Understanding Poverty in America
 

"46 percent of poor households actually own their homes; 76 percent have air conditioning; the typical poor American has more living space than the average non-poor individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens and other cities in Europe; nearly 75 percent of poor households own one car, and 30 percent own two or more cars; 97 percent have at least one color television; 62 percent have cable or satellite reception; and 25 percent have cell phones."

These are not fictious numbers. They come from the research "Understanding Poverty in America" by Robert E. Rector and Kirk A. Johnson, Ph.D. from the Washington-based Heritage Foundation. http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/bg1713.cfm

and the people in uganda think they have it bad.. pfft...

yeah, but the rest of the world stands around and laughs at what idiots americans are, so it all evens out.

More detail on the actual numbers (living space,etc) can be found here

http://www.timbro.com/euvsusa/pdf/EU_vs_USA_English.pdf

how can he compare a country having 50 states as whole with specific cities? Of course they have more living space, because when you live in a large european city the houses are very small and big ones are affordable only from millionaires. The average greek millionaire of athens lives in a house with less than 1500sq feet space. You can live in UK, France or Greece in big houses if you live far away from the major cities with the same money.

The original study (Housing Statistics in the European Union, 2002) actually refers to the countries, not the cities. The author of that article just chose to refer to the cities.

Colin, why do you hate Europe?

I don't. I love Europe. Planning a trip to Athens next year. My grandfather came to the states from Italy in 1921. I am European.

I see,makes more sense this way.

BTW, last time I clicked on your gfy banner on top it gave me an error, i made a thread about it,not sure if you saw it

I love statistics. Like the statistics where most Internet fraud orginates from :)

I know you don't. I was just making a joke.

That's what would have been fired at you if you'd been a non-American posting a link to a study that said someone else in the world had it better than the average American.

Except I left out the bit about you being jealous of their freedom.

Pretty sure it's been fixed. Thanks. I'll check again :-)

I laughed :thumbsup

ok. compare NYC and Berlin for example ;)

That would be interesting. If you find a link, please share.

Kommen Sie aus Deutschland?

Ask anybody who's lived in the both the US and the EU for any length of time: the quality of life is better in the EU than the US.

Define your terms. What does "quality of life" mean to you?