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Mommy, why are poor people poor?Follow

#1 Oct 17 2013 at 2:11 PM Rating: Excellent
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Something that's been churning in the head as of late, something I admittedly have done very little research on and know almost nothing about. I can think up of number of "reasons" off the top of my head, but I don't know how relevant any of them are. So why are poor people poor? Some possibilities to jump to mind, in no particular order...

1) Not fit: Your IQ is in the mid 80s, you struggled through high-school with a C-average, social skills are lacking at best, and you aren't particularly athletically gifted. There's no real place you've stood out in life that you can turn into income. Darwinism is just against you it seems.

2) Bad luck: Your dad was killed by a drunk driver in broad daylight, your family went from a comfortable upper-middle class lifestyle to a single mom raising 3 kids on a Dept. Manager's salary at Macy's. In short, **** happened to you, and it sucked.

3) Prejudice: You were born with the wrong skin color, in the wrong caste, or from the wrong region perhaps. People look at you and see "poor person" and those are the only opportunities you seem to be able to get.

4) Lazy: You're the hippie/monk-in-the-hills type. You could make more money perhaps, but you see no value in it. Life is to be enjoyed first, or you just don't feel like working today, either way you'll figure it out later. Right now it's time to do a little fishing.

5) Cyclical: You hear rags-to-riches stories and wonder how people do that. You're working hard, but not getting anywhere. Your parents were poor, their parents were poor, and so on back as far as anyone can remember.

6) Disability: A lot like #1 I suppose, but there's really a singular reason here. You have some disease/condition/disorder/etc that prevents you from living a full life, but would likely otherwise be perfectly fine.

7a) Poor Choices: Investing all of the money you were saving for college in that pyramid scheme while having unprotected sex with your high school boyfriend wasn't the most brilliant thing you ever did, and you've been paying for it ever since.

7b) Choosing Poor: You just fell in love with a poor guy, now you're poor. There's no mystery here, you feel no shame, you got what you wanted in life, and there are no regrets.

So that's what came to my head, at least that's all I can remember right now. So why do you think people are poor? Some or all of the above? Are there other big reasons I missed in that little list you'd like to add? Do you think there's some reason(s) that are more prevalent than others? I imagine people have done studies on this or something at some point that I haven't read.

Your thoughts?

Anyway, since I'm not aware of any multi-choice polling on these forums we'll have to substitute something else instead.

Why are you drunk?
Beer:6 (31.6%)
Wine:1 (5.3%)
The hard stuff:4 (21.1%)
I knew I forgot to do something!:8 (42.1%)
Total:19
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#2 Oct 17 2013 at 2:21 PM Rating: Excellent
Define poor.

  • Poor is paying all your bills and having nothing left at the end of the month (this includes some luxuries like cable TV etv)
  • Poor is not having enough money to pay all your bills
  • Poor is not having enough money to pay for all critical bills (food, heating)
  • Poor is worrying about how to pay for food
  • Poor is not being able to buy games for my Xbox
  • Poor is being on income support/benefits
  • Poor is being unable to go on a holiday abroad
  • Poor is worrying about having a child as you could not support it
#3 Oct 17 2013 at 2:22 PM Rating: Excellent
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JennockFV wrote:
Define poor.
Having income that is at/below the poverty line, however your region defines it.
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#4 Oct 17 2013 at 2:27 PM Rating: Excellent
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someproteinguy wrote:
4) Lazy: You're the hippie/monk-in-the-hills type. You could make more money perhaps, but you see no value in it.

It's possible to be lazy tard without any pseudo-noble motive to it. You're not consciously saying "I don't NEED money, man!", you're just too lazy to get some money particularly if your basic needs are being met.
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#5 Oct 17 2013 at 2:36 PM Rating: Excellent
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Jophiel wrote:
someproteinguy wrote:
4) Lazy: You're the hippie/monk-in-the-hills type. You could make more money perhaps, but you see no value in it.

It's possible to be lazy tard without any pseudo-noble motive to it. You're not consciously saying "I don't NEED money, man!", you're just too lazy to get some money particularly if your basic needs are being met.
Shush, you'll scare the fish away. Smiley: wink

I dunno, that's been my experience with lazy people at least, either a) the have a noble reason for it (in their mind at least), or b) they don't care to think about it. Smiley: oyvey

Edited, Oct 17th 2013 1:56pm by someproteinguy
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#6 Oct 17 2013 at 2:57 PM Rating: Good
I think it's a combination of some of those. The poor folks I knew growing up (defined as 1. in a trailer or 2. renting, not owning their home) had some combo of unintelligent parents and those parents having bad luck. The one whose mother was probably of average intelligence (and the kid herself was quite bright) was stuck in poverty because mom married at 19 and never finished college. When she was married, she was a housewife and didn't work. When she got divorced, she was left with very little - ex hubby owed around $8000 in unpaid child support when I knew her. Her mother eventually got a job as a substitute teacher, at the lowest pay grade since she didn't have a degree.

