{"items": [{"author": "BDan", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/268366929952166?comment_id=268391983282994", "anchor": "fb-268391983282994", "service": "fb", "text": "That seems like it probably doesn't take housing into account, though, since housing costs have outpaced inflation.", "timestamp": "1353791142"}, {"author": "Rachel", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/268366929952166?comment_id=268398099949049", "anchor": "fb-268398099949049", "service": "fb", "text": "This is a big issue among academics studying poverty. There is a push to change the measures. I don't remember all the details right now, but I believe in the 1960s, food was about 1/3 of a budget, so it was reasonable, but since then, other costs have increased at a higher rate than food. So BDan is right - it doesn't account for housing, or any of a number of other costs.", "timestamp": "1353791905"}, {"author": "Rachel", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/268366929952166?comment_id=268398803282312", "anchor": "fb-268398803282312", "service": "fb", "text": "And I agree that a region-specific measure would be better, but why focus only on food? Why not look at a local or regional living wage calculation (taking into account housing, childcare, etc. as well as food)?", "timestamp": "1353791981"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/268366929952166?comment_id=268400653282127", "anchor": "fb-268400653282127", "service": "fb", "text": "@Rachel: \"Why not look at a local or regional living wage calculation?\"
I agree; that's what we care about.", "timestamp": "1353792311"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/268366929952166?comment_id=268405279948331", "anchor": "fb-268405279948331", "service": "fb", "text": "@BDan: \"housing costs have outpaced inflation\"
Source? Looking at the BLS's \"rent of primary residence\" price index [1] rental costs are 5.8 times higher than they were in 1969 while the overall price increase (\"inflation\") was 6.1x.
[1] http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/CUUR0000SEHA", "timestamp": "1353793367"}, {"author": "BDan", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/268366929952166?comment_id=268417063280486", "anchor": "fb-268417063280486", "service": "fb", "text": "I don't have it handy, but the specific figure I remember seeing was that housing had gone from about 1/4 of income to about 1/3.", "timestamp": "1353796267"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/268366929952166?comment_id=268428439946015", "anchor": "fb-268428439946015", "service": "fb", "text": "@BDan: if you could find the source I'd be curious to compare their methodology to the one the BLS is using.", "timestamp": "1353798776"}, {"author": "BDan", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/268366929952166?comment_id=268453369943522", "anchor": "fb-268453369943522", "service": "fb", "text": "I haven't found that source, but here's one that tracks consumer spending by category from 1901 to 2003: http://visualeconomics.creditloan.com/100-years-of.../
Food has gone way down, housing has gone up, though not by as much as transportation and \"other\".", "timestamp": "1353805126"}, {"author": "BDan", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/268366929952166?comment_id=268456243276568", "anchor": "fb-268456243276568", "service": "fb", "text": "And, to corroborate, http://books.google.com/books?id=3DE4P7NdaycC&pg=PA62... says that in 2000, the average American \"consuming unit\" (average household, basically) spent 13.6% of income on food and 32.4% on housing, while in 1950 32.5% was spend on food, and 25.8% on housing.", "timestamp": "1353806010"}, {"author": "Rachel", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/268366929952166?comment_id=268503176605208", "anchor": "fb-268503176605208", "service": "fb", "text": "of tangential interest, there's also folks making the case that housing + transportation costs should be considered as one: http://www.cnt.org/tcd/", "timestamp": "1353819898"}, {"author": "Becky", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/268366929952166?comment_id=268522763269916", "anchor": "fb-268522763269916", "service": "fb", "text": "Another piece of evidence that the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) understates poverty: the income limits for many public assistance programs are set *above* the poverty threshold, e.g. legal aid at 125% FPL, food stamps and free school lunch at 130% FPL, Medicaid for pregnant women and reduced-price school lunch at 185% FPL, fully subsidized children's health care at 200% FPL. A family at 125%, 150% or even 200% often still needs help to meet all their basic needs.", "timestamp": "1353827439"}]}