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Posted on 03/24/2012 11:59:01 PM PDT by grundle
I was compelled to respond to the March 4 article "Poverty's Conflicting Profiles." Perhaps I'm pointing out the obvious, but things may have been better for some of these women had they made better choices in life:
Stay in school and graduate. Then continue school long enough to acquire a skill.
Be choosey when selecting a mate. If you fight while you date him, you'll grow to hate him!
Use birth control (sorry, GOP and Catholics). Nothing blocks the road to self-sufficiency more than unplanned pregnancies.
Children are expensive. Think about how many you can afford to raise and who you have them with.
Don't smoke, drink or do drugs -- you can't afford it, and I can't afford to support your habit with my tax dollars. But more important, I don't want my loved ones or me to be your victims when you need money to feed your addiction. (Been there, done that!) Can you now begin to understand where that anger and disgust comes from?
Finally, remember that for every bad choice you make, there are consequences that may take a lifetime to get out from under. So think and choose carefully.
I'm truly sorry for people who are suffering and are victims of circumstances beyond their control. They deserve whatever help is available till they're back on their feet. But all too often, I have seen people who are receiving government (taxpayer) money buying cigarettes, booze, drugs, expensive clothes and jewelry, and I wonder if I'm not the one making bad choices -- getting up at 4:30 a.m. every day to go to work!
It's tragic that bad things happen to good people. Kudos to you who are working to get out from under the weight of poverty. Good luck to you and may God bless.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
Sorry, GOP?
The only issue the GOP has with birth control is that individuals who want it should pay for it with their own money.
“Children are expensive. Think about how many you can afford to raise and who you have them with.”
I have an inlaw with a spouse who totaled about $32,000 income last year.
They got $10,000 tax refund earlier this year because of their two kids. On top of that “welfare”, they receive WIC and a few other things.
They’ve blown almost all of the $10K.
Nothing for the kids.
Nothing.
Thankfully they can blame the 1% people for the lack of college funds. (barf)
They’re also learning the less they work, the more (goods & services) they get.
Or to quote some John Wayne character:
“Life is tough. It’s even tougher when you’re stupid.”
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Poor money managment is the #1 reason for poverty.
“Poor money management is the #1 reason for poverty.”
Brought to us, in part, by easy credit without consequences.
I know a guy who owns a trailer court: Nothing ticks him off more than having someone come to the door in expensive jeans with a beer in one hand, a cigarette in the other, a fresh tatoo, and the smell of pot smoke in the background only to say, "I can't afford the rent right now...".
In the meantime their kids are wearing rags...
Crappy priorities yield crappy results.
“I know a guy who owns a trailer court:”
...I have rental properties. The sense of entitlement and lack of concern for credit and owing others is unreal! I’ve had renters say, “you can afford to let me off for a month”. “My girlfriend just found out she’s present and we have to pay for the abortion”. “I’m behind on my car payments, can you cut me a break”. On and on!
I have a low tolerance for BS. It wouldn't work very well...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_at_the_Bottom:_The_Worldview_That_Makes_the_Underclass
This book shines a light on this kind of thing.
Unless one is intellectually retarded or mentally disturbed, life is what you make it. Decisions have consequences. Life is what you make of it.
we all know someone who makes bad decisions repeatedly then expects you or society to bail them out.
“For many, poverty is the result of bad choices”
No—it’s because the government has not yet given them enough free stufbut hussein is working on that.
Use birth control (sorry, GOP and Catholics).
No problem with birth control. I do have a huge problem with being ORDERED to pay for yours.
Fear of failure, hard work and learning from bad choices and life experience has been replaced with a nanny state of mind.
Trusting another (as a life partner) - based on one’s own sense of integrity is often misplaced - and youthful ‘love’ is stubborn.
Hollywood influence has permeated behavior for the past 75 years. Once it was ‘good’ to pursue wealth, romance and material possessions as a mark of success. Then it became a ‘keeping up with the Jones’ problem. Now - shacking up, illegitimate babies, serial divorce and ‘blended families’ are the norm. Children are custom jewelry or a means of generating income and subsidies.
