"With these times of high food and gas prices, I could not live on $2.00 a day or less." You can't really apply that $2/day (per person) figure to someone living in the U.S., because the cost of living in poor countries (what they pay for food, housing, etc.) is so much lower. That article says that the international poverty level is $1.25/day. That's not a lot of money, of course, but it's in no way comparable to an American trying to live on $2 a day. The U.S. defines the poverty level for one person as $10,590 a year... that comes out to more than 10 times the international poverty level.