DeaconTheVillain Posted July 29, 2011 Author Share Posted July 29, 2011 I was thinking that poor is defined as making less than 22K per year with a family of 4 or more. At least that is the gov't definition I think. IMO that is very very poor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thiebear Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 1. Parents that are not involved or exibiting the same behavior. 2. School system that are not putting it all out there. (Acheivable Dream is proof it can be turned around) 3. Fear of change, won't travel to another county/state to get a job that is booming there. Not volunteering to do the horrible jobs that get you noticed. 4. Bad luck in when you were born [insert bubble here] burst while you were retiring and you lost everything. 5. Your friends are in the same situation or worse. (motivation/competition pushes you forward) 6. Not monitoring your credit score as if it was a job. [own a house so upside down the next decade is lost on trying to take advantage of cheap housing even with 740score](then -interest rates rise) [taking care of 2 extra during a very bad economy] to me Poor [qualifies for gov't housing] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busch1724 Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 If there was an option for education I would vote it. Statistics show in the education field mind you, that the highest correlary between success and failure is the highest level of education of the mother. Unfortunately, most poor people live in areas of dropout factories and never get out and continue the vicious cycle. If we could somehow education them, luck turns their way and getting out of the rut becomes easier because they have the tools. I also think the lack of motivation to do so lies within how easy it is to stay on government programs. Sadly it has become a lifestyle and career choice for some and not temporary help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumbo Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 An ode of topical compassion---with apologies to Randy Newman :evilg: :pfft: Poor people got no reason Poor people got no reason Poor people got no reason To live They got little coin Little cash They walk around Talkin' trash They got no savings They are all deadbeats They wear second hand shoes On their broke dirty feets Well, I don't want no poor people Don't want no poor people Don't want no poor people `Round here Poor people got no reason Poor people got no reason Poor people got no reason To live They got little hope And little chance They sit on their butt And get no romance They got little to offer With their empty coffer 24-7 they watch cable TV They just ain't like you and me Well, I don't want no poor people Don't want no poor people Don't want no poor people `Round here Poor people got nobody Poor people got nobody Poor people got nobody To love They got unpaid bills Rent's always too high You got to pick em up And pay to help em get by They got broke down sofas But a couple of plasma screens They got no work ethic They live over their means They got grubby little hands They hold out to you They're gonna get your taxes There ain't nothin you can do Don't want no poor people Don't want no poor people 'Round here Poor people got nobody Poor people got nobody Poor people got nobody To love They got no insurance But like that emergency room You got to pay for their ride And hear about their gloom They got little use They gripe gripe gripe They got little purpose They just hit that pipe They got mac-n-cheese And Mickey-D's They really need that welfare please Well, I don't want no poor people Don't want no poor people Don't want no poor people 'Round here But.... Poor people are just the same As you and I (A fool such as I) All men are brothers Until the day they die (It's a wonderful world) :halo: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarrellsMyHero28 Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 :halo: I've been thinking of that song ever since this thread started. You beat me to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumbo Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 I've been thinking of that song ever since this thread started. You beat me to it. It was gnawing at me since the beginning, too. Though my first post couldn't be more at odds with this one. But by now you know if can find any half-assed excuse to stick (customized or original) lyrics in a thread, I be doin' it. :pfft: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Tater Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 Poll does not have the correct answer as what makes people in the western world poor is primarily their personal time preferences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lombardi's_kid_brother Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 There is very little movement among social classes in America, despite what your teachers told you in school. The number one reason people are poor is because their parents are poor. The number one reason people are rich is because their parents were rich. