The Real Numbers: Half of America in Poverty -- and It's Creeping toward 75%

[hfojvt]

30. and they shouldn't - because it is really stupid

First of all, I don't see where their 47% number comes from. The article says 1 in 4 Americans has zero or negative net worth. And they claim that 47% have zero or negative net worth.

Then to say that half of all Americans are poor, based on an AVERAGE income of the bottom 50%.

Oof. That's ridiculous.

Here's a clue, including the poor in the average, brings the average down. However, lots of people in that group are making more than the average. Might as well say that Bill Gates is poor too, by including him with a group of 10 million poor people.

Let's see, say he makes a billion dollars a year (for the sake of argument) and the poor people make $5,000. So total income for the 10,000,001 people is $51 billion. Their average income is only $5,099. So Bill Gates is poor too.