Bloomberg: Poor People Have Air Conditioning, So They're Really Not Poor

From Reuters:

Bloomberg also took issue with criticism that the city's poor have suffered during his three terms in office, which comes to an end in 2014.

"I'm not being cavalier about it, but most places in the world our poor are wealthy. There's a lot of tragedy around the world," Bloomberg said.

Previous measures of poverty looked at income and not services available to individuals - like air conditioning, which Bloomberg said was available to most Americans.

"When we grew up we didn't have air-conditioning. Air-conditioning in the schools, the subways. Are you crazy? Now, by most of the world's standards, you ain't poor," he said.

Puts his whole 12 years in perspective.

Yes, poverty is a matter of degree.

But compared to the obscene wealth Bloomberg and his fellow plutocrats have stolen, poor people in this city are indeed poor.

That's why the Tale Of Two Cities narrative resonates.