Poor? You don't know the meaning of the word

'According to the government’s own surveys, the typical “poor” American has cable or satellite TV, two color TVs, and a DVD player or VCR. He has air conditioning, a car, a microwave, a refrig­erator, a stove, and a clothes washer and dryer. He is able to obtain medical care when needed. His home is in good repair and is not overcrowded. By his own report, his family is not hungry, and he had sufficient funds in the past year to meet his family’s essential needs.'
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NjJiMDE5Y2M1OWNmNDFhMDIwNWMxYTA1Mzk5ZDkxMTk=

Ah, to be poor in America! Unmentioned in this list are the following: a working sewage systems, electricity, clean water, a police force to call on, and every hope that a court system will protect his or her rights should they need enforcing. Add my list to the one above and you have things that many RICH people in the world outside America don't have. Why do you think there is such an enormous queue of people trying to get into the United States, legally or otherwise?

I've been to countries where there are actual poor people- where people don't know what, if anything they will feed their children tonight, how long their newborn child will live given the river of sewage running past their hovel, and if they will ever have an electric light. In that context, the bitching and moaning especially from black Americans is quite disgusting. Slavery was an abomination, but in the 21st century its the Africans who were left behind by the slave boats who have by far the harder lot.

President Bush gave Africa ten times more money than Clinton, but it can't possibly plug the yawning chasm of need. Only genuine democracy, entrepreneurial activity and the wonders of the free market will ever do it. Poor Africa, it gets further away from those each year, seemingly.