Do not listen to the idiot commenters here whose "solutions"

...are often just judgmental BS!

First of all these commenters are blind idiots who do not get it. They do not want to admit that poverty is an institution it is not a "choice". This is because they are an enthusiastic part of living off the backs of the poor and prefer to maintain the illusion they are not doing that.

in·sti·tu·tion [in-sti-too-shuhn, -tyoo-]
1. A well-established and structured pattern of behavior or of relationships that is accepted as a fundamental part of a culture, as marriage: the institution of the family.
2.any established law, custom, etc.

The poverty institution is based on racism, sexism, ageism (including LGBTQ), classism and disability. This institution remains in place in spite of the horrible damage it causes because it benefits the upper classes.

To demonstrate this institution, there is a story to tell about my friend Margaret who is a proud Somalian immigrant and American citizen who I have told about before on DU:

Margaret's entire family was murdered in Somalia and she wound up in those immigration camps where she was raped and beaten. Margaret had converted from Islam and became a devout Catholic and the church sponsored her to come to America. This was support for Margaret's housing, her food, and all other necessities until she supposedly "got on her feet". She found a job and this sponsorship lasted 2 years, which she reimbursed through her "job". However when this sponsorship ended, the job she labored at did not even pay enough to afford rent much less food, transportation to get to her job, or anything else. Because she had to choose between getting to her work in order to keep it and all the other expensive necessities in order to keep that job, Margaret wound up homeless and living on the streets of Seattle. I met Margaret when after being on the street years, she finally qualified for transitional housing. By that time she had contracted the incurable TB that runs rampant in shelters and was struggling with her health with no insurance.

One time when we were demonstrating together for social justice, I asked Margaret about poverty in Somalia versus poverty in America. Which was worse? There is a war going on there, people starve to death, they are murdered, what could be worse than there? So I expected her to say being poor in Somalia was worse. But Margaret told me that being poor in America is far worse ~ and when you think about it this is because of the people who demand to live off her back. Margaret said:

"In Somalia when you have no home you go into the woods where indigenous people have lived for eons and they will teach you how to survive. In America all those people have been chased away generations ago and they no longer know how to survive that way and if you tried to go into the woods, which God gave to ALL of us, you would be arrested for stealing. When you are poor in America,you have to pay for everything. even going to the bathroom if you have no home. In Somalia, if you are hungry, you can glean your food from the roadside and if the farmer doesn't mind, in the fields, In America, yes, they have food banks and food stamps but for an immigrant like me, I am not qualified to receive food stamps and the food bank is often too far away, plus the food there has to be cooked and if you have no home, where can ou cook? In Somalia, if you need to cook a meal or keep warm, you build a fire, even in the cities, but in America you would be arrested for doing so ... "

Almost all of these necessities in America somebody has to profit from and thus they have to be paid for. Our society is almost 100% dependent on living off people paying through the nose in order to be on "the grid" whether for electricity, food, housing, plumbing, water, you name it.

So Kpete and any other low income person commenting here, do not listen to these dolts with dummass "suggestions". They do not get it. One of our former disabled and homeless DU members in Denver got forever banned in the library for committing the sin of being homeless even though she pays a higher proportion of taxes than the richest person there. So much for the dummass suggestion she "go to the library" to access the Internet that she already paid for, which the whole country now depends upon. They'll take her taxes, but to for her to use public facilities after paying them? People like these commenters are saying, "Thanks for the huge sacrifice you make paying those taxes out of your meager income, but go to hell only I should have that right!"

God, as a low income disabled senior, these people disgust me. I often say whenever I train people to lobby for low income issues, "The biggest difference between Republicans and Democrats is that Republicans openly hate the poor, Democrats just PRETEND they don't hate the poor."


Cat in Seattle
board member of http//www.mamapower.org People Organizing for Welfare Economic Rights (POWER)