MMMM #165 -- Po' but Proud

     In a "Road Trip" item by Joe Klein last week about America "in Decline" on TIME magazine's website, he quoted Jim Phillips, the president of the Arkansas Dentists Association:

Phillips summoned another fallen empire: “We’re where England was. They got lazy…The thing is, we’ve got everything. We’re a consumer nation. Even the poorest people have air conditioning and television. There’s no reason for people to work so hard anymore, not like our parents.”

     I would guess he's one of the people who also think prisoners have AC and cable too.     
    Why do some Americans believe the American poor (in and out of prison) have it so good?
     Perhaps Dr. Phillips is a fan of The Heritage Foundation, which this summer released a report that made life as a poor American seem positively rosy:

     The typical poor American family was also able to obtain medical care when needed. By its own (Census) report, the typical family was not hungry and had sufficient funds during the past year to meet all essential needs.



     Poor families certainly struggle to make ends meet, but in most cases, they are struggling to pay for air conditioning and the cable TV bill as well as to put food on the table...

     And the Heritage Foundation blames, in part---drum role---the media. It cites four reports about poor families on the three broadcast networks:

To the extent that the networks suggest that the living standards of these families are representative of the living conditions of 35 million poor people across the nation, they are profoundly misleading viewers.

     Local reporters get to see poverty first hand, especially during The Great Recession, which has pushed more and more Americans---especially children---- into poverty for the first time. They go to Alabama's "Black Belt", where double digit unemployment is the norm. Is there AC there? For some, yes---window units mostly---some kind of AC is expected in the modern South. And yes, the poor do struggle to pay the resulting power bills. Would it be better if they just sweated more? 
     The Heritage report also points to the presence of VHS and DVD players as a sure sign that poverty is being inflated by the media. A basic DVD player can be bought for $17. Is owning one somehow an indication of wealth?
     Dr. Phillips draws a poverty line so low that ownership of anything above a plate and fork (or a toothbrush) and a tent seems to be equated to an "all's well" lifestyle.
     Perhaps an Arkansas poverty advocacy group should invite him on a tour sometime.

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog.]