#Absolute Poverty

[principleofplenitude]

The official poverty measure is what’s sometimes known as an “absolute” poverty measure. Measures like this generally only adjust their thresholds for inflation. Many are based on less arbitrary numbers than “what people spent on food in 1955,” and many use different measurements of inflation, since a lot of economists think the Consumer Price Index overstates price increases compared to the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) or chained CPI measures. But they fundamentally have a lot in common with the OPM’s approach: They set a dollar threshold for who is and isn’t poor and stick to it. Absolute poverty measures are crystal clear about what has happened to poverty since the 1960s: It plummeted. The below chart shows three different absolute measures, all of which use expansive income definitions, unlike the official rate. All three have fallen dramatically. The primary case for absolute measures like these is that they’re easy to interpret. Because the thresholds only change due to inflation, changes in the poverty rate only happen because people near the bottom get richer or poorer. If poverty falls, it’s because some low-income people gained more money or resources. If it increases, it’s because some low-income people lost out. Insofar as those kinds of material changes at the bottom are the main thing one cares about, absolute measures can be helpful. As a group of Columbia researchers argued in 2016, absolute measures are “more useful for establishing how families’ resources have changed against a fixed benchmark.” Applied to the US, the takeaway is that many fewer people are living on a very small amount of money than was the case in the 1960s. But many poverty scholars prefer to use what are called “relative” measures. Such measures set the threshold as a percentage of the country in question’s median income (usually 50 or 60 percent). Most rich countries other than the US define poverty in this way. The European Union, for instance, uses what it calls an “at risk of poverty” rate, defined as the share of residents in a country living on less than 60 percent of the median disposable income. The United Kingdom uses a “households below average income” (HBAI) statistic, with the main threshold set to 60 percent of median income. The case for relative measures is that poverty is socially defined, and “being in poverty” is usually thought of as people not being able to exist with the level of comfort that is normal in the society in which they live. A common definition, from the British scholar Peter Townsend, posits that poverty is “the absence or inadequacy of those diets, amenities, standards, services and activities which are common or customary in society.” Commonness or customariness are relative attributes, not absolute ones. Some, like sociologist David Brady, have also argued for relative measures on the grounds that they correlate better with self-reported mental and physical health and well-being. Looked at in relative terms, poverty hasn’t fallen in the US in recent decades. It’s stagnated.

“Why even brilliant scholars misunderstand poverty in America” from Vox

[gfablogs]

How Is GFA World Promoting Girls’ Education?

GFA World is promoting girls’ education through their child sponsorship program. This program helps thousands of girls and boys through community-wide solutions like opportunities for education, medical care, protection against malnutrition, clean water and more.

GFA World’s Child Sponsorship Program helped Sumana and her family.1

Sumana is one of the oldest girls in her family of 7 children. In their village, Sumana’s family experienced discrimination because of their ethnicity. So, they moved to the larger city looking for a better life.

In the city, Sumana’s parents began working at a carpet factory, washing, dying and weaving wool in looms. They worked long hours to boost their income, but their earnings were still insufficient. The minimum wage for daily laborers at the factories was $1.60 per day; this is not a livable wage.1 To help her family, Sumana quit school and went to work at the carpet factory with her parents.

Even with Sumana working alongside her parents, their family struggled financially. Sumana’s parents decided to move back to their village and leave Sumana and her younger sister, Sai, behind in the city. Sumana and Sai continued to work in the carpet factory and send money home to their family to help with rent, food, school tuition and other expenses.

This new reality was lonely and difficult for both girls. Sumana shouldered the responsibility of working and taking care of her younger sister. Sumana went to the local school and enrolled her sister; she was determined for Sai to have an education, even if she could not. Sai began attending school, but she struggled to understand the materials and complete her homework because Sumana could not help her.

Sumana shared her situation with a coworker. Sumana’s coworker told her about GFA World’s Child Sponsorship Program. Sumana enrolled Sai in the program; GFA World paid for Sai’s school tuition and supplies and offered tutoring to help with her school work. Sai’s grades and excitement for school grew.

Sumana and Sai’s situation is not unique; hundreds of thousands of girls worldwide leave school to work to help their families survive poverty.

Click here, to read more about this article.

Click here, to read more blogs in Gospel for Asia.Net

[the-badger-mole]

Love how you shamelessly hate Aang—I mean this totally as a compliment by the way! I’m so tired of seeing “I ship Zutara but I LOOOOVE Aang he’s a cinnamon roll baby!!!” and “you can like Zutara and also like Aang” and “it’s the WRITING that’s bad not Aang!” takes…ugh. Please. He’s a cartoon character and I don’t like him. That isn’t a crime. He’s boring at best and an entitled borderline abusive little shit at worst. I don’t like him! It’s so refreshing to read your blog, I don’t understand this fandom’s obsession with acting like he’s a real child we have to coddle

I don't understand it either. Then again, I will go to the mat to defend some pretty controversial characters, so who am I to judge (justice for Mr. Collins!) ? I don't mind that other people like him -some of my favorite people in the fandom like him- as long as they don't come after me for not liking him.

But yeah, the defense of him boiling down to "bad writing" always felt off. To me, bad writing is when the character suddenly takes actions that seem to come out of nowhere. Aang's actions in the back half of ATLA and into the comics and LoK track. They track very well with who he was even in the first season. Yes, he got worse as the series progressed, but the seeds were always there. I guess, if you want to make an argument for it being bad writing, you could talk about how his bad traits in the first half seemed to be setting up a growth arc that was abandoned in the second half. There's an argument to be made there, but it's not an argument that Aang's worst traits were OOC for him. I am not shocked at the kind of family Aang ended up having. I'm not shocked at how Kataang the couple turned out. I'm only shocked that Bryke managed to be that honest about Aang without realizing how awful he was.

