Poverty and the U.S.: Reality

Poverty in America is very real.

I've lived it, and I've seen it my whole life. Here's the reality as I've seen and heard it:

All those welfare queens who have those kids and don't work?
It's called daycare, and every check she makes would be eaten up by it. On top of that, her earnings would cause her to qualify for less in foodstamps and reduced rent rates, therefore putting her in dire straights.

Those nice clothes? It's called the Good-Will store, and they don't take rags.

Just get a job: You have to have a proper address to get one, so you can't get one if you're homeless. And even if you do have a home, try finding one within walking distance if you don't have a car.

Well, then live with family/friends: Poor people have a habit to have poor friends and family that can't really afford to help them out.

Most folks don't have a place to grow their own food because they're poor and don't own land.

You can't live out of your car without being hassled, you can't live on the streets without being hassled, you can't live in the woods without being hassled or raided, you can't lack I.D. or be hassled.

Living in poverty, you either have to be a welfare case or risk being hassled, arrested, and raided (note: having your stuff stolen by that minority of cops who get a kick out of bullying people) every day.

We have a system that is severely broken and by its very design traps generations as welfare cases.

If you don't want to fund it, that's fine, then let's repeal those policies that effectively make it illegal to be outside the system.

It's one way or the other, but something has got to give because we're heading to a place where we're going to have a good portion of the population living in poverty.

Fox News didn't tell me so, so this must be left-wing propaganda to trick me into believing America has problems. Poverty is for the communists only.

Seems to me under the current system it is a very difficult cycle to break out of.

Good thing we have big brother to give out just enough to keep as many as possible beholden to the system without actually putting anything in place to force people out of their welfare state and into productive work.

The terrible tragedy of it all is that people do not want to watch others starve to death and if the government would get the hell out of the way we would see many more grass roots help campaigns more suited to the individual and possibly providing real help... but then big bro wouldn't have the control would he?

This is real poverty.

reply to post by ZeussusZ


So you're saying that no one in any other place apart from Africa can be in poverty?
So the homeless and hungry of America have no problems because they live in a place where another person owns a TV?

reply to post by ZeussusZ


There are people who live like that in rich Western countries and millions more would if we didn't have welfare systems in place.

On top of that, just because you earn more than those people, it doesn't mean anything when you consider the cost of things.

Also, those people living in "real poverty" can actually build shacks and engage in small-scale farming. Try doing that in the U.S.

reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck


"Also, those people living in "real poverty" can actually build shacks and engage in small-scale farming."
Your joking right?

reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck


Can you seriously point to a single instance where a first world western country actually has poverty to that level? Seriously?

Living in America especially you would have to have a a serious mental issue or be suffering from acute negligence to have poverty at that level. Even without government aid there are at present enough charitable organizations that starving children would be fed.

Hunger in America is a symptom of pride and not a symptom of heartless neighbors.

It is easier to take money or food from a a large faceless government rather than the local church group or other foundation set to assist those in need. I can go to any street corner in my town dress poorly and make more money in an hour than any of those African children will likely see in their lives before famine finally claims them.

The problem is it isn't Black & White.

The poor elderly widow that needs money to heat her home and food stamps so she can eat, who has a problem with her getting assistance? Nobody.

The 30 year old adult baby that gets government disability... cases like THAT are what gets taxpayers like me pissed off.

The 21 year old inner city girl who has always been poor and now has 3 kids from different fathers... the govt rewards activities like that with extra monthly income. I don't like it. I don't have a better solution but then again I'm no the one elected to a position of leadership to fix these things.

The general liberal mindset is to provide what these people need on govt assistance which in turn causes a cycle of poverty. They don't seek to improve themselves... it's less money to go out and be self sufficient and get a job, so why bother?

reply to post by Jinglelord


I'm from Appalachia. It's full of people living in conditions that resemble the 3rd world.