Being poor used to build character - when overcome by individual effort - not communism.
What a load. Its far more accurate to say, "Don't have more children than you can provide for."
I’ve always considered poverty to be a state of mind rather than a financial condition. I see too many people who “think poor” in that there are things they can do to improve their lot in life but they don’t bother. I live in a “poor” neighbourhood myself and for most of the people here, dependency is a way of life. Half a block from my place is the city’s most notorious homeless shelter, where the inmates can hang out all day, watch TV and get free meals. Every Thursday morning they collect a $30 “personal needs allowance” and by lunchtime they’re broke again. There are about 300 people living at the shelter, and most of them have been there for more than a year. The shelter provides them with internet access but the only people who use it do so for games and Facebook. They offer classes for things like “life skills”- cooking, budgeting, etc, and also in job search techniques, but they never get more than five or six people attending. They’re content to bunk down in a room with 100 other people, eat the crappy food and get high once a week because they think going for more out of life isn’t worth the effort.
I’m climbing out of a tight spot myself (tough job market and obsolete tech skills on my part). One of the things I started doing was print up a bunch of flyers advertising computer services for home & small businesses with tear-away tabs with my phone & email and posted them on hydro poles, in supermarkets and on notice boards in the neighbourhood. I do 20 of them every day, at a cost of less than $1 and an hour of my time, and within a week I’ve been getting calls from local residents and businesses. I’ve already done three small jobs. Not much money there but I’m developing contacts and have spending money while I go to school in the evening. Most of the people here tell me it’s not worth the trouble, usually in the same breath complaining that they’ve got a raw deal.
The bottom line is that if you consider yourself to be poor, you will be poor for the rest of your life. I may be broke right now, but I am NOT poor.
laziness is the primary cause of poverty.
Good for you! Don’t let the Bas#$ards get you down. You’ve got a great future ahead!
Good for you! Don’t let the Bas#$ards get you down. You’ve got a great future ahead!
I’ve always said poverty is a lifestyle choice. Your article confirmed that. Unfortunately, when idiots choose to have multiple children they cant feed, clothe, etc; it tugs at the heart strings. I have volunteered at a Christmas party for the underpriviliged for years and it’s always the same people. Oh, but now instead of their kids they bring the teenage daughter’s kids. It’s criminal that these kids are not taught there’s more in life. That work is an option. That the only way to wealth is being a criminal, sports star or rapper. Sorry for the rant.
(for future reference)
How about believe in God and worship Him? If you do that, He will provide for all the children born of your MARRIAGE. Sex is for MARRIED PEOPLE, so if you are not married, don’t have sex. It is when people deny they are creations of by and for God that poverty ensues.
Bump
Hopefully, they're too lazy to vote.
personal responsibility, what a concept...
"There's no such thing as poverty in America. Even poor people don't think of themselves as 'poor.' They think of themselves as multi-millionaires who have just been temporarily sidetracked."
Oh yeah, the 23 year old, is mommies little girl. They found out a year or 2 ago that she has type one diabeties. So now there is every excuse why the girl can't work. (I work in construction, and some of my co-workers carry a bag or cooler with, that has their meds in case they need them)
The husband thinks he can't work a part time job AND look for a full time job at the same time.
Oh, and his last 3 jobs, the longest he's stayed has been 4 months.
These friends have had other friends pay their property taxes for them,at least 2 times that I know of. Just had a car given to them from their church. In the past, oh 5 years, had and old car given to them by his dad, and an old truck given to them by her dad.
My issue with them, other than hubby being in and out of work, is that though they are appreciative of the help others have given them, their is no sense of urgency to get their heads above water or to repay non family members those "gifts".
When I say urgency, I mean go above and beyond the normal.
The wife homeschooled the kids and took care of the house. The house is spotless and the yard VERY WELL taken care of. But the kids are adults now, 3 of the 4 moved out. Whats stopping her from getting a FULL time job somewhere, even 2 part time jobs? Anywhere.
The REAL problem is, these aren't the only people I know in situations like this.
I have another friend in not too different circumstances, and a number of cousins who have no sense of urgency. Bills are left for someone else to pay, or just walked away from, because "they're poor". Overtime is viewed as a curse.
