Not all rich should be praised for their hard work and gumption in getting to the top either...but some still deserve it. Painting these groups as solid black and white maybe isn't the best tool for the job.
Stop Blaming America’s Poor for Their Poverty
61–70 of 387 posts
Re: Stop Blaming America’s Poor for Their Poverty
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am not a typical homeless person. I am educated, skilled and I have no addictions, etc. I'm also not living on the street, and am lucky to not have any health problems. But I think my story really can perhaps reveal how incredibly easy it can be for one to have the misfortune to end up in such situations. My own experiences have opened my eyes to how abusive people can be, and perhaps this is a significant aspect o…
I live in a van in the Valley, have an engineering degree from a top school, bankruptcy, student loan debt over me I can never hope to repay but cannot hold a job. No drugs, no smoking, no drinking, no sanitation issues, and no hanging out in the daytime with the locals. As the learning experience of life, I realize that much of what Americans believe is a lie and that they cling to ideas and beliefs that aren't help…
Can you share why you can't hold a job?
I have similar background and problem, just wonder how and if you can define yours.
Re: Stop Blaming America’s Poor for Their Poverty
#63I was disabled by bad surgery and lost my career. No system that ostensibly should have helped, did. Denied. Denied. Denied. YEARS of adversarial, not default helpful, meetings and challenges and interviews. I saw people worse than me refused help. I saw real time as people who knew me for years or life, who respected me and my career choice helping others, decided I was a lazy mooch who wasn't trying hard enough, wa…
I'm from Norway. The backside of the medal when it comes to welfare services of that kind is the rather humiliating process you have to go through to actually get them. I've heard many stories about this. Yes, you'll get help if you do as they say, but it can feel very invasive at times. Some clueless bureaucrat will need to know about your finances and all your medical issues, and if it's not a clear-cut case, these…
I will take what you described over the US situation any day, and don't hear any liberals I know describing it as perfect or a utopia...people in the best quality of life nations on Earth still complain about things of course, but don't really understand being without that net...it's not perfection, just much better than here, and keeping people from losing everything due to medical debt etc, and giving them help to rebuild when a catastrophe hits. If the agenda is to get those things then push away I say. Personally I will either be back abroad if I can succeed somehow, or dead if I cannot, by the time real change could even begin happen in the USA. It's many years away for even the first real steps to be enacted, and many decades at a minimum before it could even begin to approach parity with your region...if it happens at all and isn't sunk by more of the same old. But I wish it for the masses here.
Re: Stop Blaming America’s Poor for Their Poverty
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
Of the 7.5 million existing rental homes that extremely low-income families can afford, 3.5 million are occupied by higher-income households. In other words, families who need affordable housing the most don’t necessarily get it. From this article: For every 100 families living in poverty on the West Coast, there are no more than 30 affordable homes https://www.geekwire.com/2018/every-100-families-living-pove... Most…
For every 100 families living in poverty on the West Coast, there are no more than 30 affordable homes There are 45 more states in the contiguous US that are not on the west coast.....
That's merely the title of the article. From the article:
No state in the nation has more than 60 affordable rental units for every 100 families living at or below the poverty line. What’s more, 71 percent of extremely low-income households spend more than half of their incomes on rent and utilities.
Re: Stop Blaming America’s Poor for Their Poverty
#65I was disabled by bad surgery and lost my career. No system that ostensibly should have helped, did. Denied. Denied. Denied. YEARS of adversarial, not default helpful, meetings and challenges and interviews. I saw people worse than me refused help. I saw real time as people who knew me for years or life, who respected me and my career choice helping others, decided I was a lazy mooch who wasn't trying hard enough, wa…
I'm from Norway. The backside of the medal when it comes to welfare services of that kind is the rather humiliating process you have to go through to actually get them. I've heard many stories about this. Yes, you'll get help if you do as they say, but it can feel very invasive at times. Some clueless bureaucrat will need to know about your finances and all your medical issues, and if it's not a clear-cut case, these…
This is why I support a universal basic income without means testing i.e. universal.
Re: Stop Blaming America’s Poor for Their Poverty
#66Many conservatives in the U.S. believe that poverty is mainly a result of bad personal decisions. Is this article arguing that poverty is never a result of bad personal decisions? If so, I have a few anecdotes that would be contrary to that.
> Is this article arguing that poverty is never a result of bad personal decisions? No I think this article is arguing that ending bad personal decisions (if at all possible) will not significantly affect poverty, but a safety net will. Another interesting topic, which is not mentioned in the article, is how poverty causes bad personal decisions.
I have an analogy.
A poor guy lives on a cliff. He is a careful man and watches his steps, being only human, he missteps and falls to his death.
A better off guy can afford a house further from the cliff, and can even to put up a fence. Just like the poor man, he makes missteps once in a while, but the cliff is far away, and continues to live.
In this wealthy country, there is no reason for anyone to have to live near a financial cliff where ordinary mistakes or bad luck will devastate you. It is not productive. It hurts economic growth and is, in my opinion, immoral.
A universal income would allow us all live a little further from the cliff, and not punish you for managing to build your home further away.
Re: Stop Blaming America’s Poor for Their Poverty
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
> limit entrepreneurship with onerous licensing requirements I work for a government agency that provides professional licensing in my state and was shocked the other day to learn that you need a license to operate as a "hair braider". This seemed a bit excessive to me
The Institute for Justice has been challenging laws requiring licensing for hair braiders in the courts and has successfully overturned them in several states. https://ij.org/issues/economic-liberty/braiding/
Not just braiding. They challenge lots of different types of (unnecessary, protectionist) licensing requirements.
Re: Stop Blaming America’s Poor for Their Poverty
#68Wow, that is one pointedly political article. Bloomberg is now solidly in my 'partisan source' category. (Read the article before downvoting, please. Give it a fair read.)
It seems premature to discount a publication because it once expressed an opinion you disagreed with. If one was a diligent reader then one would quickly conclude that they couldn't trust anyone.
It’s funny how you can say that while the comment you replied to is so pale I can’t even read it. Apparently people will try to bury anything that even has an inkling of something they disagree with.
Re: Stop Blaming America’s Poor for Their Poverty
#69> So Japanese people are doing everything right -- eschewing violence, avoiding drugs, working hard and not having kids out of wedlock. They are following the conservative prescription, as well as or better than any other developed country in the world. And yet still, many of them are poor. This suggests that there is something very wrong with the conservative theory of poverty.
No, the author is confused. There is a big difference between -
- you cannot be poor if you make good choices, and
- you can get out of povery by making good choices
The conservative position is the later. There will be cases where it doesn't work, but it is a sound recommendation in general.
Now, poverty does make it harder to make good choices. So welfare $s should be spent to make that easier, e.g. free food at school helps kids do better at school.
Re: Stop Blaming America’s Poor for Their Poverty
#70I was disabled by bad surgery and lost my career. No system that ostensibly should have helped, did. Denied. Denied. Denied. YEARS of adversarial, not default helpful, meetings and challenges and interviews. I saw people worse than me refused help. I saw real time as people who knew me for years or life, who respected me and my career choice helping others, decided I was a lazy mooch who wasn't trying hard enough, wa…
Is sorry for your story and hope you can get well soon.
In Israel we have a complete social coverage system and while not perfect at times, still provides much necessary help for those in need. Everytime I hear those stories about the US and medical system, I find it so hard to believe that a country with so much wealth and talent, still hadn't solved it.