Poor persons in the United States have far higher living standards than the public imagines. Overall, the typical American defined as poor by the government has a car, air conditioning, a refrigerator, a stove, a clothes washer and dryer, and a microwave. He has two color televisions, cable or satellite TV reception, a VCR or DVD player, and a stereo. He is able to obtain medical care. His home is in good repair and is not overcrowded. By his own report, his family is not hungry, and he had sufficient funds in the past year to meet his family's essential needs. While this individual's life is not opulent, it is equally far from the popular images of dire poverty conveyed by the press, liberal activists, and politicians.
The major causes of child poverty in the United States in any year will be the absence of married fathers in the home and low levels of parental work.
For decades, the U.S. Census Bureau has reported that over 30 million Americans were living in “poverty,” but the bureau’s definition of poverty differs widely from that held by most Americans. Read More.
The number of Americans who pay taxes continues to shrink—and the United States is close to the point at which half of the population will not pay taxes for government benefits they receive. Read More.
Mitt Romney declared last week that, if elected president, he would focus on restoring the fortunes of the middle class, not the poor. In a widely circulated remark, Romney said in an interview on CNN: “I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it…
New Yorkers can be forgiven for shock at the newspaper headlines last week informing them that millions more of them were “near poor” or “low income.” They might relax a bit on learning that the “root cause” is simply new definition of poverty from the Census Bureau. …
Robert Rector discusses poverty in America. …
In this week's Heritage in Focus pocast, Rachel Sheffield discusses poverty in America. David Weinberger hosts. To get regular updates on Heritage in Focus podcasts, visit our RSS feed or subscribe on iTunes. To listen to more Heritage in Focus podcasts, return to the Podcast…
From The Heritage Foundation, I'm Ernest Istook. The Census Bureau says that poverty is up in America. That's bad. …
Executive Summary Today, the Census Bureau released its annual poverty report, which declared that a record 46.2 million persons, or roughly one in seven Americans, were poor in 2010. The numbers were up sharply from the previous year’s total of…
Brian Darling discusses food stamps. …
Robert Rector discusses poverty. …
For two decades, the Census Bureau has reported almost yearly that more than 35 million Americans live in "poverty." Last fall, census officials grabbed headlines by saying 43.5 million persons were poor. That's one in seven Americans. But what does it mean to be "poor" in America? What…
This key research from 2004 has been updated in Robert Rector's new paper, How Poor Are America's Poor? Examining the "Plague" of Poverty in AmericaEach year, the U.S. Census Bureau counts the number of "poor" persons in the U.S. In 2005, the Bureau found 37 million "poor" Americans. Presidential…
Poverty is an important and emotional issue. Last year, the Census Bureau released its annual report on poverty in the United States declaring that there were 37 million poor persons living in this country in 2005, roughly the same number as in the preceding years.[4] According to…
THE ISSUE: Despite spending almost $16 trillion since the War on Poverty began in 1964, welfare programs have failed to reduce the causes of poverty, and instead have hurt many of the people they were intended to help. Poverty in…
Abstract: Child poverty is an ongoing national concern, but few are aware that its principal cause is the absence of married fathers in the home. Marriage remains America’s strongest anti-poverty weapon, yet it continues to decline. As husbands disappear from the home, poverty and…
Welfare Reform’s Recent History Franklin Delano Roosevelt: In 1935, President Roosevelt (D) said: “Continued…
I don't have to tell you that things are at a critical juncture in our country when it comes to violent crime. We find violence now running at intolerably high levels. The heyday of violent crime was actually in the 1960s and 1970s, and I will describe it in more detail later. It peaked…
The word "justice" is on everyone's lips nowadays, and may signify almost anything. We hear the cry "Peace and Justice!" from folk who would destroy existing societies with fire and sword. Other folk fancy that perfect justice might readily be obtained by certain financial rearrangements -- as if anything in this world ever could be…
Abstract: The number of Americans who pay taxes continues to shrink—and the United States is close to the point at which half of the population will not pay taxes for government benefits…
Read the full text here Each year for the past two decades, the U.S. Census Bureau has reported that over 30 million Americans were living in “poverty.” In recent years, the Census has reported that one in seven Americans are poor. But what does it…
Read the Executive Summary Abstract: For decades, the U.S.…
Abstract: If America fails to deal with its long-term fiscal problem in sensible ways that spur economic growth and strengthen the economy, the poor will ultimately take the biggest hit. Thus, any conversation about spending, program reform, and tax policy has to be seen in this context: not as an…
Abstract: The growth of welfare spending is unsustainable and will drive the United States into bankruptcy if allowed to continue. President Barack Obama’s fiscal year 2011 budget request would increase total welfare spending to $953 billion—a 42 percent…
The mainstream media, liberal politicians, activists, and academia bewail child poverty in the U.S. But in these ritual lamentations, one key fact remains hidden: The principal cause of child poverty in the U.S. is the absence of married fathers in the home. According to the U.S…
Abstract: Americans want health care reform--but they do not want compulsive mandates imposed by Congress and the Administration. Private citizens and state legislators across the country, from both sides of the aisle, are…
If you told recovering alcoholic and drug addict Hermon Blount a year ago that he’d soon be getting up 3 or 4 days a...…
The House of Representatives is poised to pass a budget reconciliation measure that would tackle increased spending in...…
Multiple reports of welfare abuse have hit the headlines in recent weeks, from a million-dollar lottery winner...…
Bestselling author Charles Murray visits Heritage next week to discuss his latest work, "Coming Apart: The State of...…
Nearly 40 percent of women in the United States have never been married, an all-time high, according to new data from...…
[caption id="attachment_89301" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="Joseph Kelley said his son Rashawn was...…
In my last post, I challenged a common assumption about equality and justice—that inequality per se is inherently...…
If there’s one thing Saturday Night Live is good at in an election year, it’s lampooning politicians—whether it’s been...…
The greatest tribute to the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., is not to name a street in his honor or celebrate a...…
The remarks of Alan Krueger, chairman of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, asserting that taxing the rich can spur...…
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