I have a good friend from a very sketchy background who got out of the trenches but has never completely managed to reach the potential of someone else her age, even with her credentials. She comes with all kinds of complexes ("not good enough", "settles for less because it is more than before" etc.). There are some deeply rooted insecurities here that hamper her development. Do some people manage to succeed regardless? Of course - but, you can't hold everyone to the same candle, because for every her there are ten people who never get out at all and even fewer who become success stories. In extreme environments, life conditions you a certain way and you learn coping mechanisms that may even harm you (like substance abuse). Some of the things people experience as children in poverty are harrowing. It cripples you. I think a lot of wealthier people born into a more streamlined life path tend to look down on someone in "the ghetto" because they "know someone who got out". Question is - would that have been you? Yeah, there are people who wallow in poverty and perpetuate it willfully - I know them too. The drugged-up trailer mom with five kids always choosing a guy over her babies, even if he sexually abuses them. The violent, drug-addicted man with a long record who has too many kids to count and helps support zero of them. The stereotypes exist. But if you were to transplant some people born into wealthy families into these situations - I doubt they'd fare any better.
I disagree because some people genuinely can't help that they become impoverished. And even if they do fall into poverty, they can still find ways to build themselves back up if they are really serious about it.
You are asking that if someone that was not poor feel into poverty and staying poor is likely their own fault.
Fine, I'll think about this. I'll even leave out that Country song saying that "it only take the right woman and the right friends...".
Let us say you had a 2nd level position an Enron. After the scandal, even if you were not the decision maker, all your assets, including your bank account, homes, and let's not forget, reputation, are gone. You will hardly, if ever, work in your area again, your name is burned and you are on the street. Woah, that was fast!
Now, think of all the homeless war veterans that have PTSD and mental problems - are they responsible for that?
You want a more allegorical example: think of the TV show "Shameless". Who is at fault from being poor there?
I think the question is a bit laden. You can work two jobs and still be poor, specially if the country's economy is in turmoil and inflation is rampant.
But this is probably too long an answer already so I will stop here.
I just think the poor have to use their biggest resource.
Each other.
Nothing can stop the poor from uniting into a political and economic force. If they can put aside silly things like race and cultural differences, nothing could stop them.
It really depends! There are some people who become millionaires, but through no fault of their own loose it, have literally less than nothing… just no money, and a massive crushing debt, yet somehow they manage to claw themselves out of poverty, and back to the realms of the millionaire status again, sometimes several times… on the other hand there are those who no matter what they do just cannot catch a break, or simply give up! I will say this, in America, if you graduate high school, stay off drugs, and do NOT have a child before you are married, statistically you will live in the middle class for most of your adult life, guaranteed! There are few countries on earth where someone can loose millions, and still get a second chance to earn it all back, or work their way out of acute poverty and into the middle classes! But for some reason, there are some (mostly addicted, and/or mentally ill) people simply cannot or don’t want to get out of the extreme poverty and homelessness, they seem unhappy, but take no steps to remedy the situation! Neither do they avail themselves of state and NGO help to get a job and save for a home? It is honestly a mystery to me!
It's easier to make money if you have money. The usual stuff people tell you to do such as get more training or move to a different area all cost money and don't always pay off. It's easy to take the risk if you can afford it but if your poor could just push you further into debt. Then there's the question of whether it's possible to make money in your area. The reason many rural areas are poor is unless you own a business job opportunities are rare. Yes you can drive to town but if your poor you probably won't have a car.
Another factor people overlook is is you live in a shitty neighbourhood 99% of employers will bin your job application the second they see your address.
This is difficult because there isn’t a right answer and every situation is different.
I do think in a fair amount of situations people continually make choices based on living for today and basically could care less about the their own future.
But at the same time there are also those who have difficulties whether medical, situational , etc that they honestly do make efforts to improve their lives but find it near impossible.
So I think it depends on the individual and what is going on in their lives.
In general I fully believe in the idea of where there is a will, there is a way. People who stay poor have simply given up on fighting their way out of the pit they have found themselves in. There are ways that we can find ourselves becoming poor or be blindsided by a something that causes us to become poor. But staying poor is a choice we make. For long stints of my life and especially my mothers life our life was best described as climbing a steep mountain. That mountain seemed to randomly get steeper and we never had a safety net to fall on. So it was keep climbing up for fall into the abyss below.
I don't have sympathy for people that don't find some way to keep climbing up. Because there was several times where my mother was raising two kids, working two jobs and still going through cancer treatments. Watching someone do that really changes what you believe when it comes to what we can do when we are willing to push ourselves.
at least in here, the very South of Texas which always has endless opportunities to find a job both formal and informal, and also jobs good enough to get by
but of course is not always the case on an individual basis... generalized though, yes, for the most part to remain poor is more a result of what you refuse to do about it, as for other parts of the country or the world... I am quite sure a lot of people don't have a choice but to survive in the conditions they were born into or pushed onto, and there are little to NO opportunities whatsoever
Absolutely not, there's always opportunities to help lift yourself a bit higher financially than you were before. The thing is you have to want it and work hard for it, kick ass every day, go to work, dig yourself out of that old lifestyle and work very hard to achieve it.
