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RE: Being Poor... ( discuss ) - 6/8/2008 1:56:19 PM

pinksugarsub

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quote:

ORIGINAL: DomAviator

Some of them are downright stupid. I did four years of night classes for an associates degree - when I already had a bachelors and two masters. Ive hoped the toothache goes away and it was my own vanity - not poverty that caused it via an elective procedure. LOL.

However, I STILL dont feel sorry for the poor. A loaf of bread is 87 cents at my local Walmart. I would be damned if I would serve my kid a slice that a roach walked on... If need be I would go out and walk the streets picking up aluminum cans to get a new loaf of bread!

Funny thing about a lot of the "desparately poor" - they have lots of cool yet expensive toys from the local rent-to-own store. They have no shortage of $3 a bag Doritos - and not the generics either, they go to mcDonalds, they always have a pack of cigarettes or a bottle of malt liqour etc...

There is no excuse for poverty in America except laziness. I have said this many times before - the illegal alien who picks up my dog shit for $5 a week pulls in 90K when you do the math!

Wow. Do You really think like this, or do You just enjoy being a provocateur here on the boards?

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RE: Being Poor... ( discuss ) - 6/8/2008 2:03:31 PM

Aynne

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Either one is bad pinksugar, but I think he really believes it. My god...

quote:

ORIGINAL: pinksugarsub

quote:

ORIGINAL: DomAviator

Some of them are downright stupid. I did four years of night classes for an associates degree - when I already had a bachelors and two masters. Ive hoped the toothache goes away and it was my own vanity - not poverty that caused it via an elective procedure. LOL.

However, I STILL dont feel sorry for the poor. A loaf of bread is 87 cents at my local Walmart. I would be damned if I would serve my kid a slice that a roach walked on... If need be I would go out and walk the streets picking up aluminum cans to get a new loaf of bread!

Funny thing about a lot of the "desparately poor" - they have lots of cool yet expensive toys from the local rent-to-own store. They have no shortage of $3 a bag Doritos - and not the generics either, they go to mcDonalds, they always have a pack of cigarettes or a bottle of malt liqour etc...

There is no excuse for poverty in America except laziness. I have said this many times before - the illegal alien who picks up my dog shit for $5 a week pulls in 90K when you do the math!

Wow. Do You really think like this, or do You just enjoy being a provocateur here on the boards?

pinksugarsub

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RE: Being Poor... ( discuss ) - 6/8/2008 2:05:49 PM

TheHeretic

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Aynne

I have traveled the world over

        That's generally a pretty spendy proposition, Aynne...

     Please note the thread title is "Being Poor," not "seeing poor people from the air-conditioned tour bus," or even "being among the poor."

       People who are posting here are talking about what works to get out of poverty, and you are "continually outraged" by that. Maybe you should put away the outrage and read again. Perhaps the lessons we have learned would be helpful to whatever "solution" you might think to support?

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RE: Being Poor... ( discuss ) - 6/8/2008 2:11:48 PM

pinksugarsub

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quote:

ORIGINAL: pahunkboy

there is having what you want, and wanting what you have.

there are different phazes of life. at 44, i dont want to be stuck with what is for 20 year olds.

life is full of wants, needs, yearnings, fear, regrets,

I have to recall that I am to take action on any needs I have..

the person who refuses to try, who says that they cant get a widget, could never learn to use widget, and besides all widgets are mean. mean i say. so it becomes the self fulfilling prophacy.

having limited resources may or may not be 'pity-able". yet- feeling bad doesnt solve the needs.

like most folks here- i have had my share of terrible ordeals. i only talk about it if i choose to. [why be the subject of the entertainment?]

poor tend to be creative.

i have been abit on a simplify my life...the past months. Just this week- reclcyling had free electronic disposal- so I took a few car loads over.

ild like to be- in a mode that , no matter how rich or poor i am, to be thorouhly entralled, and enthused with life.

Being poor has one advantage i highly prize. Because the other P/pl in Y/yr milieu are also poor, it's immediately apparent what T/their character is.

Do T/they steal, horde or prey on the more vulnerable? Then T/they have bad characters. Do T/they share, treat O/others with dignity and respect, or try to help those less fortunate? Then T/they have good characters.

