Today’s Poor Are Well Off

Liberals are quick to whip out the “poor card” to make their case for bigger government programs and spending.  The poor card is a guilt-ridden card with the words “we must help the poor.”  But facts are stubborn–they get in the way of liberal guilt trips.  Consider the Census Bureau’s recent facts on poverty:

• 43% 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.

• 80% of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, in 1970, only 36% of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.

• Only 6% of poor households are over­crowded. More than two-thirds have more than two rooms per person.

• The average 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% own two or more cars.

• 97% of poor households have a color television; more than half own two or more color televisions.

• 78% have a VCR or DVD player; 62% have cable or satellite TV reception.

• 89% own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and more than a third have an automatic dishwasher.