What does it mean to say that 46.2 million Americans live in “poverty”?

Yesterday morning, the U.S. Bureau of the Census released its annual report on income and poverty, saying that some 46.2 million Americans –15 percent of the population — were poor in 2011. The poverty rate did not fall from the prior year but remained at a near record high, the agency said.

The rise in poverty from 36.4 million in 2006 to 46.2 million in 2011 was due initially to the recession and now to the failure of the Obama administration to restore jobs in the economy.
According to the Census Bureau, some 11 million more adults are without work today than before the recession began. This number has been getting worse year by year. Similarly, roughly 8 million fewer Americans work fulltime through the year. The collapse of jobs sharply increases the total poverty number.
But what does it mean to say that 46.2 million Americans are “poor”? For most people, the word “poverty” suggests near destitution: an inability to provide nutritious food, clothing, and reasonable shelter for one’s family. However, only a small number of the 46.2 million persons classified as “poor” by the Census Bureau fit that description.
Nearly all “poor” persons live in houses or apartments that are in good repair and not overcrowded; in fact, the dwelling of the average poor American is larger than the house or apartment of the average non-poor person in countries such as France and the United Kingdom. By their own reports, most poor persons in America had sufficient funds to meet all essential needs and to obtain medical care for family members throughout the year whenever needed.

Read more: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/316712/how-poor-poor-robert-rector