The Poverty Line Was Designed Assuming Every Family Had a Housewife Who Was a 'Skillful Cook'

[LiberalArkie]

The official poverty line, as I wrote yesterday, is a dated and crude statistical concept that in many ways fails to capture America's historical success at fighting economic need. It was based on the cost of food in 1963, mostly because the Department of Agriculture had some idea of what a basic grocery budget should look like, whereas there wasn't any real agreement on what families needed to spend on other essentials. Since then, it's mostly just been adjusted for inflation.

Keep that history in mind while reading this passage, which I found in a 1992 report by the Social Security Administration on how the poverty threshold came to be:

When the hypothetical family cut back its food expenditures to the point where they equaled the cost of the economy food plan (or the low cost food plan) for a family of that size, the family would have reached the point at which its food expenditures were minimal but adequate, assuming that "the housewife will be a careful shopper, a skillful cook, and a good manager who will prepare all the family's meals at home.” [/div class]

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[annabanana]

1. "homemaker"

is a full time job

[wordpix]

31. It is if you do it like it was 1900

Grow a huge family garden, cook, clean, laundry, take care of children, maybe farm animals. Help husband with other chores like building structures, splitting and stacking wood and planting fields. I've done it and it is sunup to sundown and there's no such thing as insomnia or need for a workout class. But there was a little time for fun---hikes in the woods, a swim in the nearby pond, fishing, letting the farm dog pull the children on a sled. No better life, really, but you'd better be tough enough to do physical labor all day.

[dembotoz]

2. keeping in mind that per the gop, a number of household appliances are considered a luxury

microwave and i have heard a fridge....

[DirkGently]

3. The Two-income Trap

changed all of that.

Good point.

[xmas74]

4. Skillful, frugal cooking

is no longer taught in either school or by parents. Schools have had budgets slashed too much for it and parents are too worn out to do their own cooking, nonetheless teach anyone else.

I tell every kid when they graduate that they need to invest in a crock pot. It does help free up time normally spent over a stove and, once a rhythm is learned, will have a hot meal ready when walking through the door. It's not perfect but it does help and you can find old ones at rummage sales and thrift stores for under five dollars.

I make most of our meals that way. My crock pot runs constantly, even if not for dinner. When not making dinner in it I'm cooking dried beans to freeze for later meals, making stock or broth that can be frozen, etc. Not everyone can do this but for those who can it helps keep food budgets down a bit and keeps families out of the drive through.

[jwirr]

7. Don't forget dishes prepared and in the fridge over night. Or

fresh fruits and vegies with dip. Here I am talking about saving time. That is what I see my grandchildren having a lot less time to cook today.

And let's face it even back in 1962 it was hard to stay in budget if you were in poverty.

[xmas74]

8. If a family has an average sized fridge or freezer

they can get into once a month cooking. I found a link recently that offered 20 meals, all crock pot cooking and freezer (so a couple of hours of prep one day a month) for $150. It was released in July, I believe, and had prices all from Aldi. You can pay for an actual download with the exact shopping list of ingredients and exactly how to lay it all out for $2.97 or you could click on the links for each recipe and figure it out. Even for someone not used to it $2.97 isn't bad and it makes shopping easy until they learn how to do it themselves.

If you're interested, let me know and I'll find the link.

[jwirr]

9. Thank you. I will find the link.

[xmas74]

17. Here's your link.

http://www.iamthatlady.com/slow-cooker-dump-aldi-meal-plan/

She has other meal plans on there also. The link is now $3.97 but you can click on each recipe and get all the ingredients and cooking instructions without paying. The $3.97 is still a great deal for anyone who's never done this sort of thing before. It gives a newbie an idea of what to do and how to shop. They can take it, learn from it and apply it to whatever they need.

[jwirr]

19. Thanks. I can really use this right how as one of my two

other housemates is looking for work and we are economizing. This will help.

[xmas74]

21. There are seven other Aldi meal plans on her site

so it should help you quite a bit.