My sister is officially disabled and by any reasonable accounting system she is poor, although she has more in the trust fund my late mother left her than I do in my checking account. She just doesn't get to touch that money; it's managed strictly by our oldest sister and the interest on it goes to her group home to fill in the gaps left by SSI. She's on Medicaid for her health and is, technically, still a dependent of the US military since she had her first major schizophrenic episode at the age of 17. She makes a little money selling her paintings, but not much. She cannot work (she has been reduced to the functionality of a 10 year old by multiple episodes and years of pretty nasty anti-psychotic medications.) She does not vote - although I suppose if she said she wanted to, someone would accommodate her and let her. Her choice, though.

There's also "disabled and completely unable to work" and "disabled but saying **** it and working anyway." I knew a lady in a wheelchair who worked in a call center. Great phone voice. Had no control over her legs, but her arms worked just fine. A voice and arms are all you need to work in a call center, and I'm sure it was a lot more fulfilling than sitting at home without anything to do all day.

In contract, I knew a deadbeat of the first variety - claiming to be disabled and unable to work and in great pain all the time, and yet totally capable of partying every night downtown. I think his disability claims for the employer where he injured his back finally settled at under a thousand dollars, when he'd been asking for a hundred times that. Last I heard, he had to break down and start working again, someplace else.
#7 Oct 17 2013 at 3:20 PM Rating: Excellent
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Most of the poor people I know (which is few since I don't associate with poor people) over value their self worth and are unwilling to work a job that is beneath them or for someone who doesn't treat them like having them work for them is a privilege.
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#8 Oct 17 2013 at 3:40 PM Rating: Excellent
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Growing up in poverty means your parents are probably lacking some of the skills in money management etc that people take for granted, either as a symptom or a cause. This means that you won't pick up these skills which makes it much harder to climb out of debt even if you have opportunity.
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#9 Oct 17 2013 at 4:07 PM Rating: Good
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Probably one, two or many of the listed possibilities can or will land someone on the bottom of the income scale, but like others mentioned you didn't really define poor.

There will always be people at the bottom. I think a more interesting question is how the income bell curve shapes up for the country. Are there more poor people now than before? Why or why not?
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#10 Oct 17 2013 at 4:10 PM Rating: Good
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Jophiel wrote:
It's possible to be lazy tard without any pseudo-noble motive to it.
Option 5 is basically the noble-less lazy option.
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#11 Oct 17 2013 at 4:30 PM Rating: Excellent
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Elinda wrote:
Probably one, two or many of the listed possibilities can or will land someone on the bottom of the income scale, but like others mentioned you didn't really define poor.
I realize I did initially but is post #3 still too vague? I could say "U.S. poverty line" but that didn't seem fair to someone making median wage in China or something. Smiley: frown
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#12 Oct 17 2013 at 4:59 PM Rating: Good
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someproteinguy wrote:
4) Lazy: You're the hippie/monk-in-the-hills type. You could make more money perhaps, but you see no value in it. Life is to be enjoyed first, or you just don't feel like working today, either way you'll figure it out later. Right now it's time to do a little fishing.


You can do this and not be poor. Just sayin'
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#13 Oct 17 2013 at 7:19 PM Rating: Good
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Elinda wrote:
Probably one, two or many of the listed possibilities can or will land someone on the bottom of the income scale, but like others mentioned you didn't really define poor.

There will always be people at the bottom. I think a more interesting question is how the income bell curve shapes up for the country. Are there more poor people now than before? Why or why not?


I agree. In a capitalistic system, you are going to have people at the bottom, as there's a limited amount of capital. What's interesting is how that capital is distributed (plus distribution over time), and the income gap between the poles.

But assuming we're talking about the poverty line. My mom spent most of her childhood below that. Her dad was an alcoholic and her parents divorced early (and, unsurprisingly, he wasn't much of a help). My grandmother worked fulltime for a university as a secretary, with my mom essentially raising her younger brother, but it didn't even bring in enough to get them above the point of using food stamps. And it wasn't slacking - my grandmother was out the door before my mom got up to get herself and her brother ready for school, and got back just in time to play a game of cards with her kids before bedtime.

My mom married her first husband really young. She had a good job, but then she got pregnant and keeping it wasn't an option at the time. She waitressed at nights, when my grandmother would watch my sister (eventually sisters). Her husband became an alcoholic, and they divorced after some really violent episodes. He never paid child support, to the best of my knowledge, and eventually no longer even saw my sisters (at their request).

