To people who say poverty doesn't exist in America

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I have never heard anyone make this claim. Do you have some examples you can share?

What you're describing is a probelm of inequality not inflated expectations of the average American.

Most people don't live in those McMansions or want to...

Most people just want a nice economically secure life, were they can feed their children and have a reasonable balance between work and life.

Most people don't actually deny poverty, they just minimize it in the way many posters in this thread have. To say that modern poverty isn't real poverty because the poor live better than the average person of 100 years ago is asinine and pointless. The problem is inequality and lack of access to basics like adequate food and medical care.

..and those issues are real problems.

Of course, Kings had to worry about a lot of stuff as famine was very common in those days. But, in general we are lucky to live in this era as we have the ability to even worry about poverty. I total disagree about poverty not existing in the america; however, one can state that if you had to chose a time to live in poverty this era would be the best.

They seem to have decent food down at Woolies and the doctors aren't bad. Though I live in Oz, but I doubt it's worst over in the US.

I literally have nothing but a computer and some interest related things I saved up for (about $2000 over a decade). I don't think there's anything unequal about that, as I don't do anything to earn more.

I don't think you realize how things really work in the US. Here, hunger is not a function of scarcity of food it is a function of scarcity of MONEY. It is also the same with doctors and medical care. In short, if you do not have money, you don't eat or get treated for sickness unless you can find a charity to help you.

There are very limited programs (food stamps and medicaid) to address these problems, but they are chronically underfunded and extremely hard to qualify for.

Many people in the US have no medical insurance at all. This means that the only time they get treated is when they become critical (as in about to die). Then, a hospital emergency room is obliged to 'stabilize' them but, then many hospitals will literally dump them. Even if the hospital does allow them to stay, after discharge, the hospitals will sue them for nonpayment and have payments of up to 25% deducted from their paychecks.

On a personal level, I have what's called a 'gold level' insurance plan--the plan pays 80% of medical costs, I am liable for 20%. In spite of this, I've still incurred about $40,000.00 (and counting) in medical bills since my legs stopped working a couple of years ago...

The US is one of the only 1st world countries in the world where, even middle-class people, can be bankrupted by just getting sick (if you don't have the common decency to just curl up and die).

As far as food goes, there's plenty at the market, but they don't give it away for free. Where I live, we have THE LOWEST unemployment rate in the US, at 3.9%. In spite of this the poverty rate is 18% and even worse for families with children. Much of the time, people are forced to choose between paying rent or buying food.

I volunteer/intern for a local nonprofit that deals with issues of poverty and homelessness. The vast majority of our clients are families with children. We do a rural outreach where we take TRUCKLOADS of food to small towns. Last week, we had a huge crowd, and the food was gone in about 45 minutes--literally as fast as we could hand it out. We had to turn away a lot of people. It was really heart-breaking.

As for our other, more typical, homeless clients, many are homeless because they have untreated mental illness and they simply cannot make a living for themselves. Here, there's no automatic 'safety net' for people who cannot fend for themselves. If you cannot work or advocate for yourself and apply for some sort of disability program (that process can take years and also depends on access to medical resources to prove your disability) you will end up on the street.

It's like the goddamn 19th century here. Hell, we've even gone back to putting people in jail for not paying debts!

I don't know how things are in Australia, but I doubt it's like here in the States. If it is. I'm sorry.

But, I can afford food and medical care and I have poverty levels of money. Sure, I don't eat the good stuff, and I only go for medical care when it's needed, but I get by.

Perhaps since I only have myself to look after, it's easier. But I wouldn't have kids or animals if I couldn't afford them.

^^^ Being on your own would certainly help... Also, as far as I'm aware, Australia does have some sort of universal health care...

My inadequate insurance costs me more than $2000.00/year and I still have significant copays--about another $6500.00/year and the only reason my copays are capped is because of the new Obamacare law. It used to be unlimited.

I'm very lucky that I can afford insurance at all. More than 30 million Americans can't and their uninsured medical costs are astronomical.

Do you have a family, including children? To say that makes life a little more difficult is an understatement.

To the OP: I think some people mean that there is no indigence in the United States.

Food stamps are difficult to qualify for? How so?

On another note, I also ate damned well on food stamps, even living in a van with no kitchen resources other than a single-burner camping stove. I understand that not every place has a farmer's market with cheapish produce, but I notice a lot of people wasting money on junk food that they could be spending on quality eats.

As for the extra difficulty of children, as far as I can see there are a LOT of people who bring that on themselves by having children despite being poor, rather than reproducing in good times and then struggling to take care of the kids when their financial situation gets worse.

There's being poor, and then there are stupid things poor people do to make it far worse. I think that the latter is a significant contribution to the problem.

And many companies have the policy that any left over food that is not sold has to be thrown away and wasted....I bet all the food that is required to be thrown away via the policy could feed a ton of people, but nope gotta be thrown away if not enough people to buy it.

Qualifications vary from state to state. BUT, in most places there are extreme limits on 'assets' such as cars, etc.
As well as limits on income.

When my legs stopped working, I had NO INCOME for an entire year, but I could not qualify for food stamps.


Be that as it may, there's no excuse for letting a single child go hungry in a country as rich as ours.

On a brighter note many cities are putting a cap on the amount of food a business can throw away. It must be donated or sent to some sort of bio-reactor/methane generator.

There is a federal samaritan law that protects people/businesses from liability connected to tainted food if it was donated in good faith.

So, anyone who says they cannot donate leftover food from a restaurant or even ugly produce and expired stuff from supermarkets etc. is full of s**t.

Then I'm damn stupid, because I have a daughter and am poorer than dirt. Children happen (our little girl was a happy accident), and so should always be regarded as a blessing. Poverty is no reason not to have the joy of parenthood, even if poverty puts stress on the purse strings.

That's irresponsible and self-centered as hell.

And you can keep your bad manners to yourself.