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Re:The Poorest 20% of Americans Are Richer on Average Than M... by arbuge on Monday August 26, 2019 @02:47PM (#20802533)
Be careful about jumping to conclusions before you read the full article.

"The high consumption of America’s “poor” doesn’t mean they live better than average people in the nations they outpace, like Spain, Denmark, Japan, Greece, and New Zealand. This is because people’s quality of life also depends on their communities and personal choices, like the local politicians they elect, the violent crimes they commit, and the spending decisions they make."

Re:The Poorest 20% of Americans Are Richer on Average Than M... by JAlexoid on Monday August 26, 2019 @04:31PM (#20803457)
It's a wholly schizophrenic article. It is also completely ignorant of global financial markets and currency markets.

It's basically a useless statistic that you can read the way you want - does a burger-flipper in McD in US make more burgers? does the price of healthy food have an impact? is USD valued excessively? does this value show the importance of American global military power? do Americans save too little? are the taxes too high elsewhere?

I mean - this is a pointless statistic and poverty is relative to the local community. $1 will not buy you a burger in NYC, but will get you one somewhere else....

Re:The Poorest 20% of Americans Are Richer on Average Than M... by blunte on Monday August 26, 2019 @03:04PM (#20802681)
In that case, the title is very misleading.
Re:The Poorest 20% of Americans Are Richer on Average Than M... by kube-system on Monday August 26, 2019 @03:17PM (#20802810)
Not unless the reader assumes that money equates directly to quality of life.

America doesn't really have a reputation for wise spending habits and relaxed working habits.

Re:The Poorest 20% of Americans Are Richer on Average Than M... by TheOtherHobbes on Monday August 26, 2019 @03:11PM (#20802753)
That throw-away about "the violent crimes they commit" is a particularly amusing tell.

It's impossible to take the content on this site seriously. if you look at the Daily section you'll find the usual curriculum of stock right-wing interests and talking points - transparent climate change denial, attacks on the earnings of federal government workers, attacks on the EPA, stock anti-gun control talking points, stock anti-abortion talking points, and so on.

It's absolutely disingenuous to pretend this is an objective fact-based site when in fact it's just another right-wing blog with a political angle to sell.

For comparison here are official USDA figures and French ENFAM figures on food security.

https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/fo...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5876965/

Re:The Poorest 20% of Americans Are Richer on Average Than M... by Excel_Wizard on Monday August 26, 2019 @03:23PM (#20802850)
This particular site is definitely strongly right-leaning. However, the vast majority of its claims are based in objective scientific studies and reporting. It's a pretty rare bird, don't see a lot of sites with its style.
Re:The Poorest 20% of Americans Are Richer on Average Than M... by joshuamorton on Monday August 26, 2019 @03:43PM (#20802987)
So, if you explore the site a bit more, you'll come across a page on racial issues, which among other things includes this fun tidbit:

> Apes, on the contrary, can grasp in this way with the hind-foot as well as the fore-foot, and were therefore regarded as four-handed. Many tribes, however, among the lower races of men, especially many negro tribes, use the foot in the same way as the hand.

Can you explain to me why they'd include such a "fact"?

To be fair, the actual "fact" they claim is that an evolutionary biologist in the 1800s said that, but 1800s evolutionary biologists said many things, so why include that statement specifically as a fact? Especially as I'm sure if I asked them, they'd claim not to endorse such views. But if they don't endorse those views, why bring that fact to the forefront, instead of some other?

Re:The Poorest 20% of Americans Are Richer on Average Than M... by Excel_Wizard on Monday August 26, 2019 @03:56PM (#20803121)
They are strongly right-leaning. Their selection of information that they present is heavily biased in its selection, but I believe that the statistics they present are true.

I don't think they would call anyone the "lower races" though. That was a quote from an 1800's biologist. They (the site editors) probably do believe that people of African descent are a bit stupider than other folks. Not sure whether they (the site editors) would believe it is genetic or cultural. It's not like anyone is surprised that an 1800's colonialist would use such language.

The statistics they present, on the whole, are still a useful bit of information to read. A lot of the information they have on gun control was both surprising and trustworthy. Just make sure they're not your only source- it would not be balanced. They are a bit malicious in their selection bias. They might be a gateway drug to the alt-right, but they also present a lot of information that other media specifically avoids because it is inflammatory and bad for business.

Re:The Poorest 20% of Americans Are Richer on Average Than M... by JAlexoid on Monday August 26, 2019 @04:37PM (#20803505)
Ahh... The 80/20 principle. I throw 80% of facts and provide 20% of opinion to tie these facts together in a way that I want.

I mean.... The article literally acknowledges that an average Spanish person has a higher standard of life, than the bottom 20% of household income families in US. But somehow the same people manage to be wealthier?!?!?!

Also - the name Just Facts is factually untrue, because the author spends more than half of the article on opinions.

- Oh, I always forget that those statistics are computed differently in US. In US this is family income, while most other places it's personal income.

Re:The Poorest 20% of Americans Are Richer on Average Than M... by lonelappde on Monday August 26, 2019 @03:34PM (#20802932)
The article is propaganda translucently pushing an anti-poor narrative.

Flagged.