Nation poverty reporter Greg Kaufmann appeared on WBUR’s Here and Now to dissect poverty in America. With 46 million Americans in poverty, 20 million in extreme poverty and 50 percent of jobs paying less than $34,000 a year, the country is clearly facing a huge problem. Yet the word “poverty” is getting little play in either presidential candidate’s campaign, and many still blame the poor for their poverty. In response to critics like Charles Murray, who say poverty is the result of bad decisions, Kaufmann says, “These people see poverty as a character flaw, and I see poverty as an absence of money.”

—Steven Hsieh

For more on misunderstanding the poor, see Chris Hayes’s show on Mitt Romney’s flawed class analysis.