People struggling to make ends meet (cost, 200k, work, payments)

[ChessieMom]

Originally Posted by JobHunter2018

Okay, you know what, I'm going to put the sarcasm and parody aside and let you know something apparently no one here from the otherwise intelligent side of the thread is aware of:

These people who are yelling about bad spending habits don't care about the fictional bad spending habits that they're ranting about. I hate to break it to those of you who are screaming, and quite correctly so, about this woman's actual circumstances that have zero to do with her alleged runaway consumerism:

The folks you are debating with are economic eugenists.

These posters see poverty as a way of culling the herd, of reducing the population, getting rid of the undesirables. To them poor people are undesirable and instead of calling for sending them to the gas ovens like the Nazis did the Jews, the new prevalent mindset in right wing America is to let them die by legal negligence: "let 'em starve if they can't make it on their own." You can sit here all day - and we all apparently have done this a billion times - debunking the lies, only to see these MAGA goons repeat the same debunked lies in the very next post or thread - but you're not addressing the real problem: when they see poor people, they see people who should soon be dead. That's it. That's all.

You are off the rails. Try some therapy.

[yspobo]

Originally Posted by TexasLawyer2000

That's a parenting issue. Children do need parents in their lives. Adults not parenting is not sufficient.

Even if the parents don't want to teach their children finance, it's important to make sure someone does.

Yes, it is. I am mostly self raised. I wasn't wanted. I got myself to the bus stop. I survived on the meals served at school. At home I often went hungry. I was so skinny when I was a child that you could see my bones very well. People knew about it and no one ever cared. I was so hungry as a child that I'd sneak off when I was in the grocery store and steal food.

It taught me to be very tight/frugal with money.

[DKM]

In that city, $2,650 of rent gets you a nice 3 bedroom home in a nice neighborhood. A $581 car payment is definitely for a luxury vehicle, far more than I ever paid in my life and I have some nice cars... The state isn't required to provide you with both just because you don't have a job. Her escape is to downsize into realistic accommodation and get a Honda HRV...

[JobHunter2018]

Originally Posted by redguard57

So many posters are all "She made bad decisions!" about the woman in the article. Her main problems are the abusive husband who flew the coop in January, and the autistic kid that she can't leave alone which forecloses on her ability to even apply for regular jobs. She didn't "choose" that. If it was just herself, there would be no problem. Indeed, I often point out that poor people are rarely all of these 3 at one time - 1) single, 2) physically and mentally healthy, 3) free of family burdens. A single healthy person with no attachments may not be rich, but it's easy enough for that person to not be poor.

We all can criticize single mothers for having sex with people who end up being untrustworthy, but there are no guarantees in life that someone you have a kid with will always be dependable.

I know women whose previously dependable partners/husbands just upped and left one day. Or they became undependable over time, e.g.: developed drug and alcohol problems. There's no guarantee someone won't do that to you, even when they seem, at a given moment in time, to have everything together.

You're talking to a forum full of people who know exactly what you're talking about. The problem is not what you think. The real issue is they don't care. They see the poor as pests to be controlled. And since poverty simply kills people through starvation or crime or disease, they oppose any taxpayer-funded program that will protect people from these societal maladies. Particularly because they know that charities and churches will never be able to cover the gap. Right now soup kitchens are overwhelmed because of COVID-19: we are seeing the total collapse of the private charity system while these social Darwinists are yapping about relying on "your neighbors/the church/charities" to survive when times are hard.

The time for arguing is over. The only argument that needs to go on now is at the ballot box.

[silibran]

Originally Posted by ukrkoz

We live in a culture of "live once, live to the most", with zero money management and savings idea, taught to young people for generations. Good for businesses, bad for making it work, when SHTF. Why are you even surprised? Living by debt was norm for how long? Even very smart minds simply can't fathom debtless life anymore.

Not everyone is like that. You are using sweeping generalizations to advance an argument about vast numbers of people you do not know.

[jobaba]

Originally Posted by rya96797

Thank you for the story, I find the story pretty admirable, especially in today's day and age where everyone loves to play a victim and feels entitled to material possessions and lavish lifestyles without puttig in the work for it.

It is but she also never paid me back the $$ I gave her!!

[BigCityDreamer]

Originally Posted by JobHunter2018

The time for arguing is over. The only argument that needs to go on now is at the ballot box.

I will never vote for a Presidential candidate who says he supports universal healthcare and amnesty for illegal aliens.

