Did you know that under our government"s definition of "poor," you can have a $5 million net worth, a $300,000 home and a new $90,000 Mercedes (completely paid for), a maid, cook, and valet, and $1 million in your checking account, and you can still be officially defined by our government as "living in poverty." Now there"s something you haven"t seen on the evening news.
How does the government pull this one off? Very simple, really. To determine whether or not some poor soul is "living in poverty," the government measures one thing. Just one thing. Cash income. It doesn"t matter one bit how much you have, how much you own, how many cars you drive or how big they are, whether or not your pool is heated, whether you spend the winters in Aspen and the summers in the Bahamas, or how much is in your savings account. It only matters how much income you claim in that particular year. This means that if you take a one-year leave of absence from you high-paying job and decide to live off the money in your savings and checking accounts while you write the next great American novel, the government says you are "living in poverty."
This isn"t exactly what you had in mind when you heard these gloomy statistics, is it?
Do you need more convincing? Try this. The government"s own statistics show that people who are said to be "living in poverty" spend more than $1.70 for each dollar of income they claim. Something is a bit fishy here. Just remember all this the next time Dan Rather puffs up and tells you about some hideous new poverty statistics.
Why has the government concocted this phony poverty scam? Because the government needs an excuse to grow, to expand its social welfare programs, which translates in to an expansion of its power. If the government can convince you that the number of "poor" is increasing, it will have all the excuse it needs to sway an electorate suffering from the advanced stages of Obsessive-Compulsive Compassion Disorder.
My work here is done, chew on that for a little while".
__________________ "Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it." -Thomas Paine
So I said "Do you love me?" & she said, "No, but that's a really nice ski mask."
I don't put a lot of faith into any type of polls, studies, or especially government research/results. They can all be skewed into whatever pleases them the most. BUT, the fact remains that many American companies are shutting the doors on businesses and shipping them overseas. The end results are more Americans are joining the welfare roles, or are leaving welfare to work at Mcburger joints, more of our tax money is subsidizing displaced employees returning to college, and the buying power of the dollar continues to shrink.
The free trade agreements that Congress, the past administration and the current administration endorsed/endorses is and will be the largest and worst endeavor our politicians ever burdened us with domestically. This global economy will be the downfall of our own economy.
That may well be the Federal Govt's way of determining poverty and assistance, but not in the state of Minnesota, and I venture to say all other states. Plus assistance is determined and doled out through the states and in turn counties. It is a grant fund that is capped federally for most programs. I guess that makes your thread starter a bit misleading. Have a good day.
Includes earnings, unemployment compensation, workers" compensation, Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, public assistance, veterans" payments, survivor benefits, pension or retirement income, interest, dividends, rents, royalties, income from estates, trusts, educational assistance, alimony, child support, assistance from outside the household, and other miscellaneous sources.
Noncash benefits (such as food stamps and housing subsidies) do not count.
Before taxes.
Excludes capital gains or losses.
If a person lives with a family, add up the incomeof all family members. (Non-relatives, such as housemates, do not count.) [/ul][/ul]
Includes earnings, unemployment compensation, workers" compensation, Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, public assistance, veterans" payments, survivor benefits, pension or retirement income, interest, dividends, rents, royalties, income from estates, trusts, educational assistance, alimony, child support, assistance from outside the household, and other miscellaneous sources.
Noncash benefits (such as food stamps and housing subsidies) do not count.
Before taxes.
Excludes capital gains or losses.
If a person lives with a family, add up the incomeof all family members. (Non-relatives, such as housemates, do not count.)
[ul][/ul]
[ul][/ul]
Nowhere in there does it say "assets." While there is more than one thing thatis used to compute poverty, none of these other things disprove my post. You could still have all these assets and be considered "living in poverty."
__________________ "Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it." -Thomas Paine
So I said "Do you love me?" & she said, "No, but that's a really nice ski mask."
I believe a million dollar checking account would earn enough to put you out of the poverty ranking.
I am sure that a million dollars would getalot more than I can get at my bank.
BUT,smart people don't have a million sitting in a checking account,that money will be working for them at a much higher yield and I am sure that would put them way above the poverty level.
I believe a million dollar checking account would earn enough to put you out of the poverty ranking.
I am sure that a million dollars would getalot more than I can get at my bank.
BUT,smart people don't have a million sitting in a checking account,that money will be working for them at a much higher yield and I am sure that would put them way above the poverty level.
They have these things called "off shore bank accounts" and trust me, they can be utilized in a way that avoids US taxes....
__________________ "Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it." -Thomas Paine
So I said "Do you love me?" & she said, "No, but that's a really nice ski mask."
the fact remains that many American companies are shutting the doors on businesses and shipping them overseas.
One of theleading reasons that more and more American companies shut their doors and move to other countries is because of the brutal taxes that corporations are forced to pay. Like the Demacrats aren't going to say that these "evil" big rich corporations aren't paying their "fair share" and raise taxes again, thus driving even more businesses to move operations outside of the US?
Cough, the Fair Tax would fix all of this....
__________________ "Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it." -Thomas Paine
So I said "Do you love me?" & she said, "No, but that's a really nice ski mask."
I'm pretty sure that people with a lot of "assets" are getting an income from those "assets" which would put them waaaaay beyond the poverty level. Sure people could bury all their money in the backyard and live on it for a year, thereby having an income below the poverty line, but who would want to bother doing that?
__________________
Proud parents of our own "Daddy's Little Girls"
I heard Jesus He drank wine and I bet we'd get along just fine.
I'm pretty sure that people with a lot of "assets" are getting an income from those "assets" which would put them waaaaay beyond the poverty level. Sure people could bury all their money in the backyard and live on it for a year, thereby having an income below the poverty line, but who would want to bother doing that?
Somebody that doesn't want to pay taxes...
Hey, I'll admit that maybe my post was a little over the top, but I'm just trying to demonstrate how are government messes with statistics to fool the general public.
In the words of Benjamin Disraeli (then popularized by Mark Twain) there are three kinds of lies:lies, damn lies, and statistics...
__________________ "Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it." -Thomas Paine
So I said "Do you love me?" & she said, "No, but that's a really nice ski mask."
"Living in Poverty"
