The Poor Aren't Who We Thought They Were

Nationally syndicated columnist Walter Williams recently penned an article in which he outlines certain facts concerning "the poor" in America, which makes the case that they are not quite as down-and-out as portrayed by some.

"- Forty-three percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage and a porch or patio.
- Eighty percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, in 1970, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.
- Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded; two-thirds have more than two rooms per person.
- The typical poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)
- Nearly three-quarters of poor households own a car; 31 percent own two or more cars.
- Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.
- Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.
- Eighty-nine percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and a more than a third have an automatic dishwasher."

This should not be read to suggest that there are not those in America that face grinding poverty, and that assistance should not be provided to them by charitable-minded Americans.

However, it's pretty clear that the conditions that define one as being poor in America are quite different than what is applied in most countries around the world.

The poor in America may not have all of the possessions and lifestyle of their higher-income counterparts, but the bottom line is many of them are doing just fine, despite being labeled as "poor".

Consequently, when one hears calls for relaxing lending standards so that the less able among us can afford the American dream, when one hears a politician call for more taxes so that state-funded social spending can be increased to help those that are less well-off, bear in mind that many of the so-called "poor" don't need the assistance that is being provided to them.

Of course, many of those that are calling for more government intervention in the lives of those that are less well-off in this country are simply using the plight of "the poor" as a stalking horse to accomplish other political goals.