He's not trying to walk in another person's shoes, simply live by the same constraints.
Which is why it's complete and utter bullshit.
You sleep in horribly shitty conditions, where noise is a constant problem. You do this day in and day out and with poor nutrition, lack of heating/cooling, and a shitty mattress. All in a attempt to save up for a car, insurance, maintenance costs and gas?
Yet it's just about budgetary constraints. Right you are sir. Right you are.
> My goal is merely to help bring awareness to the issue
He's not trying to do some kind of "poor simulation," and to accomplish his goal, he doesn't have to. Even by just doing a simple exercise like strictly limiting his food budget for a week, he has brought some light upon the difficulty that many people face.
It's ridiculous to think this raises any sort of awareness to the real issues that poverty presents. It's trite and ignorant to think anything otherwise.
You're wrong.
Raising awareness is not the same as getting people to even begin to understand the issue, it's just making people realize there is an issue.
Not living by some extreme set of constraints omg I have to give up everything does not diminish what he is trying to accomplish. You're just adding your own parameters to his experiment.
http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/h150-07.pdf see table 2.1
Similarly, 73% of the poor own a car.
I guess the budgetary constraints the poor face are not as severe as you seem to believe.
Reeks of "Hey, look at me (and my company)!!!"