I have seen people sifting through rubbish near slums and people washing/taking water from sewage-polluted water-courses in poor countries. Those people are DIRT POOR.
In a country where almost everyonehas the opportunity clean running water, food, clothing, healthcare & education I have difficulty with the concept of 'poverty'.
40 years ago ordinary people, amongst many other things, did not generally have central heating, double-glazing, 2 (or even 1..) cars per household, home telephones, they did not routinely go on foreign holidays. Social mobility was more difficult. Shops did not sell the range of foods that they do now. Televisions were a luxury. Clothes were expensive.
Of course, some people are poorer than others, but there are complex issues involved. Mental health, medical health, intelligence, addiction, peer group etc. etc. all have an influence.
Is giving people money for nothing a good solution? I don't think so.
Work-fare/job creation/new deal schemes are good in theory, but like SureStart, many of the people who make best use of them are people who need the help least and those that need the help most often don't take the opportunities offered to them.
-You can take a horse to water……
I don't know about anybody else, but I would rather be living now than 40 years ago and I really do not care how much wealth 'the rich' have. If I can drive a Mondeo, I do not care that Simon Cowell drives a Maybach.