Obama: Cut the deficit by taxing the rich

[mrstickball]

Kasz216 said:

Rath said:

3 out of the 4 metrics are absolute poverty. The percentage who live to 60, percentage literacy and long term unemployment are all absolute. Only the 1/2 median income is relative.

None of those are nessisairly poverty based though.  Life expectancy for exampe is MUCH more heavily influenced by culture then actual medicine when you get to somewhat similiar situations.

Note.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/books/chapters/chapter-outliers.html

 

Literacy, CAN be related, but isn't nessisairly so....

and

Long Term Unemployment is close... but it ignores short term unemployment... which could still cause some abject povery if it's through very short bursts of working.

Right.

The issue is that the metrics argued are usually relative to the society. e.g. a lower life expectancy doesn't always equate to poverty, nor litteracy (assuming they have compulsory education), and so on.

What I am asking is what is it like to be in poverty in NZ, AU, US, UK, FR and DE. What do you have access to if your on the bottom end. Can you eat? Do you live in a house? What is your house like?