Una limosna, por caridad

La próxima vez que alguien le comente, en medio de una discusión sobre los EEUU, que no puede ser bueno un país en el que hay tantos pobres, acuérdense de lo que va a leer ahora en estas líneas:

• Forty-six percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.


• Seventy-six percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, 30 years ago, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.


• 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 average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)


• Nearly three-quarters of poor households own a car; 30 percent own two or more cars.


• Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.


• Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.


• Seventy-three percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and a third have an automatic dishwasher.

. . . Overall, the typical American defined as poor by the government has a car, air conditioning, a refrigerator, a stove, a clothes washer and dryer, and a microwave. He has two color televisions, cable or satellite TV reception, a VCR or DVD player, and a stereo. He is able to obtain medical care. 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. While this individual's life is not opulent, it is equally far from the popular images of dire poverty conveyed by the press, liberal activists, and politicians.

El artículo entero puede leerlo en The economist, al que yo llegué vía Statler & Waldorf. Por si le resulta poco también puede leer el informe del Government Accountability Office (GAO) .

Y cuando haya terminado de leer todo eso llame a la memoria el dato de renta per cápita en España: 27.226 $ ; en Argentina: 4.799 $; en Uruguay: 5.274 $ (siempre la misma fuente)
Ahora piense en los amigos, vecinos, familiares que ganan 1.500 $ al mes, o menos. Lo tiene? Ya puede reirse a carcajadas del tertuliano que intenta convencerle de lo malo, malísimo que es vivir en USA.