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It was actually 1964 when

Submitted by Philip Brewer on September 16, 2007 - 17:29.

It was actually 1964 when the "poverty line" was set at three times the cost of an "economy food budget".

Correct, but much of the data came from the Agriculture Department's 1955 Household Food Consumption Survey, so it was (to a considerable extent) based on the prices and situations from much earlier than the date the poverty line was set. See the Orshansky link I posted for gory details.

I agree completely with the general sense that poverty line doesn't paint an accurate picture of who's in poverty and who isn't. However, I think it's true that the average poor person today has a much high standard of living than a poor person 50 years ago. I also think many people living at an ordinary middle-class standard of living in the 1950s would be viewed as living in poverty, if they were living the same way today.

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