Posted: Nov 14, 2008, 4:19 PM CST
The_Kansan wrote:Welcome to the world. What most folks in this day and age fail to take into account is that the vast majority of "poor people" today live better than "Royalty" did 150-200 years ago.
It depends how you define poor.
Royalty lived pretty well 150-200 hundred years ago; even if running water was a servant running with your water. And servants to dress you and stuff.
Heck, even the Roman had under-floor central heating and hot running water.............
I think the UN or some body deines real poverty as existing on less than a dollar per day - been there, done that...... in the USA you are poor if on less than something like $30,000 a year or some amazing figure that would make you seem rich in some countries.
I know the USA is a rich country with lots of poor people and has dropped to about 6th in the world in per capita GNP, but you still have plenty of people in the middle and a lot of quite rich guys too.
Some countries have a large percentage of really poor people, very few in the middle and a few really really rich people at the top - that's a society that really sucks (not naming any countries, but they are not in 'the west').
Then there is something else. People can be poor financially but proud and happy and decent - others can be poor in spirit and whining no hopers.........
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