“As a person who grew up in public housing I knew what it was like to be poor but being poor when I was a boy was dramatically different than being poor now.”

Rep. Cleaver made that statement last week while he and a few of his Democrat congressional colleagues were doing what Democrats do best; engaging in meaningless symbolism over real substance. To show solidarity with the poor, Cleaver somehow survived for seven days on $4.50 worth of food a day. What a sacrifice! We do have to admit that we agree with Cleaver that being poor today is different than being poor back in his day. Check out these statistics from The Heritage Foundation:

During the year 4% of the poor became temporarily homeless. Forty percent live in apartments, less than 10% in mobile homes or trailers and about 50% live in standard one-family homes. In fact, 42% own their own home.

The vast majority are in good repair, with more living space per person than the average non-poor person in Britain, France or Sweden.

Ninety-six percent of poor parents say their children were never hungry during the year due to an inability to afford food.

Eighty percent of poor households have air conditioning and 92% have a microwave.

One-third of poor households have a wide-screen plasma or LCD TV, 70% have a VCR and two-thirds have satellite/cable TV, the same proportion as own at least one DVD player.

Half of the poverty households have a personal computer and one-in-seven have two or more.

And half of those with children have a video game system like Xbox.

Almost 75% have a car or truck and nearly a third have two.

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