Unfortunately the word 'poverty' here just doesn't mean the same thing at all. Most American's tagged as 'poor' or 'living in poverty' are pretty darn rich com

Unfortunately the word 'poverty' here just doesn't mean the same thing at all. Most American's tagged as 'poor' or 'living in poverty' are pretty darn rich compared to global measurements of 'poverty'. Same word, different metrics. Another confounding practice is that official US poverty statistics don't include many forms of government assistance. So a statement like '14% of American's live in poverty' is before this assistance. With this representation of data, you could give those 14% $10,000/month in government benefits and they would still be 'living in poverty'. Here is a nice calculator you can play 'what if' measurement games with to see how it affects the poverty rate: http://uspovertydata.com/povcal/index.php http://uspovertydata.com/povcal/index.php