I notice you've dodged my question three times in a row.
I don't agree or disagree with your statistics. They're irrelevant, because Scalzi is describing things he has seen, and that match things I have seen. In the lives of actual poor people. In the US.
I ignored the question because the answer is irrelevant. One can gain knowledge about the world via statistics, not merely personal acquaintance, and statistics also tend to be more useful.
However, to answer your question, yes. I know poor people. I've lived most of my adult life in poor neighborhoods. My experiences tend to agree with what the official statistics say - most poor people eat enough or perhaps too much (virtually none are underfed), don't work much and do not live in overcrowded homes.
These are the specific points on which I disagreed with Scalzi. I cited statistics which back up my position.
You are also dodging a question, so I'll ask it again: which set of statistics do you disagree with? The BLS, the Census or the USDA?
Are you serious? You're dismissing statistics because you believe your anecdotal evidence holds more weight? You're now an expert on poor people because of the things you have "seen" and someone else has "seen"?
Please quit it with the BS. You're not poor. You're not around poor people. Stop describing how poor people live.
I am dismissing his statistics because they do not have bearing on the question that we were discussing, which is whether or not Scalzi was describing poverty in the US. Scalzi is definitely an expert on what he has seen. I'm an expert on what I have seen. As are the hundreds of other contributors to that discussion.
I am definitely not poor now. But we were poor when I was a kid, and only made it through via the help of family and government programs. I am still in regular contact with people who are not as lucky as I was. So enough with your baseless assertions, ok?
I don't agree or disagree with your statistics. They're irrelevant, because Scalzi is describing things he has seen, and that match things I have seen. In the lives of actual poor people. In the US.