disposable and discretionary are not the same thing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_and_discretionary_income http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_an

disposable and discretionary are not the same thing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_and_discretionary_income http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_and_discretionary_in... disposable = wage - taxes Therefore disposable income pays for rent, food, gas... All of which would be needed to alleviate poverty, but I guess that depends on how we're defining poverty.