Let me know any time you need some once a month cooking recipes. I find myself doing more of it because it's easy and I don't have to worry about dinner at night.

[xmas74]

22. And one more I bookmarked.

http://totallythebomb.com/33-3ingredient-slow-cooker-recipes?utm_source=spaceshipsandlaserbeams.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pubexchange_facebook

I've made the teriyaki beef before. A half hour before serving I add some frozen broccoli. All I do for the meal then is make rice.

[Dont call me Shirley]

12. And a toaster oven! I roast organic chickens in my toaster oven, then make broth in the crockpot!

A hot plate for boiling water or heating up soup.

[SomeGuyInEagan]

15. Our toaster oven is used daily, often multiple times.

My wife was skeptical when I wanted to get one (growing up, we always had one).

She loves it now, uses it daily and incorporates it into her big cooking Sundays for roasting veggies (often going along side of the crock pot, the cassolette, oven and various stove burners ... it is quite fun to watch - thought I never get in the way).

[xmas74]

18. I picked up a toaster oven at the thrift store three years ago for $6.00.

It has a rotisserie in it that still works. I use it regularly-cheaper to use than the oven and doesn't heat up the house in the summer.

The problem is that some homes don't even have stoves or refrigerators. If they don't have basics they'll have a hard time cooking.

[Dont call me Shirley]

23. Yes, it would make difficult cooking especially without a fridge, the oven can be substituted for

the above mentioned cooking appliances and several others, like an electric rice cooker, wok, Forman grill, waffle maker, which can all be purchased at thrift stores for reasonable costs.

I wish my toaster oven had a rotisserie!

[Drahthaardogs]

27. A lot of it is where and how you grow up

I am second generation Italian American
We eat macaroni two to three times a week. The sauces vary from a simple besciamella to carbonera with pancetta. I also grew up in the southwest where northern style Mexican food was prominent. Green or red chile, flat enchiladas made from cheese only
These are peasant dishes cheap and easy to make but it is what we live on.

[xmas74]

28. Some of it is how you were raised.

But even if you weren't raised with frugal cooking it could be learned. When I was in home ec we had to make a household budget which included all bills and groceries. We were to look over the sale ads and decide a menu before writing a shopping list. We had to decide on what to cook not only by what we liked, what we could afford and what was on sale but also by what we had time to cook. The idea was that we wouldn't plan a menu with an item on a Wednesday that takes several hours to make when we had a full day of work outside the home. And we had to stick to the budget and to the menu.

It's not taught in home ec and that's bad. It needs to be required for all students.

[Drahthaardogs]

29. I know people who eat out five or six nights a week

How they can afford it is beyond me.

[xmas74]

32. They don't have enough time to cook

and might not have the know-how.

[Drahthaardogs]

34. It takes less time to cook than go out to a sit down place

I guess drive through are faster. Every parent should teach their kid how to cook a few simple meals.

[xmas74]

35. If you've never been taught how to cook

a drive thru is faster than muddling through a cook book.

We need to bring back home ec as it once was.

[Binkie The Clown]

5. The good old days - Sleepy time Gal

Sleepy time gal you're turning night into days
Sleepy time gal you've danced the evening away
Before each silvery star fades out of sight
Please give me one little kiss then let us whisper goodnight
It's getting late and dear your pillow's waitin'

Sleepy time gal when all your dancing is through
Sleepy time gal I'll find a cottage for you
You'll learn to cook and sew
What's more you'll love it I know
When you're a stay at home, play at home 8 oclock sleepy time gal

[niyad]

6. and, of course, assumed that the homemaker did not have a low-paying job outside the home.

[catrose]

10. And assumed that living space had a stove, oven, and fridge. eom

[forest444]

11. Moving the poverty threshold to 125% of poverty is long overdue.

Nobody seriously believes that a family of 4 can live on a gross annual income of $24,000. Using the 125% yardstick ($30,000) would restore some credibility to the headline poverty numbers, and has in fact been advocated since at least the Raygun years.

