Since a post in the "Who here is a Republican" thread said there was 40 million poor in America I think I need to bite even if it was trolling.

So taking at 'face value' the claim of 40 million for a moment I will proceed to identify the soon to be poor in Europe.

11 million Greeks
4 million Irishmen/women
10 million portugese
60 million Italians

Ok so they ALL won't be poor, but that's not the point here.

Nor is there 0 poor in the European Continent or in just the EU.

It is just we are comparing apples to oranges and having a good time seeing the bruises on the apples while not seeing any on oranges.

You see while there is healthcare coverage for anything/everything in many European nations the amount of cash available to spend is much lower than compared to US poor. When I was homeless I generally still had a car and a laptop. That was homeless, not just poor. The difference between an American in poverty and a European with almost no free money to spend is that the American has more cash but no healthcare for the small things.

There is of course healthcare for any life threatening condition in the United States even before President Clinton.

It is more common for an American in poverty to own a car than in almost any other nation on Earth. It is common to see a poor person with a fashion item on, be it high priced Nike's, Jewelry, or a very high end cell phone. It is common for an American in poverty to have meals every day, and enough to even grow obese. In short we have money to spend even when we are poor (exceptions do exist, but if we counted those exceptions then the comparisons become more fair).

That said there is also major differences in how homelessness is handled.

The current 'US Approach' most commonly seen is projects and subsidizing rent.

This is contrary to observed patterns in Europe where an emphasis on low income housing happens in regions. This results in housing more close to jobs, where as in the United States housing is more near where you were to begin with.

But Europe is afraid of a bunch of homeless and benefit seekers in the coming days as National models break down. England is preparing to restart needing Visa's to enter until the Greek issue is fully resolved. With the coming collapse of PIIGS there will be a great many seeking to escape to more profitable nations which if they agree to support these individuals will be pulled down as well... which means they won't support them, or will offer reduced assistance.

Of course reinstituting border controls and Visa's will hinder the economies of the successful nations and potentially tip more.

So again, Apples with bruises compared to an Orange with rot in the center.