What do the poor look like in America? In this morning’s National Review Online, Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation reviews census data and concludes it doesn’t exactly square with the picture most liberals like to paint. For example, of poor households in America:
- 99.6 % have a refrigerator
- 81.4 % have a microwave
- 54.5 % have a cell phone
- 32.2 % have more than 2 TVs
- 38.2 % have a computer
- 78.3% have air-conditioning
- 63.7 % have cable or satellite TV
The media obsession with pervasive homelessness also seems to be a myth. Rector finds that only one in 70 poor persons is homeless. What about all those poor families stuffed in trailers? Not true. Most of the poor live in homes or apartments – only ten percent of the poor live in trailers. Those crowded conditions? That too is not true. The average poor American has more living space than the average non-poor European.
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