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Originally posted by Daughter2
I don't believe you one bit but as I have done with other posters who claim they live just great on very little money, I'll call your bluff.
POST YOUR BUDGET
Originally posted by skepticconwatcher
reply to post by Kryties
EXACTLY
I have seen many times where a mattress or other furniture was set on the curb to be removed by the city and anyone can have access to it so I am pretty sure some of the poor show up and get what they need.
Originally posted by starchild10
[I'm retired and my income is about £12,000 a year.
I have a few thousand for emergencies.
However I think that still makes me 'poor'.
How do I manage? Well a biggy is that I paid off the mortgage (though only recently).
Originally posted by Daughter2
Originally posted by starchild10
[I'm retired and my income is about £12,000 a year.
I have a few thousand for emergencies.
However I think that still makes me 'poor'.
How do I manage? Well a biggy is that I paid off the mortgage (though only recently).
You are not even poor by UK standards! Pensioners only need 137 a week to be above the poverty level. You have about 250.00 a week! Almost twice the level!
news.bbc.co.uk...
But I don't think you lied intentionally. You really do think you are poor. And 250 a week isn't a lot of money. Even at twice the level you admitted you have to buy second hand stuff.
You like most middle class people aren't aware of what poverty really is like.
I am just disgusted by people like you.
Originally posted by tothetenthpower
reply to post by schuyler
That's relative to the economy of the country though. Ofcourse our definition of poverty is different than that of Uaganda's and for good reason.
The point of this is that a 1st world developped nation has more children living underneath the proverty line than a host of other nations whose GDP combined is probably less than the states is.
It's a matter of where are your priorities as a nation as far as I'm concerned.
~Tenth
Great little victories of ordinary people
While banks and local and foreign authorities were desperately seeking economic solutions, the Icelandic people took to the streets and their persistent daily demonstrations outside parliament in Reykjavik prompted the resignation of the conservative Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde and his entire government.
Citizens demanded, in addition, to convene early elections, and they succeeded. In April a coalition government was elected, formed by the Social Democratic Alliance and the Left Green Movement, headed by a new Prime Minister, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir.
Throughout 2009 the Icelandic economy continued to be in a precarious situation (at the end of the year the GDP had dropped by 7%) but, despite this, the Parliament proposed to repay the debt to Britain and the Netherlands with a payment of 3,500 million Euros, a sum to be paid every month by Icelandic families for 15 years at 5.5% interest.
The move sparked anger again in the Icelanders, who returned to the streets demanding that, at least, that decision was put to a referendum. Another big small victory for the street protests: in March 2010 that vote was held and an overwhelming 93% of the population refused to repay the debt, at least with those conditions.
This forced the creditors to rethink the deal and improve it, offering 3% interest and payment over 37 years. Not even that was enough. The current president, on seeing that Parliament approved the agreement by a narrow margin, decided last month not to approve it and to call on the Icelandic people to vote in a referendum so that they would have the last word.
The bankers are fleeing in fear
Returning to the tense situation in 2010, while the Icelanders were refusing to pay a debt incurred by financial sharks without consultation, the coalition government had launched an investigation to determine legal responsibilities for the fatal economic crisis and had already arrested several bankers and top executives closely linked to high risk operations. Interpol, meanwhile, had issued an international arrest warrant against Sigurdur Einarsson, former president of one of the banks. This situation led scared bankers and executives to leave the country en masse.
In this context of crisis, an assembly was elected to draft a new constitution that would reflect the lessons learned and replace the current one, inspired by the Danish constitution. To do this, instead of calling experts and politicians, Iceland decided to appeal directly to the people, after all they have sovereign power over the law. More than 500 Icelanders presented themselves as candidates to participate in this exercise in direct democracy and write a new constitution. 25 of them, without party affiliations, including lawyers, students, journalists, farmers and trade union representatives were elected.
Among other developments, this constitution will call for the protection, like no other, of freedom of information and expression in the so-called Icelandic Modern Media Initiative, in a bill that aims to make the country a safe haven for investigative journalism and freedom of information, where sources, journalists and Internet providers that host news reporting are protected.
The people, for once, will decide the future of the country while bankers and politicians witness the transformation of a nation from the sidelines.