It isn't often that poverty is funny, but check these "thresholds"

By Lee Russ

Wednesday, November 15, 2006 at 03:02 PM

The government computes two measures of "poverty" for various purposes.  The main one is the "poverty threshold" which is the measure to which we refer when we talk about whether more or less people are in pverty today than at some prior time.

Want a laugh?  Here's the official poverty "thresholds" for 1959 through 2005, modified from the official government site:

Calendar        1 person   2 people      
  year          
  ________________________
  1959........   $1,467   $1,894
  1960........     1,490    1,924    
  1961........     1,506    1,942    
  1962........     1,519    1,962    
  1963........     1,539    1,988    
  1964........     1,558    2,015    
  1965........     1,582    2,048    
  1966........     1,628    2,107    
  1967........     1,675    2,168    
  1968........     1,748    2,262
  1969........     1,840    2,383    
  1970........     1,954    2,525    
  1971........     2,040    2,633    
  1972........     2,109    2,724    
  1973........     2,247    2,895  
  1974........     2,495    3,211    
  1975........     2,724    3,506  
  1976........     2,884    3,711  
  1977........     3,075    3,951    
  1978........     3,311    4,249    
  1979........     3,689    4,725    
  1980........     4,190    5,363    
  1981........     4,620    5,917    
  1982........     4,901    6,281    
  1983........     5,061    6,483  
  1984........     5,278    6,762    
  1985........     5,469    6,998  
  1986........     5,572    7,138    
  1987........     5,778    7,397  
  1988........     6,022    7,704  
  1989........     6,310    8,076
  1990........     6,652    8,509  
  1991........     6,932    8,865  
  1992........     7,143    9,137    
  1993........     7,363    9,414  
  1994........     7,547    9,661  
  1995........     7,763    9,933  
  1996........     7,995   10,233
  1997........     8,183   10,473  
  1998........     8,316   10,634
  1999..........   8,499   10,864
  2000..........   8,791   11,235  
  2001........     9,039   11,569  
  2002........     9,183   11,756
  2003........     9,393   12,015
  2004..........   9,646   12,335
  2005........     9,973   12,755

Those last figures are pretty amusing, huh?  the $9,973 is less than minimum wage. So according to this table, if you had one full time minimum wage job, and lived alone, you are not in poverty.  Which would come as a hell of a shock to the people trying to live on one full time minimum wage job.

Think about that.  $9,973 per year.  Over 52 weeks, that's $191.79 a week.  Over 12 months, it's $831.08 per month.

Take the 831.08 per month.  First, that's gross pay.  Take out a conservative 10% for FICA and other deductions.  That leaves $747.98, which I'll call $748.

I defy anyone to live on less than $50 a week for groceries (even that's a lot of macaroni & cheese "dinners"), which at 4.3 weeks a month is $215 per month, leaving $533.

Assuming you can live in an "efficiency" apartment and don't mind bugs or high crime, you might be able to get away with $350 per month rent, leaving $183.

A $350 a month apartment isn't going to come with utilities included, so factor in heat, electricity, maybe the luxury of a phone.  At a bare minimum, you're talking about $90, which would leave $93.

So what do you want to do with your $93 a month that's left over?  It might cover gas for a car, but you couldn't afford to buy the car or the insurance on it.  If you rode public transportation (assuming you live somewhere that has public transportation), that alone would be $43 just to and from work 5 days a week for 4.3 weeks at $2 per fare.

Want clothes?  Too bad.  Wait for the local churches to run their clothing giveaways.

Want to go to the doctor?  Get cough medicine for your cold?  How about a movie a month, or eating  out, even at McDonald's?  Not going to happen.

And dating?  Not unless you deal drugs on the side.

Vacations?  What's that?

But remember, you are not poor.  Your government just said so.  Like the zombies are dead but not dead, you are poor but not poor--the unpoor.

But wait, the Heritage Foundation types say, what about government bennies, like food stamps?  Earned income credits?  Medicaid?

Yeah, those are around.  How big a difference do you think they really make for someone with this income?  Not to mention the fact that I thought these bennies were for the poor, so how come these unpoor people are eligible?

And try setting up an IRA, or a health savings account.  Those little pieces of American security are not for you, the unpoor.

It's a joke, and it's pretty funny when you're looking at it in the abstract from this distance.  It is distinctly unfunny when you are living it, and living it in a country where lavish wealth and luxury is constantly dangled in front of you on television, in movies, even in person in certain parts of your town/city.