There Are No Poor People In America

[Guest]

I didn't have the kids. They were pretty much dropped in my lap, the first one when I was 18. My choice was to raise them the best I could or sign them over to the state. I think I made the right choice, although it pretty much guarantees I'll never be able to retire.

[SteveS]

Having worked in the Community Mental Health system for the last 7 years, I have been around a lot of people that are considered poor.  I have seen some people that I would consider genuinely poor.  They have very little money, not much of an education, and dependant children.  They struggle as best they can, willing to take any crappy job, but still just getting by.  They mostly live in rural areas, where job possibilities are limited.  I suppose they could move to where there are jobs, but maybe they can't because they are caring for a relative or just don't have the money to move.

That being said, the majority of the poor I work with are somewhat lazy.  They don't have jobs, nor are they actively seeking employment.  They are networking with other slackers, trying to find ways that they can convice the feds to give them SSI or some other kind of handout.  They also gladly accept any other gov't handout they can.  They take their huge IRS income redistribution check and spend it on vacations or big screen TV's.  

I would say that there are some genuinely poor people in this country, but not as many as you might think.

[telewinz]

I didn't have the kids. They were pretty much dropped in my lap, the first one when I was 18. My choice was to raise them the best I could or sign them over to the state. I think I made the right choice, although it pretty much guarantees I'll never be able to retire.

You certainly have my respect...you are what I consider to be a real (but unsung) "hero".

[Guest]

Wow, thank you. Truth be told, they got the worst end of the deal, though. Parent material, I'm not.

[Oleg Volk]

Barbara,

That is patently false! You are among the best parents I've seen and you did on your own what few couples manage together -- you raised impressive, intelligent and civil young men. Don't speak poorly of your own efforts!

[Guest]

I know a couple of young men who might disagree with you some days..Ryan told me once I wasn't a parent, I was a drill instructor. (He's kind of a smart ass like that.) But they're good kids..thank you for the nice stuff.

[Stickjockey]

That was probably the best compliment a kid could give.

[Guest]

They love me anyway.

[doczinn]

I didn't have the kids. They were pretty much dropped in my lap, the first one when I was 18. My choice was to raise them the best I could or sign them over to the state. I think I made the right choice, although it pretty much guarantees I'll never be able to retire.

My tirade wasn't directed at you. Circumstances beyond your control are just that. I meant the ones who are barely making ends meet, deep in debt, and then decide to have kids.

[Guest]

I know..The result is the same, though: I'm still broke and still get to hear how lazy I must be for it. I think the same is true for a lot of people in this position.

That's not to say that a lot of people aren't just flat out slackers, for sure..just not all of them.

I just meant that I've become a lot more understanding of people having been there myself.

[grampster]

Barbara, you need to meet my son.  Single dad with 2 sons to raise.  Keeps getting good jobs in small businesses (he's an expert in low voltage wiring, whole house computers, lighting, plasma tv, sound etc. ie: the 21st century smart home) and then some family member gets brought in and suddenly he's odd man out.  
He knows exactly what you're talking about.  
My pain is I watch him struggle and keep getting one step ahead while going back two or three.

[brimic]

There are no poor people in America. When I grew up, my family was on the low end of the wealth scale- my dad worked 3 jobs, we never starved but we did without a lot of things that would be taken for granted today, yet I never really felt that we were lacking anything.

The so-called poor people you often see interviewed on TV who are bitching about how their welfare is being cut or how difficult their lives are usually are seen wearing $300 starter jackets, designer clothes, and $150 shoes. I currently make a very respectable income and I don't dress 1/2 as extravagant. If a person claims that they can barely scrape by while wearing clothes worth more than they make in a week, they aren't poor, they are complete flipping morons.

If you want to see poor people, you need to get out of the country. My next door neighbor just went on a church mission to Guatamala for a couple of weeks this spring. What he saw their and what he described to me about what he saw was really sobering. The men there were mostly abusive alcoholics or drug addicts and the women and children spent their days sifting through the trash by the thousands in a landfill looking for scraps to eat and maybe a few useful items they can use to cook with or build a small shanty in the dump to live in.

[telewinz]

Its sad but America does have poor people, try driving the back roads of West Virginia.

[K Frame]

Ah, yes, like under Nixon/Carter was such a wonderful utopia of wealth and prosperity, only to have Ronald Reagan come in and crush the dreams, aspirations, and economic hopes of every American in this country.

My family was on the edge financially through most of the 1970s.

In the 1980s, when Reagan's economic policies got things kick started?

Life became a LOT easier.

Not because my family decided to start working (Dad always had a steady job the entire time), but because the economic situation just sucked so badly. Carter and Nixon both proved to be incapable of dealing with it. Carter proved to be incapable of dealing with anything.

[Justin]

The following are facts about persons defined as poor by the Census Bureau, taken from various government reports:

- Forty-six percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or
patio.
- Seventy-six percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, 30 years ago, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.
- Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded. More than two-thirds have more than two rooms per person.
- The typical poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to
those classified as poor.)
- Nearly three-quarters of poor households own a car; 30 percent own two or more cars.
- Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.
- Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.
- Seventy-three percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and a third have an automatic dishwasher.

Followed shortly by:

Question for some of the older and wiser among us...how long has 'Health Insurance' been an issue?

I'm thinking that latter is only an issue due to the nearsightedness of some folks who would rather spend money on the former...