What is your definition of poverty?

[FooshIt]

In terms of wealth or income.

[PBS Poll-435]

1. Probably not being able to support 5 basic needs

Food, Water, Clothing, Shelter (Safety), Family/Friends

[mommalegga]

3. Thats how I would define it. NT

[Urban Prairie]

2. Needing help from the DHS to pay utility bills

Living in Section 8 housing, receiving/qualifying for SSDI, Medicaid and welfare assistance, and possessing a monthly food card.

[bobbolink]

4. that's a start..... but there are people who DON'T have those things who are definitely impoverished

Our definition of poverty is woefully out-dated, yet it isn't an issue that either party, or advocates take up.

[Joe Fields]

13. There is NOT one single definition of poverty.

There are working people, who do have a place to live, that struggle to pay rent, electricity, struggle to buy food, need help from their local church or schools, or their local food pantry to subsist on. They struggle to have a car or to be able to put gas in it to get to work on. They struggle to come up with money for the bus to take them to work. They Apply for whatever assistance they can get from their local governments.

I can go on and on, but my point is this, bobbolink. YOUR definition of poverty isn't the only one, and this isn't a game of one-upsmanship to tell people just who has it worse off. Poverty is in the eye of the beholder.

[bobbolink]

18. So, you are saying I can't add *my* definition to an open question?

Talk about control and one-up-manship.

Following people around with only criticism is against the rules, and I request that you give it up.

[Joe Fields]

32. No. I'm saying that you ridicule anyone who doesn't accept your

definition as THE definition. I have no interest in "controlling" anyone, as you so readily try to jump to conclusions.

As for following you around, that is utterly laughable. I read all threads and comment as I see fit. You sound a little paranoid to me. You also sound like someone who, when others agree with you, but give a slightly different take on the subject of poverty and homelessness, always has to caustically and, with an air of superior knowledge dismiss and correct them, as though you are the lone authority.

A word of advice here. You will attract more people to your cause with kind words and a little support, rather than always dressing them down as you are prone to do in just about every post of yours that I read, simply because they do not think exactly as you do on this issue.

[bobbolink]

33. Please, using my exact words, point out where I ridiculed anyone.

And, thanks for the diagnosis, Doc. I think that shows that this is most likely a projection on your part.

[Rex]

5. Someone making 18k a year and trying to raise a family of 4.

[BOG PERSON]

6. having to live on less than $2 a day

that's how the UN defines it, anyway.

[sofa king]

7. Poverty is when you have to choose between equally bad options to survive.

Last year I got to choose between being homeless in the worst winter ever or riding a moped 70 miles a day to a no-benefit part time job in another county. The exhausting hours spend commuting directly translated into time I could not spend trying to improve my life by finding a job closer to home (and I never really did find that job). An accident wouldn't necessarily be fatal; it could have maimed me for the rest of my short, uninsured life. That's poverty.

This winter I still don't have a real job within 30 miles of where I live, though I found a carpool. The mopeds are broken and I'm walking dozens of miles a week. One of my legs is shorter than the other and my feet have accordingly suffered. I had to take a day off to let the foot rest, which means I now have to borrow money this month to pay rent. That's poverty.

I designed and scripted and was in the process of creating a 3D graphic novel which I'd desperately like to see completed. I think I can publish it for money. Unfortunately, I bounced a screwdriver on my motherboard while trying to reseat the heatsink on the computer I built myself, and I'll never, ever be able to build another computer fast enough to use the programs I need to do it. The hard drive on which the data rested is notorious for freezing up if left unplugged for six months. The computer broke eighteen months ago. I had to let the project die in order to survive, but for all I know, the project could have made me rich. That's poverty.

Eventually my options will be to kill or die. Which will I choose? That's poverty.

Edit: Okay, that last bit is a little melodramatic. Here instead is a prurient shot of an early test of my little project. Unfortunately I don't even have 3D glasses anymore, so I can't even remember if it looks cool or not:



See the irony, there?

[bobbolink]

8. I soooo badly want to recommend and GOLD STAR your post!

Excellently written, and a MUCH better definition!

I understand those hard choices, and the consequences, and also the people constantly reminding us that it is our "choice" and our "responsibility". It is all so very UGLY.

Thank you, and you will be in my thoughts.... I so much want for thhis to get better for all of us, but that will only happen when groups like DUers start taking this all seriously, and TAKE ACTION.

:pals:

[maryf]

9. wow.

that is the definition of abject poverty...when too many needs are being juggled, where is any quality of life to be found? Your courage in writing this is to be commended, and my heart and thoughts go out to you.

[sofa king]

15. Here's the thing: my life is EXCELLENT!

No, really. I'm blessed with wonderful family and friends, and people who love me. I don't know what's wrong with me that prevents me from leading a normal life, but I've come to terms with it enough to know that I can't try to do that anymore. I don't know why nobody wants to hire me, but my survival path has cut a swath straight around that problem. Now I'm trying to build something that nobody can take away from me.

