5 person household poverty

2 Parent, 3 children household—

EPI Budget calculator: $ 59,732.

Official Federal Poverty line: $24,800.

with a whopping Difference of $34,932.

My family could not live at the government’s poverty line; more than half of the budget would go towards housing alone! At the very least, no one would have any comforts at all. My family could live comfortably on the EPI budget thought. In fact, until recently, my family lived on less than that. We couldn’t have the nicest of things, but we certainly weren’t hungry or uncomfortable in any major way. Actually, in my opinion (for the state of south carolina) the EPI budget allowed more money than necessary for food per month with $776. My family will spend on average only $100 per week, maybe $150. But we do not buy the quick-fix stuff or go out to eat on that type of a budget. We buy the ingredients to go in the meal dishes and it is cheaper. And we ate well. Really, the biggest problem was that my two teenage brothers shared a room. I feel bad for the families featured on the documentary. There is no doubt that they have it very rough. However, I do not know what exactly the government should do to fix this problem, especially when the bill to rescue the crashed big businesses was rejected yesterday. Most people want the government to keep out of their “business” and to be relatively small, and then when problems come up, they all of a sudden want the government to fix them. I do believe that the current method of calculating poverty is seriously outdated, and definitely needs to be re-evaluated. The new poverty formula should take into consideration modern day costs and concerns, such as inflation and housing costs. The average family budget is no longer simply the annual cost of food times three.