The Rich and the Poor

The Rich and the Poor - counting the poor The poverty line...


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The Rich and the Poor The Rich - Although there is no standard definition of what it means to be rich, the following observations can be made: 1) Those in the top 10 percent of the income distribution have at least a six-figure income ($150,000 or more). 2) Those who are very rich or superrich own their own large companies or possess a great deal of stock in many corporations. These families have wealth that reaches tens or hundreds of millions of dollars or even more (e.g., the wealth of Bill Gates exceeds $90 Billion, which is more that the total wealth of a million average people). 3) The wealthy have tremendous political clout and buy political influence with huge financial contributions to politicians and political candidates. The Poor - The poverty line is a standard set by the U.S. government for the purpose of
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Unformatted text preview: counting the poor. The poverty line is a level of annual income below which a person or family is defined as poor and thus entitled to government assistance. There are millions of people in the U.S. who work full-time but are still below the poverty line. - In 1999, 12% of the population (about 32 million people) lived in a household with income below the poverty line. The poorest half of families make only half of the poverty line standard (the poverty gap refers to the difference between the official poverty line and the actual income of the typical poor household). - Critics claim that the poverty line actually underestimates the amount of income necessary to live. Realistically, it would take an income that is 25% higher than this standard to provide a family with basic economic security....
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This note was uploaded on 11/08/2011 for the course SCIE SYG2000 taught by Professor Bernhardt during the Fall '10 term at Broward College.

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