And your point is what? That they are not really poor if they can afford "luxuries" like fridges and microwaves? Or cable tv? Do they have to be as bad off as the poor in India before they qualify as poor in your eyes in America?
I don't think they have to be as poor as an Indian to qualify but it does show how people prioritize their expenditures.
So, um, fridges and microwaves are luxuries because that means they can actually chill and heat up their food?
A basic fridge (no drink dispenser in the door or stainless steel finish) isn't a luxury in America but people can make do without microwave ovens. Somehow I managed to survive without one until I was about 28 years old. It's a convenience, yes, but not a necessity.
People who work in fields all day might be too tired to spend another 2 hours preparing a meal over a firepit when they get home or maybe after washing dishes all day for shit pay in a restaurant, they don't really want to wash dishes when they get home or maybe, to feed their kids milk that didn't go bad, they kinda need a fridge.
So, the only options are either a fire pit or a microwave? No regular gas or electric stove? That's pretty extreme.
They don't
want to wash dishes, so I guess they should have an electric dishwasher? Yes, that would be nice but not a necessity.
Or after bending over toilets cleaning up other people's feces and urine, they badly need to zone out when they get home and watch a damn tv show if they want to.
I've cleaned many toilets and restrooms in a school, college, and private residences, for very little pay, so I know what it's like to clean up other people's messes. I don't begrudge someone watching a TV show after work. However, it doesn't have to be a theater quality TV with a zillion cable channels.
A cellphone? One can get that cheap, same for computers.
At least they don't have to share a party line phone like I did at one time.
One basic computer for the family, OK. Every possible game hooked up to it, well....
Airconditioning...I've been in the South, it gets really hot and really muggy and I am sure hard working folks deserve their damn air conditioning when they've been working all day outside and many do die from heat stroke when they do not have air conditioning. How dare they think they are entitled to air conditioning. How dare they? Only people who have more money should be allowed to have air conditioning. the poor should just sit and suffer in 100 plus heat at nght, unable to sleep and thus having less energy the next day to pick the fucking fruits in the fields again, their backs bent over all day and aching.
I've lived in the South since 1972. The first enlisted family housing we lived in, at NAS Pensacola, FL, was in the "inadequate" section. Yes, it was officially labeled "inadequate." They were units from WWII. No AC included. Two bedrooms, one 3/4 bathroom (prefab metal shower, no tub) in about 500 sq. ft. No kitchen cabinets (one large book shelf unit served as a pantry), extremely old sink and stove, no counters, and my grandma's two-person table and chairs. No laundry. One closet. The sliding doors opened up into the "master" bedroom on one wall, and into the living room on the other. That is, you could walk thru the closet from one room to the other. (Like on
Green Acres.)
We didn't work in fields but we did have to work, and we had our baby sleeping in that "inadequate" Southern apartment.
