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You want a simple reason. The 22 million choose to live in poverty.
Poverty is based on behavior, if you work hard you will not be in poverty. If spend my you dont have and always in debt you will always be poor. So it is the behavior of poverty not the person's income because they can be changed overtime with hard work. What is poverty anyway... they only have 1 TV in the house I would like to see what they consider poverty. I bet they arent eating from the garbage cans.
Not ALWAYS....
One thing people might want to think about is some people do not mind living in 'poverty'...
We have done some quick calculations and if/when this house is off our backs we as a couple won't NEED to earn more than $1000/month net.
You really believe that people consciously choose to be poor?
Do you really believe that climbing out of poverty is just a matter of "hard work?"
In terms of effort put into work, the working poor are the hardest working people in the country. They don't have the time or the luxury of hanging out on discussion boards like some of us. From the perspective of many of my childhood friends and relatives, I get paid ridiculous sums of money for the little actual work that I perform to make a living. Personally, I think what I charge for services is a ridiculous amount but that is the nature of the work I do.
Yes, I worked "hard" to get where I am, but I also caught a number of lucky breaks. I was brought into this world by parents who had the good fortune to be born of parents who worked their buts off to sent them to college and who instill in me the value of going to college, I caught another good break by living long enough to collect on my GI benefits so that I could go to college, and I caught other good breaks by being in the right place, at the right time, with the right credentials. But I also have friends who didn't have the same parents, who couldn't afford to go to college and who couldn't catch a break despite all of their efforts. Over time, some of them lost hope, found drugs, booze or just a gun to their heads. Certainly one could argue that those were choices, but for them they seemed like the only choice at the time.
We once lived in a country were if you didn't have a whole lot of education, you could get a job at the local plant and make a decent living. You got on the job training that raised their standard of living. That rarely exists in the U.S any longer.
If you want to argue that kids who grow up in poverty and who never are inspired by their parents or their teachers to believe that they can be something more than what they see and experience around them as being people who choose to be poor... I can understand your argument, but only in the crudest sense of what constitutes choices. But only in the most crudest sense.
No, that is purely a product of your own imagination and inability to read even the simplest of sentences.
You're trolling. You set up this strawman just so you could make snarky comments about conservatism. You worded it a certain way and thought nobody would notice.
I think this was valid inquiry, though the people in the thread chose to avoid the question he pose. Why are poor whites, poor? No legacy of discrimination, there really is no good reason.
I think this was valid inquiry, though the people in the thread chose to avoid the question he pose. Why are poor whites, poor? No legacy of discrimination, there really is no good reason.
I believe.....that the reason anyone is poor is.........a lack of money.
Poor people have always been discriminated against,it is very difficult for poor people to buy expensive things.
You're trolling. You set up this strawman just so you could make snarky comments about conservatism. You worded it a certain way and thought nobody would notice.
Busted and owned.
Oh, puleeze!
Failed social sciences 101.
If we discuss poverty, real structural poverty in the U.S. and we control for issues like racial discrimination by removing it from the discussion, then perhaps we can discuss some of the real issues about a what causes poverty and what alleviate it.
In 1959, the rate of white poverty was 18.1 percent. That rate dropped steadily until 1980 when it rose from 9% to 10.2 and continued to rise until 1993 before again dropping dramatically in 1999.
Was it choice that explains these trends? I think not.
As for your accusation of trolling, the fact that you and others can't come up with a single solitary constructive comment is more telling about the quality of intellectual inquiry than it says anything about the topic in general or this thread in particular.
The fact that more than 20 million Americans experience poverty in this country who are not subject to issues of racial discrimination should be of interest to anyone.
So buzz off back to Repuge land with your bs trolling accusations.
Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mental_complex
Racial and ethnic minorities, women, children, and families headed by single women are particularly vulnerable to poverty and deep poverty.
Blacks and Hispanics are more likely than whites to be poor.
In 2005, 8.3% of non-Hispanic whites lived in poverty; 21.8% of Hispanics lived in poverty; and 24.9% of blacks lived in poverty.
6% of non-Hispanic white families lived in poverty; 20.6% of Hispanic families lived in poverty; and 23.8% of black families lived in poverty.
10% of non-Hispanic white children under 18 were poor; 28.3% of Hispanic children under 18 were poor; and 34.5 of black children under 18 were poor. Overall, 17.6% of children under 18 - 12,896,000 children - lived in poverty.
Not surprisingly, "Severely poor blacks (4.3 million) are more than three times as likely as non-Hispanic whites to be in deep poverty, while extremely poor Hispanics of any race (3.7 million) are more than twice as likely."
^^^^ From one of the links you posted. Do you ever read what you post?
8.3% of non-Hispanic whites = 8.3% of about 200,000,000 or about 17,000,000.
24.9% of Black Americans = 24.9% of about 40,000,000 or about 10,000,000.
This isn't exactly in stark contrast with the OP's question. In terms of sheer numbers, most people below the poverty line are indeed white.
I believe.....that the reason anyone is poor is.........a lack of money.
Poor people have always been discriminated against,it is very difficult for poor people to buy expensive things.
I suppose this passes for wit in SC, but I found it thoroughly underwhelming.
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