Being poor is . . .

[Ivan Sputnik]

"Being poor is knowing exactly how much everything costs.

Being poor is getting angry at your kids for asking for all the crap they see on TV.

Being poor is having to keep buying $800 cars because they're what you can afford, and then having the cars break down on you, because there's not an $800 car in America that's worth a damn.

Being poor is hoping the toothache goes away.

Being poor is knowing your kid goes to friends' houses but never has friends over to yours..."

Read more here:
http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/003704.html

[evlbstrd]

1. Being poor in America is now a crime.

[lildreamer316]

2. Being poor is sometimes a death sentence. n/t

[Iris]

3. There's actually a children's book called "Being Poor".

Similar to this, but with pictures.

[Iris]

8. Here's what the Heritage Foundation has to say about being poor:

(I found this while looking for the children's book, which is apparently out of print)

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/bg1713.cfm

“While the poor are generally well-nourished, some poor families do experience hunger, meaning a temporary discomfort due to food shortages. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 13 percent of poor families and 2.6 percent of poor children experience hunger at some point during the year. In most cases, their hunger is short-term. Eighty-nine percent of the poor report their families have "enough" food to eat, while only 2 percent say they "often" do not have enough to eat.”


“The best news is that remaining poverty can readily be reduced further, particularly among children. There are two main reasons that American children are poor: Their parents don't work much, and fathers are absent from the home.”

“In good economic times or bad, the typical poor family with children is supported by only 800 hours of work during a year: That amounts to 16 hours of work per week. If work in each family were raised to 2,000 hours per year--the equivalent of one adult working 40 hours per week throughout the year--nearly 75 percent of poor children would be lifted out of official poverty.”

“But if poverty means lacking nutritious food, adequate warm housing, and clothing for a family, relatively few of the 35 million people identified as being "in poverty" by the Census Bureau could be characterized as poor.3 While material hardship does exist in the United States, it is quite restricted in scope and severity. The average "poor" person, as defined by the government, has a living standard far higher than the public imagines.”

“Hunger is a far less severe condition: a temporary but real discomfort caused by an empty stomach. The government defines hunger as "the uneasy or painful sensation caused by lack of food."13 While hunger due to a lack of financial re-sources does occur in the United States, it is limited in scope and duration. According to the USDA, on a typical day, fewer than one American in 200 will experience hunger due to a lack of money to buy food.14 The hunger rate rises somewhat when examined over a longer time period; according to the USDA, some 6.9 million Americans, or 2.4 percent of the population, were hungry at least once during 2002.15 Nearly all hunger in the United States is short-term and episodic rather than continuous.16”

[petronius]

10. You know all of that is probably true,

but it really doesn't mean what they think it does. I like how they go into all that detail of hunger rates, but somehow neglect to explore the topic of why people aren't working full time. They couldn't possibly be trying to imply that poor folk are lazy, could they? But of course it's all OK anyway, because the poor are really doing ever-so-much better than the rest of us imagine. Considering that all my RW relatives imagine that poor people are buying plasma TVs and new pickup trucks, than it must be really great to be poor...Thanks Heritage Foundation! :sarcasm:

[Iris]

11. Yeah. I found it lacking in the exploration of some of the grayer areas.

but what more can you expect from this group?

[[email protected]]

4. living in the USA with the chimp in charge

[wellstone_democrat]

5. deadly

n/t

Mr. W_D

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. From my own experiences..

Being poor is your mother trading the lobsters your dad was paid in (because the owner of the boat didn't bother with cash) for peanut butter and milk.

Being poor is working in the foodbank to supplement your groceries.

Being poor is wearing the most fashionable clothes... from ten years ago.

Being poor is huddling around a kerosene heater in a trailer in subzero weather with a new baby because the oil company won't come fix the furnace until you catch up on your bill.

Being poor is living on food stamps 9 months of the year, except for July and August when you have to pay the government back because you earned too much money in May and June as a substitute teacher. And never mind that July and August are your leanest months.

Being poor is all about learning how to hold your head up. Just because the rich people in town think they are better than you doesn't make it so.

Being poor is paying one credit card off with another and so on and so on until finally your job lets you go and your house of cards comes crashing down, landing you in bankruptcy court.

