Remember the Poor

Well, it's that time of year again when poverty statistics come out and we learn that we don't really have poverty here in America when judged by global standards. We have income inequality, which is an entirely different animal than poverty as it is understood throughout the world.

So what we learn from these official statistics is that the truly poor around the globe would give their eye teeth to be poor in America, because our poor are relatively very well off. Remember, the defining social characteristics of our poor here in America is that as a group they are overweight and watch too much TV. A poor person sleeping on the streets of Delhi, Dhaka or Lagos can only dream of being this poor.