Poverty and statistics ...

... Transmission from a lone star: American poverty | Columnists | RIA Novosti.

...  times are rough, and there are plenty of people in my town living in trailers and subsisting on food stamps. But even so I was immediately skeptical, especially when I read that “near poverty” does not exclude ownership of a) a $230,000 house, b) two cars, c) a big plasma screen TV (hooked up to cable), d) a blackberry or iPhone e) an xbox and f) many other items that would be considered inconceivable luxuries in most of the world.

I'm worse off than I thought. We don't have a plasma TV and we only have one car. I do plan on getting an iPhone, and I have been told our house is worth more than $230,000 - but not a lot more.  I don't even know what an xbox is.