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardi gras skin Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 I think its fair to say that its as easy (or difficult) to lose weight and maintain that weight loss as it is to gain wealth and maintain that wealth. Most people who really WANT to lose weight can lose it. But typically, it requires more effort than the individual is willing to sustain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mel25 Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 There are a bunch of reasons, but product of environment sums it up better than the rest of the options. I've been spending time with a lot of rich people lately, and they just think different. I don't think they work significantly harder, but they work more efficiently. For example, they may work hard for less money now, for something that may pay off later, while a poor person works equally hard on a job that will pay the same amount for years, and never take the risk or the short term hit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sisko Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 Interesting thread. I couldn't make a decision about the poll choices since I think poverty (and its causes) in this country are way more diverse than could be summed up in a poll like this. Mardi Gras you're right that there's a certain amount of laziness involved in poverty. However I think your analysis suffers from a couple of faults. First, you're extrapolating from your own family's experience. I know of numerous examples of poor family members and friends being helped and using that help to get themselves back on track. Neither of our anecdotal experiences can or should be generalized to poor people as a whole. The second fault with your analysis is that I think you're working backwards, i.e. using your experiences/observations as reinforcement of the opinion you already have formed. I'm very familiar with the sort of poverty you came from, both from seeing it every day and from growing up poor myself. However I think our experiences are similar in some ways. It seems each of our families had folks that were determined to see their kids do better than they did. In my family's case they succeeded in getting their kids to middle class status but those kids (my Dad's generation) still didn't have the financial acumen to get to the next level, i.e. upper middle class or lower upper class. That brings me to my partial theory of poverty. I think (admittedly without proof) that the breakdown in the family structure means that many, if not most poor kids don't have families that are able to get them to the point of being able to do better than they did for the same reason the parents aren't able to do any better, i.e. they simply lack the knowledge/skills and other resources needed to do so. This lack of knowledge combined with cultural factors (The Hidden Costs of Being African American is a great discussion of this) the erosion/stagnation of lower and middle class wages over the past approx. 20 years, and the failure of public school systems and other civic institutions, makes it incredibly difficult for anyone to get out of poverty. This is particularly true in the poorest of the poor places in our country; places like the Miss. Delta and Appalacia for example, that make the rural areas in Georgia that Mardi Gras mentioned look like shangri-la by comparison.Therefore, in some cases I think what some may interpret as laziness is actually an acquiescence to what they see as the inevitability of being poor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardi gras skin Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 This is particularly true in the poorest of the poor places in our country; places like the Miss. Delta and Appalacia for example, that make the rural areas in Georgia that Mardi Gras mentioned look like shangri-la by comparison. My wife's family is from Greenwood, MS. She'd get a kick out of the idea that Hortense, GA is a step up from the delta. Trust me, it would fit right in. And neither the Delta nor Hortense were that different than my trips to rural outposts in the Dominican. Except there, poverty definitely wasn't a choice. Certainly, I am drawing from experiences. But my experiences do not match your conclusions. Even when it is not inevitable that they must remain poor, the burden of responsibility associated with wealth is less desirable for many people than poverty. When family members would come visit us, they were put off by the pace and responsibility of upkeep of all our stuff. Literally, they would see what it takes to live and maintain a middle class lifestyle and they didn't want to do those things. Better to just have less and live simply. I can see the appeal. If you can get a few channels on your antenna and get to the grocery store once in a while, you're good to go. They've got food stamps and a box fan in the window. They can live on almost nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavyDave Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 Now, by "wealthy" I'm talking about the vast majority of Americans who can afford cars, flat screen tvs, cell phones, plenty of food, rent or own a private residence of some sort, can buy a $2 coffee on a whim. From my point of view, most Americans are crazy wealthy. . All of that sounds like what you would see in the possession of a significant amount of the poor in the USA. If you take into account that section 8 have some of them living in really nice residences especially inside Metro DC and if they do things right they cant rent to own some nice private dwellings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stadium-Armory Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 Expectations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeaconTheVillain Posted July 31, 2011 Author Share Posted July 31, 2011 There is very little movement among social classes in America' date=' despite what your teachers told you in school.The number one reason people are poor is because their parents are poor. The number one reason people are rich is because their parents were rich.[/quote'] Even more than a great rags to riches story, i love hearing about someone who was born into everything and somehow mangaged to **** it all up and become poor by making stupid decisons throughout life. But, yes, in general I defintely agree with the above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate4789 Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 This is extremely random. But, I think it's more of a case-by-case situation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.