For all the discussion (i.e.: heated biased arguing) about poverty, seems nobody has addressed an objective definition of what constitutes &quot;poor&quot;. Why is the world poverty line at $1.25&#x2F;day, but the US poverty line is 20x that? We need a quantitative analysis, starting with basic caloric&#x2F;nutritional&#x2F;BTU&#x2F;water&#x2F;power&#x2F;data&#x2F;etc needs (independent of arbitrary numbers imputed by fiat&#x2F;floating currencies) for cost of bare sustenance, then work from there recognizing that varying geography, demographics, et al adjusts that cost, then admitting that different cultures further adjust those basic costs.<p>Without such objective analysis of basic sustenance, fudging numbers is trivial.