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Why poor people make poor decisions

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Re: Why poor people make poor decisions

#51

Post by Der_Einzige »

whack wrote: post #33
umvi wrote: post #11

> Poverty is not a lack of character – it’s a lack of cash. No. Poverty is a lack of education and, more importantly, mentorship. I am battling this right now with my next door neighbors, who use HOC, a Maryland social service that basically puts poor people in middle class neighborhoods by subsidizing rent. My neighbors have money. They spend it extremely poorly. It's a single mom with 2 kids. Both kids have iPhones…

The article has referenced very robust empirical evidence demonstrating that cash infusions can significantly increase IQ, lower mental health problems, and lower rates of crime. Your kid-next-door story is great, but doesn't refute any of the above. There are many ways of tackling poverty. Education and mentorship are certainly very valid ways. And so too is expanding the social safety net. I don't know about you, b…

And the study you posted doesn't refute his anecdote. If we always listened to depersonalized studies rather than using the context of a situation, than we will make extremely poor choices of how to handle bad situations like this

The OP gives strong analysis for why giving this family money directly doesn't solve any other structural problems

Re: Why poor people make poor decisions

#52

Post by moralestapia »

daenz wrote: post #30
metalliqaz wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

those kids should have had the good sense to be born of a father that sticks around /s

Future mothers and fathers should exercise common sense to have a child only with a good partner. That's who that message is for, not the child.

This point comes out from time to time, I do not agree with it at all.

If history has showed us something, is that great people come from all sorts of backgrounds and situations, and that includes all sorts of families of course!

Re: Why poor people make poor decisions

#53

Post by metalliqaz »

daenz wrote: post #30
metalliqaz wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

those kids should have had the good sense to be born of a father that sticks around /s

Future mothers and fathers should exercise common sense to have a child only with a good partner. That's who that message is for, not the child.

lol, good luck with that.

Even if a person made that decision, "nature uh uh finds a way".

Re: Why poor people make poor decisions

#54

Post by Der_Einzige »

rbrtl wrote: post #40
Reedx wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if it was an insane amount of cash, it'd quickly disappear and end up in the same position or worse. Look at the outcomes of lottery winners and others who come into a sudden windfall. Even when it's not sudden, you have clogs to clogs in 3 generations. I think one of the biggest impacts we could make is to teach financial literacy in school, to everyone. Form and reinforce good habits early on. Demonstrate the…

This is the only lesson I really took away from Robert Kiyosaki's "Rich Dad, Poor Dad." People will say what they will about the man, and his kin, that he's a peddler and just another business man out for himself. I'm sure much of that is true, and personally I can't reconcile the fact that he is personal friends with DJT... However his strongest point throughout that book is that it is essential that people who want…

This book is hot garbage. His analysis of real estate (apperently not an asset) is so bad that I cannot imagine that anyone who read this book made money. Even if the author wasn't shady I'd throw it away

Re: Why poor people make poor decisions

#55

Post by exabrial »

umvi wrote: post #11

> Poverty is not a lack of character – it’s a lack of cash. No. Poverty is a lack of education and, more importantly, mentorship. I am battling this right now with my next door neighbors, who use HOC, a Maryland social service that basically puts poor people in middle class neighborhoods by subsidizing rent. My neighbors have money. They spend it extremely poorly. It's a single mom with 2 kids. Both kids have iPhones…

> No. Poverty is a lack of education and, more importantly, mentorship.

Mentorship is absolutely true. Kids need someone to invest and grow them.

In the specific example you gave: on average kids that grow up in two parent households excel in every metric: graduation rates from high school / college, employment, total lifetime earnings, and incarceration rates.

For kids that grow up in single parent homes, their success on the same metric comes down to mentorship; having involvement from a successful person in their life and repeating their steps to success.

Whatever happens with your neighbor, keep at it as long as you're invited, and keep asking the tough questions. You will undoubtedly are a turning point in his life even if you don't see immediate results.

