A (Flawed) Example of the Vitality of Mythical Numbers

Over the summer, The Heritage Foundation tried to debunk the U.S. Census Buerau's poverty numbers. Recently, the Census Buerau reported that 46.2 million Americans lived in poverty in 2010. Heritage's Robert Rector argues that the Census Buerau's measurement is inaccurate because families aren't in poverty if they own "conveniences" such as fans and coffee makers. Here's an excerpt:

But what does it mean to be “poor” in America? What is poverty?

For most U.S. residents, the word “poverty” suggests destitution: an inability to provide yourself and your family with reasonable shelter, nutritious food and clothing....

Fortunately, such images have little or nothing to do with the actual living conditions of most of the more than 40 million Americans defined as “poor” by the Census Bureau...

A microwave, refrigerator, oven and stove were all in the kitchen of the average poor household. Other conveniences included clothes washer and dryer, ceiling fans, cordless phone and coffee maker...

Should a family that lives this way be considered poor? The overwhelming answer from the public is no.

Melissa Boteach of the Center for American Progress responded:

First, the electronic devices that Heritage cites are everyday necessities today. Who has iceboxes anymore? Who doesn’t need a cell phone to find a job or keep one?...

Indeed, the rising cost of paying for electricity for the very appliances that Heritage thinks are indicators of luxury are eating a bigger and bigger hole into the pockets of the poor. Today struggling families are spending at least 15 percent of their household budget to pay their electric bills, and the poorest of the poor shell out an even higher percentage of their income for this basic expense...

To avoid a real discussion of these issues, the Heritage Foundation craftily creates indexes that rank households on skewed measures of “amenities” that suggest that no further federal action is needed to buoy the standard of living of poor and working-class families. Such indexes are heartless and foolish. Heartless because they ignore the fact that it takes much more than a few appliances to support a family. And foolish because they lend credence to the calls for cutting the supports that research has shown are necessary for every child to become a healthy and productive adult.

Boteach also thinks that the poverty index is inadequate, but because it has only been indexed to inflation.

Even the Wall Street Journal thinks that Heritage's report is misleading:

The report notes that 99.9% of U.S. households have a refrigerator and 98.7% have a television. But cheap appliances from Wal-Mart or second-hand ones from Goodwill do not lift people out of poverty. And televisions only make the poor more aware of what they don't have.

Poverty deniers also like to attack the official poverty rate by noting that today's poor enjoy conveniences that were affordable only to the rich in generations past. Toilet paper was once a luxury. Is anyone with continuous access to a continuous roll not to be counted as poor?