This is an advantage that middle class and wealthy P/pl do not have. T/they have to take longer and look harder to ascertain S/someone's character...and often T/their assessments prove to be wrong.

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RE: Being Poor... ( discuss ) - 6/8/2008 2:13:05 PM

hizgeorgiapeach

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Elaborate? Ok.

My mother's family is Cherokee and French. The French portion being Caucasion. They were essentially kicked out of France during the late 1600s/early 1700s (got to Georgia in 1701) due to religion - they were Hugonots rather than Catholic. They either left, or they spent their lives in prisons, after getting their lands taken from them, and being persecuted.

My biological father's family is German, Kiowa, and Apache. The German portion being Caucasion. They primarily came here as indentured servants - also fleeing from religious persecution as protestants in a primarily catholic area. Indentured because the only way they had to pay for passage was to sell themselves into slavery for the price of the ride - everything else had already been stripped from them.

While you might not consider such family histories as having been told Go Away (not "go home" as you put it) - I Do - because their original countries made it plain they were not wanted there, and were no longer welcome there. If any of Your ancestors came here under similar circumstances - religious persecution, indentured servitude for the later chance at rebuilding their lives, deported convicts (some of whom had merely committed the "crime" of being to poor to pay their taxes, and ended up in debtor's prison because of it) - then part of your family tree was told "Go Away" just like part of my family tree was told that.

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RE: Being Poor... ( discuss ) - 6/8/2008 2:14:42 PM

Vendaval

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Good subject for discussion, FB.

I think most of us will agree that being poor in the US is not the same as being poor in a less developed country. We still have social programs and other resources for assistance.

What some have brought up but has not been addressed is being one of the working poor in the US. That means that you have part or full time employment but still struggle for basic necessities. Many people reading here have been or are at this stage of economics.

You manage to barely get by financially, but necessities like health and decent housing are long term goals or only dimmly remembered. The lack of affordable, competent health care will undercut many efforts to improve a person's situation.

Have a sick family member who needs round the clock care during an illness? Well, forget about keeping that low paying job at the local mini-mart. But hey, some of their paychecks are late or returned NSF after you have paid the rent and utilities and bought groceries. So then you have the fees to your bank and everyone to cover.

So why are the paychecks late or NSF? The business is going well. Hey, the owner is never around and lets his incompent, spoiled son run the business. Yeah, he gives money from the cash register to his friends and any females that he wants and removes funds in the safe to go party all the time. He becomes threatening and tells you to look away and not say anything, or he will tell daddy to fire your ass.

Are you the one or two persons in the household working when some jackass tears through a red light and hits your car, leaving you on disability for several months? Watch your whole standard of living collapse.

Your family may well become homeless in the process, at the very least utilities are going to be a big problem.

The board of directors or CEO/CFO of your compangy/organization were corrupt coke or meth heads snorting the profits up their noses and fled the country with all the money? Hey, you get unemployment at least. But forget about COBRA or any other form of health care for your family. You can afford to pay all medical expenses out of pocket now since Unemployment Insurance will pay less than half of your rent, right?

Your old neighborhood goes from being a mellow working class place where all the folks get along well; Latino, White, Asian and Black, to one where there are helicoptors hovering overhead looking for suspects and drug dealers waving guns around in the street. You can just pack up and move right? But how can you afford to move when there are elderly/unmentionables who need medical care and your check barely covers the rent and utilities.

How are you going to save the money for first, last and deposit? You already work 50-60 hours a week and come home to take care of those dependent on your being able bodied. So getting a second job is not an option. And if you go looking for a better job, you have to take time off from work for the search and interviews.

So your current employer, who owns a fleet of cars, trucks, motorcycles, lawnmowers, etc and still whines that they cannot provide medical insurance for any of their employees, is going to think you are undependable.

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RE: Being Poor... ( discuss ) - 6/8/2008 2:24:34 PM

SeeksOnlyOne

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Aynne

Jesus Christ...everytime I read this thread I am continually outraged. Is it a southern thing to be so blind and incapable of conceptualizing that some people are poor due to sucky life circumstances and not because they pissed away their money on dime rocks and internet?

