Are the standards getting looser? According to Wikipedia the last major change in how poverty is determined was in 1960's. Previously it was determined by if a person had enough of the basics (food water shelter) to stay healthy & alive. The big change was defining poverty in relative terms. For example...
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Relative measures of poverty

Another way of looking at poverty is in relative terms. Relative poverty" can be defined as having significantly less access to income and wealth than other members of society. In 1999, the income of a family at the poverty line was $17,020. This was 28.49 % of the median income in the U.S. In 1959 a family at the poverty line had an income that was 42.64 % of the median income. Thus a poor family in 1999 had relatively less income than a poor family in 1959.



As it stands now a person is poor if they dip below $9,570 a year. Does that seem like a comfortable amount to anyone?

Also,
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Food security

Eighty-nine percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year 2002, meaning that they had access, at all times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households were food insecure at least some time during that year. The prevalence of food insecurity rose from 10.7 % in 2001 to 11.1 % in 2002, and the prevalence of food insecurity with hunger rose from 3.3 % to 3.5 %. This report, based on data from the December 2002 food security survey, provides statistics on the food security of U.S. households, as well as on how much they spent for food and the extent to which food-insecure households participated in Federal and community food assistance programs.



I think talking about tv's makes it seem not so bad than it really is.

Fair play!