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Here is the thing. There seems to be this belief that the American Dream is persistent or should be. The problem with this is that its impossible and we do not live in a utopia nor a fantasy. People will struggle and be successful many, many times during their life.
There is this unwillingness or general refusal to take a step back. I've heard countless times in the unemployment office and other places where people talking about how they will not work for less than they made before or they cant pay their bills on less than x. There is no entitlement that says you have to live the lifestyle you were accustomed to previously. There is not entitlement that says you can get a job in your previous sector. There is no entitlement that says a robust economy will persist. There is no entitlement that says when the economy falters, you will no feel the effects.
A larger and larger percentage of people are starting to believe they should not have to put up with the bad times. This is impractical and unreasonable.
Alimony and child support are based precisely on that entitlement.
Also another important thing to note is that it is very possible for a "poor" person to have things like a smart phone, a car, and a place to stay. So this creates the illusion in the eyes of outsiders that most Americans are doing ok but it's all a facade.
"They hVe a tv, they can't be poor". Um no
Nobody in the real world- outside of government - defines poverty on a yearly basis.
Are you sure about your numbers? 15k per year qualifies you for EITC which is what 2-5 k per year. Toss in food stamps that's another 200-400 dollars a month. Medicaid that is worth 5k per year. Section 8 housing or rent assistance. Low salary also means the "poor" don't pay any federal income taxes.
If the rich don't give their money to the poor, the poor starve and eat the rich.
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Originally Posted by petch751
So you are saying pay them or they'll steal it anyway? Wow
No if the top forgets to feed the bottom then the bottom doesn't want the tops money, they don't want the tops position, they want food, so they have in the past killed the top. I don't know of them actually eating them but that is the reasoning behind it. If the top is concentrating resources and the bottom starves then the bottom redistributes the resources to stop the bottom from starving. That is the natural order of things. So if the top wants to concentrate wealth in the hands of a very few then they need to remember to feed the bottom. To fail to do so invites the ending of their position.
Quote:
Originally Posted by petch751
I know a girl who was on welfare for years. Clinton changed the law and she could no longer soak the taxpayer. Guess what she is doing now? She is WORKING.
And the flip side of that is I know someone that is disabled and can't work, that was on food stamps, when Clinton kicked her off she had a gallbladder attack from the stress and dinged the tax payers for more money than the food stamps she didn't get.
Separating the free loaders from the legitimately disabled mint be a good thing to do. But alas that is a hard thing for a bureaucracy to accomplish.
States have always had the option to cover these people.
That's not the point. The point is that nearly half of all children born in the U.S. are born into poverty. The obstacles they'd have to overcome to ever escape a lifetime of hardhsip and struggle are nearly insurmountable. Nearly half of all children born in the U.S. are doomed to a life of poverty. And why is that? Poor people are mindlessly and irresponsibly bearing children they cannot afford to support and raise, without thinking of the lifelong sentence of hardship and struggle they're imposing on those kids. It's the epitome of selfishness. And supporting the exponentially growing poverty class with public assistance welfare programs is unsustainable. There will be too many who need too much.
The result of that 3 times higher birthrate is that nearly half of all U.S. births are paid for by Medicaid, as I've already posted. That's not sustainable.
Are you sure about your numbers? 15k per year qualifies you for EITC which is what 2-5 k per year. Toss in food stamps that's another 200-400 dollars a month. Medicaid that is worth 5k per year. Section 8 housing or rent assistance. Low salary also means the "poor" don't pay any federal income taxes.
BZZT! Childless adults not eligible for EITC or food stamps at $15k per year, but they do pay more than $500 per year in federal income tax. Section 8 is very difficult to get for childless adults unless they are seniors, I couldn't even get on the waiting list.
That's not the point. The point is that nearly half of all children born in the U.S. are born into poverty. The obstacles they'd have to overcome to ever escape a lifetime of hardhsip and struggle are nearly insurmountable. Nearly half of all children born in the U.S. are doomed to a life of poverty. And why is that? Poor people are mindlessly and irresponsibly bearing children they cannot afford to support and raise, without thinking of the lifelong sentence of hardship and struggle they're imposing on those kids. It's the epitome of selfishness. And supporting the exponentially growing poverty class with public assistance welfare programs is unsustainable. There will be too many who need too much.
The result of that 3 times higher birthrate is that nearly half of all U.S. births are paid for by Medicaid, as I've already posted. That's not sustainable.
No, there's not "starving in the street" type poverty like India or Africa generally speaking but I think many people, including a lot of Americans don't realize just how little a lot of people in this country have.
A third of Americans make less than $15,000 a year. You might argue "that's still millions compared to people in the Third World". Well not really and here's why.
In this country healthcare is largely paid out of pocket and a car is a necessity to 80-90 percent of people and maintaining one is not cheap. A typical one bedroom apartment will cost you $8,000 a year on its own and that's in a relatively affordable city. $15,000 isn't even enough to support a bachelor honestly and some people raise kids on little more than this amount! You're essentially forced to borrow and go into debt when you're making that little, so many actually have negative income.
If you're like me and avoid debt at all costs you're sharing an apartment with someone you didn't even know beforehand and living off $8 a day after bills are paid. If I don't budget that $8 a day well, or I have some kind of expense come up I borrow money, sell something or I starve. I haven't starved yet but there's been periods as long as a week where I have to think about what I'm going to sell to buy meals for a few days. Or risk straining my relationship with a family member by more or less begging them for a small loan. My parents' insurance runs out by the time I'm 26 and if I ever get a serious health problem I'll be screwed beyond reason. My only wealth is my decent health and my youth. I'm hoping my community college will accept my FAFSA but honestly it's more of a self esteem issue than anything else. I doubt that having a degree, if I can afford to finish one will improve my prospects much. I think this country is increasingly being divided into those who get lucky by having rich supportive parents or their ventures and ideas making them rich, and everyone else who lives off welfare or works jokes of jobs that pay less than peanuts.
I think a lot of poor people don`t understand how just a little extra effort to educate themselves could pay off in a big way.
All employers are asking the same question, "What are you able to do?"
If you have an answer to that question, you have a way out of your situation.
As for self-esteem, that is a matter of motivation and motivation is a choice.
Learn to sell and you will never have to depend on anyone else.
Read everything by Joe Girard that you can get your hands on and you`ll get a better feel for how to make things happen in real life.
Of course they want to be held blameless. But why are they over-reproducing at a rate of 3 to 1, according to the U.S. Census, when they have no means to support and raise their children? Even the book you linked to states it's for SELFISH reasons.
Every rational person knows that's NOT sustainable.
Of course they want to be held blameless. But why are they over-reproducing at a rate of 3 to 1, according to the U.S. Census, when they have no means to support and raise their children? Even the book you linked to states it's for SELFISH reasons.
Every rational person knows that's NOT sustainable.
I hope you are referring to the 2.1 birthrate that is required to sustain a population.
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