Before you shed a tear remember the contrast between poverty in India and US couldn't be more starker. According to a recent heritage foundation survey of the poor in US 99% of the "poor" have a color TV and refrigerator, 93% have a microwave, 85% have a car and 80% have air-conditioning in their homes. In-fact, one-third of the "poor" have a wide-screen plasma or LCD TV, and more than half of the "poor" families with children have video game systems like PlayStation or Xbox. Let us not kid ourselves, if you had these amenities you would be considered upper-middle class in India.

Most importantly, hardly any poor in US starve or have to do with less food, unlike in India. This is thanks to schemes like food-stamps, where a poor person can buy groceries in any store at government expense. Though some poor in US are homeless, mostly as a result of drug use, there are many of schemes that provide good subsidized housing to the poor. According to the survey the average "poor" person in the US has more living space than non-poor person in Europe (leave alone India).

The poverty line for a family in US is any family earning less that about 10 lakhs per annum (the 10 lakh here is just the income and does not include benefits like food-stamp and welfare). By that measure alone, 99% of Indian families would be considered as living below poverty line. Of course cost of living in US is much higher than India, but with food being provided by the government, housing being subsidized by the government, there is a lot of things you can do with that money, even in US.

So don't feel sorry for the US poor. Save your tears and charity for the Indian poor. In India poor face a decision of whether they can afford the onions today or make do with just 'roti'. In the US the poor face a decision of whether they can afford PS3 today or make do with just PS2. The difference couldn't be more starker!