Cooper's "Oh, To Be Poor in America" is spot on

In his article, “Oh, To Be Poor in America”, Robbie Cooper contrasts what Americans consider to be impoverished to the reality of what poor means in rest of the world.  The first thing that caught my eye was the picture of a woman sitting in front of a big screen television.  The quote under the picture reads, “"I might be poor but I don't like to live poor. I thank God for a place to live, but it's pitiful what people give you."  This reminds me of the time people from my wife’s workplace were complaining they didn’t get a refund check after they paid $0 in taxes that year.  To them, it wasn’t fair that we were receiving $600 back from our $20K in taxes, and they were not getting anything back from their $0 payment.  Logic just doesn't work with some people.

The next thing that stands out in this article is a large chart showing the amenities owned by American households.  At least 75% of American households own a refrigerator, television, stove, air conditioner, microwave, clothes washer, cable or satellite TV, DVD, clothes dryer, more than one TV, Cordless phone and of course a cellular phone.  Cooper uses this example of what people living below the poverty line as defined by the Census Bureau have in contrast to truly impoverished countries like Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Mexico.  The author states that he has been to places where children beg for food and truly have nothing.  Given his biography as a former military member, I can relate to this type of past experience.  Cooper does go on to speak about people who truly are in need of the basic necessities of life.  But the article’s main focus is on America’s current overstated definition of poverty.

Overall, the article is well supported by facts and does a good job of giving the reader another perspective on the entitlement problem the poor in America have.  This is something the nation and each state will need to tackle in the near future.  Although we need to put a price on the resources that made rich people rich in our country by raising taxes on the extremely rich and corporations, we also need to get a grip on what people truly need to survive versus what we want to give lazy people who don’t want to work.  I agree with Mr. Cooper and hope that more people will educate themselves about the plight of the lazy poor in America.