Poverty Ain't What it Used to Be (or What You Probably Think It is).

To most people the word "poverty" suggests destitution: an inability to provide a family with nutritious food, clothing, and reasonable shelter. In many parts of the world that is accurate, but not in the United States

Robert Rector and Rachel Sheffield writing for the Heritage Foundation compile statistics concerning the amenities that "the poor" enjoy today in  Air Conditioning, Cable TV, and an Xbox: What is Poverty in the United States Today?

Turns out that poor households have only a somewhat lower probability of having things that wealthier households have. 32% have more than two televisions (versus 42% of all households). 29% own a video game console (versus 31% for all households) and 54% have a cell phone (versus 76% of all households). 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. The typical poor American has considerably more living space than does the average European.

In 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau declared that one in seven Americans lived “in poverty.” You be the judge as to whether the picture below is one of people who are “unable to obtain the basic material necessities of life.”