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SALT LAKE CITY -- The government may need to change their definition of poverty, according to a new study published by the Heritage Foundation.
Conducted by Robert Rector, a senior research fellow in the Domestic Policy Studies Department at the Heritage Foundation, the study found that America's 30 million people in poverty may not align with most people's idea of poor.
In fact, the study reported, the average poor American has more living space than the average non-poor European, has full kitchen amenities, a car (a third of the poor have two or more), two color televisions, a DVD player and VCR, and if they have children they were likely to have a game system like an Xbox or Play Station as well.
Further, the home of these families was in good repair, they were able to obtain medical care when needed and the family was not hungry, having sufficient funds to meet all essential needs.
"These living conditions closely match those of the typical family defined as ‘poor' by the Census Bureau," the Fremont Tribune writes. "But the vast majority of Americans said they wouldn't regard such a family as poor. That includes 80 percent of Republicans and 77 percent of Democrats."
Some disagree that this look at the poor provides adequate insight to their lives.
"It's wonderful that even America's poorest have access to relatively cheap electronics that weren't available to even the world's richest a century ago," reports the Atlantic's Derek Thompson. "But that doesn't disqualify them from old-fashioned definitions of poverty. The necessities are still the necessities, and they're not getting cheaper. In fact, with inflation growing faster than wages today, and with health care, education, and housing costs historically growing faster than inflation, many of the things we consider necessities are becoming less affordable for America's poorest."
Rector disagrees.
"The USDA also reports that there is no difference in quality of diet between children from high- and low-income home," he writes in the National Review. "Less than one poor household in five experienced temporary ‘reduced food intake and disrupted eating patterns' for lack of financial resources…The majority of poor adults, like the majority of other Americans, are overweight."
Though these families may not be regarded as poor by those outside of the Census Bureau or government, this does not mean they have financial freedom or are not strained by money. Many do worry about money and affording food. One in five experienced "temporary food shortages" during 2009.
"If we as a nation are ever to have a sound anti-poverty policy, it must be based on accurate information on the extent, severity, and causes of actual deprivation. Exaggeration and misinformation will benefit neither society, the taxpayer, nor the poor," Rector said.
"[But] Those who are without food or homeless will find no comfort in the fact that their condition is relatively infrequent. Their distress is real and a serious concern."
