For how many people?
Comment on Why the real poverty line is $140,000, this strategist argues
finitebanjo@lemmy.world 1 month ago
I personally consider the poverty line to be when you can live safely and comfortably, which for most places around the world would be like $20,000 and for intercity New York would be like $80,000.
lemmyseikai@lemmy.world 1 month ago
finitebanjo@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Individual
lemmyseikai@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Unless I am mistaken poverty lines are usually for families not individuals.
I think 140k median us wide for a family seems reasonable. Sure it’s pretty high for some Low Cost of Living areas, but many of those areas lack local social services, public transit, etc.
finitebanjo@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Would that not then be letting the high cost outliers dictate the number for the vast majority?
zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 month ago
The 140k amount was for a family of four and including childcare for two children.
fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net 1 month ago
That sounds about right. Anyone who objects can stick it into an inflation calculator and compare to “back in my day”
zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 month ago
Well, a big part of the article is that you can’t just do that because the original formula was iffy even for the time when housing and insurance costs were not nearly as much of the average person’s expenses. That part of the article (well at least the original article this was based from www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-life-is-a-lie) that was so interesting was that it was originally based on about 3x times the minimum food budget. Apparently that was just an easier number to be able to quantify at the time in the 60s and they just kept using it.