Where Best to Be Poor

If I were to be condemned to be “poor,” I’d rather be poor in America than in any other country in the world. People who consider themselves “poor” in America would be considered “rich” in most other countries. They did a television special on “the poor” in New York a few years ago that flopped because the pictures they took through the tenement windows showed the flickering of color television sets. Poor people don’t own color television sets. Neither do they have cars, nor their own homes. I remember a time when my own daughter told me we were “poor” because of what she had learned at school.

At the time I had three cars, color TV, an expensive model railroad layout in the basement, and many other things “poor people” do not have, including a five bedroom house where she had her own room. This is what our kids are being taught in school today. She was not “starving” in any way. It strikes me as funny that many “poor people” are fat. How could they be fat if they’re “starving?” there’s nothing wrong with being overweight, except for the health factor. But “starving people” are NOT overweight. (Walter E. Williams/Town Hall)