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Even on the obviously biased site, nowhere did it say that "poor Americans" own their own homes. In fact it didn't say what percentage were on food stamps, housing assistance, etc. It just stated what the poverty level was for a family of four back in 2005 and which items they had in their homes. As I pointed out about a thousand posts ago a "TV" can be anything from an old black and white to the latest HD, blue ray extravaganza. You keep assuming these people had top of the line items in their homes. I doubt this.
This omission is unusual, but conservatives often are happy to volunteer statistics showing that over 40 percent of "poor" households own their own homes. (I've seen figures from 40 to 46 percent; it depends on whom and when you ask.)
As far as I can tell - and I've never seen any clear, clean statistics on this - it appears that more than two-thirds of poor homeowners do not have a mortgage, and that most poor homeowners either bought their homes long ago when they were working and not poor, or acquired their homes while poor without buying on the open market (e.g. they inherited their homes or bought them from family members at preferential price and terms).
Of course, poor homeowners without a mortgage typically enjoy a standard of living better than many non-poor renters, but conservatives won't tell you that.
Originally Posted by HappyTexan;20403370
[URL="http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/07/what-is-poverty#_ftn22"
What is Poverty in the United States: Air Conditioning, Cable TV and an Xbox[/url]
"Forty-three percent of all poor households own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio."
POOR AMERICANS ARE NOT BUYING HOMES!!!!!
"Poor" homeowners are usually retirees and often widows who bought their homes decades earlier when they were working and had middle class incomes.
They don't have mortgages and thus have more disposable income than many renters whose money goes mostly to pay rent.
Are these poor too stupid to plan to use up those ingredients for other meals and maybe, possibly SAVE money ?
You don't give the poor much credit do you. One meal is all they can think of and buy at a time so they throw what they don't use out or let it go bad ?
I have a hot plate, how much meal planning and using up ingredients am I gonna do? (But I rarely throw out or let anything go bad, and I usually shop twice a week.)
well we obviously need to create a gov refrigerator program to address this problem so we can expand it a few times
Well there WAS a government stimulus program that subsidized energy-efficient appliances.
But it was only for homeowners.
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