Between the divorce and marrying my dad, though, she probably was at least near the poverty line. Because she had no marketable skills, and made all her money waitressing to support herself, her two girls, and a mother who was recently diagnosed as epileptic (which made my mother loathe to let her babysit, but there was no other choice). Things were better after she married my dad, but in the vein of having two crappy incomes rather than one. We were solidly lower class until I was at least 5 (and I'm 12 years younger than my eldest sister).

My dad was educated as a doctor on a state scholarship, but it would have meant he'd have to go to a state hospital when he graduated (or pay back the money). But if he didn't graduate, he didn't owe anything. He had just married my mom, who came with two kids, and the AIDS epidemic was hitting its stride. He almost certainly would have ended up in Camden or Newark, so he dropped out. Two other doctors from that program went to hospitals, got pricked by thrashing addicts, and contracted AIDS from it. So he's never (to the best of my knowledge) regretted that decision. Not getting to be a doctor, sure, but not that one in particular.

He also looked into joining the Air Force, but the recruiter told him they wouldn't take any of his med school credits. Turns out, that was completely false, but he didn't learn it until after my mom was pregnant with my brother and he wasn't willing to leave home.

So, he ended up finding work as a car salesman, and he's been there ever since. Which means they've had some really good years, and some REALLY bad years. They probably hover at an upper-lower class income.

So, yeah, there are a whole lot of reasons in there. Disability, addiction, lack of education, some bad choices, some bad luck. My mom learned a lot about thrift growing up, but she didn't really have any opportunity to do much with it. She was smart, my grandmother was smart, but college just wasn't an option. And it was still a time where heavy pressure to be a housewife existed.

I doubt it's often the case that there's any one reason. Life's not usually that simple.
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#14 Oct 17 2013 at 9:18 PM Rating: Default
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Quote:

Your thoughts?


To put a positive spin to it.

1. Independence: Maybe you're a youngin' who wants to break away from the nest and do your own thing. Your lawyer mother and doctor father doesn't approve of your free spirited desire to be a musician and refuses to "waste" a dime of their hard earned money to support a pipe dream.

2. College: Maybe you're a typical college student

3. Starting your career: Maybe you're at an entry level position of your career and have one too many dependents/bills to adhere to. Maybe you're helping your sick parent/in-law and/or your spouse is going to college or some training to further his or her career.

4. Immigration: Maybe you're an immigrant who just arrived, but your education, training and money doesn't transfer over very well and you're having to start from the bottom to work your way up.

5. Unexpected occurrences: Maybe that immigrant in #4 did have their education and training transfer over very well and s/he TOOK YER JAWB! or more realistically, you were laid off for whatever reason. You were barely making it before with education and medical debt, and now you're trying to find a "real" job, neglecting the minimum wage jobs.

6. Anti-debt: Maybe you're one of those types of people who refuse to live in debt and want to pay everything off with cash up front. You have everything that you need, but you are extremely budgeted, living paycheck to paycheck.

7. Investments: You put all of your savings into creating a business or some other investment and it failed. Being hopeful, you start to borrow more money and use credit cards to pay off debts, only to put you further in debt.

8. Bad relationship choice: Maybe the spouse, who has access to your account, decides that they want to live the high life and recklessly spends your money before you finally realizes that the relationship isn't going to work.

9. Divorce: After finally divorcing that leech, you get the raw end of the deal, being stuck with paying alimony to your spouse while s/he never gets married spending your child support money on everything BUT your kids.

10. MC-hammer effect: Maybe you are trying to help everyone and their mother, but when everything isn't happening your way, those people do not return the favor, leaving you and all of the money and stuff that you have given them.

Edited, Oct 18th 2013 1:10pm by Almalieque
#15 Oct 17 2013 at 9:30 PM Rating: Excellent
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#16 Oct 18 2013 at 1:51 AM Rating: Excellent
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Almost exclusively luck. Human nature desperately wants to fill the vacuum of causal reasons however, so conventional wisdom will indicate lack of education or intelligence or work ethic, etc. By far, crazily by far statistically, as in it's not vaguely close at all, the strongest correlation with being a poor adult is being born to poor parents. Depending on the cohort it then usually breaks out by various other factors; race, height, IQ, whatever. The important point is that the other factors are literally orders of magnitude less influential than which ****** one falls out of.
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#17 Oct 18 2013 at 3:23 AM Rating: Good
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1) Not fit: Your IQ is in the mid 80s, you struggled through high-school with a C-average, social skills are lacking at best, and you aren't particularly athletically gifted. There's no real place you've stood out in life that you can turn into income. Darwinism is just against you it seems.


