Two things I noticed as of late...
1) People consider themselves poor if they dont have what they want. It used to be not having what they need...when a cell phone becomes a "necessity", something is wrong
(I recall being poor when I didnt have a roof over my head. When I was finally able to afford an apartment in someones basement all I had was one bathy towel, one shirt and one pair of sneakers. No phone and no TV. I had enough to eat so I was never hungry. I had a roof over my head, clothes to wear, and food...and I did not consider myself poor)
2) Disibility used to be for those that truly could not work. Now it is for those that have an ailment that makes it uncomfortable to work.
(it used to be "find a way to earn a living...now it seems many look for reasons to not have to work)
Yes...I know...I am generalizing.....but despite advances in medical technology that allows for speedier recoveries, the ranks of those on long term disibility has increased dramatically over the last 50 years.
Your grandaddy would be ashamed if he saw what has happened.
Hey.....is your real name Alan Shepard????
1. For a real-world perspective on
the American ethic, find the Alan Shepard book, “Scratch Beginnings," in which the author recounts his own social experiment, at age 24, starting out at the lowest rung of the economic ladder. The question: could he conquer poverty in one year at his best efforts?
2. He left his home with nothing but a tarp, sleeping bag, an empty gym bag, the clothes on his back, and $25. The went to Charleston, South CarolinaÂ…a city where he had never been before, and where he knew nobody. He didnÂ’t use his college education as a resume, nor any family or other contacts.
3. The first night he finds the Crisis Ministries homeless shelter, and, next morning, begins working odd jobs. Within a few weeks, he gets a regular job with a moving company. He moonlights on weekends to make extra money.
4. He makes friends and contacts, and these help him to find jobs and housingÂ…Within five months, he gets a raise from the moving company to $10/ hour. And another, to $11/hour in less than nine months.
5. Progress was retarded by breaking his foot on the job, yet by three months he was able to move out of the homeless shelter and rent a room in a large house in an upscale part of town. (It was owned by a friend he met while working a second job on weekends.) Then, just a month later, he moved into a two-bedroom duplex with the cousin of one of his co-workers. It was a bit rundown, so the two of them spent a week-end making it like new. (His share was $325 because he took the master bedroom.)
6.
After just ten months he was living in his own furnished apartment, with his own car, and he had $5,300 in savings.
a. The book also tells of other low-income people he met, and how they, also, would like a safety net second to their own work,
Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream [Paperback]
Adam W. Shepard (Author)
Warning: book not for whiny hand-wringing socialists!