Do you know how many children in this country go to bed hungry every night? Or uninsured, needing medication, warm clothes? Are they smoking the rock too? Should they just pull themselves up by their boot straps DA? Or the rest of you holier than tho bullies? Have you ever left the boondocks and wandered around the city? Seen the homeless in NYC for example? Heartbreaking. Mentally challenged, truly incapable of working, and lost souls. You people are heartless. No wonder we are called "ugly americans" everywhere else. Thank god most people with this mentality don't have passports or go abroad. I mean, hey. USA #1 right? Why expand your horizons and evolve? Besides, all those poor people and dirty foreigners. ewwww, right?

i dunno where ya pulled that out of ya hat from, but no, its not a southern thing at all.....is it a northern thing to want to diss southerners at every turn?

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RE: Being Poor... ( discuss ) - 6/8/2008 2:25:39 PM

GreedyTop

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Speaking of the working poor (thanks, Vendaval..) here is a book I STRONGLY recommend: Nickel And Dimed: On (NOT) getting by in America

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RE: Being Poor... ( discuss ) - 6/8/2008 2:42:52 PM

pinksugarsub

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quote:

ORIGINAL: hizgeorgiapeach

That makes 2 of us, Bill.

Yeah, I've been poor - to the point of wondering if, not when, there was gonna be a next meal to put on the table - wondering whether I was going to have electricity and running water - wondering where the money was going to come from to buy clothes for a growing kid.

And I went through it, primarily, due to Pride. I had family willing to help me out through the rough spots - but frequently wouldn't take their help because I felt like I should be able to do it without relying on someone else. I certainly wasn't Raised poor. Strictly upper middle class family background, earned through dint of some particularly hard work on the part of parents and grandparents. I wasn't Uneducated or lacking in Intelligence - hell, part of my time in college was While I was at my most financially disadvantaged. (There's these wonderful lil things called Grants and Scholarships to pay for such, if someone Honestly WANTS an education and can't afford it. They don't even have to be paid back, so no worry about payments sucking income away from other necessities after school is over.) In this country there Are government programs to help do things like keep food on the table - provided your pride doesn't get in the way and keep you from going and applying.

Yeah, Poverty Sucks - been there, done that, got the tshirt holes and all. BUT........ (you just Knew there had to be a But in there someplace, didn't ya?)

We have two options in life. We can either sit around whining about our circumstances, saying "poor me poor me", and getting nothing done other than being annoying - or - we can be proactive about Changing our circumstances, prioritize better so that things which ARE Luxuries (like internet access) take a back seat to things that are Not luxuries like knowing there's going to be a meal on the table on a regular basis.

You make some good points, hizgeorgiapeach, but i don't fully agree with you.

Without being too autobiographical, i'll reveal i was impoverished as a child. i did not have a family of any kind, and i was 'raised' by adults with various predatory motives concerning children.

Because of this, i was ignorant of many things middle class children learn by osmosis. By my senior year in high school, i literally did not know that a system of higher education even existed. My guidance counselor was one of the angels among U/us. She drove me to the closest branch of SUNY, got me admitted, registered me for classes, arranged for my dorm and even got copies of the syllabuses and showed me how to figure out what books were required.

Being poor as a child also means being ignorant of many things, skills, and opportunities -- whether the child has any chance of ever enjoying them or not. It's a very cloistered life, and it is almost suffocating in its boundaries.

i've also been poor as an adult, but by then, i had acquired an education and some prior experience as a middle class person. Because of that, i had a platform on which to erect a plan to survive my poverty and eventually return to the middle class.

Looking at it more dispasisonately, i also think the poor serve as a valuable economic resource for the upper classes and government. This country needs an underclass, to fill its prisons, keep its social service agencies busy, and most importantly, allow the upper classes to feel superior.

pinksugarsub

<Laffs. i find your font size, color, and use of italics hard to read. Now go immediately to 'Random Stupidity' for a good spanking.>

< Message edited by pinksugarsub -- 6/8/2008 2:52:55 PM >

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RE: Being Poor... ( discuss ) - 6/8/2008 2:54:42 PM

Vendaval

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Greedy, thanks for that link and you are most welcome.

