THE POOR IN THE BIBLE

About 14.9% of the U.S. population are classified as living in poverty (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html).
There are 16.4 million American children living in poverty. That's nearly one quarter (22.6 percent) of all of our children. More alarming is that the percentage of poor children has climbed by 4.5 percent since the start of the Great Recession in 2007. And poor means poor. For a family of three with one child under 18, the poverty line is $18,400. 
 (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/americas-greatest-shame-c_b_4238566

"Poor" and "poverty" appear 446 times in 384 separate verses in the Bible
(http://sojo.net/blogs/2011/11/01/hole-y-bible-gets-digital-makeover; http://www.zompist.com/meetthepoor.html)  It is amazing how a political party that is dominated by so-called Evangelicals feel that the poor are poor because they apparently want to be and are treated too well.  The latest is that providing the poor with health care will just encourage them not to work, as if health care is the only reason to have money.  After all there is rent or mortgages, food needs, and clothes, all of which require money.

Then there are those who feel that the poor are paid too much to work and want to do away with the minimum wage to provide more "jobs."  I wonder how these Evangelicals can read the bible and come to the conclusion  that the poor shouldn't be supported.  They even want to decrease money for food stamps (SNAP): http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/05/23/2053081/congressmans-misuse-of-bible-verse-belies-bad-theology-and-ideology-on-food-stamps/#

Much emphasis by those who feel the poor should starve if they cannot find work paying a living wage is placed upon the phrase of St. Paul that "If you do not work, you should not eat." http://biblehub.com/2_thessalonians/3-10.htm

It is harder to get out of poverty now than before the economic crash, even with some college or even with a degree.  http://www.cnbc.com/id/101498261

There are 16.4 million American children living in poverty. That's nearly one quarter (22.6 percent) of all of our children. More alarming is that the percentage of poor children has climbed by 4.5 percent since the start of the Great Recession in 2007. And poor means poor. For a family of three with one child under 18, the poverty line is $18,400.    (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/les-leopold/americas-greatest-shame-c_b_4238566.html)