When we compare absolute poverty in the United States with absolute poverty in India, or other poor countries, we should be using $4 in the United States and $1.90 in India. Pakistan (12.7 million) has twice as many poor people as the United States, and Ethiopia about four times as many. For years, in determining this spending, the needs of poor Americans (or poor Europeans) have received little priority relative to the needs of Africans or Asians. Official aid from the United States is mostly set by geopolitics — the leading recipients are Afghanistan, Israel and Iraq. Yet the United States is committed to eliminating $1.90-a-day poverty in the world, a target that is not contingent on poverty at home.

Source: New York Times January 25, 2018 00:11 UTC