Being poor is freaking out when your kids refuse to eat the crusts of their sandwiches because you don't know when you'll be able to buy them more bread.

Being poor is never going out to eat.

Being poor means choosing the kids' new sneakers over your dental check-up.

Being poor means that you hope to God your bright little kids are smart enough to win full scholarships to college.

------------------------------------------------------
Save the Gulf:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=106&topic_id=22507&mesg_id=22507

Then save the nation!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/electionreform.htm

[SoCalDem]

7. I have a $500 Toyota that's still going strong..

Bought it for $500 in 1993 and I drove it yesterday:)

But I know what you mean :(

[celestia671]

9. Amen!

I hate those toy commercials! The kids' networks are flooded with them!

[Skidmore]

12. Being poor is...

eating beans and ham with cornbread every meal for three months straight.

Being poor is wearing no shoes in summer because you only get one pair of shoes each year when school starts and you outgrow them by spring time.

Being poor means sometimes Santa Claus can't find your house.

Being poor means sharpening your pencils down to the metal band that holds the eraser because the 10 you got at the beginning of the school year have to last.

[Lindsay]

13. Being poor is

taking aspirin instead of visiting the doctor or dentist.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Tyranny_R_US]

15. Being poor is...

Hard work, You know, It's hard work, Everybody knows it's hard work.

Add: *smirk* and 2 *shrugs*

[Hidden Stillness]

16. Being poor is....

Being poor is knowing that of all the commercials for lovely, fun things on TV, radio, websites, or anywhere else, none of it has anything to do with you.

Being poor is that withering dread you feel at any strange new sound from your car, heating system, plumbing, or anything else, because whatever it is, you can't fix it.

Being poor means that the kind of vehicle you drive really is not an expression of your personality or style. Sometimes all it means it that it still runs.

Being poor means you have levels upon levels of planning--when can you do this, will you have money by then, which thing should you buy since you can't get both, should you fix this or buy another, measuring costs and life of the item, should you just hang on and do nothing, on and on and on...

Being poor means you believe that one of these days, your life will actually start, in the future, and things will be paid, and get easier; it will be different, because this can't be my whole life.

Being poor means that I can never make a donation to this website--ever.

[Nobody]

17. I just love the compassion smirking chimps have for the poor

Working two or three jobs, coming home tired and having some self-righteous smirking chimp tell you you're not working hard enough.

Being overweight because all you buy if you're going to make your grocery money or food stamps last is unhealthy, fattening junk food because the healthy stuff is way too expensive, and then having some self-righteous smirking chimp scoff at you because if you're so fat, how can you be poor?

You work at home, and you drive delivery. And hoping that they don't pass legislation that makes it illegal to sleep in vehicles in public parking lots.

And then you have some self-righteous smirking chimp sneer about how "those people" should just get jobs. You have one already. It doesn't cover the necessities.

Getting angry at the belief system that implies that if you're poor, it's your own damn fault and that if you were truly a moral and upstanding citizen, you wouldn't be poor. By the way, this is part and parcel of Evangelical belief. It explains a lot, doesn't it?

[RedRocco]

19. being poor

means choosing between gas to get to work and lunch everyday
means choosing between paying the rent buying groceries and paying the light bill
means wearing clothes till they fall apart
means getting fat because Ramen noodles are all carb
means that you get no health care until you are sick enough to go to the ER
means no dental care and pulling your own teeth when the pain gets too bad

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. "The culture of poverty"

You can only own that which can be moved in half a day and placed in the back of a truck. You have no credit cards or a checking account (and even if you did, you have no money to put in it.) You exist from hand to mouth and you relate to other people in terms of what they can do for you that day – just as they will relate to you. There is no language of “negotiation”. You learn to fight for your rights and defend yourself physically or you need to find someone who will be your protector. You have no car. You have family around but they live under similar conditions and most of them have small children to care for. You have a temporary living situation with a friend but he/she has already told you that you might need to be out by the end of the week. They have no electricity and no phone. It is mid-summer and it is intensely hot and humid. But hey, congratulations, you just started a new job at the local mall for $7.00 an hour! Good luck!

http://www.diversityworld.com/Denise_Bissonnette/TLN04/tln0406.htm