Pink sugar, I hear you about not knowing about many concepts that the middle class take for granted as being common knowledge.

One thing I am grateful for is being in a more rural/agriculture environment. We had a garden for veggies and some fruit trees. Family members, friends and neighbors would trade a crate of veggies from the fields, fish from off the coast, fruit from their gardens, etc. We shared resources as a matter of survival and good will.

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RE: Being Poor... ( discuss ) - 6/8/2008 3:03:48 PM

Lockit

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I hesitate to jump in here again... as the issue is done for me... but... I must say that being poor does not mean dishonest. I would starve to death before I stole something. I taught my children that no matter what... whether in illness or poverty, we must keep our word and honor. I can understand being poor and hungry enough to want to steal... but that is a choice that would never be considered acceptable in my household. My children worked from an early age. I would get a good deal on banana's and make banana nut muffins and the kids would go sell them around the neighborhood that knew us. They would shovel snow or clean people's apartments or watch their children.

We were poor, but we often brought people into our home and fed them. My only rule was that they did something to improve their life.

I learned that a mother will do most anything to provide for their children and I did most anything. But it was always legal. I would rather die in hunger with some dignity than to live with dishonor. I taught my children right and wrong, period. You want more, go work for it. My children's employers have always said they were their best employees.

I was too ill to go to school and back then we didn't have online schools. I worked my way into the jobs I had and I had some good ones. Where there is a will... you will seek out a way... but sometimes luck, who you know and many other factors determine whether you actually make it out or not.

Running the shelter and working on the streets with different agencies meant that I saw a lot. Some were out there through their own poor choices... but some are out there simply because life is what it is, mankind is what it is and that's the way it works out sometimes.

What really ticks me off is the judgement of some people. That is why I jumped in here and talked about my own experience. I am not proud of where I have landed in life... but I will be damned if I will stand by and let someone judge me and others becasue of it and not say something! lol I am far too much the survivor and the red head!

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RE: Being Poor... ( discuss ) - 6/8/2008 3:16:51 PM

hizgeorgiapeach

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Pink, even now I can hardly be considered "upper class" financially. My business is to new for me to give myself the luxury of an actual Salary - every penny gets pumped back into the business for all practical purposes. I won't starve, and keep enough disposable income prior to reinvestment in my business to make sure my bills are paid and there's plenty on the table - but that's not living in luxury by any means. Yeah, I have a few "toys" of the luxury catagory - things that I've splurged on after the bills are paid during the months that have higher than usual income for a small business. But in many ways, especially where you take sheer net worth as the basis for class - I'm still very much one of the working poor. However rather than complain that it's tough, I work harder in my business to create more opportunities for myself. I apply to more shows, I do what I can to gain a larger customer base, I work harder to find wholesale outlets in already established shops, I work to improve my products so that more people Will want them.

As for Superiority - that's a damned broad generalization. And guess what, painting a percieved Upper class with generalizations is no different than painting a percieved Lower class with such.

(btw - yer the wrong gender for me to bare my ass to unless it's specifically to moon ya... so no spankings for me unless they come from someone male - I dun know, maybe you can convince Celtic or DA to administer it in your name.... )

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RE: Being Poor... ( discuss ) - 6/8/2008 3:24:35 PM

celticlord2112

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quote:

By my senior year in high school, i literally did not know that a system of higher education even existed.

All through high school without ever hearing about colleges?

That is....quite extraordinary.

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RE: Being Poor... ( discuss ) - 6/8/2008 3:44:04 PM

Aynne

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Not too spendy for a kid that has a lifer in the US Army for a Dad. Careful on your assessments. No a/c tour bus here. Just living, then traveling cheaply on my own, staying at hostels and with other like minded travelers, then a job with a company in Maine called Auto Europe when it was just starting out. Anything else you need clarification on? Seriously... an air conditioned tour bus?

Do not paint me as a tour bus stepford wife. Not even close.

quote]ORIGINAL: TheHeretic

quote:

ORIGINAL: Aynne

I have traveled the world over

       That's generally a pretty spendy proposition, Aynne...

