America's Poor Live Better Than Most Of Humanity

[Viren]

The video isn't working but I believe I've already seen that one.

My husband and I live the American Dream in poverty.

We own our own home. We are debt free. We have enough to meet our needs.

That is basically because both of us listened to the Lord tell us to get prepared for the bad times ahead. We paid off our houses (I lived in another state and we weren't married to each other before the Bubble Burst). Paid off our vehicles. Didn't accrue a ton of debt expecting that everything would be hunky-dory.

We aren't greedy people. We don't have to continually strive to keep up with the Joneses. We've got our little piece of Paradise where we are at and we mind our own business.

God made it possible for us to get through what a lot of other people are/were devastated by. And yes, we are/were at poverty level.

Married, we are just a tad above being eligible for foodstamps.

But God continues to work all things together for our good. I might always be in the income bracket I am now, in fact, when I hit the 60's and my husband does too, we will both have reduced incomes. And I trust that God will continue to care for us even then.

We don't always get what we want (a lot of times we do), but we always get what we need.

I had to leave a LOT of stuff behind when I moved down here. I was widowed, worn and stressed out and I just didn't have the energy to try and hump all of that stuff to the yard and sell it.

All I brought with me was what could fit in the back of my pickup truck. And the things I left behind, God has already replaced in the short time I've been down here.

In fact, my cup runneth over. What took me over a decade to accumulate, all of my craft supplies, tools and books. All of my canning jars and other things that had cost me dearly, God has replaced.

There are programs in place to help those who live in poverty and mostly what those programs do is keep them in poverty. What America's poor needs is to get right with God and trust in their Heavenly Father who owns all the wealth and the cattle on a thousand hills.

If they were trusting in God, and following His directions, instead of trusting in government or politicians or themselves, they wouldn't be in the mess they are in.

And even when His children get into a mess, if they trust in Him, He leads them out into green pastures.

You're a breath of fresh air. Poverty is relative. I've lived in what's considered poverty, living in a motorhome for 12 years, but have always had more than I need. People think of downsizing as failure or the end of the world. More isn't always better.

 

[Ludicrus]

You're a breath of fresh air. Poverty is relative. I've lived in what's considered poverty, living in a motorhome for 12 years, but have always had more than I need. People think of downsizing as failure or the end of the world. More isn't always better.

More, I don't know if I could handle more! LOL!

I actually don't think either one of us downsized, even before we got married. I sold a 3 BR 1 1/2 BA on 1.3 acres with a double wide closed in carport and all of the appliances for $5 grand to a fellow that wanted to turn the house into a halfway house.

I didn't sell it until after I had moved and didn't have a for sale sign up or anything. I just left it in God's hands.

We have a two bedroom (one is my sewing room/pantry), three story mobile home. It's a split level with an added on room that spans almost the entire length. After I sold the house, we bought tools and closed in the porch and bought a wood stove. It's where we spend the winter evenings with our nice wood burning stove. I've got my rocking chair and he has a recliner.

It's really nice and cozy. I don't remember how much land is here. We don't use half of it but it's over an acre. We are thinking of putting goats or sheep on the back, but we have to finish fencing it in.

For the area that hasn't been closed in yet, we hope to close in and use as a summer kitchen where I can do canning.

We don't use air conditioning here in FL. We use shade trees and fans, so it would be nice to have the canning kitchen.

 

[Yoder777]

We can and do disagree on much of this. Yes, overall our standard of living is better than much of the 3rd world. But we are a 1st world country with enormous wealth. The fact is that wealth is being hoarded by a few of our fellow citizens, to the detriment of the rest. And as you've said, we as a people are probably the most generous in the world. Can you imagine what help could be given the rest of the world if there were income equality here?
Which invalidates them as to what is current right now.

By almost any measure, the United States has one of the highest standards of living in the world, both for the average person and the bottom 5%.

