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Always drives me nuts when people talk about the poor having cell phones and TVs and computers. TVs can be found for free pretty easily - I think I didn't buy my first one until I was nearly 30, and the one I had before that for 15 years was one my father had won at his job. People give that stuff away. A cell phone these days can serve as a computer and a phone. I used to correspond with a homeless kid (child of one of my exes) who had no calling plan, but his phone could tap into wi-fi at McDonald's and we could chat on facebook all day long. He could research jobs on the phone. Oh, and the computer I'm typing on was bought for $125 - it was one of the best investments I ever made. I could take it and start my freelance writing career from anywhere in the country. Cellphones and computers are no longer "luxuries." If you have any connections with anyone who has even a little bit of stability, you can reap the benefits of their castoffs. I used to sell junk at the flea market - you'd be surprised what the financially comfortable give away or discard.
B-b-but there are poor people who have TATTOOS. Erm, I have an ex who lived in a trailer park who got two full sleeves of tattoos in exchange for doing free car repair and maintenance on the car of a would-be tattoo artist. There is always a handful of people in any poor neighborhood who see becoming a tattoo artist as being a way to get out of poverty. Once they get their equipment, all their friends get free tattoos or cut-rate ones. Another guy I dated was covered in tattoos done for free by his childhood best friend, who is now actually a very successful tattoo artist. Go figure.
God forbid the poor should have any fun. Some guy on these boards was insisting that TEA was a luxury. That case of lipton's is surely the way of decadence...
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 I can help you out this into perspective.
I would would say I was born as lower-middle class in Latin America, our living conditions during this time would probably constitute as dire poverty in the US. We had to go for long periods of time without running water or electricity, food was scarce at times, public school's were extremely dysfunctional on a level not seen in the US, and the violence was out of control. ( I'm talking seeing bodies on the street on a regular basis just as one example) Also consider that there was people even worse off than my family and I.
Now I'm thankful to consider myself lower-middle class in the US and of course it's world's better here compared to my home country. Yes I have to work a lot and it's not always easy, there's still crime and gang members but it's no where near the craziness of my home country.
I always have water and electricity as long as I'm able to pay, and there are avenues to get food even if you don't have much money, these are things I can't say for back home so yes I definitely would say most poor to maybe middle class people in third world countries envy the working class American ( not necessarily poor)
Many poor people in third world countries come to the US to become working class Americans, more wealthy Americans may see them as poor people living in a ghetto but they see themselves as very fortunate. At least that is how I feel about it and I know many fellow immigrants do as well.
But now let's look at the other side of the coin, what you're saying is that similar class people from developed first world nations envy the poor and working class of the US, I would say that in my experience this is definitely not the case.
I have family that lives in Norway that I would also consider lower-middle class and as far as I know they have a lot more stability than I have had here in the US. They are able to get subsidized health care, get access to higher education without having to go into debt, and the crime rate there is extremely low compared to the US. They also regularly take vacations to places like London, Paris, Berlin and Greece ( not many working class people in the US can do things like this) I may live in a bigger home here in the US but I would definitely say they enjoy a higher quality of life.
So in conclusion yes people is poor third world countries do envy the working class ( not necessarily poor) American; developed nations in Europe and elsewhere? Not so much. If you're older you might be thinking about a more depressed post-WWII Europe but they've truly come a long way since then.
jeeze jeeze freakin' louise.... yeah OUR poor people must love living in the streets because at least our are streets aren't sheer filth with piles of garbage knee deep in typhoid.
The 'street people' are a relatively low percentage of the people counted as 'poor'.
I don't believe any of that stuff about 3 tvs or a/c and all the fancy toys. A lot of poor people live on the streets or in their cars, more than ever before. Maybe they didn't get counted? And other poor people live in run down subsidized apartments that are not nice places to live in. No a/c, very cramped, buildings that are old and broken down. Or they rent apartments in multi family houses that are crowded firetraps.
I'd never want to go back to the days before we helped other Americans. My grandmother had a great big house in the 1930s, and lived in poverty due to the Depression. Her husband had died and she was left with young kids. The kids had no life except for taking in boarders and washing, cooking, ironing, and cleaning. They had rotten lives. My grandmother died young due to the stress and being overworked, and the entire thing took a terrible toll on the kids.
So if the point of the OP is that the poor are so lucky and that maybe we should return to the days when they received no help--No. Our poor are not the envy of the world. Who would come here to live the lives of our poor.
THIS^^^^!!!!
First their was a post claiming that panhandlers live a good life. Now a post that wonders if our "poor people" are the envy of the world.
If you want to see what it's like to be homeless, poor or a panhandler - that's easy - give your stuff away, your home, your car, your money and your job. Go ahead - see just how enjoyable poverty can be!
Are our poor the envy of the world? No. We are talking First World countries, now, right? Because the US was always a First World Country.
I also do not thing working and middle class people envy US citizens. Why on earth would they? In ALL other industrialized countries, HEALTH CARE is provided, as is education.
I really can not imagine why anyone from First World Countries would envy our country these days.
What is your purpose here? Are you trying to justify poverty?
