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Like it or not, television has the power to shape our perceptions of the world. So what do sitcoms, dramas and reality TV say about poor people?

In life and on TV, "poor" is relative. Take breakfast. For Honey Boo Boo's family, it's microwaved sausage and pancake sandwiches. For children in The Wire's Baltimore ghetto, it's a juice box and a bag of chips before school. On Good Times, set in the Chicago projects back in the 1970s, it was a healthier choice: oatmeal. "If you're poor, it goes a long way. And it's pretty cheap," laughs Bern Nadette Stanis, who played Thelma Evans on Good Times.

Good Times debuted in 1974, in the midst of a recession. Many people were struggling. For a time, it was one of the highest rated shows on TV, but Good Times also drew criticism for giving the impression that being poor isn't so bad, as long as there's love. But Stanis says, judging from personal experience, that's true. "I too was raised in the projects in Brooklyn, in Brownsville. I lived in a two bedroom apartment with my mom and dad and five children. So there were seven of us. But we also were rich in education and in love," says Stanis.

Good Times also tackled some of the bad times facing poor communities, like drug addiction and gangs. Norman Lear, who co-produced the show, says that above all, they wanted to make people laugh — but they also wanted story lines that resonated. Before the 1970s, he adds, TV pretty much ignored poor people. "The biggest subjects in television comedy were 'The roast is ruined and the boss is coming to dinner,' or 'Mom dented the car and how do the kids and mom keep dad from finding out,'" says Lear. "There were no political problems. There was no poverty. That was the total message wall to wall, floor to ceiling," Lear says.

There's a lot of debate about the subject of entertainment TV's depiction of poverty. Do audiences empathize with the poor people they see or look down on them?

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For All Things Considered's series on Men in America, we asked the guys out there: What are the movies that make you cry? While reading through the 5,000+ responses, we started to notice a recurring theme — or should we say, a recurring man: Tom Hanks.

Hanks was mentioned far more than any other actor and for a wider array of performances — from Captain Phillips to Philadelphia, among many others.

So what makes him the master emotional manipulator in Hollywood?

We actually put that question to Hanks' agent in Hollywood, but haven't heard back. So instead, let's take a look at some of his most-cited performances.

Editor's Note: We're talking about the emotional climax of a lot of movies here. Suffice it to say, you've been warned about a boatload of spoilers.

Forrest Gump

This movie can be an emotional roller coaster at times, but there are a few scenes that were mentioned over and over again. The first arrives when Forrest meets the son he didn't know he had.

"But...is he smart or is he..." asked Forrest Gump of little Forrest. #menpr

— Richard Yeh (@ryeh) July 31, 2014

Fast-rising mobile technology is making buying stuff with a tap of an app easier than ever, and shifting the way we shop. What were once permanent, brick-and-mortar stores, where shoppers look at items in a physical space, are now often pop-ups first — shops that last for a limited time only.

Pop-up shops are temporary retail spaces that spring up in unused premises. Leases can last as short as a single day, when brands use the spaces for a promotional event instead of testing out a market.

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In a finance move you might have missed this week, Dollar Tree bought up Family Dollar. It's a marriage made in cheap, plastic goods heaven, at a time when dollar stores can provide a glimpse into the disconnect between an improving economy and stagnating wages.

Dollar stores were doing brisk business throughout the recession, but their profits have shrunk recently, partly because the economy is recovering. On Friday the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its jobs report for the month of June: For the first time since 1997, the economy added more than 200,000 jobs for six months straight.

But the jobless rate remains stubbornly mediocre at 6.2 percent. People are still worried, which was clear on a recent visit to a Dollar Tree in Los Angeles County, where there were still a lot of people looking to stretch their dollars.

"You take each day at a time. Some days I have money, some days I don't," said Latonya Wright, who was shopping for her son's frozen dessert business.

Wright said it is hard to tell whether or not the economy is getting better.

"You listen to the news and they say the economy is bad and stuff," she said, "but when you go to the malls or drive past any stores, you see people shopping."

She's right. The Commerce Department announced on Friday that consumer spending has grown by 2.5 percent this quarter. But at the same time, federal statistics show that the poorest Americans are earning less than they did a decade ago.

“ Until the unemployment rate gets a little bit lower, and employers are really competing to hire people, wages are going to stay kind of where they are.