He can go to hell.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by yspobo

Yes, it is. I am mostly self raised. I wasn't wanted. I got myself to the bus stop. I survived on the meals served at school. At home I often went hungry. I was so skinny when I was a child that you could see my bones very well. People knew about it and no one ever cared. I was so hungry as a child that I'd sneak off when I was in the grocery store and steal food.

It taught me to be very tight/frugal with money.

I am very sorry you went though that.

[jobaba]

Originally Posted by redguard57

So many posters are all "She made bad decisions!" about the woman in the article. Her main problems are the abusive husband who flew the coop in January, and the autistic kid that she can't leave alone which forecloses on her ability to even apply for regular jobs. She didn't "choose" that. If it was just herself, there would be no problem. Indeed, I often point out that poor people are rarely all of these 3 at one time - 1) single, 2) physically and mentally healthy, 3) free of family burdens. A single healthy person with no attachments may not be rich, but it's easy enough for that person to not be poor.

We all can criticize single mothers for having sex with people who end up being untrustworthy, but there are no guarantees in life that someone you have a kid with will always be dependable.

I know women whose previously dependable partners/husbands just upped and left one day. Or they became undependable over time, e.g.: developed drug and alcohol problems. There's no guarantee someone won't do that to you, even when they seem, at a given moment in time, to have everything together.

Speaking for myself, when my dad was young, he was the spitting image of a strapping successful man with a successful business and came from a family with property and a long history of being leaders in the community. And it was good. For a time.

My mom could not have predicted that 20 years in the future, when my dad got sick in his 50s, he would lose his s***. Not only was he not able to work, and his health insurance fail to pay out on claims, but he started to handle things illogically, made bad decisions with what money was left because when you're in distress and think you're going to die the next day, you don't think straight. Not to mention the cocktail of prescription drugs he was on messing with his mind, and what I think was a prescription drug addiction that he wouldn't admit.

A huge chunk of my mom's retirement savings went to his medical bills, debts, taking care of him when he basically became a shut-in, and dealing with the aftermath of his business collapsing. Which happened at exactly the wrong time in her savings arc... when you're in your 50s and need to be saving more than ever. Things were bad until he died. She has enough to survive now, but not nearly what could have been. And that's a relatively moderate problem given what people can go through, since my folks were fairly well off and had a lot of cushion to lose.

Health is everything. Mental and physical. Not only yourself but those in your immediate orbit you are co-dependent with. Without it you have nothing. The woman in the OP article has an autistic kid and an abusive, absent father - they are not a healthy family.

That's why we need universal healthcare, streamlined and more efficient education and labor system.

I'll also say ... kids are expensive. When you decide to have kids ... you have to consider the possibility that you're going to go it alone. I'm in my 40s and I've already been hit hard in my life with cancer. Most people should know, a 2 family income is far from a sure thing.

Kids are a right, but ... an expensive one.

For me ... dealing with my job and my $$-hungry bosses is so hard and difficult as is ... that if I had two kids to raise on top of that ... all I'll say is ... OMG.

But anyway, going back to my first sentence, if people were less greedy and cared less about themselves, society could streamline, people would have to work less hours, min wage jobs would pay a LOT more and have benefits, cheaper rent, etc, etc.

[Electrician4you]

Originally Posted by JobHunter2018

You're talking to a forum full of people who know exactly what you're talking about. The problem is not what you think. The real issue is they don't care. They see the poor as pests to be controlled. And since poverty simply kills people through starvation or crime or disease, they oppose any taxpayer-funded program that will protect people from these societal maladies. Particularly because they know that charities and churches will never be able to cover the gap. Right now soup kitchens are overwhelmed because of COVID-19: we are seeing the total collapse of the private charity system while these social Darwinists are yapping about relying on "your neighbors/the church/charities" to survive when times are hard.

The time for arguing is over. The only argument that needs to go on now is at the ballot box.

So whatvhat EXACTLY do you do to alleviate the problem? Do you donate time and money a shelter, invite homeless people in your house to feed them? Let’s hear all the things you battle for daily.....can’t wait to read the lies. I just love how people are heroic and want to save the world with someone else’s money. Everyone has great ideas on how we can fix everything...If we just get enough money.....just make everyone pay for it. Why do people want to hold on to the money thr6 work for so hard. Ridiculous.

Wanna know something? Most people are going to take care of family and see that they have food on the table, shelter over their heads, clothes on their back, medicine and creature comforts before they start worrying about anyone else. You wanna judge them for that? Go right ahead.

Until them open up your wallet and start supporting all these poor people you want to support. Nobody is stopping you from sending money to a shelter or dropping off a pallet of food