Extreme Poverty Is Now At Record Levels - 19 Statistics About The Poor That Will Absolutely Astound

Originally posted by arcnaver
American poverty is a very interesting topic. It's amazing what we Americans think living in poverty really is.

How many of those Food Stamp recipients have:

A TV?
More then one TV?
An Xbox or Playstation?
A cell phone?
A smartphone?
More then one car?
An iPod?
An iPad?
A bed to sleep in?
Multiple pairs of clothing?
A roof over their heads?

Now granted, there are those in the United States (bless them) who really do live in poverty and do not have any of that. But just because someone is on Food Stamps, does not mean they are living in poverty by any stretch of the imagination.

Oh... so because they can afford things from GoodWill (which sell most of the things on that list), they aren't poor?!

Look, go ahead a bang the drum about how a poor person should be wearing leaves and coconut shells for clothing before getting food stamps but just remember that the drum you are pounding is the same one they pound when you complain about taxes.

And quit getting your perspective from Heritage.com. They absolutely love to keep reminding people how rich food stamp recipients are because they have a color tv.

reply to post by illuminatislave


Just like most city folks won't last very long in the country.

Originally posted by Cuervo

Originally posted by arcnaver
American poverty is a very interesting topic. It's amazing what we Americans think living in poverty really is.

How many of those Food Stamp recipients have:

A TV?
More then one TV?
An Xbox or Playstation?
A cell phone?
A smartphone?
More then one car?
An iPod?
An iPad?
A bed to sleep in?
Multiple pairs of clothing?
A roof over their heads?

Now granted, there are those in the United States (bless them) who really do live in poverty and do not have any of that. But just because someone is on Food Stamps, does not mean they are living in poverty by any stretch of the imagination.

Oh... so because they can afford things from GoodWill (which sell most of the things on that list), they aren't poor?!

Look, go ahead a bang the drum about how a poor person should be wearing leaves and coconut shells for clothing before getting food stamps but just remember that the drum you are pounding is the same one they pound when you complain about taxes.

And quit getting your perspective from Heritage.com. They absolutely love to keep reminding people how rich food stamp recipients are because they have a color tv.

There are two sides to this coin. On one side there are those working Americans that are now struggling, losing houses and jobs do to the corrupt politicians and the greed of the uber rich.

On the other hand there are those that have been "Living on free" their whole life and do not intend to get off or even acknowledge that others are paying their way. I live in New Orleans the Capital of Get Over USA, and I can tell you weather through the eyes of an educator, public servant, land owner, or average citizen it is evident, and appalling how some (fairly large number) here abuse the system. It is equally appalling how many people believe that there are very few to almost no one doing this. Wake up.

I realize this is kind of off topic but I know there are a lot of people that depend on food stamps to be able to feed their children, but a couple of weeks ago this ignorant girl I know asked me if I wanted to buy her food stamps from her. I should probably mention that I actually speak with her mother more than her, and her mother told me that she suspects her daughter is using crack. This girl only had my number because I offered to babysit her children if she was ever in a jam. We are not even friends. I didn't tell her what I really wanted to say, I just said no. The next time she asks I am going to do it and then take her card right to the office and explain what kind of person they are dealing with.
What I am getting at, is that it is astonishing the amount of people that don't have the money to buy food, and then there are people (scum) who take advantage of the system to feed their drug habits. IT IS DISGUSTING!!!!!!
Btw, if I do take her card and she gets it taken away, do not worry that her kids won't eat. She lives with her mother and she doesn't work. Her mother is fully supporting the children and putting food on the table. I know this because her mother is my manager. I have even given her mother money to buy milk and cereal for the kids when she was short on cash. This world we live in...I tell ya!

Originally posted by Jiggyfly
Seriously though, I wonder how the idea of unbridled competition plays out with a global population level of 12 billion....when people actually have to resort to literally fighting each other for low paying jobs. We're feeling pain already at 7 billion. The numbers are not good. Job growth has already been surpassed by population growth, and there's no compelling reason to think that will change without intervention. That's akin to saying the Cubs will win the World Series again, because they did it before. I'm not holding my breath.

