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[skeagsidhe]

In the US, as of 2006, the poverty level for a single person was set at $9800 per year. I find that disturbing.

The World Health Organization, for the same year, set its poverty level at <$1 per day, or $365 per year.

That puts things in a very different perspective.

You lot are all getting Heiffer critters for the holidays again this year.

Comments

[gianetta]

We lived on around $13k when we first moved to VA (in 1997, so the $13k was worth more than what it's worth today) before Adam found a job. That really sucked. I can't imagine living on less than that amount in 2007. For a really eye-opening view of the working poor in America, 'Nickel and Dimed' is a great book - a writer went undercover and lived as a minimum wage worker at Walmart, a cleaning agency, and one other job. We take for granted things like buying gas (I have *never* put in less than a full tank) or being able to put together a security deposit for an apartment, which is no easy feat at minimum wage.

The WHO definitions are a whole different level of poverty. I saw something on TV last year about the difference that a penny a day would make in the lives of people who work in sweatshops for Walmart suppliers. A few cents make a difference between having meat for dinner sometimes or not.

I'm able to have money taken directly out of my paycheck for the local free clinic and a local group that helps get homeless people into homes and jobs. We're not spending our days on an 80-foot yacht and taking baths in tubs of money, but it's amazing how much good can be done with a tiny percentage of our income. Maybe I'll give my nieces and nephews a goat this year.

[skeagsidhe]

I read that a couple of years ago. Good book. I passed it on to some of the kids at Brown who REALLY didn't get it when it came to poverty level. But when you look at the global levels vs. US? Even more horrifying..