The poor

[007]

Sounds like a blast. When I was 18, a friend and I took off from Wisconsin on a hiatus to kullyfornia. We spent about three months migrating from San Fran down to San Diego basically living on the beach, working little jobs, until I wound up in jail. Got a little too friendly with the HA's and got into some trouble. Headed straight back to Wisconsin after I got that cleared up. But given the chance, I'd do it all over again. I have no friends or relatives that can say they've ever done anything like that, and that's just the tip of the ice burg. Live life to it's fullest pard, and don't gauge how rich your life is by money. How HAPPY you are is the real indicator.

Amen!

So it was you who corrupted the HA's! They used to be such nice boys, too.

Hell yeah! I walked from the Mexico/California border to north of Lake Tahoe a few years back on the Pacific Crest Trail. It took 2 and a half months and cost $800! Cheaper than rent for a month. I didn't have a tent and nothing but the clothes and 40 lbs. pack on my back and it was some of the best days of my life. I'd wake up in the morning with nothing to do but walk north and enjoy the scenery. A couple of years before that I spent 2 months living as a climbing bum in Yosemite National Park. I climbed Half Dome's northwest face (the sheer face) but didn't get up El Cap. I would go to the Yosemite Lodge cafeteria and wait for old ladies (who'd pile food from the breakfast buffet high on their plates but only eat three bites) to get up and leave and then I'd go sit down before the busser got there to clean the table and have myself a free smorgasbord. Some of the best days of my life. One summer I spent in Leadville I worked construction and lived in a tent down by the river (literally) and would fish my dinner after work. I'm lookin' forward to this winter in the Sonoran, Mojave and Colorado deserts. 70 degree days and nothin' to do but whatever I want.

Did you ever think about riding your bike up the Trans-Alaskan Highway? I met this guy who got laid off, got a severance package of $20k, bought himself a Mitsubishi dual-sport (yeah, yeah, not as cool as your Harley) and rode from Santa Cruz all the way to Nome, Alaska and back. I thought that was pretty damn cool. All he had were a couple of plastic panniers, a fly rod, and his leather get-up and helmet. I met him at a campground near Tioga Pass in Cali and he spent all morning catching trout then came and offered to share them with me. We ate pan friend, fresh caught trout, drank Beam, and swapped tales all afternoon by an alpine lake surrounded by rugged peaks. How much money is that worth?

Fucking outstanding man.... outstanding.

I've been contemplating selling everything I own and buying a decent RV, pulling a little jeep with it and making some sort of accommodations for my Harley, and then just traveling every damn back road in America. Take four or five years and just explore. I've been hankerin' lately for some sort of new adventure, and I'm not getting any younger.

I'll drink Beam, eat fresh caught, pan fried trout and swap stories with ya anytime there Cmm. Let the city slickers and main streamers all caught up in their rush, rush, must have more than the Jones', dog eat dog world have it. They don't know what they're missing...

 

[Coloradomtnman]

Fucking outstanding man.... outstanding.

I've been contemplating selling everything I own and buying a decent RV, pulling a little jeep with it and making some sort of accommodations for my Harley, and then just traveling every damn back road in America. Take four or five years and just explore. I've been hankerin' lately for some sort of new adventure, and I'm not getting any younger.

I'll drink Beam, eat fresh caught, pan fried trout and swap stories with ya anytime there Cmm. Let the city slickers and main streamers all caught up in their rush, rush, must have more than the Jones', dog eat dog world have it. They don't know what they're missing...

Do it! You only live once. Haul a trailer behind and stick the Jeep and Harley on that, get out a see this country before its all turned into subdivisions.

Right on, Pale Rider, THAT would be a good time. You better catch the fish, though, I'm a lousy fisherman. I'll bring the Beam and the cast iron, some butter and flour and salt - that's all it takes for great, fresh-caught, pan-fried trout. That and a fire.

 

[chanel]

My only experience with the "poor" are the students I teach who are on free lunch. They wear nice clothes and expensive sneakers. They have cell phones and Ipods. They have tattoos and fake nails. Their parents are too "poor" to feed them breakfast or lunch or buy them school supplies, but many of them smoke 7 dollar a pack cigarettes. Forgive me if I feel no pity.

Every year the staff picks a couple families to buy Christmas presents for. Every year Xbox and PS3 games are on the wish list.

Many of these poor children do not know their fathers and some cannot even name all their half siblings. Rewarding people for irresponsibility is counter productive and ensures a perpetual underclass. But maybe that's the goal.

 

[RodISHI]

My only experience with the "poor" are the students I teach who are on free lunch. They wear nice clothes and expensive sneakers. They have cell phones and Ipods. They have tattoos and fake nails. Their parents are too "poor" to feed them breakfast or lunch or buy them school supplies, but many of them smoke 7 dollar a pack cigarettes. Forgive me if I feel no pity.

Every year the staff picks a couple families to buy Christmas presents for. Every year Xbox and PS3 games are on the wish list.

Many of these poor children do not know their fathers and some cannot even name all their half siblings. Rewarding people for irresponsibility is counter productive and ensures a perpetual underclass. But maybe that's the goal.

Agreed no one should be rewarded for irresponsibility. The corporates will always need an underclass.

