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I agree that we should help the poor but America needs to deal with its generational poverty. When basic education is free, and there are numerous jobs available, it is unacceptable that Americans live in poverty generation after generation.
Government assistance should be a safety net, not a living standard.
Location: Appalachian New York, Formerly Louisiana
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ocnjgirl
I agree with regard to 3rd world countries. I continue to dispute though that the poor of Canada, Australia, Norway, France, and other first word countries envy our poor, which is what OP stated.
It does seem that people are actively avoiding the first world topic.
It does seem that people are actively avoiding the first world topic.
In fairness, OP worded the title "Are America's poor the envy of the world?" and only in the actual post did he mention that it was actually about whether the poor in other first world countries envy our poor. A lot of people just answer based on the thread title and don't read even the opening post. He should have titled it "Are America's poor the envy of the FIRST world?", since that is what he was asking.
Then why do the poor from other countries come to this country?
I’m a black man from Texas. My father was a postal worker and my mother was a social worker, we were poor. We were house poor, I wore the same outfits to school every other day, the fridge was empty more times than not, and for Christmas I’d be lucky to get some good luck under the tree. My father was very cheap because he didn’t have money after barely paying the bills. My mother would simply blow what little money she had and was the opposite. We lived paycheck to paycheck.
By the Europe’s standards, I was not poor. And I also had countless opportunities to get out of it, which I did by joining a well compensated Air Force which other countries don’t have the option.
I think there is still the mysticism that people believe that they can come here, work hard, and rise in the world. To a certain degree, that's still true.
If you grow up in a country that's been torn by war or genocide, the US must look like heaven. And people still believe it doesn't matter what your religion, race, or gender is here. And sometimes it really doesn't.
But I still think it's the hope people come here for - for themselves and for their children. It was the same hope that brought all my great-grand parents over here from Europe. And I must be a sentimentalist - even I still have hopes that things will get better in the future.
But I will say this, as a country that brags about how wonderful we are in everything, we shouldn't have the poverty that we do. I understand about being poor. We were on welfare when I was a kid and I remember as a young adult that even with a job, I would find myself at the end of the month with nothing but a bag of potatoes and a can of Crisco to fry them with. But that's being poor. I still had a job, I still had a car, I still had a roof over my head, whatever I might say about the food, it was still there, and I had a paycheck coming in every two weeks to pay for all that.
But poverty is not having a place to live, of having to go to shelters when it's cold, eating at the Salvation Army, not having a place to bathe or go to the bathroom. No one in this country should be living like that.
The fact is, if we were doing it right in this country, people in other countries would envy our poor. The fact that they don't should tell us something.
I think there is still the mysticism that people believe that they can come here, work hard, and rise in the world. To a certain degree, that's still true.
If you grow up in a country that's been torn by war or genocide, the US must look like heaven. And people still believe it doesn't matter what your religion, race, or gender is here. And sometimes it really doesn't.
But I still think it's the hope people come here for - for themselves and for their children. It was the same hope that brought all my great-grand parents over here from Europe. And I must be a sentimentalist - even I still have hopes that things will get better in the future.
But I will say this, as a country that brags about how wonderful we are in everything, we shouldn't have the poverty that we do. I understand about being poor. We were on welfare when I was a kid and I remember as a young adult that even with a job, I would find myself at the end of the month with nothing but a bag of potatoes and a can of Crisco to fry them with. But that's being poor. I still had a job, I still had a car, I still had a roof over my head, whatever I might say about the food, it was still there, and I had a paycheck coming in every two weeks to pay for all that.
But poverty is not having a place to live, of having to go to shelters when it's cold, eating at the Salvation Army, not having a place to bathe or go to the bathroom. No one in this country should be living like that.
The fact is, if we were doing it right in this country, people in other countries would envy our poor. The fact that they don't should tell us something.
( 2nd to last paragraph)
"not having a place to go to shelters when it's cold "
In cold weather cities no homeless are w/o shelter when a cold front moves in.
Police are sent out to beg the homeless to go to shelters as many refuse.
"not having a place to go to shelters when it's cold "
In cold weather cities no homeless are w/o shelter when a cold front moves in.
Police are sent out to beg the homeless to go to shelters as many refuse.
Many shelters have limits because there's only so many beds. In some places the temp has to be down to freezing before they open up the emergency shelter doors. Somehow, sleeping in the streets when the temp is a balmy 34° F doesn't do much for a person. Have you ever been in a shelter yourself? If you go into a shelter, you have the chance of being beaten up, having your things stolen, catching TB, or getting infested with bedbugs.
I have to tell you, if I were on the streets, they'd have to beg me to go to a shelter, too. If I had a warm sleeping bag, I'd as soon take my chances outside.
We've seen the counter argument to this many times. America is evil. America is a cutthroat capitalistic society. People don't have living wages. The wealth and income inequality is out of control. The poor here are suffering. This is a cruel country.
So based on the statistics, the poor people in this country have it very good compared to the poor of other 1st world countries and are clearly the envy of the world. This is the best place on earth to be poor.
Indeed. My old man made that point long ago. When "poor folk" have three or four color TVs (this was in the Old Days), two cars, are often grossly overweight, now have a cell phone or three, wear $100+ sneakers, and do not dress in worn hand-me-downs as the true poor used to do in the USA, "poor" becomes a political manipulation term.
"We care about the poor! (So much so, we'll keep you there so you'll keep voting for us!)"
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