With nothing but free time and a handful of change for gas, I've puttered up and down this beautiful valley of mine and fallen in love with it. My professional skills, even though they were not useful to anyone else, are still potent, so I used them to teach myself the arcana of some of my favorite military history, which happened right here. And having done so, I accidentally broke into adult education, just in time for the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, and now I'm hosting bus tours, fer chrissakes! It doesn't pay much now, but I'm perfectly positioned to corner this damned market at just the time when it's ready to pay off, in the perfect place, with four years' research head start on anyone who tries to horn in on me. I'm meeting new and interesting people and establishing myself in this hard-to-break into community. I had nothing, so I had nothing to lose. That seems to have been the key to my limited success so far.

And how lucky am I? You wouldn't believe whose bedroom I did most of my studying in. The heat is part of the rent, here, so I get to spend this winter with heat, and the place comes with the finest anti-theft device ever conceived: a ghost. And if I can ever organize all the thoughts and experience I've had over these five or so desperate years, I'll have a book worth writing and maybe even worth reading. So all I have in front of me is shit I've got to do. I'll either do it, or I won't.

[maryf]

17. glad to hear it!

goes to show it's not the material things...but so many don't even have what you have...family and friends are the most valuable possessions, if we can call it that...

[bobbolink]

19. You are so right... the support and love of family and friends is what gives us the strength

to be truly creative, and find the loopholes that suit us.

Love is the only thing that heals, and I'm glad you have it. So many don't, and the suffering is the result.

Best of luck to you in your endeavors... that is really exciting!

[laylah]

22. abject poverty!?

I only wish I knew how to post pictures.

Jenn

[maryf]

24. wish you did too...

though I'm sure they are tragic...

[FooshIt]

10. How much do you need to complete the project?

Looks promising.

[sofa king]

21. I think I need an Intel G41, P35 or P45 motherboard.

That's the LGA 775 form factor, designed for the second generation of the Core 2 Duo chip. The rest of the hardware is probably okay, as I was extremely careful in selecting the parts. If the motherboard works, so too might everything else. Even though it's old now, the system was faster than money could buy when I first put it together, thanks to overclocking and tweaking (another technological refuge of the impoverished). I need extremely powerful graphics just to work within the free 3D programs I use (like DAZ and Blender).

If my previous troubleshooting has damaged other components, I'll just have to let it all go and instead start grabbing good hardware as I find it until I can build a new Streetbeater. In theory, I can still base all that around the new motherboard.

At this point, all the software is several generations newer and I'll probably have to start all over, anyway. And that's cool, I'm not in a hurry with it, the story is all there in my head and I'm confident the software can make up for my own artistic deficiencies. I definitely need to turn down the slider on the bust size of the main character, anyway. (At the time, I had other editors to sell the idea of a 3D issue of our magazine, and what do you know? The bigger the boobs got, the better the other editors liked the idea. But alas, we ran out of money.)

Again, going back to the hard choices, the motherboard has been #2 on the short list of things I've needed for over a year now, and some new crisis always pops up to supplant it on the list.

[DonCoquixote]

29. Probably the best definition

Down here in Florida, for example, someone who makes 30k a year is not rich, but unless they max out their credit cards, they will not have to choose between food or medicine. In New York, they are even worse off. The point being is that if we did not have people making way too ridiculous amounts of money, there would be enough to be sure we could at least have a fair shot of fulfilling needs.

[SheilaT]

11. It does have to do with not being

able to afford basics. The exact cash amount needed will vary, depending on circumstances.

[jwirr]

12. Some good definitions here but I think this may have to be changed

with what is happening in our economy today. The middle class is have a hell of a time making it and this does not include them at all. Many of them have assets that would say they are not poor: nice houses, cars, etc. Even a boat or two here and there - that no one will buy from them. These things do not make them ineligible for help and they are considered poor when applying for such things as food stamp. We are in a weird world.

[bluestate10]

14. Poverty is not earning at least 1/2 of the median income. nt.

[FooshIt]

25. Median income of what population?

[bluestate10]

26. The median income of state that the person lives in. nt

[FooshIt]

28. .

[ipaint]

16. Folks who's taxes just went up, those who depend on them, and those who can't work.

For starters.

[laylah]

20. Well, let me think about this...

Being "fired" from my doc because i could not afford my copays, although my insurance pays 90%, they want it all? (Genesis, Illinois...don't care if they see this, they suck!)

Driving a vehicle with no brakes, just so I can attend my medical visits at CHC (I am SO grateful for them!)

Teeth falling out of head...along with thousands of $ of earlier care.

On the other hand, I have SO much to grateful for...which is what I choose to focus on. :hug:

Jenn

[TicketyBoo]

23. Poverty?

Hunger and homelessness would be the two biggest indicators in my opinion.

[WinkyDink]

27. Daily struggle to survive, to eat, to be well, to have security.

[Raschel]

30. I think yours is a great definition.

[kentuck]

31. It is a daily struggle...

not paycheck to paycheck. What will I eat tomorrow? Where will I sleep tonight? Will I stay warm enough? Tomorrow will be a new day to survive. That is one degree of poverty. Not to be confused with being "poor"...