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Being poor vs. being broke

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Re: Being poor vs. being broke

#611

Post by monooso »

csomar wrote: post #581
hippo22 wrote: post #545

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

1. The debtor probably need the motorbike, badly. He probably should have sold it to cover the debt but didn't think of that as an option. Not the smartest choice but again, he's there probably because of another set of similar choices. 2. The parent seems from the UK and I am not sure how things work there. But many auctions are "closed off" in shady ways. In one of the countries I (and some friends) have contemplat…

This is one of the more patronising comments I've ever read on HN, which is saying something.

Re: Being poor vs. being broke

#612

Post by prmph »

spwa4 wrote: post #605
prmph wrote: post #574

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In 3rd-world countries even basic healthcare is totally inaccessible unless someone in your family is at the top level of government. If you're a worker or in a worker family even glasses are probably almost impossible to get. I know for sure this is totally wrong, because I have lived in 3rd world countries, and I was born in one. You're just imagining stuff.

I visited a few rural cities in the Central African republic ~15 years ago and this situation definitely exists (existed?) there. Your best bet is to try to get care in a monastery, but it's not like they have glasses or anything other than basic medicine.

The Central African Republic is among the poorest of countries in the world, so that situation might exist there.

But many (most?) 3rd world countries, like Ghana where I was born, are nowhere near this level of misery.

Re: Being poor vs. being broke

#613

Post by HalcyonCowboy »

mlrtime wrote: post #549
magicalist wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But what I'm curious about is the causal difference between the two A majority of personal bankruptcies in the US being caused by medical expenses might be a good place to start looking. You can be "broke" living paycheck to paycheck and "making it", but you're on even more of a razors edge than most. One medical emergency, one car accident, one removal of work hours etc and you start to fall behind, and that's whe…

> majority of personal bankruptcies in the US being caused by medical expense I see this said over and over without actual unbiased stats. As quick google search tells me it's not. I don't blame you for saying it, it's just said so casually and it seems true but isn't.

Thanks for being skeptical, looked it up because of that. Looks like the primary study people cite is this one, which indicates around 65% of people filing for bankruptcy cite a medical contributor of their bankruptcy. That includes medical bills (highest contributor overall) and loss of income due to medical issues.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6366487/

I’d like to see what information you have that’s different though.

Re: Being poor vs. being broke

#614

Post by duskdozer »

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.

I envy your (former?) optimism

Re: Being poor vs. being broke

#615

Post by inglor_cz »

prmph wrote: post #612
spwa4 wrote: post #605

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I visited a few rural cities in the Central African republic ~15 years ago and this situation definitely exists (existed?) there. Your best bet is to try to get care in a monastery, but it's not like they have glasses or anything other than basic medicine.

The Central African Republic is among the poorest of countries in the world, so that situation might exist there. But many (most?) 3rd world countries, like Ghana where I was born, are nowhere near this level of misery.

The root of your disagreement lies in the fact that "The Third World" isn't really a useful abstraction anymore.

Plenty of former 3rd world countries are middle-income now. There is just no comparison between living in Thailand vs. South Sudan, even though there might be in the 1950s.

Time to toss the expression entirely, it doesn't really describe anything concrete anymore. The world has changed.

Re: Being poor vs. being broke

#616

Post by GPurePro »

abnercoimbre wrote: post #523
dwedge wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> its not uncommon to have the few worthwhile items you own being seized by bailifs to recoup debts, treasured heirlooms that cannot be replaced and have little monetary value so they do no impact to your debt. The hoarding of canned goods to avoid being unable to eat. As a teenager I worked at a bailiffs in the office typing up the paperwork. One case that stuck was me was where the debtor owed somewhere around £400…

HN folks ought to watch Good Fortune ft. Keanu Reeves [0]. Still out in theaters. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKWndx83RwQ

Not even on my radar. Thanks looks like a good time

Re: Being poor vs. being broke

#617

Post by carlosjobim »

lovich wrote: post #548
carlosjobim wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> Go and work somewhere where you are provided food and board and a salary Where can I easily sign up for such a situation? And mind you I mean the average person signing up, not that `anyone` could sign up. I've looked at downgrading myself in the economy and the standard reaction is that the employers at that level dont like the idea that I know whats going on or have skills and dont want to take me on as "overqual…

Here is an example of an open mess boy position on an oil tanker: https://seacrew.net/vacancy/40763

And there's countless more similar vacancies.

Food, board and $1500 per month. That's a life line out of absolute poverty for any person who is willing to take it.

I know that hackers hate it, because the truth is that deep down most of you have a caste mentality and think that people who are born poor should stay poor, and dependent on government handouts. All discussion about "changing the system" is just for show so you can feel good about yourself and pat each other on the back, while things remain the same.

So hackers are provoked by people taking their destiny in their own hands and clawing their way out of poverty by virtue of their own honest labour. How dare they leave the ghetto behind, when they belong there?

Re: Being poor vs. being broke

#618

Post by carlosjobim »

relaxing wrote: post #471
carlosjobim wrote: post #445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My suggestions can help some people, but not everybody. Because everybody is different. Let's continue complaining instead then? But I've worked in places like this with people who were deaf and people who had limps, and people with a ton of other problems. And hundreds of thousands of people who have families work in the merchant navy to support them, or in other similar work places. Sometimes (almost all the time)…

Well I don’t think anyone is browsing this thread because they need a solution to their own poverty. So we’re talking about general solutions for the country at large, and solution that only works for a few means there’s still the problem of the rest of the poor to solve.

How do you know that? And how do you know that somebody reading here won't need a solution in the future? Or knows somebody who might?

But that was why I didn't want to write about it in the first place. People here don't take kindly to solutions, when it feels so good complaining about problems.

Re: Being poor vs. being broke

#619

Post by carlosjobim »

dugidugout wrote: post #371
carlosjobim wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Unfair is being poor in the first place. Almost nobody in this world gets a fair hand. But is that reason not to change your situation and get out of the hell which is poverty?

I have to ask what you mean by incredibly difficult? These are just normal jobs, with no skill required to start.

Re: Being poor vs. being broke

#620

Post by corobo »

cryptonector wrote: post #521
corobo wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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

> I've never earned above £0, and at this point it's too late to care. You're a sysadmin and what not -- how can that be?

Low salary for the role in my local area and not moving to a city when I still had the ability to take credit out
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