Supplemental Information

"Though strong global demand and tight supplies are bringing misery to some poor countries, the price surge is a sign of improving conditions in emerging economies. That's because increased demand is caused in part to rapidly rising standards of living, according to David Malpass, president of economic research firm Encima Global."

http://www.jrf.org.uk/media-centre/minimum-income-2009
The author states that the cost of living is rising twice as fast as inflation, and it's getting harder to live on low incomes. Most of the budget is going to items that have risen sharply in price, such as food. Increasing unemployment rates and job loss affect people in ways that means they don't have even half the minimum income they need to survive. The minimum standard is there to help keep sight of what is unacceptable.
The article doesn't seem to address what exactly is acceptable, and why the standard can't be changed as more and more people are falling below the standard. Have their standards been set too high? What are those standards? Why can't they lower it, and why do they need to keep people above the standard of living? While it's unacceptable to live in poverty, I'm sure some things are okay to be sacrificed or compromised--taking shorter showers, or some luxury like tea or so...

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/aug/19/food-movement-rising-exchange/
It's basically about how the food we eat is cheap food, and even though it costs less, we are faced with the affects of diabetes and obesity. The cost of food versus the benefits of nutrition has caused us to become an unhealthy nation. With the poor they have no other choice and are extremely unhealthy, and with the more wealthy, they try to save a buck by buying processed food rather than fresh produce. While cheap food is the pillar of our economy, the standards of living call for nutritional value that most can't afford. The price rising cost of food makes it so that nutritional food like vegatables are more like luxuries rather than necessities, and our economy isn't any better as consumers buy it less and less and go toward the packaged goods.
It's the opposite of the statement at the beginning, I think, and while there is a demand to be healthier, no one will take initive, therefore the standard of living is lowering. Is the fact that Americans are buying cheap, unhealthy food and becoming obese with diabetes really "the standard of living rising"? We eat more than any other nation but I don't think we're better off, are we?