Actually, because our leaders and the rich want globalism, being that our poor are more middle class compared to other countries, when they say help the poor they aren't talking about helping American poor.
First their was a post claiming that panhandlers live a good life. Now a post that wonders if our "poor people" are the envy of the world.
If you want to see what it's like to be homeless, poor or a panhandler - that's easy - give your stuff away, your home, your car, your money and your job. Go ahead - see just how enjoyable poverty can be!
Are our poor the envy of the world? No. We are talking First World countries, now, right? Because the US was always a First World Country.
I also do not thing working and middle class people envy US citizens. Why on earth would they? In ALL other industrialized countries, HEALTH CARE is provided, as is education.
I really can not imagine why anyone from First World Countries would envy our country these days.
I find that horribly sad.
My cousin, an alcoholic, a mean drunk who can't hold a job was given a house, mortgage free and a car, his mother who had cancer paid his bills and he would Harass her for more money. my grandparents paid for rehab 3 times. guess where he is today? He lost the house, his mom died and he could not hold a job because drinking was more important. the house was trashed and its now condemned, and he is living on the streets. He has been given so many chances and a lot of help and he threw it all away. He is not the only one like that. I don't feel sorry for people like that.
When y'all hear or read "poor," you immediately think about the homeless. You have to remember that there are many other citizens in the United States who live in "poverty" who are not homeless.
Please remember that "poor" doesn't mean "never has ANY money except for the nickles and dimes that they're given by others when they're begging on the streets." Many poor people have jobs, or Social Security, or they make money in other ways (from babysitting and cleaning houses to washing cars to selling drugs).
I'm not too proud to say that it wasn't terribly long ago (within the last 10 years) that I was within the poverty level. And yes, poor people have phones, televisions, computers, cable, internet, etc. I'm not just talking about myself, I'm talking about my neighbors, etc.
People are able to get phones on contracts from the cell phone companies with a minimal amount down and a "small" payment each month. Or they can buy one for like $20-$50 with a prepaid phone card.
They buy televisions with their tax refund checks or cheap at pawn shops, or those who piddle in selling drugs get a TV brought to them at a rock-bottom price in exchange for a much less valuable amount of drugs.
Someone in their family might have bought them a $200 computer for Christmas so they could go back to school.
They might have put a computer or tablet or TV or toys for their kids on layaway that they pay on each week when they get paid from their JOB.
They have internet and cable and electric and water just like anyone else...but y'all might be surprised by how long some of these providers let people have service before they cut off...and there are things like payment arrangements...
Some people here are so clueless about how a big population of the United States lives. They aren't homeless...they're barely hanging on. And a whole lot of them work.
And to tie this back into the OP...yes...as stressful as it is to live poor in the United States, it's probably preferable to living in poverty in many other countries.
This is a hit piece by moneyed elite.
Foriegners are floored when they come to this country and see the poor living in tents and out of their cars.
Many are the working homeless.
OP,
Your thesis does not stand up.
The cost of living is several times higher in the USA. The poor in other countries may well be able to live on a fraction of what it costs for essential goods in America. The real shame is a country as prosperous as you describe it would have any poverty at all.
There is no way impoverished people are lucky anywhere and saying so is just incomprehensible.
This is a good point.
The cost of living in India is 1/4 what it is in the USA.
The poor in other countries can build a permanent tin shack while in the USA, tents are bull dozed down when the count gets to high.
We would see a better indicator of how bad it is if the poor were allowed to build shanties made out of tin and scraps of wood.
Also, I doubt the ones living in tents have government handouts.
Where do they charge their cell phone and who to call, the next tent over?
When y'all hear or read "poor," you immediately think about the homeless. You have to remember that there are many other citizens in the United States who live in "poverty" who are not homeless.
Please remember that "poor" doesn't mean "never has ANY money except for the nickles and dimes that they're given by others when they're begging on the streets." Many poor people have jobs, or Social Security, or they make money in other ways (from babysitting and cleaning houses to washing cars to selling drugs).
I'm not too proud to say that it wasn't terribly long ago (within the last 10 years) that I was within the poverty level. And yes, poor people have phones, televisions, computers, cable, internet, etc. I'm not just talking about myself, I'm talking about my neighbors, etc.
People are able to get phones on contracts from the cell phone companies with a minimal amount down and a "small" payment each month. Or they can buy one for like $20-$50 with a prepaid phone card.
They buy televisions with their tax refund checks or cheap at pawn shops, or those who piddle in selling drugs get a TV brought to them at a rock-bottom price in exchange for a much less valuable amount of drugs.
Someone in their family might have bought them a $200 computer for Christmas so they could go back to school.
They might have put a computer or tablet or TV or toys for their kids on layaway that they pay on each week when they get paid from their JOB.
They have internet and cable and electric and water just like anyone else...but y'all might be surprised by how long some of these providers let people have service before they cut off...and there are things like payment arrangements...
Some people here are so clueless about how a big population of the United States lives. They aren't homeless...they're barely hanging on. And a whole lot of them work.
And to tie this back into the OP...yes...as stressful as it is to live poor in the United States, it's probably preferable to living in poverty in many other countries.
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.
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