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Being poor vs. being broke

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Re: Being poor vs. being broke

#371

Post by dugidugout »

carlosjobim wrote: post #279
dugidugout wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I understand the sentiment, you stated it yourself, "It has always amazed me, because poverty is hell. Who wouldn't want to get out of that, and who wouldn't want his fellow brother to get out of that?". This is a puzzling question to ask and it shouldn't stop there. The post is very much trying to add some depth here, however it isn't targeting solutions for "poor" people, it is hoping to provoke those who are…

My solution is boring, but it works for the individual who is in that situation: Go and work somewhere where you are provided food and board and a salary. Not only do you physically get yourself out of the environment which has dragged you down, you can also cut out expenses such as rent and even transportation. Which is huge. Yes, it's not a fun solution. It won't make you rich. But it will take you out of being dir…

These are not boring solutions, they are incredibly difficult, and unfair solutions for a poor individual to take. You may find this all very annoying and we hear you, thank you for expanding upon your earlier vague notions.

Re: Being poor vs. being broke

#372

Post by mc32 »

wredcoll wrote: post #308
mc32 wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was a broke college student I don’t have access to a washer and dryer, so I either went to a laundromat or on occasion just washed clothing in a tub and put them up to dry. Wear jeans; they don’t need frequent washing -some manufacturers indeed recommend very infrequent washing. It’s totally doable. Growing your own fruits and veggies is out of the question. It’s stupid -the only ones that make sense are herbs…

Sure, the point is that doing all of that is more expensive , in terms of time, money, flexibility and stress, than owning a washing machine. The difference is that you need $x00 to invest into the washing machine to then benefit fromt over the next decade+

The Amish have no problem doing these things at all. It’s a mental block. People can do it.

Re: Being poor vs. being broke

#374

Post by HPsquared »

corobo wrote: post #352
dijit wrote: post #125

Even this does a poor job of explaining being poor. The constant open loop on everything you own, terrified to discard anything even if its broken because there are components that might be useful to fix something else; the constant churn of second-hand (and cheap/disposable) things that are already close to death before they come into your possession and- crucially: the crushing weight of knowing that any financial…

> a £50 fine might as well be £50,000- its unpayable, and leads to a sort of doom-spiral of lending to avoid worse consequences. Easily you can end up in unmanageable debt Yup! Bank gave me an overdraft when I was 16. At 37 I'm still in debt connected to that first bit of "free" money. I've never earned above £0, and at this point it's too late to care. They can write me off as a minor loss when I kick it haha

If it's any consolation that's how finances work for most governments.

Re: Being poor vs. being broke

#375

Post by [deleted] »

monero-xmr wrote: post #138
smithkl42 wrote: post #13

The post does a good job of describing a phenomenological difference between being broke and being poor, and its account seems plausible to me. But what I'm curious about is the causal difference between the two. I've known working class folks who seem like they're getting by fine, even if they're occasionally "broke", and I've known working class folks who are constantly in financial crisis, and definitely fit in th…

I’m wealthy but I wasnt always. When I was 22 through 30 I didn’t take a single vacation that wasn’t driving to a long weekend. My wife and I both pulled 60 to 70 hour weeks for our entire 20s (I still do). No one “deserves” free time. If you don’t want to work 70 hours a week and want to watch Netflix instead, go for it, but don’t bitch to me

[deleted]

Re: Being poor vs. being broke

#376

Post by tstrimple »

ToucanLoucan wrote: post #291
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That, and an environmnet that allows folks "from the wrong side of the tracks," to get ahead. For all its faults, the US is just such a place. I suspect that many other nations are starting to improve. At one time, the UK was a nation that you couldn't get ahead, unless you were of a certain class. I think that it is much more like the US, nowadays. You can hear lots of cockney accents in Harrods.

> That, and an environmnet that allows folks "from the wrong side of the tracks," to get ahead. Vast swathes of this country look no better than the developing nations Sarah McLaughlin would go to to sing sad music and hold little kids to beg people for money in television ads. Like I don't think you're wrong necessarily but at the same time, it really, really matters which tracks you're on the wrong side of.

You're not wrong. We routinely ignore things like this: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/05/hookworm-low...

> The average income is just $18,046 (£13,850) a year, and almost a third of the population live below the official US poverty line. The most elementary waste disposal infrastructure is often non-existent.

> Some 73% of residents included in the Baylor survey reported that they had been exposed to raw sewage washing back into their homes as a result of faulty septic tanks or waste pipes becoming overwhelmed in torrential rains.

...

> An eight-year-old child was sitting on the stoop of one of the trailers. Below him a white pipe ran from his house, across the yard just a few feet away from a basketball hoop, and into a copse of pine and sweet gum trees.

> The pipe was cracked in several places and stopped just inside the copse, barely 30ft from the house, dripping ooze into a viscous pool the color of oil. Directly above the sewage pool, a separate narrow-gauge pipe ran up to the house, which turned out to be the main channel carrying drinking water to the residents.

> The open sewer was festooned with mosquitoes, and a long cordon of ants could be seen trailing along the waste pipe from the house. At the end of the pool nearest the house the treacly fluid was glistening in the dappled sunlight – a closer look revealed that it was actually moving, its human effluence heaving and churning with thousands of worms.

Re: Being poor vs. being broke

#377

Post by simoncion »

9rx wrote: post #313
sgarland wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think you understand how little some people have. Especially in rural (or really, anything that isn’t urban) areas, where you have to have a car for transportation, because public transit doesn’t exist. Keeping an old car running and insured isn’t cheap.

> Especially in rural (or really, anything that isn’t urban) areas What isn't urban but also not rural? I've seen disagreement over exactly where urban begins. A density of ~400 people per km², with a minimum of 1-2,000 people is a common definition, although the OECD targets a density of 1,500 people per km², with a minimum of 7,000 people, to capture all the variation throughout the nations it tracks. Regardless, i…

> What isn't urban but also not rural?

The sub-urban regions. All the suburbs I've been in (and I'd wager nearly all of the US suburbs in existence) require you to have a vehicle to go about your day... unless you work from home and have everything delivered to you, I guess.

Re: Being poor vs. being broke

#378

Post by tstrimple »

potato3732842 wrote: post #337
more_corn wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Used to be” such a place. Stagnating minimum wage while inflation proceeds unchecked, the rise of marginal employment and contract work. Skyrocketing housing costs. I don’t think the us is such a place anymore. It fast becoming a place that is not.

Minimum almost doesn't matter in a discussion of mobility. Nobody ever escaped poverty working minimum wage. They found a way to move up.

Minimum wage provides breathing room for other opportunities including self-advancement. Just survivorship bias nonsense.

Re: Being poor vs. being broke

#379

Post by mrguyorama »

dugidugout wrote: post #261
pavel_lishin wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can see it elsewhere in the comments on this post!

I was also of the naive impression we had collectively moved from this thinking and it was more so just a difficult problem to attack inherently. The comments here are very sobering.

Never underestimate stupidity or ignorance. Especially when that ignorance directly benefits someone rich.

Re: Being poor vs. being broke

#380

Post by wredcoll »

mc32 wrote: post #372
wredcoll wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, the point is that doing all of that is more expensive , in terms of time, money, flexibility and stress, than owning a washing machine. The difference is that you need $x00 to invest into the washing machine to then benefit fromt over the next decade+

The Amish have no problem doing these things at all. It’s a mental block. People can do it.

The amish have a crappy life heavily subsidized by their surrounding neighbors. We can't all do that.
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