BELIEVE ME, my family was in the percentage of lowest poverty families in Canada, and I worked very hard to help my family too starting at 13 working odd jobs just to help my family stay afloat.
If you work your absolute hardest to achieve something, then eventually you will get it.
There's definitely situations where that can happen. But most of the time it's not the case. Losing your job, unable to get a new one, losing your home, once you don't have a home its pretty hard to get a job.
But there's definitely people who just don't try. I've literally seen someone sitting begging on the street outside of a government agency that helps people get jobs. I've watched beggars be offered jobs as the trolly person at a supermarket and turned it down.
I'm a firm believer in genetic determinism. Nothing is really our fault since we're products of our DNA & consciousness interacting with environments. None of which we created or programmed.
But of course, since the world is so complex & unpredictable to many degrees, it's better if we believe or act under these standards. Even though it will really hurt the unlucky people, it will also motivate many more to try harder at whatever they feel they aren't trying hard enough at.
"I'm a firm believer in genetic determinism. Nothing is really our fault since we're products of our DNA & consciousness interacting with environments. None of which we created or programmed. "
Doesn't eugenics advocate for the improvement of genes? Although things would be better if we did that, I don't believe it's very practical in this modern day. I was only saying that we don't have a much control as we often believe we do.
Oh okay. Well genetic determinism is basically the acknowledgment that genetics determine our outcomes for the most part. 🤣 It's not a tyrannical movement
Agree. It is extremely easy to get on the benefit here, there’s no excuse for you not to if you’re poor. You get up to $350 per week for sitting on your ass. The benefit accepts literally anyone who applies for it, so therefore I have no sympathy for people who choose to be homeless here. They could easily get on the benefit and move to a small cheap town and afford to rent + have extra spending money each week.
Depends on the circumstances and situation. Majority of homeless people are not homeless because they are poor but rather because they have some brain illness and end up there not by cognitive decision or choice. of you’re just Poor but not homeless then in many of these cases it does tend to be your own choices you’ve made with a full working brain. But you cannot say all cases are like this. Everyone has their story.
I disagree. We don't choose to be born, we don't choose to be born poor or rich. Some people have deal with circumstances that don't allow them to break the poverty cycle they were born in. Some people have no opportunities, others are screwed by their country's economy or politics. Some live in violent environments, so we shouldn't judge them. We don't know where they're coming from.
How poor is poor? 40% of universal credit (welfare) recipients in the UK have a job. In the US, 70% of food stamp recipients work full time. Working a minimum wage job just isn't enough to pay the bills these days, and obviously there aren't enough well paid jobs for everyone (even if everyone were qualified to do them; and plus those minimum wage jobs still need doing by somebody).
Undecided... I don't know any homeless person, never talked to one and don't know much about them, so I don't think I can have much of an opinion about that topic. I just know that here we have many programs that want to help the homeless (I just googled and alone for my city I immediately found 6 organizations) and still most of them are out there.
I was going for the homeless cause of that picture.
If we're talking about poor but still having some kind of ground, then my answer is definitely yes. I used to be poor as a kid. My mom worked her ass off and got us out there.
No not everyone get opportunity to get them out of a big hole of misery. If you where the one of a few perhaps but if you end up as just another of a big group, people who can give you an opportunity is staying far away from you and won't grant it. If you don't have the resources to give yourself opportunities your screwed. It's expensive to be poor. Even simple things can be tough to accomplish under these circumstances. Try to live that life for long without losing hope and dreams.
No. Think of a military veteran who served in the Iraq or Vietnam war. Let's say they get PTSD and drink or become an alchoholic to deal with their PTSD. Soemtimes they will become homeless. Can't work.
Sometimes when it rains it pours. It is possible to get knocked flat, repetitively… seemingly endlessly. The universe has a nasty sense of humor at times.
No, I mean many times; but there are also a lot of cases where people have psychosis and they can't care for themselves; or they have addictions and don't have family or something
I don't think that's true. You have people who were once financially comfortable but circumstances happened that turned their lives upside down, and they were never been able to recover.
It really depends, some people find themselves in a series of circumstances that they just can't break free from, then there are others who never even try to break free.
This is a good question, and a tough one to answer. I think it's easy for people who've never been poor to presume that it's the fault of a poor person for remaining that way. I believe there are a lot of external factors involved that are often incredibly difficult to overcome. Beyond this, I don't believe I'm qualified to offer a sound opinion here.
Strongly Disagree, I believe some people can't help to be poor look at my dad who lost his job, me and my sister was young going into my teen years and we didn't ask to be on welfare and food stamps
My mother's previous boyfriend was like this. For his younger years he was working and saving but he started drinking. So you could argue that's the main issue. But he is completely unwilling to work now. Just wants to live off welfare.
It's expensive to be poor. Not having enough to eat or a place to stay can occupy all of your time. You don't have the time or resources to put into anything else.
Being poor is the worst thing you can do for your future not only does it decrease anything good happening to you but it also increases everything bad happening to you.
If you become poor because of a house fire and you remain poor because you lost your ability to walk or speak due to the fire... should we blame you for not having as much money as we do?
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