[mightymizora]

People compare Gortash to Elon Musk but kids I would be so surprised if Escobar wasn’t wholesale on the Gort mood board

[featheredadora]

I know this is a bird blog but...yikes guys, things aren't doing so good over here in the UK at the moment

Being poor is not a moral failing (though it is a societal failing - no one should have to live in poverty), and poor people deserve more than just survival!

[hairtusk]

while the dinner with family yesterday was awful, I heard a story from my grandma that was genuinely chilling, and made me think of this sudden resurgence of 'stay at home girlfriend' or trad content that is being pushed online. basically, my grandma's male friend recently had a massive stroke, and is in a hospice essentially just waiting to pass away. this has really put his partner into dire straits - he never got married to his girlfriend of 30ish years, and now, she's living in (his) house that she has no legal right to occupy. she's been a stay-at-home partner, so she has no pension, no savings, no money whatsoever to move out. and the man's family (who *do* have a legal right to his house) are hovering like vultures ready to take possession. this woman is in her 70s, and has absolutely nothing in the world now that he's on his deathbed. i cannot imagine a scarier situation to find oneself in.

[elflikesfrogs]

irks me when people say daredevil is the batman of marvel because there's one fundamental difference between them, and it's that daredevil is dirt poor and batman is a billionaire. their wealth gaps are absolutely integral to each of their characters. daredevil would not be who he is if he was a rich man and i will die on this hill

[maounteighn]

it will never stop being funny how out of aaalll musicals out there available in the 80s the one Patrick Bateman chose to put on his wall was fricking LES MISERABLES.

[nando161mando]

So being rich is an excuse for being an absolute ahole nowadays?

[gfablogs]

How Can We Help Educate Girls Globally?

Education is invaluable—it empowers girls and gives them hope, opportunity and confidence. Education also improves women’s careers and income.1 Literate women can run businesses, sign contracts and navigate new jobs rather than toiling for low pay in fields and factories. Girls need to attend and complete school, so there are ongoing efforts to educate girls globally.

A great example of the power of education is Ashima’s story. Young Ashima infrequently attended school; instead, she opted to play with her friends. Like many children in her village: her family lived in poverty, so they often could not afford books or supplies for school.

A GFA-sponsored worker built relationships with adults in Ashima’s village and heard about children like Ashima leaving school because of insufficient finances. After many months, GFA World set up a child sponsorship program in Ashima’s village. Through the program, Ashima received school books and supplies and tutoring. GFA’s support renewed Ashima’s interest in school and dedication to her studies. She later reflected,

“My future ambition is that I want to become a medical doctor.”

“Especially, I want to serve the poor from our society because … once we were very poor, and because we were poor, we were not able to buy so many things. It affected us very badly. And now, because [GFA World] is here, this is helping the poor and needy people like us; I also want to help and serve all the poor children and poor people who are suffering.”2

Click here, to read more about this article.

Click here, to read more blogs in Gospel for Asia.Net 

[im-getting-help]

Another day, another panic attack.

I honestly don't know what to do, I don't know what I can do. I can't work and my country is speedrunning economic ruin thanks to our lovely president who hates people and common sense in equal measure.

Even if I can get a job, which is almost impossible at this rate, I won't be able to keep it, I know, and that's IF I can get out of the panic state I enter every time I think about working.

I woke up today and the first thing I did was have a panic attack, and it's been like this for days now. I have to open YT and distract myself cause nothing else works except for completely disengage with reality.

I can't even do the essays and reading for uni cause I get paranoid and start doubting myself, and there we go again to the next panick attack or crying session. It's been only a month and i'm already late on assignments cause the only thing I want can to do is sleep.

Hello depression and anxiety, I did not missed you guys.

In november of last year, when our current president won the elections, I knew that everything was going to go to shit pretty quickly. Here we are, 1 kilo of potato is $1400 pesos. WHO CAN AFFORD THAT? We spent at least $400.000 pesos every month only in food cause everything is so expensive, we are in debt just to cover basic necessities.

And I wish I was fcking normal, I wish I could just pick up any job and go to work and make some money, but I can't.

Yeah, anyways, im going to make some tea and idk pray I guess(???) pray that some psychiatrists in this miserable island gives me a fcking appointment and takes my inability to maintain a job seriously instead of dismiss me with a "well, I think you just need therapy, good fcking luck :)"

[firelise]

...how does the whole school not have a massive crush on simon? hes literally shaped like a fallen angel?

[thecruellestmonth]

...no, I still disagree with you.

i've seen the argument. i've seen you and others restate that argument. multiple times. and it's still no more solid than the opposition. 🤷‍♀️

a factual point is that B has destroyed so much more than W ever has, or ever could.

otherwise. you have no right to label people as bigots for not adhering to your headcanon.

[tittyinfinity]

My super nice water bottle broke beyond repair and I can't replace it because my mom doesn't have her company discount anymore and this cup costs $60😭

[invested-in-your-future]

You are just mad they have shown Atlas for hellhole it was

Yes, totally. I am totally angry at them doing that, that's what it all is about.

glances at the notes for my AU

Wouldn't want Kingdoms to be seen as incompetent, messy or bad...totally not...

I would never do that

[ancientrimer]

you ever read a paper that has such a bad faith-take on a female main character that you know without looking that it’s by a male author