id:: 6600f6e8-313c-4799-9854-32967160f9b1
“When poverty is defined in terms of what people consume rather than what they earn, we find that the American poverty rate has declined by ninety percent since 1960, from 30 percent of the population to just 3 percent.” (Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now)
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For this excerpt, does he account for the change over time of what is needed to live a modest working life? For example, maybe cars are more required to live well in 2015 than in 1965? I’m not certain, but he doesn’t address this. He also uses smartphones and other technological advancements to argue that being poor is very different now than it used to be. While true, it runs the risk of sounding cold against the suffering that still exists in poverty.