>Personally, I think that this country is a lot poorer than we give ourselves credit for. The average person has thousands of dollars just in unsecured credit card debt. That's not counting secured debt, like a car or a house. Most people own almost nothing outright. And what they do own is probably outweighed by what the things they've financed. I know that there are less fortunate people in this world, but the U.S. of A. really isn't the land of milk and honey it's made out to be. I would like to see us fix our current problems before we open the doors wider.

I think your definition of poor is a little skewed. Having major (or even minor) purchases financed and carrying some credit card debt is hardly poor, when you consider that in order to do that you probably have a roof over your head and are getting enough to eat every day.

On the contrary, I think we're really *not* as poor as some people make us out to be. We hear all about how we have to wipe out poverty and fix the "gap between the rich and the poor," but I'd venture that the "poor" in our country have a better standard of living than the majority of the rest of the world's population.