[GreatGazoo]

13. Food is now cheaper than ever. Healthcare and rent are the big problem.

[Bubzer]

20. That's simply not true (about food).

Food has consistently increased in cost. Very few times has there been any notable decrease in cost. This is especially true with meat, which is over priced. Your graph actually point to less people being able to buy food with disposable income...because they have less disposable income... not because prices are going down.

Take a look at this site. You'll see an interactive chart that shows percentage changes over time. It'll show you that prices on food have risen over time.
http://www.cheatsheet.com/business/the-price-of-beef-is-higher-than-ever-and-its-not-about-to-fall.html/?a=viewall

[NickB79]

24. As a percentage of average income, food is cheap in the US compared to elsewhere

http://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2008-september/despite-higher-food-prices,-percent-of-us-income-spent-on-food-remains-constant.aspx#.VgMfG_Qzu83

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/01/why-is-american-food-so-cheap/33259/

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/03/cheap-eats-how-america-spends-money-on-food/273811/

The last link does discuss how food prices as a proportion of spending for the poorest 20% have not fallen like it has for other 80%, but even then it states:

In 1984, the poorest Americans spent 16 percent* of their income to eat. The median-income family also spent 16 percent of its (slightly higher) income on food. And the rich spent the least. In the last three decades, food's share of the family budget has fallen for all but the poorest families, where it's stayed the same.

However, 16% of a US family's income spent on food by the poorest 20% is still on par middle class families in countries such as Italy.

[Bubzer]

26. Thats not at all what you said to start with... and now you're making an apples to oranges argument

What is relevant is current US food prices versus US food prices historically. Food in the US has consistently increased in cost, though the production has gotten cheaper and cheaper. Coupled with flat wage rates and you have a very real and painful cost incurred to the majority who can't afford it.

[Xithras]

30. Adjusted for inflation, food prices have been fairly flat for a half century.

According to public data, in 1946 a pound of uncooked chicken averaged 43 cents a pound in America. Adjusted for inflation between 1946 and 2015, that's the equivalent of $5.26 a pound in modern dollars. According to the current BLS numbers, the average price for a pound of chicken in the US, as of August 2015, is $1.43 a pound. Round steak, in 1945, cost 41 cents a pound, or $5.01 a pound in modern dollars. Current cost? $6.15 a pound. That's an increase, but not a particularly striking one. Milk? 31 cents a gallon on average in 1945, or $3.79 a gallon in 2015 dollars. Our actual current average? $3.38 a gallon nationwide. Milk is cheaper today than it was in 1945, but not by a lot. Eggs? 58 cents a dozen in 1945, or $7.68 in modern dollars. We're actually paying $2.94 a dozen on average and are complaining about those high prices, when they're less than half of what my grandparents paid.

Food prices have risen along with everything else as the dollar loses value to inflation. Some food items have gone up in value, while others have declined. But the overall value of the food has stayed fairly steady after being adjusted appropriately.

The real problem is that wages have declined when compared against inflation, so people are forced to spend a larger percentage of their income on that food. While the cost of food has kept pace with inflation, the wages of American workers haven't.

[Dont call me Shirley]

14. Teach your kids to cook from scratch. My child is studying to become a chef now.

I had to learn how to cook on my own, starting from boing water. My kids know how to cook from scratch, I made sure of that. And how to wash, iron and mend their own clothes.

[Angry Dragon]

16. kick

[KamaAina]

25. That is, it was based on the idea that every family had a stay-at-home housewife.

Fast food barely existed in 1963. McDonald's was just getting off the ground. And relatively few women worked outside the home.

[Recursion]

33. There was this very brief period in the 1950s and 1960s when one-income families were a thing

They weren't very common before that (there wasn't much of a middle class prior to that; poor families have always been two-or-more-earner), and they aren't very common now. But we got stuck with a whole lot of social, policy, and economic baggage from those couple of decades.