Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Katiana got it right. The poor are a reminder to the terminally optimistic that economic failure is far more likely than success. As a result folks like Mircea exaggerate the government benefits available to the poor and set up straw man situations like a live in that makes $18 an hour and calling it prosperity. I would like to remind everyone that $18 per hour is not what it used to be. It is not a middle class income. I sometimes think that they would like to get all these benefits but do not want to undergo the deprivation and loss of dignity required.
I would like to see a program wherein the government picked up all my personal expenses for three years or so while I started a company in return for 50% of the profit for the next 20 years. The government would not invest in the physical part of the business but allow the entrepreneur to attempt to start a business without the risk of impoverishing his family.
A common theme I see on these threads is that most city-data members basically hate poor people. They see poor people as lazy, worthless scumbags of no value.
They have little or no interest in helping poor people. Have very little empathy or compassion. And basically just want to ignore the issue.
What's up with that???
I'm pretty sure most of you all who hate poor people are Christians. You should probably go back and re-read some of Jesus' quotes about helping the poor.
I've been living away from the US for a while and I forgot about this American hatred for poor people. The coments on city-data on this topic are shocking to me after not hearing this kind of talk for so long.
But it is comforting to know the rich are going to hell.
A common theme I see on these threads is that most city-data members basically hate poor people. They see poor people as lazy, worthless scumbags of no value.
They have little or no interest in helping poor people. Have very little empathy or compassion. And basically just want to ignore the issue.
What's up with that???
I'm pretty sure most of you all who hate poor people are Christians. You should probably go back and re-read some of Jesus' quotes about helping the poor.
I've been living away from the US for a while and I forgot about this American hatred for poor people. The coments on city-data on this topic are shocking to me after not hearing this kind of talk for so long.
Most people are not with reality. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. When the Great Depression hit, many people were in denial and even delusional because they thought it could never happen to them. I have said countless times that if that happens again, the people who think they are so far removed and "would never take handouts" will just be at the very end of the soup line once they figure out that they are just as poor as the people in the front of the line. There are so many narrow minded people in this country. They judge everyone that is not like them and believe that we all had the same opportunities so if they didn't take advantage of them, it's their fault. They have been programmed this way. It is sad and hyporcritical, especially when they claim to be Christian.. There is nothing Christ-like about this mentality. There is nothing Christian about praising the rich and blaming the poor for their situation.
Do you think people hold no responsibility for their choices?
Just how do you want to restructure the gov into what?
It's not a black or white issue.
Some people just get screwed in life. It's not their fault. Some people come from broken homes, really poor families, etc.
Not all poor people are poor because of their own faults. And I can't believe so many people don;t agree with this.
I'd like to see the government so back to a small federal government with more state's rights. Not a huge change. Just get rid of the massive debilitating corruption.
The OP is based upon a false premise, so all the arguing about it is pointless.
I think most people don't "hate the poor." Most people, given the opportunity and the choice, do help the poor in the ways they can; they give to local soup kitchens, donate clothes to local organizations that house & clothe the poor, they give their time & labor to help build houses for the poor. There's no generalized hatred of the poor. What people DO hate is being told to whom & how much they need to give. They object to their income being taken from them by a government that says they need it to "help the poor" and then being used to create the gigantic bureaucracy that eventually gets around to spending some of that money on helping the poor after the government monster gets fed. They hate the system that allows some abusers to stay on the public dole for years, in extreme cases for generations, istead of using it as a helping hand to get back on their own feet. They hate that the money to help these people is taken from their paychecks every week without consideration of what it will mean to their own family. And surely they hate that they are treated as if being successful enough to afford to buy nice things and take their family on a nice vacation every year is some sort of crime, or something for which they should feel guilty.
What I've seen is that people will always complain about being FORCED to support others. And if they aren't FORCED to do so, many, perhaps even MOST of them would willingly, happily, help those truly in need of help.
The OP is based upon a false premise, so all the arguing about it is pointless.
I think most people don't "hate the poor." Most people, given the opportunity and the choice, do help the poor in the ways they can; they give to local soup kitchens, donate clothes to local organizations that house & clothe the poor, they give their time & labor to help build houses for the poor. There's no generalized hatred of the poor. What people DO hate is being told to whom & how much they need to give. They object to their income being taken from them by a government that says they need it to "help the poor" and then being used to create the gigantic bureaucracy that eventually gets around to spending some of that money on helping the poor after the government monster gets fed. They hate the system that allows some abusers to stay on the public dole for years, in extreme cases for generations, istead of using it as a helping hand to get back on their own feet. They hate that the money to help these people is taken from their paychecks every week without consideration of what it will mean to their own family. And surely they hate that they are treated as if being successful enough to afford to buy nice things and take their family on a nice vacation every year is some sort of crime, or something for which they should feel guilty.
What I've seen is that people will always complain about being FORCED to support others. And if they aren't FORCED to do so, many, perhaps even MOST of them would willingly, happily, help those truly in need of help.
Good post and you make a lot of good points.
But the fact is that lots of American people do hate the poor and have a very hostile attitude toward them.
The popular attitude is that poor people are poor because they are lazy and stupid. Lots of folk can't seem to comprehend that some people just get dealt a bad hand in life sometimes. And that's why they end up poor.
Thanks for pointing out what the majority of us failed to do. How did I fail to arrange that important consideration? I must have been sleeping.
As a method of encouraging business development and self employment check the second paragraph of my last post. My proposal effectively allows all of us to be backed by a rich family.
What's the surprise?
Hatred is an American family value, a virtue.
What tripe! Americans as a whole wouldn't care or even have time to hate if it weren't for some un-named faction that continue to fan the flame of class warfare....If you don't think Americans are giveing and careng people maybe you live in the wrong part of the country......Look at the Iowa floods a few years after Katrina.....You don't hear them crying anymore do you? The buckled down joind hands and cleaned that crap hole up! And believe me Ceder Rapids has lots of dis-advantaged people there!
I would like to see a program wherein the government picked up all my personal expenses for three years or so while I started a company in return for 50% of the profit for the next 20 years. The government would not invest in the physical part of the business but allow the entrepreneur to attempt to start a business without the risk of impoverishing his family.
Why would you want the government to do that? Do it yourself, and keep more than 50%. Present your idea for a company to venture capitalists, to investors with money. They provide you the money, you create the usiness. You share the profits or losses. At some point, when you have built a successful thriving company, you buy out the investors as agreed in the beginning. Everyone's happy. Why should the government have anything to do with it?
Dear Nomad:
Why is there so much of a preoccupation with this topic? The ground was pretty much covered in your post yesterday. Instead of spending so much time posting and obsessing over this subject, why don't you think of a solution?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
