It Is Expensive to Be Poor

[madamesilverspurs]

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/it-is-expensive-to-be-poor/282979/

...The Great Recession should have put the victim-blaming theory of poverty to rest. In the space of only a few months, millions of people entered the ranks of the officially poor—not only laid-off blue-collar workers, but also downsized tech workers, managers, lawyers, and other once-comfortable professionals. No one could accuse these “nouveau poor” Americans of having made bad choices or bad lifestyle decisions. They were educated, hardworking, and ambitious, and now they were also poor—applying for food stamps, showing up in shelters, lining up for entry-level jobs in retail. This would have been the moment for the pundits to finally admit the truth: Poverty is not a character failing or a lack of motivation. Poverty is a shortage of money.


...more at link

[2naSalit]

1. It sure is! nt

[Skittles]

2. yes it is

I donated money to a neighbor who was in a vicious circle of paying a rent penalty simply due to when she was getting paid in her new job after a period of unemployment - when I asked the office to waive it for the poor gal (a single mom) so she could get caught up they said they could not - essentially corporate would not let them (the office workers did seem very sorry about it).

[w0nderer]

3. excellent article :-)

from article

it seems the 'war on poverty' (below quote) rapidly turned into 'war on the poor'
---
Fifty years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson made a move that was unprecedented at the time and remains unmatched by succeeding administrations. He announced a War on Poverty, saying that its “chief weapons” would be “better schools, and better health, and better homes, and better training, and better job opportunities.”

So starting in 1964 and for almost a decade, the federal government poured at least some of its resources in the direction they should have been going all along: toward those who were most in need. Longstanding programs like Head Start, Legal Services, and the Job Corps were created. Medicaid was established. Poverty among seniors was significantly reduced by improvements in Social Security.
---

I never saw how 'investing in the group/population/team' came to be considered a bad idea by politicians and people

IF i pay for part of your vaccine or healthcare, you will not spread this disease, making it less likely i have to pay for long term treatment for someone who can't take the vaccine or let a disease go too far due to lack of affordable healthcare.

IF i help pay for your education, you can get a better job, possibly create more jobs, pay more taxes, and thus make my tax burden less and my chances for a better job better.


Some poverty (i'd actually prefer to call this 'overly debted' or 'overly consumerismed') is poor choices (and i hate to say it especially since i'm _almost_ violating rules i helped set in this group ) but if one used to make $100 000 , and then get downsized to $40 000, some lifestyle choices are going to have to be made, and fast or poverty will result.

or making the $100 000 and spending $80 000 on trips, toys, gadgets and similar, again not best of choices

i think the last two examples are rare, they just very vocal about how it's not fair to them

let the flaming of me begin :-/

[w0nderer]

4. Let me count the ways

that being poor is more expensive

because it's difficult to save up it's difficult to:
-buy quality items, leading to more breakages and more replacement costs (long term more expensive)
-buy quality food (or have time to cook it), leading to shorter life and less health.
-maintain a house/apartment at a high level (higher resale or returning of deposit) and again health and happiness
-may not be able to do a bank account, so check cashing stores and their percentages
-no bank account equals no credit cards or debit cards, makes it difficult to pay online, so penalized in stores for paying bills there frequently
-no credit card means probably lower credit rating (even if one has a credit card frequently one has to over utilize (over 10% of limit)) leading to bad credit score leading to worse loan chances for car or similar
-not a large reserve saving means any expenses coming down the pipe (damaged headlight, broken washer) aren't problems, they are disasters
-can't take a day sick because you can't afford to, nor can you afford potentially loosing the job
-can't move easily, have to come up with, first/last/deposit and possibly movers fee or truck rental (no cc..problematic), also long distance moves are expensive
-changing jobs means you may have to, move, get different transportation, get different child care, have a gap of a couple of weeks in paychecks
-improving education can be more expensive due to schedule limited by work

just of the top of my head heh
i'm sure this list could be made 1000 times as long at least

[Stardust]

5. -you drive clunkers that gobble gas and require constant maintenance.

-if you rely on public transportation, you plan your trips to stores that are close, but may be more expensive. You can only get what you can carry and smaller quantities are more expensive.

Being poor drags your soul down.

[historylovr]

6. K & R

[Melurkyoulongtime]

7. "Poverty is a shortage of money."

It's about damn time one of them said it. I personally am sick unto death of these aholes acting like the cause of the problem is anything BUT the lack of money. I've been poor, middle class and (almost) rich. The proof is in the pudding - my family and I always did better when we had more money. Being wo it can literally kill you these days yet we still have asshats in charge that still believe money doesn't buy everything. Really? Well, it sure takes care of medical care, transportation, housing, food and all the other little things we're expected to PAY for here in the land of the "free" to be considered a responsible citizen. Money does buy certain freedoms in this country and they know it.