Originally posted by ZeussusZ
reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck

 

"Also, those people living in "real poverty" can actually build shacks and engage in small-scale farming."
Your joking right?

Don't you know that when your parents are dead and there is very little water and an entire regional sustenance shortage these starved kids can just throw a few seeds in the ground and be eating like kings?

reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck


Well said! And necessary to be said.

The propaganda machine of recent years has done a good job of depicting poor people as freeloaders and druggies, and of course there are more than zero poor people who are just that. But the HUGE minority. Most poor people are as high-quality of people as anybody, and often "better"... more willing to help others in their same plight, as they can, and so forth.

And before people start screeching that we need to get the gov't out of the way and let folks help folks, it is important to understand why those gov't programs exist in the first place.

Pre the industrial era, there were still poor people, but the extended family system was stronger then, and those families and communities did tend to take reasonable care of each other. Again, as circumstances allowed.

However, as the country industrialized and urbanized, the culture changed such that more people were living in large cities. People in cities tend to be less connected than those in rural areas. So the reason such programs as Social Security and Welfare came to be is that poor people in cities were not being supported in the way they were pre-urbanization. People were starving on the streets, literally.

So the various gov't programs were established to provide a mechanism whereby that would not happen... or at least not as often.

Are there problems with those programs today? Hell yeah. Will abolishing those programs end all such ills? HA!

I'd like to see some of the whiners that go on and on about their taxes helping poor people (and never a word about their taxes that go to subsidize the petroleum/agriculture/pharma industries, for some reason... I guess those people don't mind their taxes going for that) actually live in poverty conditions in the US for a while. Like a few years.

After that, if they kept the whining up, at least it would have some credibility.

Good thread, S&F. Not that it will do much good to open any eyes, sadly.

reply to post by ZeussusZ


No, I'm not. I'm not saying that all of them can, but I'm saying that its feasible for a fair lot of poor people in other countries. This is naturally excluding extreme poverty.

Wooden shack with a tin roof > cardboard box.

Lacking extreme poverty does not make somebody rich, and eating out of trash bins really isn't that far from simply starving to death.

Originally posted by AnIntellectualRedneck
reply to post by Jinglelord

 

I'm from Appalachia. It's full of people living in conditions that resemble the 3rd world.

People regularly die of starvation in Appalachia?

I've never actually been to the area but have read some older ethnographies done in the 60s and have seen blurbs here and there. To me it seemed like unique and interesting culture that separated itself from mainstream on purpose... It also seemed to me that while the people were poor and didn't have good access to modern conveniences there wasn't a whole lot of starvation going on.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I do not claim any kind of authority on the subject.

reply to post by Jinglelord


Starving to death? Admittedly, there's less of that, though folks regularly live on the edge of that. Heck, I grew up on the constant edge of that.

But shacks? Check. Lack of electricity and decent plumbing? Check. Lack of medical care? Check.

reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck


Yip I bet those people that have nothing, and nothing being no food, no drinkable water, no cardboard or piece of tin to make a shack, no seeds to start this small scale farming, would really love a trash bin to look for some food in.

Originally posted by AnIntellectualRedneck
reply to post by Jinglelord

 

Starving to death? Admittedly, there's less of that, though folks regularly live on the edge of that. Heck, I grew up on the constant edge of that.

But shacks? Check. Lack of electricity and decent plumbing? Check. Lack of medical care? Check.

Been there seen that. 2 adults and 5 kids in a school bus? Check. No electricity? Check Running water? LMAO(hand pump and an outhouse) Starving to death? No (They could always scrape up enough for a box of grits to go with some fish they could catch out of drainage ditches on the side of dirt roads.)

This wasn't even in Appalachia this was Florida (where all them rich people live.) These were/are not lazy people the Man worked a regular (low paying) job and the wife took care of the 5 kids without government assistance.

Poverty exists in America whether anyone wants to admit it or not and it doesn't affect those that're lazy looking for handouts,It affects the hardworking ones that are too proud to accept your handouts.