tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427940.post3917179495368755166..comments2023-12-05T07:50:19.855-05:00Comments on No Oil for Pacifists: QOTD@nooil4pacifistshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16688417615117569825noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427940.post-51298128286984167362008-02-28T22:35:00.000-05:002008-02-28T22:35:00.000-05:00From Wikipedia:"The main poverty line used in the ...From <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Measuring_poverty" REL="nofollow">Wikipedia</A>:<BR/><BR/>"The main poverty line used in the OECD and the European Union is a relative poverty measure based on "economic distance", a level of income set at 50% of the median household income.<BR/><BR/>The United States, in contrast, uses an absolute poverty measure. The <A HREF="http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/faq.shtml" REL="nofollow">US poverty line</A> was created in 1963-64 and was based on the dollar costs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's "economy food plan" multiplied by a factor of three. The multiplier was based on research showing that food costs then accounted for about one third of the total money income. This one-time calculation has since been annually updated for inflation."@nooil4pacifistshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16688417615117569825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427940.post-63087825017622654002008-02-19T00:26:00.000-05:002008-02-19T00:26:00.000-05:00In contrast with Rawls and AVI's Romanian sons, I ...In contrast with <A HREF="http://nooilforpacifists.blogspot.com/2007/10/ask-neo-con-part-5.html" REL="nofollow">Rawls</A> and AVI's Romanian sons, I agree with OBH that poverty should not be defined by relative incomes or possessions. And I agree with AVI that the untreated mentally ill tend to be poor. <A HREF="http://nooilforpacifists.blogspot.com/2007/05/capital-notion.html" REL="nofollow">For such</A>:<BR/><BR/>"America's morality and wealth fully warrants a safety net, funded at taxpayer expense. But the swiftest and surest path from poverty is the secure liberty to seize opportunity. That's why our fathers, mothers and grandparents moved here."@nooil4pacifistshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16688417615117569825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427940.post-89182385491457718272008-02-18T22:03:00.000-05:002008-02-18T22:03:00.000-05:00I would extend OBH's observation to note that even...I would extend OBH's observation to note that even if entirely relative poverty were agreed to be a problem, the solution for it would be helping change their perception, not a dollar amount.<BR/><BR/>Two contradictory points on the original post: my Romanian sons were contemptuous of <I>any</I> American's claim of poverty when they first got here. Seven years later they are more Americanised and sometimes see themselves as poor because of the things they cannot afford.<BR/><BR/>I will note that there is a 2% of the population that is genuinely poor, usually because of mental illness. But even of that group, only the most defiantly untreated are impoverished. The small disability sums can be managed, but this requires skills that the illnesses themselves undermine.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427940.post-33037410276171490322008-02-18T14:24:00.000-05:002008-02-18T14:24:00.000-05:00I was researching something and found out that, ac...I was researching something and found out that, according to the U.N., the current definition of "poor" (i.e., "living in poverty"), is when your household income is less than half the median for that nation.<BR/><BR/>This is not <I><B>poor</B></I>, by any rational means of the word, in the USA. Using relative wealth as a standard for "poor" is ludicrous, and an inherent justification for income redistribution.<BR/><BR/><I><B>Poverty</B></I> is about not meeting basic needs. It's not about not having as much as the neighbor or the guy down the street -- or even the guy across town. It cannot be measured by "relative values". <BR/><BR/>Once again, the socialist idiots have appropriated a term and twisted it so it no longer has any worthwhile meaning. Pravda!OBloodyHellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09992539380115488567noreply@blogger.com