Re: Why poor people make poor decisions

#56

Post by fzeroracer »

Reedx wrote: post #23
umvi wrote: post #11

> Poverty is not a lack of character – it’s a lack of cash. No. Poverty is a lack of education and, more importantly, mentorship. I am battling this right now with my next door neighbors, who use HOC, a Maryland social service that basically puts poor people in middle class neighborhoods by subsidizing rent. My neighbors have money. They spend it extremely poorly. It's a single mom with 2 kids. Both kids have iPhones…

Even if it was an insane amount of cash, it'd quickly disappear and end up in the same position or worse. Look at the outcomes of lottery winners and others who come into a sudden windfall. Even when it's not sudden, you have clogs to clogs in 3 generations. I think one of the biggest impacts we could make is to teach financial literacy in school, to everyone. Form and reinforce good habits early on. Demonstrate the…

Financial literacy doesn't matter when you don't have the money to put it to use.

Whenever my parents tried to save up money, it was quickly drained that same month for medical issues, food, bills and more. I think when you're thinking of poverty you're thinking of someone in the middle class spending above their means.

When I think of poverty, I think of the time spent wondering if we could afford to pay for trash this month, eating one meal a day because that's all we could afford and hoping we don't get sick or injured.

Re: Why poor people make poor decisions

#57

Post by thsealienbstrds »

It seems to me that the amount of politics discussed on a platform is related to how popular that platform is. I like how in some technical IRC channels they just ban any political discussions outright. It seems to keep the channel on-topic even with thousands of users. Not saying HN should follow this course... but this thought crosses my mind sometimes. Sometimes there's too much political discussions on HN for my taste.

Re: Why poor people make poor decisions

#58

Post by treyfitty »

umvi wrote: post #11

> Poverty is not a lack of character – it’s a lack of cash. No. Poverty is a lack of education and, more importantly, mentorship. I am battling this right now with my next door neighbors, who use HOC, a Maryland social service that basically puts poor people in middle class neighborhoods by subsidizing rent. My neighbors have money. They spend it extremely poorly. It's a single mom with 2 kids. Both kids have iPhones…

The idea is that they’ll find mentors in a middle class neighborhood.

Attacking the character of suboptimal decision makers isn’t fair. They have lives and they have every right to decide how they live it. At the same time, they’re beholden to the economic forces that govern everyday life.

Thinking back at my childhood, my parents gave me a computer, a $300 baseball glove, an N64...etc despite not being able to afford it and I’m grateful for that. It allowed me to not be seen as the poor kid, ostracized by my peers, and provided me with countless hours of entertainment. When my friends went to summer camps, I played counter strike and Mario Kart at my house with the other kids who couldn’t afford camps while my parents worked. Sure, summer camp and a nanny could’ve provided me with a more meaningful experience, but let’s be real.

Without friends, and families of friends, I wouldn’t be where I am today. They’ve fed me countless dinners, driven me to school, and even took me on vacations. The parents most definitely knew my economic situation, but my peers didn’t. Don’t judge the kid. Don’t even try to understand. Just be there if you want. If not, then that’s fine too, just don’t be so patronizing about how his mom should optimize her life.

I’m thankful for it all.

Re: Why poor people make poor decisions

#59

Post by [deleted] »

_lbaq wrote: post #15
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>No. Poverty is a lack of education and, more importantly, mentorship. Yep, you nailed it. A friend of mine was ranting on how the poor people(in Europe) spend their money on iPhones, cigars, alcohol and cable TV instead of saving it. Lately, I realized that poor people spend their money on those things since it's their way of short term escapism from feeling poor and if they were to save it, the amount would be too…

>Unfortunately, most popele don't have the will or the guidance to figure this out. That is an incredibly naive way of looking at the problem.

[deleted]

Re: Why poor people make poor decisions

#60

Post by core-e »

Reedx wrote: post #23
umvi wrote: post #11

> Poverty is not a lack of character – it’s a lack of cash. No. Poverty is a lack of education and, more importantly, mentorship. I am battling this right now with my next door neighbors, who use HOC, a Maryland social service that basically puts poor people in middle class neighborhoods by subsidizing rent. My neighbors have money. They spend it extremely poorly. It's a single mom with 2 kids. Both kids have iPhones…

Even if it was an insane amount of cash, it'd quickly disappear and end up in the same position or worse. Look at the outcomes of lottery winners and others who come into a sudden windfall. Even when it's not sudden, you have clogs to clogs in 3 generations. I think one of the biggest impacts we could make is to teach financial literacy in school, to everyone. Form and reinforce good habits early on. Demonstrate the…

This was the first thing that came to my mind as well. You can't keep what you can't earn.
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