“People don’t like being poor,” Pres. Obama declared at a “Conversation on Poverty at Georgetown University” today.
And, one of the worst things about being poor is the time it takes, Obama said:
“People don’t like being poor. It’s time-consuming it’s stressful. It’s hard. And so over time, families frayed. Men who could not get jobs left. Mothers who are single are not able to read as much to their kids. So all that was happening 40 years ago to African Americans. And now what we’re seeing is that those same trends have accelerated and they’re spreading to the broader community.”
Earlier in his presentation, Obama said that poverty has been reduced by 40%, thanks to “tax and transfer programs”:
“In absolute terms, the poverty rate when you take into account tax and transfer programs, has been reduced about 40 percent since 1967.“
This would suggest that, if poverty is time-consuming, and if poverty is down, then Americans might have more free time on their hands. And, that’s just what this researcher’s findings show.