That's half the posters in this thread, and they don't seem to think of themselves as poor.
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#18 Oct 18 2013 at 6:06 AM Rating: Good
Bumped into a deaf lady downtown last night. She's homeless. Turned out the friend I was at the TMBG concert with spoke sign language, and she had a brief conversation with her.

She has three daughters and a grandkid, but after her husband died she ended up on the street. None of her own kids want to deal with her.

So, there's a #6, but add in another dose of "heartless family" into the mix.

Edited, Oct 18th 2013 10:02am by Catwho
#19 Oct 18 2013 at 6:46 AM Rating: Excellent
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Smasharoo wrote:
Almost exclusively luck. Human nature desperately wants to fill the vacuum of causal reasons however, so conventional wisdom will indicate lack of education or intelligence or work ethic, etc. By far, crazily by far statistically, as in it's not vaguely close at all, the strongest correlation with being a poor adult is being born to poor parents. Depending on the cohort it then usually breaks out by various other factors; race, height, IQ, whatever. The important point is that the other factors are literally orders of magnitude less influential than which ****** one falls out of.

The other factors are more likely to dictate the status of the ****** though.

You fall out of a deformed, poor, addicted or colored vag and you're at a disadvantage.

Designer Vaginers are the answer.

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#20 Oct 18 2013 at 8:29 AM Rating: Excellent
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Uglysasquatch wrote:
Most of the poor people I know (which is few since I don't associate with poor people) over value their self worth and are unwilling to work a job that is beneath them or for someone who doesn't treat them like having them work for them is a privilege.

My ex had the curious impression that it was somehow more degrading to work at Taco Bell than it is to have people repossess your car. Go figure.
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#21 Oct 18 2013 at 9:58 AM Rating: Excellent
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Jophiel wrote:
Uglysasquatch wrote:
Most of the poor people I know (which is few since I don't associate with poor people) over value their self worth and are unwilling to work a job that is beneath them or for someone who doesn't treat them like having them work for them is a privilege.

My ex had the curious impression that it was somehow more degrading to work at Taco Bell than it is to have people repossess your car. Go figure.
Unfortunately I have to agree with her. If it was something like Subway I could see your point, but no one should have to work at Taco Bell.
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#22 Oct 18 2013 at 10:16 AM Rating: Good
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someproteinguy wrote:
Jophiel wrote:
Uglysasquatch wrote:
Most of the poor people I know (which is few since I don't associate with poor people) over value their self worth and are unwilling to work a job that is beneath them or for someone who doesn't treat them like having them work for them is a privilege.

My ex had the curious impression that it was somehow more degrading to work at Taco Bell than it is to have people repossess your car. Go figure.
Unfortunately I have to agree with her. If it was something like Subway I could see your point, but no one should have to work at Taco Bell.
This is why we need robot workers.
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#23 Oct 18 2013 at 10:23 AM Rating: Excellent
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someproteinguy wrote:
Unfortunately I have to agree with her. If it was something like Subway I could see your point, but no one should have to work at Taco Bell.

You're why poor people are poor.
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#24 Oct 18 2013 at 10:37 AM Rating: Excellent
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Jophiel wrote:
someproteinguy wrote:
Unfortunately I have to agree with her. If it was something like Subway I could see your point, but no one should have to work at Taco Bell.

You're why poor people are poor.
Hey now that's crazy talk, how is it my fault Taco Bell is a blight on everything that's good and pure about fast food?
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#25 Oct 18 2013 at 10:55 AM Rating: Good
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I'd rank KFC below Taco Bell for ickyness.

I had 5 Guys earlier this week for the first time. It was nothing to scream about.
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#26 Oct 18 2013 at 11:11 AM Rating: Excellent
Elinda wrote:
I'd rank KFC below Taco Bell for ickyness.

I had 5 Guys earlier this week for the first time. It was nothing to scream about.


In the UK we have places that serve kebabs into the early hours typically serving to the post pub/post nightclub crowd. When you are eating a kebab with a huge pepper in it, you have truly reached icky (but it does taste good after 15 JagerBombs ..)

Jophiel wrote:
Uglysasquatch wrote:
Most of the poor people I know (which is few since I don't associate with poor people) over value their self worth and are unwilling to work a job that is beneath them or for someone who doesn't treat them like having them work for them is a privilege.

My ex had the curious impression that it was somehow more degrading to work at Taco Bell than it is to have people repossess your car. Go figure.


When I was at University I worked in supermarkets, fast food restaurants and bars so I could afford to run a car. I was poor at the time (aren't all students?) but I had self respect.

Edited, Oct 18th 2013 1:13pm by JennockFV
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