For the 2013 Human Development Index, the United States ranks third, only behind Norway and Australia:
Human Development Index - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Measurements of inequality in a nation are often misleading. For example, if the top 1% of a country earn 20% of that nation's wealth, that doesn't say how well its middle class and bottom brackets are doing compared to the rest of the world's people.

I really don't care how much rich people are making as long as they are earning it honestly, and if the middle and lower classes are doing very well according to global standards.

 

[Ludicrus]

Upward mobility? That flies in the face of facts.
The Loss of Upward Mobility in the U.S.

The Lost Decade of the Middle Class

Let me repeat that - Fully 85% of self-described middle-class adults say it is more difficult now than it was a decade ago for middle-class people to maintain their standard of living.

Is the United States a great country to live in? I'm pleased with the diversity of both it's people and geography, I'm blessed to have been born from the greatest generation it ever produced and benefited from the advances that generation made here - A strong union movement that did THEN provide an upward mobility to the people of the nation.

But now with the decline of those very unions who ensured prosperity there is a decline in our standard of living that is very evident. So evident that I take exception to conversations such as this one that tout the greatness of the country and seem to ignore it's fall from where it once stood in the world scheme.

So call me nutty, call me a derailer of your thread, but the facts are that for the MAJORITY of our citizens we are falling backward and without some sort of intervention life for that majority is going to become as it is in those third world countries that it is said we are so much better than.

The GOAL was to get rid of the middle class. They've almost accomplished that and they will continue to hammer away at it until it's a done deal.

They want those with the upper hand and the serfs.

So instead of a Democracy we can have a dictatorship with a serfdom.

And I do believe, Obamacare, as it is right now, will probably do the trick. It will break us.

 

[stamperben]

The GOAL was to get rid of the middle class. They've almost accomplished that and they will continue to hammer away at it until it's a done deal.

They want those with the upper hand and the serfs.

So instead of a Democracy we can have a dictatorship with a serfdom.

And I do believe, Obamacare, as it is right now, will probably do the trick. It will break us.

Oh My! Did Henny Penny tell you that?

 

[Yoder777]

Instead of redistributing the pie, why not make the pie bigger, so that everyone has a larger income?

Check out this chart:

Notice how the entire line for the United States resides in the top portion of the graph? That’s because the entire country is relatively rich. In fact, America’s bottom ventile is still richer than most of the world: That is, the typical person in the bottom 5 percent of the American income distribution is still richer than 68 percent of the world’s inhabitants.
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/the-haves-and-the-have-nots/?_r=0

I'd rather live in a nation, like the United States, where the poor are richer than India, where the rich are poorer. The bottom 5% of Americans have a higher standard of living than the top 5% of Indians. It's not something to sneeze at.

Please keep in mind, nationalism has nothing to do with it. It has nothing to do with one nation being superior to another. It's just a matter of basic thankfulness. If you think you'd be better off in a third world country, go head. I am not stopping you. It's not about nationalism, it's a matter of common sense. I am sure there are over a billion people in the third world who would be willing to take your place.

When I was in high school, I honestly believed that American society is inherently corrupt and that the only solution would be a socialist takeover. Now, looking back, I realize how foolish that was. The reason why socialist movements have never succeeded in the United States is that, in order to gain popular support, the average person would need to have a much lower standard of living than they have now. All I am saying is that, at least for me, I am going to be thankful for what I have instead of complaining all the time about our country not comparing to an imagined socialist utopia.

Please keep in mind, my views expressed are neither conservative or liberal. These are just pragmatic, centrist positions based on clearly available facts. I've honestly given up on politics because it does nothing but depress me. I am not a nationalist, but I am a patriot, in the limited sense of being thankful for one's country. I hate politics, especially Republican politics, but extremism of any kind bothers me.

I think people are so used to patriotism being associated with some political view they despise merely because of others who have given patriotism a bad name. Both Republicans and Democrats take credit for the high standard of living that Americans take for granted and, in some sense, they are both right. It's one of the benefits of living in a free market place of ideas rather than a one party state.