The UN puts us as high as 14 billion in 2100 without a Malthusian check. How are we possibly going to create enough "job creators" to accommodate that generation born in 2075? When every generation adds to the disproportion? Will the unseen hand of the free market make it so?

I think the answer is to aggressively pursue sustainability....but there's nothing in our current economic model that supports that.

Current population has all that it needs to survive. We have enough space, all humans could be fitted into Finland...It's all about re-allocating resources. One ludicrous example is the burning of exec crop, so that it won't get rotten. Let's start by giving that exec amount away before it even starts to show signs of getting unusable. The reason why it is not done, is because it won't make any profit.

I do agree with you, it is going to be one of those "# hitting the fan" situations, when the amount of population vs the resources exceeds the capacity of our current political/economical system in place...

What can we do, then?!
Change in the general way of thinking towards "others before me" mentality is that could save us from the unpleasant consequences of collapse of the system. There are two ways to solve major problems concerning society: The first way is the politicians way of eradicate poorness by eradicating the poor. Not the way to please majority of the masses, poor or other wise, but gets the job done eventually. The second way is to "make" the already rich ones to help to build healthier society by utilizing some of their resources. Both ways would mean the end of our society as we know it.

Determining a median in welfare among the whole population of the world and "help" poor and rich people to work towards it, would be one way to do this. Goal would be the equal ability for every one to be able to pay their bills, to have roof on top of their heads, to have access to basic healthcare and clean clothes, water + food...

Individual would be allowed to make as much profit as he or she could or wanted, but not with the expense of morality. I don't mind how rich you are as long as you help me if i'm about to die because of lacking food.

An Utopian way of living, i know... Every Utopia is deemed to fail eventually, but then again in 15th century, our current way of living would have been considered as Utopia- and based of the looks of it, it has reached the state when the collapse starts to show.

Then why should we start to pursue an Utopia, well we won't be able to reach it right away, if ever and secondly there is lots of time between now and someday when the whole thing comes crashing down. being able to live better than now, for some time, until we get even higher standards for everyone- is better than never even trying to live differently cause it might eventually fail, or it sound crazy.

Why are we so determined to wait for politicians and corporations to make the change, when they are the ones who don't want the change to occur...Balanced income among all humans means less power and influence for the few in top of the food chain of monetary and political system.

Sorry for my English!

reply to post by eldard

are you volunteering some land?? cause, I really would like to try one of those bottle houses, and have three adult sons who aren't really doing much of late!!!
personally, I would rather live in the country, but, well, jobs are in the city...can I build two bottle house, one for a home, and one for a print shop???

In the US the old people have 47 times more wealth than the young people. This is the worst disparity ever. The young will kill us old people for revenge.

reply to post by earthdude

it's called net worth, home value (ya know that building your mom and dad let you live in), cars, ira accounts and retirement savings (you'll be glad that they have that savings someday!!! since well if they don't, it's gonna be you that society will expect to financially care for them!!!)

it's decades worth of saving and investment...
and the kids think that they should be able to obtain it in a year or so of working??


and well, don't bother come to kill me to take my riches....
..I have a negative net worth!! so don't alot other people!! heck, my kids, when they are working, earn more money /hour than I do.... almost wonder if the numbers aren't screwy....

Originally posted by DogGod
Thanks for the post. It's nice to see all this in one place. This is one of the saddest things I've seen in my life. And now we are getting into more wars? THAT makes sense.

No surprise:

Matt 24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.


The end is not yet.... but the Lord Jesus Christ is coming.

Are you saved?

reply to post by dawnstar


I have huge tracts of land in Iran. Any Amerikan is welcome.

reply to post by earthdude


And after they've killed you, then what?

reply to post by eldard


the start the war of all wars, no one wants to trade with the US,
and well, america becomes the largest nudist colony because none of the younger people would demean themselves to sitting in front of a sewing machine for eight hours a day for the amount of money that the companies are willing to pay!!

and no, I don't want a piece of land in Iraq...or anywhere else in the middle east....
thanks anyways...but, I'll just wait till the gov't totally collapses and can't monitor their national parks anymore, and well, grab a piece closer to home!

reply to post by dawnstar


But that's when Chinese soldiers come marching in, silly!

Seems that the elite's plan is progressing.
Soon it will only be the few rich and countless extremely poor.