Our society in general has embraced "family" as all important and all encompassing. Debts are racked up (in the name of family) but people refuse to go above and beyond the average to pay them off.
Its more important to sit and watch TV with the kiddies, instead of teach character of personal reponsibility for ones own life.
And the worst thing to me is, that some of these people, the ones with this sense of entitlement that OTHERS "OWE" or SHOULD help take care of them...ARE CHRISTIANS.
More and more I find Christians whinning about their jobs. The hours they work, the work they do...yada, yadda, yadda.
I'm finding that todays Christians have learned their Bible too well. They have learned that Christians should be kind and compassionate to others and to help the poor and needy. The problem is, there are too many Christians who are quick to wrap THEMSELVES into the title of poor and needy. They view compassion as a mandate for ALL Christians, and that because THEY are in "need", that ALL (The Others) are mandated to help THEM.
Freep-mail me with a general idea of your location, and if I have any prospects I'll pass them along.
Good on you Squawk. Keep it up.
If you want to be rich, do what rich people do.
If you want to be poor, do what poor people do.
He's in the White House.
sounds like you need some new friends...
There is a flip side to this argument.
In developing nations, at a particular economic plateau unique to a given nation, abruptly the birthrate drops from high growth to an average of 2.1 to 2.3 children per family.
While government can’t seem to increase this rate, both they and the national culture can easily drive it lower. And most often it is not done intentionally, but is found in well intentioned efforts to increase the prosperity and well being of children.
What is not seen in such efforts is that there is already considerable stress put on a couple to have children, and every added demand designed to improve the lot of their children will convince more parents to have fewer children, or no children at all.
So let us now examine what we call “poverty”. With it, there is a low level of materialism and abundance. But if parents are willing to live with less, often this means that they can have more children.
So who then is poor, a childless couple who have money and enjoy things, travel and entertainment; or a couple with several children, who live on modest means and enjoy their family?
In the modern world, far too many people are choosing the first option, living their lives for their own enjoyment, leaving no legacy for the future, with none to mourn their eventually loss, or even care for them in their old age.
Their choice as well.
The only issue the GOP has with birth control is that individuals who want it should pay for it with their own money.
Sorry, GOP Conservatives? The only issue the GOP has Conservatives have with birth control is that individuals who want it should pay for it with their own money.
There, fixed it.
I don't care if people use birth control - I don't feel the Catholic Church should be forced to pay for it at their schools. I also don't feel the government should be able to FORCE Muslim schools to serve pork.
Also, I don't want to be forced to pay for someone's birth control or someone's pork. How hard is this for a liberal to understand?
I agree with S. ECKERT on all of this - except the slam on GOPers..
When countries develop ‘social security’ systems for the elderly, the number of children in families drop.
Children ARE social security systems for the poor in third world countries.
Children ARE social security systems for the poor in third world countries. When that quits being true, the number of children in a family drop.
An unintended consequence of Europe's meltdown - and possibly ours is MORE children. If safety means family - 'family' will get larger. And closer. No more of that 'I'm spending my kids inheritance' stuff. If you need your children, you'll be nicer to them. Lots of unintended consequences - many that are healthy. Most are conservative.
While a social security concept may figure later on, it is the social security of (relative) economic prosperity that matters first and most. So I would put SS in the second tier as a government based effort that results in even lower birthrates.
Importantly, there is a profound example of a reversal in this, which resulted in the baby boom after WWII. Just the right combination of factors all came together.
It started with lots of couples whose normal course of marriage and children had been set back a little, but not too long, moving to new suburbs where they were the exclusive tenants, then men having 9 to 5 jobs and the women not employed. Tremendous optimism, job security, and a family friendly environment.
Ironically, boredom was a huge part of this. There were few other entertainments, few “non-breeders” who just wanted to fool around, not get married or have children, or much of a criminal element around.
Pretty soon any woman who could get pregnant was pregnant.
But this really has not been duplicated since. Soon America’s birthrate again dropped.
Yes, good point.
Bump
Got one of those (SIL) living here right now.
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