Did you ever stop to think that being poor in America is a choice?

I have seen so many posts that seem imply that poverty in America is genetic... or inherent...

I wish people would take personal responsibility for their actions and decisions >> Not be victims with their hand out asking the representatives to rob me so that they can get my money.
Did the rich get rich by luck?
Is life a lottery?

Could it be that they searched for information and made informed decisions and worked hard and smart to get where they are??
Does that make them evil?

Personally, I think poverty in America is a decision.

OG

Poverty is not genetic.

You mean like choosing to be born into a dirt poor family?

Some did. It's sheer luck to be born into a rich family.

More or less. You could be born anywhere to any sort of person. Most of the poor are born into poor families living in poor neighborhoods. As such, they get an awful education. Being poor, most cannot afford college. Without college, it is rather difficult to get a job and thus they often end up in low-level, minimum wage jobs, which tend not to pay very much.

Most of the poor have limited access to information, which tends to inhibit one's ability to make informed decisions. Hard work is not always enough to pull oneself out of poverty.

__________________
Political compass results: -9.00, -6.97 (council communist, evidently, which is much against totalitarianism and Stalin and such)

"In Soviet Russia, statement quotes YOU!!"

FREAKIN' AMEN, BROTHER!!!!

I see you've been reading Pixie and my socialism thread.

In all honesty...yes...poverty can be something that's totally out of control of individuals....handicapped individuals. People who have some sort of affliction that severely restricts their ability to earn a lifestyle.

However, that's an extremely small percentage of the dregs who wallow in "poverty." For the rest of them, yes, it's a choice. A BAD choice, but a choice nonetheless.

* It's a choice to stay in school, and apply yourself, or flunk out like a punk.
* It's a choice to get a legitimate job, or be some 'hood hustla.
* It's a choice to "keep it in your pants" if you can't afford kids.
* It's a choice to either buy "bling" or groceries.
* It's a choice to strive to better yourself, or accept that you're a loser, and sponge off the government.
* It's a choice to try and emulate someone like Bill Gates or 50 Cent.

For some perhaps who just don't care, but to claim that all poor Americans have chosen that lifestyle (which you seem to be implying) is just plain ridiculous and deserves nothing less than a tomato in the face.



My 83 year old grandpa dropped out of high school during the depression to help support his family, joined the merchant marines in WW2, demilitarized ships in Yokohama after the war, worked two jobs all his life, never truly retired, and still now works as a crossing guard for school kids.

Now, I don't know for sure (I've never asked him), but I'm pretty sure that, if he had a choice, he would have chosen a different lifestyle.

I call BS... show us some examples. I can't recall ever seeing a post claiming poverty is genetic, let alone many.

Did it ever occur to you that a great deal of those leaving below the poverty line refuse to accept welfare? That some of these good folks prefer to take personal responsibility and work multiple jobs just to be able to say they are independent? Can you really be so naive to believe that everyone living below the poverty is reliant in one way or another on public welfare? Please say you're not.

I think many do. Paris Hilton comes to mind.

Sometimes. People who win the lottery would probably say it is.

You mean all of them? I don't think Paris has ever searched for anything besides drugs and condoms. And I think her idea of an informed decision is looking up the name of the DJ before choosing which club to go to. So no, I don't think they all got where they are that way, but certainly many of them did.

Of course not. Looking down on the poor as lazy and useless makes them evil...if that's the kind of thing they do.

That's the way I think about ignorance.

__________________
PF cru 4 life

Oilguy--some people have oil wells and some people have to work.

This is hilarious...

Is that all you got??

If you admit that it is a choice... then you have to take responsibility for your bad decisions... God Forbid....

I'll respond tomorrow if the server works... but I will say this.... You touchy feely whiny crowd ain't gonna like it...



OG

I'd have to say that it is a choice for some people. I remember watching an expose about the wasted money spent to house poor people in hotels (I believe it was New York) because apartments were unavailable. They interviewed a woman who weighed about 280 pounds and had 5 kids. The room was covered with trash and roaches were crawling on everything. She complained as to how they expected her to live in such a mess with a TV that didn't even have a good picture. She did not appear to be retarded or otherwise handicapped. She didn't just expect living quarters, she expected a maid. She didn't expect anything from the kid's dads. She chose her life. The shame is that she doesn't seem to have even the slightest dream of choosing a better life for her kids. There's something inhuman about that, IMO.

__________________
Order without liberty and liberty without order are equally destructive. - Theodore Roosevelt

Ahhh the new-conservatives. When it comes to helping out the Iraqis, they are all bleedinghearts about spending American taxpayer blood and money nationbuilding Iraq. BUT when it's comes to giving handouts to Americans, their message to their own countrymen is to go eat sh*t and die.




heh, I'd probably take republican neocons more seriously if y'all weren't so (*)(*)(*)(*) hypocritical.

Hypocrite often comes to mind when I hear neo-con rhetoric. Another example of hypocrisy is the recent rate cut for corporate America due to the housing bubble and market woes. The repubs don't seem to mind bailing out the rich.

__________________
I've been informed....don't blame Bush, he's "not in control"
That must make him out of control

I admitted that for some it may be a choice, such as the example 12th gave. I would not consider that example to be the norm. What you need is to add a few quantifier to your statements. Yes, some poor people basically choose their lifestyle through a long line of bad decisions. Some people are poor because they were swindled out of their money by people they thought they could trust. Some were born poor, and that gave them less choices than people who weren't. I know one person who couldn't afford to pay for college, and was too ashamed to accept financial aid from the government. He works hard as a cook in a nursing home kitchen now and is scraping by financially. Is he irresponsible?

Conservatives often complain about the poor stealing their money through welfare programs, but growing up in a lower income neighborhood, I knew only a couple families who had any kind of welfare (food stamps), but they still worked full-time jobs. I never met anyone who relied 100% on welfare. As I mentioned earlier, many would never accept any kind of welfare. It's embarrassing.

After I returned to American from Japan with my pregnant wife, I had no job and no medical insurance. I briefly enrolled in medicaid for my wife. Since we were on medicaid after the birth we qualified for food WIC checks to buy food. I took one of them and used it at the grocery store, but I never went back for more. It's just too embarrassing.

Based on my experiences, I would say many poor people don't rely on welfare, and very few rely on it 100%. I would say about half of the poor accept no form of welfare, but I don't know the actual statistics. Does anyone know where they can be found and post them? That would be great.

The stereotypes about wealth and poverty are meaningless. Of course some poor people are lazy and irresponsible. Some wealthy people are, too. When push comes to shove, some people are just lazy and irresponsible. You'll always be able to find such people from all walks of life.

__________________
PF cru 4 life