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"The poverty line has increased in real terms. And with it, so have the World Bank’s estimates of extreme poverty. 125 million people who would not have been co

"The poverty line has increased in real terms. And with it, so have the World Bank’s estimates of extreme poverty. 125 million people who would not have been counted as extremely poor before June are now included." I think this is a good change, but maybe would be better to leave the old standard alone in real terms and then make a new category? "the poor will always be with you" "the poor will always be with you"

btilly 1y ago
And yet, to an amazing extent, they aren't. If you look back in 200 years, poor people starving to death was simply an accepted fact of life. Today, poor people get fat. Do their lives suck? Absolutely! Just look at the craziness around housing. But in terms of resources per person available to the poor? Very few of us realize how good we've got it. The extreme poverty line has remained essentially the same (adjusted for inflation) for a few decades. Projecting backwards in time, most people in every country used to be in extreme poverty. We are on track to eliminating extreme poverty within our lifetimes. They've adjusted the poverty line upwards. But just watch, life keeps on improving.
- appointment 1y ago
  Where are people living on $3/day getting fat?
  - wizzwizz4 1y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwashiorkor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwashiorkor (note: distressing images)
    - mrguyorama 1y ago
      Important distinction: That is not "fat" in the same way that someone with cirrhosis isn't fat, that is diseased >The name, introduced by Williams in 1935, was derived from the Ga language of coastal Ghana, translated as "the sickness the baby gets when the new baby comes" Christ that's sad.
- jahnu 1y ago
  People in extreme poverty are not getting fat https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/obesity-vs-gdp https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/obesity-vs-gdp
  - btilly 1y ago
    No, people in extreme poverty are not getting fat. But poor people do in great numbers in many countries. For example there are many obese Americans on food stamps. Thanks to social services, the number of Americans who are in extreme poverty is approximately zero. When I compare to history, I far prefer this state of affairs to what used to be the norm.
    - s5300 1y ago
      [dead]
    - dartharva 1y ago
      > Thanks to social services, the number of Americans who are in extreme poverty is approximately zero. I wish I could make myself have such confidence in any government entity as much as you seem to have in US social services
    - JoachimSchipper 1y ago
      You're commenting on an article about people consuming less than $3/day; Americans on food stamps (SNAP appears to be about $4-6/day alone, not counting any other benefits) are a distraction, simply not part of the population that the article is discussing.
      - cwmoore 1y ago
        So $10/day for 8.2B people is only $30 trillion a year. Tax the bots for UBI. AGI could make that in a weekend.
    - FirmwareBurner 1y ago
      >For example there are many obese Americans on food stamps. All of their own fault. I recently saw a youtube compilation of tiktok clips of Americans on food stamps making videos flaunting their overfull supermarket shopping carts and it was all name brand junk food made up of refined carbs, fats and sugars, and to no ones surprise, they were all obese. No vegetables, no fruits, no leafy greens, no legumes, but all junk food which costs more than the healthy stuff. Who's fault is that? At what point is personal accountability supposed to kick in? If you can afford a roof over your head, a car, and entire shopping carts full of name brand junk food(which is more expensive than healthy food) to make yourself obese, you are anything but poor, you are just stupid and glutenous. Edit: I see the downvotes, but notice nobody is saying that I am wrong? ;) So then we agree that I'm right.
taneq 1y ago
No, this is a good thing, assuming the overall global inflation rate (whatever that is) hasn't outpaced the increase. It's a measure of our increasing expectations for an acceptable human existence. Yes, "the poor will always be with you" unless you brutally cap individual rewards for results, but if the cutoff for "poor" 100 years ago was "literally starving to death" and the cutoff for "poor" today is "not literally starving to death" then I think that's a bar we should raise. Sure, someday soon the global definition of extreme poverty will allow for clean water, adequate nutrition, clothing, and safe housing. Isn't this why we're doing... gestures around this?

btilly 1y ago

And yet, to an amazing extent, they aren't. If you look back in 200 years, poor people starving to death was simply an accepted fact of life. Today, poor people get fat. Do their lives suck? Absolutely! Just look at the craziness around housing. But in terms of resources per person available to the poor? Very few of us realize how good we've got it. The extreme poverty line has remained essentially the same (adjusted for inflation) for a few decades. Projecting backwards in time, most people in every country used to be in extreme poverty. We are on track to eliminating extreme poverty within our lifetimes. They've adjusted the poverty line upwards. But just watch, life keeps on improving.

appointment 1y ago
Where are people living on $3/day getting fat?
- wizzwizz4 1y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwashiorkor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwashiorkor (note: distressing images)
  - mrguyorama 1y ago
    Important distinction: That is not "fat" in the same way that someone with cirrhosis isn't fat, that is diseased >The name, introduced by Williams in 1935, was derived from the Ga language of coastal Ghana, translated as "the sickness the baby gets when the new baby comes" Christ that's sad.
jahnu 1y ago
People in extreme poverty are not getting fat https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/obesity-vs-gdp https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/obesity-vs-gdp
- btilly 1y ago
  No, people in extreme poverty are not getting fat. But poor people do in great numbers in many countries. For example there are many obese Americans on food stamps. Thanks to social services, the number of Americans who are in extreme poverty is approximately zero. When I compare to history, I far prefer this state of affairs to what used to be the norm.
  - s5300 1y ago
    [dead]
  - dartharva 1y ago
    > Thanks to social services, the number of Americans who are in extreme poverty is approximately zero. I wish I could make myself have such confidence in any government entity as much as you seem to have in US social services
  - JoachimSchipper 1y ago
    You're commenting on an article about people consuming less than $3/day; Americans on food stamps (SNAP appears to be about $4-6/day alone, not counting any other benefits) are a distraction, simply not part of the population that the article is discussing.
    - cwmoore 1y ago
      So $10/day for 8.2B people is only $30 trillion a year. Tax the bots for UBI. AGI could make that in a weekend.
  - FirmwareBurner 1y ago
    >For example there are many obese Americans on food stamps. All of their own fault. I recently saw a youtube compilation of tiktok clips of Americans on food stamps making videos flaunting their overfull supermarket shopping carts and it was all name brand junk food made up of refined carbs, fats and sugars, and to no ones surprise, they were all obese. No vegetables, no fruits, no leafy greens, no legumes, but all junk food which costs more than the healthy stuff. Who's fault is that? At what point is personal accountability supposed to kick in? If you can afford a roof over your head, a car, and entire shopping carts full of name brand junk food(which is more expensive than healthy food) to make yourself obese, you are anything but poor, you are just stupid and glutenous. Edit: I see the downvotes, but notice nobody is saying that I am wrong? ;) So then we agree that I'm right.

taneq 1y ago

No, this is a good thing, assuming the overall global inflation rate (whatever that is) hasn't outpaced the increase. It's a measure of our increasing expectations for an acceptable human existence. Yes, "the poor will always be with you" unless you brutally cap individual rewards for results, but if the cutoff for "poor" 100 years ago was "literally starving to death" and the cutoff for "poor" today is "not literally starving to death" then I think that's a bar we should raise. Sure, someday soon the global definition of extreme poverty will allow for clean water, adequate nutrition, clothing, and safe housing. Isn't this why we're doing... gestures around this?