 

[wintermile]

And as you've said, we as a people are probably the most generous in the world. Can you imagine what help could be given the rest of the world if there were income equality here?
Which invalidates them as to what is current right now.

I discussed the contributions of social justice expert Ted Howard in this thread. I hope Ted's Evergreen Cooperatives Model catches on! I dislike being the worst of the worst as the American Shame visual data implies. Ted can change that starting in Cleveland, OH.

However awesome we are in manners of giving, as a nation we fall short of the lead. The International community does not have the lead. Migrants do.

The visual data link that follows informs viewers about migrants' remittances (and other data) since the 70s. Click next to see how Remittances outpaced Development Aid. The second link offers a link to the original source.


The incredible rise of migrants' remittances (launched) | visualizing.org

Visual shows remittance flows from 1970 to today | Humanosphere

 

[Yoder777]

Here's some more interesting information:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_otfwl2zc6Qc/RyzhHq6PE_I/AAAAAAAACsA/REyqYLaC0h0/s400/poor.bmp

CARPE DIEM: More on The U.S. Poor Getting Richer, And Being Envy of the World's Poor

According to the above percentages, America's poor have a better or the same standard of living as the average person in Sweden.

Poverty in the United States, in an absolute sense, has virtually disappeared. Today, there's nothing remotely resembling poverty of yesteryear. However, if poverty is defined in the relative sense, the lowest fifth of income-earners, "poverty" will always be with us. No matter how poverty is defined, if I were an unborn spirit, condemned to a life of poverty, but God allowed me to choose which nation I wanted to be poor in, I'd choose the United States. Our poor must be the envy of the world's poor. -
Walter Williams

 

[Yoder777]

The chart can be a bit confusing to interpret at first (for an in-depth explanation of how to read it, click here), but the gist of it is pretty clear. Firstly, the relative flatness of the United States’ income inequality line reveals that... income inequality in the U.S. is not nearly so great as it is in a country like Brazil, for example, where the nation’s poorest are among the world’s poorest and the nation’s richest are among the world’s richest. Secondly, the placement of the U.S.’ income inequality line along the Y-axis reveals that the U.S.’ poorest are still among the richest people on earth.
The actual other 99 percent « Hot Air

This is mind boggling when you really think of it.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

America is an exercise in personal liberty, not personal wealth. Everyone already enjoys the true 'American Dream'. They can also make a lot of money if they put in the effort.

 

[Yoder777]

a pastor read this quote at church: I get on my knees and thank God for waking up in America once again. To wake up in America is the greatest gift that God can bestow besides having a loving family. And how do I know this is the greatest gift in the world? Because of how many people want in and how many people want out. Everybody in the world wants to come to America and very, very few want to leave. Have you noticed you'll meet an awful lot of people you encounter in daily life who came here from far away? Very few times when you're walking around in Cairo or Tehran do you find someone who's left to move there. - Ben Stein

 

[Bedford]

a pastor read this quote at church: I get on my knees and thank God for waking up in America once again. To wake up in America is the greatest gift that God can bestow besides having a loving family. And how do I know this is the greatest gift in the world? Because of how many people want in and how many people want out. Everybody in the world wants to come to America and very, very few want to leave. Have you noticed you'll meet an awful lot of people you encounter in daily life who came here from far away? Very few times when you're walking around in Cairo or Tehran do you find someone who's left to move there. - Ben Stein

I'd cry over this stirring heart-felt testimonial from Ben Stein except I have dry and red eyes and the tears won't flow.

 

[Yoder777]

A military veteran performed this song at church yesterday in gratitude for those who've served in the armed forces. He received a standing ovation. Please keep in mind, this is Unity Church, probably the most liberal church possible. Jesus said there is no greater love than to lay down your life for your friends. There is a difference between gratitude for the freedom and standard of living your country has made possible for you and devaluing the lives of non-Americans. If "every good and perfect gift is from above," that includes whatever blessings you have as an American citizen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65KZIqay4E