Remember the Poor-3

Now that we have a preliminary understanding of what Jehovah requires of the poor, we need to understand who are the poor. We must limit our study to U.S. poor as the statistics are easier to find. The government provides much information on the poor, but it is often presented in a manner solely to allow them to manipulate both the poor and everyone else.

How Poor, Really, Are America’s Poor?

 Year after year, the Census Bureau reports that more than 30 million Americans live in poverty.

Yet it is widely acknowledged that the way government measures poverty is deeply flawed. 

Accurate information is essential to crafting effective anti-poverty programs.

The Census Bureau recently announced it wants advice on ways to develop more accurate measurements of poverty—a welcome and much-needed change.  

Year after year, the Census Bureau reports that more than 30 million Americans live in poverty. Yet it is widely acknowledged that the way government measures poverty is deeply flawed. 

The first question is: What does it mean to be poor in the U.S.? 

According to the government’s own data, the average American family or single person, identified as poor by the Census Bureau, lives in an air-conditioned, centrally heated house or apartment that is in good repair and not overcrowded. They have a car or truck. (Indeed, 43% of poor families own two or more cars.) 

The home has at least one widescreen TV connected to cable, satellite, or a streaming service, a computer or tablet with internet connection, and a smartphone. (Some 82% of poor families have one or more smartphones.)

By their own report, the average poor family had enough food to eat throughout the prior year. No family member went hungry for even a single day due to a lack of money for food.  

They have health insurance (either public or private) and were able to get all “necessary medical care and prescription medication” when needed.  

Reality of Poverty vs. Perceptions

None of this matches the public perception of poverty created by the media. Images of dilapidated trailer homes or drug-infested neighborhoods, full of boarded up buildings, are a staple of media poverty reports.  

These conditions are quite real, and we should be concerned about people who do live in them. But they are, fortunately, not the norm for poor Americans. Fewer than 1 in 10 poor people lives in a mobile home, and 9 out of 10 poor families report no vacant or abandoned buildings in their neighborhoods.

Still, subgroups among the poor do experience substantial financial stress and deprivation. About 7% of poor households report missing a rent or mortgage payment in the prior three months; 2% have had utilities cut off due to nonpayment. And 11% report having delayed or failed to get dental or medical care sometime during the year for lack of money.  

But the majority of those defined as poor by the government do not experience material hardship. Of course, their lives are not a stroll down Easy Street; their finances are often uncertain, and they strain to make ends meet. But the average living conditions among the government-defined poor are well removed from “poverty” as the term is ordinarily understood.  

This article was provided by the Heritage Foundation in 2020. As you can see, the poor in the U.S. don’t really match up with the public impression of the poor. Using 30,000,000 for the population of the poor, just 7% or about 2,100,000 actually have to be given some financial assistance to survive. This is not the picture the media and government provide for us. But, why do they inflate the problem? One reason could be that they have a myriad of government agencies, independent agencies and organizations that need the ‘poor’ to continue to operate and prosper.

This is a partial list of what the poor are given in the United States.

·      Welfare

·      Disability

·      Medicaid

·      SNAP

·      NSLIP-national school lunch

·      WIC-special supplemental nutrition for women, infants, and children.

How well has it worked? What were or are its stated objectives? Was it to transform them into responsible citizens or just keep them enslaved in bondage to ignorance, abuse, sin, and a false sense of victim-hood?

Buying support or votes is an evil enterprise. It keeps many enslaved into a dead-end life. It always keeps the carrot just out of reach. It never is really interested in the individual and the future for him or her. It is just another type of enslavement in a system that doesn’t really prepare anyone to do better.

Of course there are many physical and mental problems that need to be taken care of by someone. The government has taken over for the family. The poor have not benefited from this in a meaningful, God honoring way.

What is required from the church? More next Saturday.