If you look at some of the depression and dustbowl photos, you can see actual poverty. Today you can have a family that owns two cars, is buying their own home, all of them are overweight, and they are still classified as poor. I believe it's a matter of definition. We define poverty as "X" income, and pay people who earn less. But we don't count those payments as income, so they are still classified as poor. I know that for whatever reasons, we do have people in this country who are genuinely poor, but subsidizing low income is a trap that's difficult to escape.