    Please note the thread title is "Being Poor," not "seeing poor people from the air-conditioned tour bus," or even "being among the poor."

      People who are posting here are talking about what works to get out of poverty, and you are "continually outraged" by that. Maybe you should put away the outrage and read again. Perhaps the lessons we have learned would be helpful to whatever "solution" you might think to support?

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RE: Being Poor... ( discuss ) - 6/8/2008 3:46:27 PM

Aynne

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Yeah, I was waiting for that. Sorry for the generalizaion, I was reading the posts from the Texas trio and Ms. Georgia too much, I should have checked that one. My apologies.

quote:

ORIGINAL: SeeksOnlyOne

quote:

ORIGINAL: Aynne

Jesus Christ...everytime I read this thread I am continually outraged. Is it a southern thing to be so blind and incapable of conceptualizing that some people are poor due to sucky life circumstances and not because they pissed away their money on dime rocks and internet?

Do you know how many children in this country go to bed hungry every night? Or uninsured, needing medication, warm clothes? Are they smoking the rock too? Should they just pull themselves up by their boot straps DA? Or the rest of you holier than tho bullies? Have you ever left the boondocks and wandered around the city? Seen the homeless in NYC for example? Heartbreaking. Mentally challenged, truly incapable of working, and lost souls. You people are heartless. No wonder we are called "ugly americans" everywhere else. Thank god most people with this mentality don't have passports or go abroad. I mean, hey. USA #1 right? Why expand your horizons and evolve? Besides, all those poor people and dirty foreigners. ewwww, right?

i dunno where ya pulled that out of ya hat from, but no, its not a southern thing at all.....is it a northern thing to want to diss southerners at every turn?

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RE: Being Poor... ( discuss ) - 6/8/2008 3:50:23 PM

Aynne

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I don't know how Georgia works but in Maine you better pull a salary unless you want an IRS audit. You are legally required to do so as a business owner. I have co-owned a gen. contracting firm since 1990 and even in the wayyyy beginning we had to both pull salaries and they had to equal a certain amount of money as well, you know, to make sure we paid our fair share of taxes. You might want to check with an accountant on that one. Even if the corp. itself lost money, by law we have to claim a salary. www.irs.gov Us liberals love paying those required taxes.

quote:

ORIGINAL: hizgeorgiapeach

Pink, even now I can hardly be considered "upper class" financially. My business is to new for me to give myself the luxury of an actual Salary - every penny gets pumped back into the business for all practical purposes. I won't starve, and keep enough disposable income prior to reinvestment in my business to make sure my bills are paid and there's plenty on the table - but that's not living in luxury by any means. Yeah, I have a few "toys" of the luxury catagory - things that I've splurged on after the bills are paid during the months that have higher than usual income for a small business. But in many ways, especially where you take sheer net worth as the basis for class - I'm still very much one of the working poor. However rather than complain that it's tough, I work harder in my business to create more opportunities for myself. I apply to more shows, I do what I can to gain a larger customer base, I work harder to find wholesale outlets in already established shops, I work to improve my products so that more people Will want them.

As for Superiority - that's a damned broad generalization. And guess what, painting a percieved Upper class with generalizations is no different than painting a percieved Lower class with such.

(btw - yer the wrong gender for me to bare my ass to unless it's specifically to moon ya... so no spankings for me unless they come from someone male - I dun know, maybe you can convince Celtic or DA to administer it in your name.... )

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RE: Being Poor... ( discuss ) - 6/8/2008 3:50:41 PM

DomAviator

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quote:

ORIGINAL: pinksugarsub

quote:

ORIGINAL: DomAviator

However, I STILL dont feel sorry for the poor. A loaf of bread is 87 cents at my local Walmart. I would be damned if I would serve my kid a slice that a roach walked on... If need be I would go out and walk the streets picking up aluminum cans to get a new loaf of bread!

Funny thing about a lot of the "desparately poor" - they have lots of cool yet expensive toys from the local rent-to-own store. They have no shortage of $3 a bag Doritos - and not the generics either, they go to mcDonalds, they always have a pack of cigarettes or a bottle of malt liqour etc...

