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The "system" that is making the poor, poorer in America
SFGbob
Member Posts: 32,203
in Tug Tavern
Poverty: The Welfare Effect
This is important, because much of our welfare efforts go toward bolstering consumption, not incomes. Adjusting official income levels for what people consume, rather than what they earn, yields a very different poverty rate: 2.8%, according to the AEI report. Almost nonexistent.
How can that be? An officially poor family of four has income of about $25,000 or less. That's not much. But that measure fails to take into account taxes. The poor mostly don't pay taxes. In fact, many get money back through the Earned Income Tax Credit and other income-support programs. Food stamps, housing support and other aid likewise enable officially poor households to boost their incomes, in most cases significantly.
The fact is, when the very same households that the federal government considers to be poor are questioned, they report roughly $2.40 in spending for every $1 of income that Census says they have. So that family of four earning $25,000 is likely consuming as much as $60,000 a year in goods and services.
How Much Do Poor Consume?
Heritage Foundation poverty analysts Robert Rector and Rachel Sheffield in a 2016 data report noted that "poor" in America doesn't mean what it means elsewhere. Based on a 2009 government survey of spending, the average poor person in the U.S., for instance, lives in a bigger house than the average nonpoor person in France, Germany or England. Moreover, nearly 85% of poor homes in the U.S. have air conditioning, and nearly two-thirds have cable or satellite TV. Half own computers, and 43% have internet access. More than half own a video game system.
The "system" appears to be making them better off than they'd be without the "system."
This is important, because much of our welfare efforts go toward bolstering consumption, not incomes. Adjusting official income levels for what people consume, rather than what they earn, yields a very different poverty rate: 2.8%, according to the AEI report. Almost nonexistent.
How can that be? An officially poor family of four has income of about $25,000 or less. That's not much. But that measure fails to take into account taxes. The poor mostly don't pay taxes. In fact, many get money back through the Earned Income Tax Credit and other income-support programs. Food stamps, housing support and other aid likewise enable officially poor households to boost their incomes, in most cases significantly.
The fact is, when the very same households that the federal government considers to be poor are questioned, they report roughly $2.40 in spending for every $1 of income that Census says they have. So that family of four earning $25,000 is likely consuming as much as $60,000 a year in goods and services.
How Much Do Poor Consume?
Heritage Foundation poverty analysts Robert Rector and Rachel Sheffield in a 2016 data report noted that "poor" in America doesn't mean what it means elsewhere. Based on a 2009 government survey of spending, the average poor person in the U.S., for instance, lives in a bigger house than the average nonpoor person in France, Germany or England. Moreover, nearly 85% of poor homes in the U.S. have air conditioning, and nearly two-thirds have cable or satellite TV. Half own computers, and 43% have internet access. More than half own a video game system.
The "system" appears to be making them better off than they'd be without the "system."
Comments
Second, you are now comparing to Europe. Why don't you do the same with health Care?
That being said, there's no way a family making $25k a year is spending $60k a year.
And I never said anything about the poor people in America compared to poor people in other countries. The poor here are better off and I said as much. That doesn't mean the system isn't setup to keep them down. The earned income credit is another vehicle for that.
Well the EIC ends in the $30k income range and the peak amount is in the $15k range. I know many people who are dead set to earn income at that level to maximize their EIC. I tell them it's a fucktarded mindset but they listen about as well as you do.
Of course the welfare system is making people better off than they'd be without the welfare system. That's the point. What point are you possibly making by pointing out the obvious?
Gosh it was only the title of the thread.
See you can provide a link. It's an opinion article in the politics section. That being said. I still disagree that the average person making $25k spends $60k. That's not even close to reality. They spend more than they make, but no way it's $60k.
And this is the very same worthless piece of shit who's favorite dodge is to accuse the other person of having poor reading comprehension.
The fact is, when the very same households that the federal government considers to be poor are questioned, they report roughly $2.40 in spending for every $1 of income that Census says they have. So that family of four earning $25,000 is likely consuming as much as $60,000 a year in goods and services.
If you click on the source material for that article (linked below) you’ll see a great analysis of how the poverty line is determined by income level, only, and does not account for the increased welfare benefits. That is the entire argument about an income level based poverty line vs a consumption based poverty line. The latter accounts for the social benefits they receive as is a truer indicator of their overall situation.
https://www.aei.org/publication/annual-report-on-us-consumption-poverty-2017/