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It's not even controversial, it's wrong. Poverty, particularly extreme poverty, has been decreasing rapidly over the past 25 years. Of course, this doesn't mea
by ptaipale 9y ago
It's not even controversial, it's wrong. Poverty, particularly extreme poverty, has been decreasing rapidly over the past 25 years.
Of course, this doesn't mean that everyone is better; there are always winners and some losers, and there are setbacks here and there, but the big picture is one of great progress.
For more, one should read the Human Development Reports:
http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/2016_human_development_report.pdf http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/2016_human_developme...
- aalleavitch 9y agoThis is true for worldwide poverty. This is not true for US poverty.
- oreo81 9y agoIn the US "poverty" now includes access to netflix. Poverty has absolutely gotten better in the US over the years.
- ABCLAW 9y agoPoverty also includes having your neighborhood torn apart by junkies on opioids. But I guess actually looking at the econometric data to compare apples to apples isn't worthwhile because you can stay indoors while your tires are stolen and watch Jessica Jones, so things are better than they used to be, right?
- oreo81 9y agoYes things are better than they used to be. People living in bad neighborhoods spending time and money on entertainment need to prioritize better.
- aalleavitch 9y agoCompanies spend billions of dollars in emotionally manipulative marketing campaigns in order to convince them not to prioritize better.
- oreo81 9y agoSo are you saying that people need protection from themselves because they're too stupid to realize that they're being manipulated?
- thex10 9y agoToys being abundant and cheaply available didn’t fix poverty.
- ghettoimp 9y agoUS poverty isn't some controversial idea to be scare-quoted and dismissed as no big deal. 1 in 6 of our kids don't have enough to eat. Sheesh.
- ptaipale 9y agoActually, about 1 percent of children in the United States suffer from chronic malnutrition. And malnutrition occurs in people who are either undernourished or overnourished. In the United States, more children suffer from malnutrition due to dietary imbalances than due to nutritional deficiencies. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/healthlibrary/conditions/adult/pediatrics/Malnutrition_22,Malnutrition https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/healthlibrary/conditions/adu...
- ghettoimp 9y agoThe 1 in 6 figure is for "food insecurity." I'm sure "chronic malnutrition" is a worse condition.
- ptaipale 9y agoSince the parent was commenting a quote about "billions of poorer people across the world have seen their wealth standstill or decline", it is rather obvious that the Guardian was commenting not on US poverty but global poverty. And was really wrong about it.