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Being poor changes your thinking about everything

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Being poor changes your thinking about everything

#131

Post by javert »

pnathan wrote: post #11
jloughry wrote: post #8

From the article: 'Imagine how bad our PhD student theses would be if we said, "It's year two. Course work is done. Come back in three years with a thesis, and if you want you could always come and ask me questions, but otherwise that's it. You're off." Of course it would be awful. That’s just too distant a deadline.' 'You realize you're describing the experience of 30 percent of all graduate students in the United S…

It's pretty true too. That's more or less how my graduate work worked. I finished, but it was rough at times,

For a _master's_ degree? Or have you gotten a PhD and neglected to update your profile? :P

Re: Being poor changes your thinking about everything

#132

Post by frank_boyd »

1 thing we should keep in mind:

Being rich is only possible when others are poor.

"Being rich" is a relative situation: If you have privileges because you're rich, you're not likely to say "I'm going to downgrade my life so all the others can meet me at the same level (of privileges)".

Why? Because, a little simplified: you wouldn't find anybody to take care of your garden anymore.

No rich person really has a natural incentive to call for real equality. So, the idea that we're all born with the same rights is currently still just an idea and nothing more. It's not respected and implemented:

"The Richest 10% of American Families Got Half of All Income Last Year." [0]

And it's likely to get even worse (for the 90%, that is), as money has this natural polarizing/monopolizing effect.

[0] http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/09/richest-one-...

Re: Being poor changes your thinking about everything

#133

Post by buro9 »

teddyh wrote: post #2

I'm very much reminded of these: http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-things-nobody-tells-you-about-... http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-5-stupidest-habits-you-devel... http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-things-politicians-will-never-... Especially the last one. EDIT: Fixed last link

Nail on the head.

I've never been able to explain my childhood satisfactorily (to me, to see the listener get it) to anyone. Less still why I made myself homeless and slept rough.

But those three articles... at a certain point, throwing in your hand is the best thing you can do. At least you've broken the cycle and now have the freedom to figure out your way out.

Re: Being poor changes your thinking about everything

#134

Post by ap22213 »

goggles99 wrote: post #129

Being poor in America is a state of mind. Do you think that the majority of people in the world today would consider themselves "poor" if they suddenly traded places with a "poor" American? Do you think that the majority of people would think that it was "too hard to bear" if they had to work, live in low rent apartment AND go to school? America's poor are the worlds wealthiest. The sad state of mind that people fall…

"Being poor in America is a state of mind."

Having spent most of my childhood living with my mom and my three siblings on her meager $8,000 / year income, I'd say I have to agree. Poor is a state of mind.

But, I'll argue that it's not a state of mind that the poor take on themselves. "Poor" is a distinction that others will give to you, not the other way around. Being poor is about being relegated by the other members of society. It's about being isolated, segregated, and honestly, constantly dealing with all sorts of mean-spirited people who believe they could have made better decisions...obviously.

Please try to imagine living a world where you're the lowest status person around, where the kids and adults look upon you in disgust. Imagine no support network, few friends, and a life void of most conveniences. Is it better than the poor of other countries? Maybe. I don't know. But, at least, I would hope that they have some sort of community. Being poor in America is about being alone and laughed at, while suffering.

Re: Being poor changes your thinking about everything

#135

Post by tomjen3 »

waps wrote: post #78
alexqgb wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He specifically said people should be "100% certain" that they can support their children until their children can support themselves. Given that this normally entails a span of ~25 years (assuming two kids through college), that group is both certainly and obviously limited to the richest of the rich.

Having kids is a human right. That should be the end of the discussion. Anyone, rich or poor, is * entitled to have children [1] * entitled to financial and other aid to raise those children safely and securely [2] [1] UDHR, Article 16, paragraph (1) http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/#a16 [2] UDHR, Article 25, paragraph (2) http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/#a25 Since the US has signed these treaties, and unless…

No, it is not a human right. If we can just point to websites as undisputed facts, then the earth is flat.

Re: Being poor changes your thinking about everything

#136

Post by lookingsideways »

teddyh wrote: post #56
jpau wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you have it the wrong way around - it's not a demand-driven arrangement, but a supply-driven one; landlords prefer to have more than one person responsible for the lease, provided the tenants have sound integrity. It's like standing on one leg; if that leg crumbles, you will fall and land hard. But if you have two legs, one leg can crumble and the other gives you enough time for you to land gently. If you...…

If that's the case, why hasn't this naturally occured everywhere? Why only in Australia and for students in university towns?

This is the norm in the UK too for shared housing. You have multiple named tenants on the lease and each is responsible for the full rent if the others can't pay.

Re: Being poor changes your thinking about everything

#137

Post by sygma »

vacri wrote: post #42
teddyh wrote: post #2

I'm very much reminded of these: http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-things-nobody-tells-you-about-... http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-5-stupidest-habits-you-devel... http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-things-politicians-will-never-... Especially the last one. EDIT: Fixed last link

These were, without a doubt, the best articles that Cracked has put forth. I've never been in poverty, but I've seen it from a near distance. I've been poor, but if push came to shove, I always had a middle-class mother I could move back to. That's a 'safety net' that many in poverty simply do not have. And so it annoys the shit out of me that when a friend in finance got a $10k raise, all she could talk about was "b…

she's more concerned about what she lost than the fact that her gain was almost equal to a poor person's annual income. She couldn't even frame her payrise as a positive

I wonder if this is related to "loss aversion" [0]. According to Kahneman's research, people tend to strongly prefer avoiding losses to acquiring gains. She has a net loss in satisfaction because the hit caused by losing 30% of her salary is bigger than the win resulting from making 70%.

[0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_aversion

Re: Being poor changes your thinking about everything

#138

Post by specialist »

superuser2 wrote: post #72
sillysaurus2 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And so it annoys the shit out of me that when a friend in finance got a $10k raise, all she could talk about was "but I lose half of it to the government!". In some strange world where 30% equals half, she's more concerned about what she lost than the fact that her gain was almost equal to a poor person's annual income. She couldn't even frame her payrise as a positive. There's more to life than feeling lucky we aren…

I think issue is specifically complaining about it going to the government , where the implication is that it's going to be squandered on "lesser people." With no sensitivity for the fact that the taxes on her raise make an enormous difference to someone on welfare. The complaint in this situation is not "I wish I had made more" but "The government should take less."

My taxes also make an enormous difference to my welfare. There are things that are best done collectively.

Re: Being poor changes your thinking about everything

#139

Post by edyoung »

jlgreco wrote: post #25
Raphmedia wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The answer is "love", you robots.

How is that comment suppose to make somebody who is waiting for a better time to having a kid feel? Are they robots for practicing family planning? Do they not familiar with "love"?

Nobody is criticizing people who practice family planning. A lot of comments do seem to be debating the merits of having children without acknowledging or seemingly comprehending that there is a huge emotional, non-rational component to that decision, regardless of the parents' annual income.

Re: Being poor changes your thinking about everything

#140

Post by swalsh »

My Wife and I just bought a house, so the conversation about kids has come up. I guess i knew child care was expensive, but after talking to my coworkers it turns out they spend on average 20k a year (this is MA). That figure blows my mind. How can someone not on an engineers salary afford this?
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