There is no excuse for poverty in America except laziness. I have said this many times before - the illegal alien who picks up my dog shit for $5 a week pulls in 90K when you do the math!

Wow. Do You really think like this, or do You just enjoy being a provocateur here on the boards?

pinksugarsub

Yeah I really feel that way. I would NOT serve my child bread that a roach walked on. I wouldnt serve it to my dog either for that matter and anyone who would do as the link suggested, ie make sure the kid didnt see and serve it anyway, shouldnt have the kid. First of all I wouldnt have roaches in my home, and even though I have never seen one I still pour straight bleach down all of my drains periodically (to render the traps caustic) and I have the Orchin man come to make periodic prophylactic treatments.. So I would provide my family a vermin free living environment. However, how about NOT serving the kid the roach walked on bread? How about saying "Im gonna bite the bullet for my child and give them MY bread????" Most poor people I have seen would be well served by skipping the carbs anyway! LOL

Meanwhile, there is truth in what I said about the poor and their mismanagement of money. For the hell of it go into a "rent to own" place sometime or look one up in on the Internet there are many national chains. These are places that the poor go to spend money they do not have, on expensive luxuries they should not have, at insane prices. Even though I have a six figure income, I still like a bargain and I look for a deal where I can find it. I saw one of these places had notebook computers for $11 a week. Sounds great huh? Well its NOT when you figure out that once all is said and done you are paying over $2000 for a $600 notebook! Take a look at a cite like rentacenter or aarons... What do they have - 50" plasma TV's, XBox 360's, Dobly Stereo Surround Sound Home Theatre systems.... I have all of the above, but i can afford them. People who cant walk into Circuit City and buy something using their DEBIT card (note I said Debit, not Credit) do not need it. I was a landlord in a trailer park. I had nine piece of shit trailers that I paid never paid more than $2000 apeice (and which I sometimes was paid to take away) that I rented out via the county DSS, ie social services paid the rent direct deposit to my checking account. OK, the occupants of my run down kicked out of "respectable trailer parks" barely habitable met absolute minimum HUD standards and had interior finish materials purchased on the basis of whats cheapest on closeout at home depot trailers that social services was paying the rent on had all kinds of shit from these rent to own places.

I would shake my head driving home thinking "the bitch cant even afford to live in a decent place! I got paid to take that beat up run down fucking trailer out of Sunnyvale and then I spent less than $600 rehabbing it. The living room is covered in $4 a sheet pink woodgrain paneling that was marked down because it is so ugly everyone else at home depot was smart enough not to buy it, the 10 year old third hand appliances are painted avocado green because there were 5 cans of avocado green spraypaint I got on closeout for $1 each etc, welfare is paying her rent, her kids are getting free lunch, and she has a projection TV delivered so she can sit on her fat ass ordering stuff from QVC... Fuck it, Im glad DSS is paying me rent, its a tax refund at least I get some of my fucking money back..."

Take a look at "the poor" sometimes.... They always seem to have cigarettes. Drive through a wrong side of the tracks trailer park (not like some retirement community in Florida, Im talking a "COPS was filmed here" park) or a housing project and see for yourself. Everyone is smoking. Well thats fine I smoke too - however UNLIKE them I can afford $120 a month worth of Camel Filters. They cant, because if they could then they shouldnt be living in the subhuman shithole that I was renting out for $450 a month.

Ditto for alcohol and junk food. I can actually afford to go to lunch at the local strip club, to drop some money on booze, to have the buffet, and if the mood strikes me to drop another $50 or $100 for a hummer or a tugoff. Poor people have no fucking business in a strip club unless they are swinging around a pole! I mean lets be straight here - strip clubs are EXPENSIVE. The drinks are overpriced, the food is overpriced, and those dollar bills that go in the girls panties should be dollar bills you dont need to buy your kids medicine with. However, strip clubs are full of "working poor" who shouldnt fucking be there because they need a savings account and a better vehicle and a better place to live a hell of a lot more than they need to be drinking $5 beers and stuffing dollar bills in the panties of women who dont like them anyway. Ditto for Casinos... You will find no shortage of poor in a casino! Nickle slots? Dollar Tables? If thats what you can afford you shouldnt BE there because the house will ALWAYS win... Im not against gambling and in fact I love to go to Vegas - BUT I will go into that casino saying "Im gonna lose $100 tonight" and once I do I walk the fuck out and go look for a place with shrimp cocktails, or a show, or a hooker that looks like elisabeth shue!

