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I hate to see poor people shopping for supper in a dollar store. I do feel sorry for them. That isn't nutrition. That's a low quality snack at best. Granted, a few 99 cent stores do sell fresh veggies in Vegas, but we need such places in small towns. Many towns do not have a decent grocery store. The convenience store cooler might carry eggs, and hot dogs, along with some cheeze whiz, and nitrate laden lunch meats. I actually see families that could star in the "Grapes Of Wrath." I am not being mean to say that, it's just the way they look, and I always hope better for them. It's especially sad to see them with so many children, and more on the way.
It seems like as our society has shifted from rural to city we've lost the skills to be self dependent. There was a time when even if you were poor you could at least have a subsistance garden. Many people don't have the space or skill to garden. Some others cannot cook a meal that doesn't come in a box (i.e., hamburger helper).
People with less money do tend to have more children. Less access to birth control and routine medical care, I guess. Seems counter intuitive.
Well as Clinton has said repeatedly 80% of poverty is in two rural regions of teh country and they get 20% og governamnt aid to poverty. The 80% og aid goes to the remaning 20% in urban cities because of the politcs of poverty.You also have more and more actaully on entitlemnts leves less to distribute to tehose in poverty and the handcapped.Butthen what we call poverty in most cases is not what most of teh owrld would consider poverty.
I'm doing pretty well too in the recession, but surely you realize your personal situation isn't an indicator of the number of poor people in the United States?
I mean I sometimes take issue with how the definition of "poverty" is applied but there certainly was a recession and I don't doubt there are more people struggling financially today than a few years ago.
I don't doubt that some are struggling because of the slow down in the economy in the past 2 years but I am just wondering if things are as bad as the media makes it out to be.
As a member of the long term unemployment club I can relate to poverty. But one thing I noticed about the piece was the media liberal bias. Anne Curry always has a liberal slant to all her stories and constantly gave the impression that the government owed all these people welfare and general financial support. I also noticed quite a few people with tattoos and lots of smoking which seems to be a waste of money if they are so poor and desperate.
It seems like as our society has shifted from rural to city we've lost the skills to be self dependent. There was a time when even if you were poor you could at least have a subsistance garden. Many people don't have the space or skill to garden. Some others cannot cook a meal that doesn't come in a box (i.e., hamburger helper).
Yup x 10.
If people learned to prepare meals from basic ingredients one can feed a family for much less than many realize. At the big Asian market in town you see older Asian woman with an entire cart that consists of produce, grains, and meat they'll ring up for $40.
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People with less money do tend to have more children. Less access to birth control and routine medical care, I guess. Seems counter intuitive.
I don't doubt that some are struggling because of the slow down in the economy in the past 2 years but I am just wondering if things are as bad as the media makes it out to be.
Agreed. One can write a piece to make it look any way you want.
I saw this too, and yes, it was heartbreaking. HOWEVER, almost all of these folks got to where they are because of poor choices. 3 kids at 21 is inexcusable. If you can't afford children, don't have them.
On the government front, we have poverty right here in the US- that's obvious. Why we send 'humanitarian aid' to other countries is beyond me. If we did as Ron Paul suggests, and bring all the troops home and cut off all aid to other countries, everyone in the US would be middle class, at least. Why do we not demand this?
Dismantle the foster care system, and let's put all these education majors to work in orphanages, with lots of education and healthcare and strict oversight. We have to break the cycle, and some people are just too dumb or too far gone to be parents.
Well as Clinton has said repeatedly 80% of poverty is in two rural regions of teh country and they get 20% og governamnt aid to poverty. The 80% og aid goes to the remaning 20% in urban cities because of the politcs of poverty.
Yes ...because of the politics and profitability of poverty.
Enter the Poverty Pimps, as explained by Thomas Sowell... "MY FELLOW-ECONOMIST WALTER WILLIAMS has for years kept track of how much money it would take to lift every American man, woman and child in poverty above the official poverty level. That sum has consistently been some fraction of the money actually spent in "anti-poverty" programs. In other words, if you gave every poor person enough money to stop being poor, that would cost a fraction of what our welfare state programs and bureaucracies cost. Obviously, a lot of anti-poverty money is going to people who are not poor. There are whole classes of people who live off the poor -- or rather, off the vast sums of money that are poured out from the public treasury and private philanthropy, in hopes of helping the poor. Those who intercept the money intended for the poor have been aptly called "poverty pimps." The poor are a commodity to these people, who include not only local politicians, community activists and small-time hustlers, but also people with impressive titles and academic credentials, who likewise milk the larger society, in the name of the poor."
There's more...
The Poverty Pimp's Poem (http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/politics/poverty/923-The-Poverty-Pimps-Poem.html - broken link)
Mexican-Americans have been doing this for generations now. Many families have had 7 or more kids because of Catholicism. Yet, most get by and survive. Why not have a story about the Rio Grande Valley or Laredo area in Texas?
When it happens to white people, for some reason, it seems a lot worse.
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