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Wrong, immigrants can show up on the door step of America with the clothes on their back and be successful in a few years. If you want to be successful you need to sacrifice, that means getting up 4 A.M. and working until 9 P.M. and repeat that process every day for 10 years years whether you're working to establish a business or working and going to school. It means saving your money instead of buying McDonald's and that case of beer for the weekend. It means driving around in a junk car for a few years, having a small TV and not buying the latest and greatest piece of crap being marketed... it means a lot of things but the key word is sacrifice. This is the road that anyone who was poor took to be successful. Instead of whining on an internet forum about their problems they got up and did something about it.
You do realize that as a legal immigrant, they get grants and business loans and don't have to pay taxes for about 5 years. Citizens don't get all of those freebies. It is a lot easier to be a success when you get so many freebies from the government. I will admit that manu Americans are just plain assed lazy and expect to be taken care of.
well, first of all, no one in this country is really poor. they are just whining cry babies. you want poor, go to pakistan. when I say poor, I am referring to who democrats love to point to. the poverty stricken during katrina. you know, those lovely people. people who live in low income neighborhoods. I am referring to those people who claim that they can't afford medical care, but have the internet and a cell phone. I am referring to those who say they can't afford gas, but have a $300 per month car payment. I am referring to the parasites of society who contribute nothing, but look for handouts everywhere. when I see a reply like yours, I am truly reminded of how off in their own world most liberals are.
It's funny how people like you say this when your post clearly shows how out of touch YOU are. If liberals were so "off in their own world" why would their choices all be about making society better for everyone and not just about keeping an extra 3% of their income? I am NOT looking for handouts, I just see a lot more abject poverty here in the US than any of the 35+ countries I've been to except for Mexico. Travel around Europe for a few months then fly to New Orleans and tell me that those people in New Orleans don't live in a poverty-ridden place. Sure, they're not as bad off as people in Liberia or Sierra Leone, but in a nation where so many have so much, it's pathetic that anyone could be in such abject poverty as at least 10% of this country is.
I lived in New Orleans and this is NOT how it works. Those poor people do not have much of anything, let alone $300 car payments and Internet. Kids are stuck in pathetic excuses for schools, totally segregated from anyone who isn't just as poor and living in a city with few opportunities for young black men to do anything that can drag them up from poverty. Right now about 7% of this country is unemployed, to say that "people choose to be poor" shows how ignorant and out of touch you are.
How old are you? What kind of education do you have? What's your work experience? How much money did your parents support you with as you were growing up? How much parental supervision did you have while in school?
I come from money, have money and make money. I never need health care and I not only pay for my own way, but I also help support my girlfriend. I don't vote Democrat, but I know that some socialization of services can be a good thing as I have been to Scandanavia and seen how much better their society functions than ours. Anyone who says "America is perfect" and "everyone has an opportunity" is simply fooling themselves, why else do you think we're falling behind in every measurable category of prosperity and quality of living?
You do realize that as a legal immigrant, they get grants and business loans and don't have to pay taxes for about 5 years. Citizens don't get all of those freebies. It is a lot easier to be a success when you get so many freebies from the government. I will admit that manu Americans are just plain assed lazy and expect to be taken care of.
I have always wondered this myself. we all know that poverty is a choice, so why do so many chose to live in it? with all the government grants, educational opportunities, and other government programs out there, why do so many choose to do so little? show me a poor person, and I will show you a reason. unless you are physically or mentally disabled, there is no excuse for being poor.
When did poverty become a choice?
Crappy schools are a choice?
Living in violence is a choice?
Government grants for college is too little to late. These kids get lost in 5th grade because there is no support in the lower class neighborhoods to keep kids out of trouble and give them hope for a positive future.
The goverment has more oppurtunities to lend people who just arrived in the country money than it's own citizens.
Without arguing about other things, I'd like to address the origional question.
I'm on SSI and by all standards I am "poor". I pay my bills and food and have a cable package as my luxury. Since I don't have a car (couldn't afford one) thats my entertainment, including the internet.
Would I like to have more? Of course. Under the right circumstances would I be able to earn *some* income? yes. But were dealing with the *right* circumstances and *some* income. And I could not get any kind of health insurence with several pre-existing conditions.
If we want to 'reform' the system, make it possible for people to do what they can without fear of losing benefits. You *can* work part time, but if you do you may not pass the next review. There is no incentive to attempt it for that reason. And for those like me who could work at home, on my own time, there is no support for this. I would love to do that, but as far as I can tell legitimate kinds of such work do not exist.
But that is off the topic...
Yes, I'd like to get more money. I'd like to have a safe nestegg for emergencies. I'd like to be able to have a *few* more things (like a car). But would I go for a big shiny new house? No. Would I change much at all of how I live? No. I have what I need and what I use. If I had ten times the money I wouldn't really want much more but would never have the time to enjoy it and the stress would make life miserable.
By financial standards I am "poor". But I don't feel that way. I have been homeless and living out of my car. That is poor. But it teaches that there are very fundamental things... food, shelter and the ability to care for family and pets. Beyond that its ALL gravy.
This is something everyone needs to learn. If they need more stuff, then let them earn it. But they should know that it is not a necessary part of life. Guarenteeing that those three fundamental are there is what needs to be taken care of first.
Lovely this stupid thread has been revived....to those who think poverty is a choice.... do you realize that there are very wealthy people who think YOU are lazy and don't want to work HARDER to make yourself less poor????
Just because YOU think you're doing OK, doesn't mean there aren't much richer people who are wondering why you aren't doing better, why YOUR investments aren't doing as well as theirs....why you are wasting YOUR time in a chat room when you could be making more money, why YOU'RE so lazy you're not as wealthy as they are.
There is NOTHING holding you back from being as rich as Oprah or Gates or Buffet...what IS your problem??????
Nothing is holding you back, you say, My Dad chose to be well off, but buying lots of stock or houses and having too much, he thought was wrong. So as I grew up I collected people and guitars out of rebellion, or distrust of adults.
I have always wondered this myself. we all know that poverty is a choice, so why do so many chose to live in it? with all the government grants, educational opportunities, and other government programs out there, why do so many choose to do so little? show me a poor person, and I will show you a reason. unless you are physically or mentally disabled, there is no excuse for being poor.
Wrong, immigrants can show up on the door step of America with the clothes on their back and be successful in a few years.
That must be why there were all those Jewish, Irish and Italian ghettos whose children's children still haven't become rich or wildly successful. Come on, you seem be locked into some nostalgic fantasy about immigrant life in the US. For every successful immigrant there were thousands who did not succeed or didn't succeed until multiple generations had come and gone. You can go to South Philadelphia, South Boston, Detroit, or any other major city and find descendants of European immigrants who hold two jobs, save every dime and are still barely making it.
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