I suppose it may depend on which area of the US you are living in. Tattoos are relativity cheap in many areas and fake nails and little jewels for fingernails can be bought at the dollar stores. I recall when I was a teen many of the tattooers where poor and they offered up tats to buds for free. A neighbor who was a manicurist when I was single with the children did my nails for free.

Most of the poor I know do not have cell phones or if they do it is those pay per minute phones that you can get for 19.95 or more. The cost of cell service also depends on where you live.

I think I can understand why kids would ask for an xbox for Christmas. Most children are normal keep up with the Jone's types. Joe has one I want one too.

This one couple that worked for us back when I ran my company had all the latest for their children. They lived paycheck to paycheck and did not own a home but owned a new vehicle (with big payments of course) and their kids wore Nikes and were very well dressed. They had the appearance of doing well but they were actually heavily indebted with credit cards and borrowing money from family and friends.

My children wore what they could afford within a certain budget each year. When mine were old enough to add and subtract I started letting them choose where they would spend their clothes money each school season. If they purchased something that was to expensive they missed out on other things they needed. My daughter claims she used to be angry with me but said later she understood why I seemed like a meanie slave driver at times and she thanks me now for not letting them be ignorant and dumb.

I think the school lunch programs are good in most cases. It may be the only decent meal those children get during the day. By decent I mean eating whatever junk that is cheap to fix for the parents. We used to feed the neighbors children all the time. Our grocery bills ran upwards towards 1,100.00 a month. It did not bother me as we had it. With the exception of the month I got an additional Deli bill on top of all that regular grocery bill.

 

[Paulie]

So you're twisting my words around and giving the appearance that I'm speaking in absolutes, even though I'm clearly not. I accounted for the fact that some people simply can't get out of poverty. But I have zero sympathy for you if you don't even try.

And what the fuck are you talking about regarding child care facilities? You make it sound like every single one is a piece of shit. In my area, which is middle class, there are SEVERAL child care facilities, some of which hire certified teachers with bachelor's degrees. We've looked at every single one that's available to us within reasonable driving distance, and only one wasn't to our liking. It just seemed less than sanitary. And they ALL take the state's child care assistance.

I don't know where you're getting this "cheapest scum you can find" bullshit. We pay $25 a day for what we feel is the best day care facility in our area. They offer 3 free days once a week for 3 weeks called "Mommy and me" where moms can bring their kids for an hour and get familiar with the facility and what it offers, before they enroll. They have classroom settings where kids as young as 1 year old are actually put into a teach/learn environment. They learn fundamentals, they have a gym class where they do karate, baseball, and other sports. The staff is all certified teachers. My 2 year old son loves it and hates leaving each day.

You're making every excuse you can muster up. I get it Rod, some people are just POOR. I haven't ONCE argued against that fact.

"elitist crap"

Whatever.

Look at your own words. You live in a "middle class" area. Many of the poor live in poor areas. I doubt you have been to some of these daycare facilities where the poor need to take their children in order to be able to get to that job that pays them minimum wage or very little above minimum wage. I think it is great you have such facilities to take your child. It would be nice if the poorer of this society could have that same secure feeling for their children while they work to make a living too.

Um, that facility is 15 miles from some pretty poor areas. I drive farther to bring my kid there than parents in some of the poorest neighborhoods in this area would have to. I live about 30 minutes away from it, more than 30 miles round trip. And it's also completely out of the way on my way to work.

I understand that there are certain situations in which this isn't available to a "poor" community. But again, look at my words earlier in the thread. I never made any statement that was absolute. I've continued to take into consideration the fact that not everyone applies.

I will stand firm though, on my belief that it applies to MOST.

 

[sealybobo]

A lot of conversations and post on here about the poor. Have any of you ever been truly poor?

I see a lot of posters here that appear to be well educated, they have degrees or they are working on getting their degrees that make comments about the poor. Do you all really think the poor desire to be poor? That has to be the most ridiculous statement anyone can make.

There are so many degrees of poor and some posters here think they have it all figured out. Have any you that have all these theories on poor people ever lived among the poor or actually worked with the poor or the people who most generally make minimum wages? I mean there really is nothing like the actual experience to back up whatever statements you make when stating such things as "They want to be poor, that is why they are poor".

I have been very poor. I do understand what it is like. Moved out of home at eleven years old and never moved back in with my parents. We rarely talked for many years. Married at the young age of fifteen, I had just turned sixteen a few months before my daughter was born and a few months into being eighteen when my son was born. I divorced an extremely abusive asshole I had married when I was fifteen not long after my son was born.

I made choices of course so anyone who runs down the poor can say "You made those choices and it is your own fault" if you like. I will say though when you make that determination and judgment of another without all of the facts surrounding their decisions, choices and circumstances you do so in your own ignorance. We do as humans suffer from our choices yet many choices are made based on the information and circumstances at the time those choices are made. Poverty is not usually a choice people make willingly. Most who live in poverty do not have an understanding of how to overcome their circumstances. The poor are taken advantage of on a continual basis by the unscrupulous in this society as is the case in most societies.

Poverty in many cases is created normally by circumstances beyond the control of those that find themselves in that situation.

Here is why the poor are still poor 9 years later




In the 2014 election, "80 percent of poor people did not vote."
— Bernie Sanders on Sunday, April 24th, 2016 in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press"