Well, I've been homeless and poor as well, and I've spent significant chunks of time down. I too have had the experience you describe, of losing everything owne

Well, I've been homeless and poor as well, and I've spent significant chunks of time down. I too have had the experience you describe, of losing everything owned. Then, I got a job at a big tech company and got to see how the other half lived. I had a very different experience than you describe, and I think that your definitions of poverty are still doing work for you -- perhaps different work than I suspected, at first, but you are still rationalizing the horror. There are many degrees of poverty -- by minimizing all but the most abject cases, you're moving the goalposts. I also strongly suspect you're still in your twenties, but that's another matter.