10 ms·

The poverty level in the us is $23 050 for a family of 4 (1). Not sure where you got your figure. Roughly 10% of americans were food-insecure at some point in

by latch 14y ago

The poverty level in the us is $23 050 for a family of 4 (1). Not sure where you got your figure. Roughly 10% of americans were food-insecure at some point in a year (2) (1) http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/12poverty.shtml http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/12poverty.shtml (2) http://webarchives.cdlib.org/sw1s17tt5t/http://ers.usda.gov/Publications/FANRR35/ http://webarchives.cdlib.org/sw1s17tt5t/http://ers.usda.gov/... Yes, in India ~50% of the population doesn't have regular access to clean water or a sewage system. Yes, I'd rather be poor in the US than poor in India. But I maintain that the state of poverty in the US (and other western countries) is a far bigger failure than the state of poverty in any developing country. Also, I can't help but link to this great post whenever talking about poverty: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/ http://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/ the mac and cheese one makes me tear up every time I read it.

WalterBright 14y ago
Food insecurity at some point in a year is not at all the same thing as starvation.
yummyfajitas 14y ago
Food insecurity in the US is meaningless. The definition is so broad it encompasses all sorts of ridiculous situations. Consider a morbidly obese person who eats 6 cheeseburgers/day. At dinner time on the 30'th day of the month (payday is the 1'st of next month) they run out of money, and are only able to purchase 4 cheeseburgers that day. By the definition of the USDA, this person is food insecure. Comparing poverty in the US to poverty in India is a misnomer - poor people in the US are actually richer than the rich (top 5%) in India. I say this based on both personal experience and statistics: http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/the-haves-and-the-have-nots/ http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/the-haves-and-t... The article by Scalzi you cite does not describe the poor in the US. I debunk it (with stats) here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1713461 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1713461

by latch 14y ago

WalterBright 14y ago

Food insecurity at some point in a year is not at all the same thing as starvation.

yummyfajitas 14y ago

Food insecurity in the US is meaningless. The definition is so broad it encompasses all sorts of ridiculous situations. Consider a morbidly obese person who eats 6 cheeseburgers/day. At dinner time on the 30'th day of the month (payday is the 1'st of next month) they run out of money, and are only able to purchase 4 cheeseburgers that day. By the definition of the USDA, this person is food insecure. Comparing poverty in the US to poverty in India is a misnomer - poor people in the US are actually richer than the rich (top 5%) in India. I say this based on both personal experience and statistics: http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/the-haves-and-the-have-nots/ http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/the-haves-and-t... The article by Scalzi you cite does not describe the poor in the US. I debunk it (with stats) here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1713461 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1713461