# Are you part of the top 1% \[Poll\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 31, 2022, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-part-of-the-top-1-poll/958701 "2022-01-31T20:49:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2022, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-part-of-the-top-1-poll/958701/61 "2022-02-03T13:42:27Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > This fucking infuriates me - the implication that as long as people are _not actually dying of hunger_ it’s somehow fine. Widespread food insecurity is still a horrific state of affairs for a wealthy country and has an enormous effect on those suffering from it, especially in children. It also exacerbates health issues in a population that cannot afford healthcare. I don’t think that is what @Pardel-Lux was implying at all. You are attacking the wrong argument. It is this piece of delectable ignorance that deserves your fury and scorn: > [@Omar\_Little](#): > > People in the US don’t starve. Your apparent knowledge of the US is skewed. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2022, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-part-of-the-top-1-poll/958701/62 "2022-02-03T13:49:17Z")
Fair enough and apologies for any misdirected ire. But I’ve heard the “People aren’t _starving_ therefore your complaints about food poverty are moot” argument a lot over the years, so I’ve got a definite bee in my bonnet about it. > [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > If Jack Monroe in your link is different, good Jack Monroe does definitely appear to be different, and has been a notable anti-poverty campaigner for years based on their experience of living in extreme poverty. They have recently (at the request of followers) launched some products (t-shirt, bags, etc) but all money is going to food banks and food poverty charities. And they would very much prefer that the government address the problem properly rather than charities having to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2022, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-part-of-the-top-1-poll/958701/63 "2022-02-03T13:51:04Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Fair enough and apologies for any misdirected ire. But I’ve heard the “People aren’t _starving_ therefore your complaints about food poverty are moot” argument a lot over the years, so I’ve got a definite bee in my bonnet about it. ++ I work in a food pantry and in homeless outreach. Anything further I have to say on affluent people’s attitudes toward food insecurity belongs in the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2022, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-part-of-the-top-1-poll/958701/64 "2022-02-03T13:52:50Z")
Yeah, out and out death by starvation is unusual in the US, but food insecurity that is bad enough to interfere with daily life is quite common. Way, way too common. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2022, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-part-of-the-top-1-poll/958701/65 "2022-02-03T13:56:24Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > Normally, we’re top 2.5%…this year, we’re in the top 1%, but only because a family member died. It’s money that’s getting shovelled straight into the retirement fund, so we’re not wearing furs in our Ferraris. I find it interesting how in the USA there seems to be a bit of a sense of if your aren’t in the top 1%, you are somehow “struggling” (at least in certain circles). Like somehow people still manage to eke out a living on mere hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2022, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-part-of-the-top-1-poll/958701/66 "2022-02-03T14:02:25Z")
There are people in my [affluent] community who are all to comfortable designating people who fall between the cracks as “no one”. “No one” except: - undocumented immigrants afraid to reach out for help for fear of being reported and deported - people with mental illness or substance abuse issues or both - elderly people who have slid into poverty and are too proud or not mentally capable of negotiating the bureaucracy to get help that is available. - kids whose parent is working 100+ hours a week to keep them from becoming homeless, and has no time to prepare nutritious meals These people don’t count. They aren’t really human, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2022, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-part-of-the-top-1-poll/958701/67 "2022-02-03T14:32:01Z")
You left out homebound sick people who don’t have the energy to prepare food, nor to negotiate the system. There are a lot of people like that. Most of them don’t literally starve to death, instead, they don’t get enough nutrition and so they can’t fight off their illness and die sooner and at higher rates from “illness”. They die from lack of food, but not from “starvation”. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2022, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-part-of-the-top-1-poll/958701/68 "2022-02-03T15:01:11Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > > [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > > > Normally, we’re top 2.5%…this year, we’re in the top 1%, but only because a family member died. It’s money that’s getting shovelled straight into the retirement fund, so we’re not wearing furs in our Ferraris. > > I find it interesting how in the USA there seems to be a bit of a sense of if your aren’t in the top 1%, you are somehow “struggling” (at least in certain circles). Like somehow people still manage to eke out a living on mere hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Obviously, it depends on what you spend and what lifestyle you establish. People can get into trouble despite having multi-million dollars in income or investments and others are comfortable, relatively speaking, on five-digit incomes. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2022, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-part-of-the-top-1-poll/958701/69 "2022-02-03T15:03:52Z")
Of, one of the really minor first world gripes I have is that it happened ‘after we’d gotten it all figured out’…The house was being paid for, the cars were sorted, the kid’s schooling was going according to plan. We really could have used it 17 years ago when we had toddlers, I was making half of what I make now and couldn’t afford to paint the house, much less send the kids to school. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-part-of-the-top-1-poll/958701.md?page=3)