McDonalds, Burgerking, Wendys et. al. is fucking expensive and the food is shit. Do I go there? Sometimes but I can get a better deal at a tacquiera or an asian buffet or a BBQ place. At a tacquiera, I can get a steaming hot freshly cooked torta and an ice cold bottle of the Mexican coke for $4.50 (or a taco / fajita for $1) , I can get lunch at any number of asian buffets for $5.99, I can get the lunch plate at my favorite BBQ joing for $6.50 and dine on BBQ Brisket, smoked links, and two sides instead of $7 for a supersized combo meal at a fast food drive through. Yet you will find no shortage of poor in a McDonalds, and you will find no shortage of McDonalds bags thrown around the lawn of a trailer park or housing project... You will also find no shortage of fat people there!!!

Aynne has repeatedly mentioned bartending... I wonder, how many people has she seen in the bar spending money they shouldnt be spending? How many times has she seen someone buying cigarettes at twice the price from the machine? Or losing money on a pool game they shouldnt be betting on? How many of those patrons should have been at a part time job instead of at a bar?

I still think the leading cause of "poverty" is laziness and poor money management. Whether its buying luxuries they cant afford, or buying intoxicants they dont need, or buying their kids happy meals instead of a pound of ground beef and a pack of hamburger rolls. You know at my local Walmart you can buy a roll of ground beef and eight rolls for less than ONE Whopper / Big Mac costs. However, cooking it requires getting off the couch and plugging in the George Foreman Grill or lighting the BBQ and god knows what bargain might be missed on QVC during that. Much better to just call Bubba and tell him to pick up McDonalds on the way home from the liqour store to get his Boone and smokes...

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RE: Being Poor... ( discuss ) - 6/8/2008 3:55:33 PM

GreedyTop

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~FR~

DA?? Arent you supposed to be taking pictures for me?? *grin*

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RE: Being Poor... ( discuss ) - 6/8/2008 3:55:58 PM

celticlord2112

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quote:

People who cant walk into Circuit City and buy something using their DEBIT card (note I said Debit, not Credit) do not need it.

There is something to be said for this mentality.

I paid cash for my last two cars (including the one I gave my ex wife). I pay off my credit cards at the end of every month. I paid cash for the new washer and dryer when I moved into a new apartment.

I'm not rich, but I save up for what I want, and make sure the bank pays ME interest instead of me paying to them. Living debt free is a matter of choice and personal responsibility.

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RE: Being Poor... ( discuss ) - 6/8/2008 4:05:01 PM

Irishknight

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Aynne, I hope I wasn't included in that "Texas Trio."
I've actually been good on this topic and stayed out of it. More importantly, I am not a Texican. I'm a hillbilly from Arkansas.

For the record, I've been so poor that it was ramen or mac-n-cheese, and not even Kraft. I've lived in a vehicle because I've had no house. I understand what it is to be po' and wonder where you were gonna get that next sandwhich from. My experiences taught me to deal differently with those in need.

I will gladly give food to someone on the side of the road who needs it. I will not give money. The reason for that is a simple one. I have a natural distrust of human beings. My trust is earned not offered. Its just the way I am.

There was an incident when I was in the Navy where I pulled into the grocery store parking lot to see a man with a car full of kids and a sign that said, "Need to buy food for my kids." I offered to buy the man food for his family and his response was "NO. I just want the money." I offered to buy them a meal at the restaurant across the parking lot as well as 100 bucks in groceries. Again, he demanded that I just give him the money. That is when I wrote the man off as a liar and started to walk off. He asked if I planned to let his kids starve and I told him, "Nope. Apparently you will though." When I came out of the store, he was being arrested by the cops. The man had scammed several hundred dollars out of people and had drugs in the car with his kids. I still feel bad for the kids because their dad was an asshole. Those people are the ones who make so many feel the way they do.

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