'A socialist government is the enemy of the poor'. Ever since the 1960's and Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty, billions of dollars have been spent on the so called poor. Instead of eliminating poverty, the number of people on the 'dole' have increased. Some of the professional poor families are now on their 3rd generation of being couch potatoes.

The following are facts about persons defined as “poor” by the Census Bureau as taken from various government reports:

* 80 percent of poor households have air conditioning. In 1970, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.
* 92 percent of poor households have a microwave.
* Nearly three-fourths have a car or truck, and 31 percent have two or more cars or trucks.
* Nearly two-thirds have cable or satellite TV.
* Two-thirds have at least one DVD player, and 70 percent have a VCR.
* Half have a personal computer, and one in seven have two or more computers.
* More than half of poor families with children have a video game system, such as an Xbox or PlayStation.
* 43 percent have Internet access.
* One-third have a wide-screen plasma or LCD TV.
* One-fourth have a digital video recorder system, such as a TiVo.

For decades, the living conditions of the poor have steadily improved. Consumer items that were luxuries or significant purchases for the middle class a few decades ago have become commonplace in poor households, partially because of the normal downward price trend that follows introduction of a new product.

Liberals use the declining relative prices of many amenities to argue that it is no big deal that poor households have air conditioning, computers, cable TV, and wide-screen TV. They contend, polemically, that even though most poor families may have a house full of modern conveniences, the average poor family still suffers from substantial deprivation in basic needs, such as food and housing. In reality, this is just not true.

Although the mainstream media broadcast alarming stories about widespread and severe hunger in the nation, in reality, most of the poor do not experience hunger or food shortages. The U.S. Department of Agriculture collects data on these topics in its household food security survey. For 2009, the survey showed:

* 96 percent of poor parents stated that their children were never hungry at any time during the year because they could not afford food.

* 83 percent of poor families reported having enough food to eat.
* 82 percent of poor adults reported never being hungry at any time in the prior year due to lack of money for food.

'Television newscasts about poverty in America generally portray the poor as homeless people or as a destitute family living in an overcrowded, dilapidated trailer. In fact, however:

* Over the course of a year, 4 percent of poor persons become temporarily homeless.
* Only 9.5 percent of the poor live in mobile homes or trailers, 49.5 percent live in separate single-family houses or townhouses, and 40 percent live in apartments.
* 42 percent of poor households actually own their own homes.

* Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded. More than two-thirds have more than two rooms per person.

* The average poor American has more living space than the typical non-poor person in Sweden, France, or the United Kingdom.
* The vast majority of the homes or apartments of the poor are in good repair.

By their own reports, the average poor person had sufficient funds to meet all essential needs and to obtain medical care for family members throughout the year whenever needed.

Of course, poor Americans do not live in the lap of luxury. The poor clearly struggle to make ends meet, but they are generally struggling to pay for cable TV, air conditioning, and a car, as well as for food on the table. The average poor person is far from affluent, but his lifestyle is far from the images of stark deprivation purveyed by advocacy groups and the media.'

facts about the poor in America:

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/09/understanding-poverty-in-the-united-states-surprising-facts-about-americas-poor

Nick, what are you doing? You are using facts to prove your point; the progressives do not care about facts, they care only about using people to garner emotion to get what they want. There is no room for facts in socialism. Torrence is the same guy that wrote about the Zimmerman-Martin shooting and had all the facts wrong.

I have often wondered why the people who want socialism or a different form of government don't just leave the USA. What they are looking for already exists in other countries, oh wait, it is because it is not working in those countries, and they think so highly of themselves and believe they can make socialism work here because they are smarter than everyone else.

If you want that type of govt, Mr. Torrence, then leave the USA and go to Europe, you will have your pick of Utopias.

So, Don, how's that Obama budget, (you know, the one that not a single Democrat would support recently) work for you? Is it better, or worse than the Ryan budget?
Please...do tell.
It's child's play to identify problems; you make no effort to provide even a single practical solution.