the poor own their own homes, typically, a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths that is in good repair.
- The left claims that one in 25 families with children live in “extreme poverty” on less than $2 per person per day. Government surveys of self-reported spending by families show the actual number is one in 4,469, not one in 25. The typical family allegedly in “extreme poverty” reports spending $25 for every $1 of income the left claims they have.