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.... This definition does not take into account things like debt and other ways that are used to get around the problem of too small an income. Im not sure how an economic observation could take such human things into account, but as (ostensibly) a social science I believe it is its job to at least attempt it.
The second method for defining poverty as below a certain percentage of a median income is not a reliable method either, especially for a country as large as the United States. Different areas have different poverty levels--and different minimum wage requirements and welfare and unemployment benefits, too--because the cost of living varies so much from place to place. Someone living below the poverty line on the California coast could be a homeowner in Wyoming. Even if this definition is adjusted from region to region, however, it remains unfair--if the median income in a certain neighborhood happens to be fairly high, then the poverty count may include people that arent really that poor, and such statistics can be used to allocate tax dollars to places where they arent really needed. On the flip side of the issue, in rural communities or other places

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