Poverty is definitely a problem. Having to choose between eating and running the heater on a cold night is not a “default state” in the US, nor should it be any

Poverty is definitely a problem. Having to choose between eating and running the heater on a cold night is not a “default state” in the US, nor should it be anywhere else. I’ve personally had enough of those nights and experienced the gaumut of unpleasantries when living on $40 per day in a temperate (albeit more expensive) city, both when growing up and again during the downturn as a freshly minted adult. I can’t imagine how much worse the people in the articles have it at 1/10th the income in a harsher climate.