Phatscotty wrote:
Ever notice?
Many of the people promoting this message are spending $200-300-400-500 per month on cigarettes, and/or $100-200/month on pot, perhaps $100-300 dollars on cocaine, meth, prescription pills, possibly combined with/separately $100 on gas driving to a casino back n forth and probably dropping another $100-300 on average more into games tilted against them winning? Perhaps $50-100 a month on lottery tickets? Many of them go to restaurants at least once a day if not twice, and many of them don't even attempt to stretch the little money they have left by shopping smarter? Perhaps much more at strip club or throwing money at women who don't even like them?
The key is also to look at what people do with their money and understand that monetary irresponsibility/waste is just as much a factor if not more so than what the wage is. I constantly see people with little money in line ahead of me at the convenience store buying 2 packs of cigarettes and 5 lottery tickets. Less frequently but often enough I see people in line ahead of me at the grocery store paying for their steaks and 24 packs of soda and numerous bags of potato chips with food stamps/ebt. I notice a friend of mine who is easily considered to be in 'poverty' buys her kids each their own xbox 360 as well as each a playstation 4 'so they don't fight' and goes to the casino every single weekend for years, goes on cruise ships in the Bahamas every April when she gets that earned income credit 'to help her kids'...ever notice some people in poverty not only choose poverty, but focus much effort to
stay in 'poverty' by making sure they don't work over a certain amount of hours'?
I do. I notice it all the time!
I'm not trying to say poverty isn't real and that people don't ever need help, but I am saying these BS zombie repeat lines all too often and perhaps intentionally so avoid looking at the other side of the equation when it comes to why people are in poverty, besides wages. And the other side is personal responsibility/irresponsibility ie what people DO with their money. The zombie repeaters will go on and on about what the oppressive corporation does with their money, or what the investor does with their money, but will stop you dead in your tracks if you dare to question what an impoverished person does with their money.
Total bull.. and if you were REALLY watching, you would know it.
I won't even go with the minimum... take $8.00 an hour. You lose 20% right off the top for deductions (actually they say to use 25%, but I am underestimating on purpose). That leaves $6.00 an hour, $240 a week, $840 a month for EVERYTHING. If you get EMPLOYER-PROVIDED insurance, figure on a minimum of $95 a month, $170 or so for a family (note those are MINIMUMS). With the Affordable care act, that gets better... most of those people are now eligible for subsidies. Also, anyone with kids who have even minor disabilities has always gotten free Medicaid (but NOT for healthy kids or adults!)
Food... figure about $80 for a single, if you really push it, but up that to $150-200 for a family of 4. Clothing... garage sales still mean about $120 a year, and that is IF you are lucky enough to get shoes. If you have to buy shoes, figure a MINIMUM of $40 each. (you might luck out and get a bargain, I often find shoes for my youngest at Ross's for $30, but my older guy is now a size 12... and I am lucky to get anything that will last for less than $60). Realistically, its hard to by on less than $20 a month for clothes, unless you are getting free stuff from someone. (either hand me downs or gifts). Many low wage workers have to buy uniforms. My shirts run me $30 each. (I got 2 when I first started, but I have to buy new ones now that they are changing the type -- yep, right at CHRISTMAS time!)
Total so far, for a single -- $220, for a family, up that to $420 or so with a family.
now, the biggie.... See, that leaves just 420 for rent for a single person and only 220 for a family.
Note several missing items? Water, electricity, etc...... I ALSO omitted gasoline/transportation (in metropolitan areas, you can walk or bike, but our area doesn't even have bike lanes --- and forget bikes in the winter, just not safe, though in Europe I rode all the time). Toys/educational stuff for kids.
Cable is often included with apartment rent, but you pretty much have to pay for internet. Only some areas offer subsidies for low income people. If you have kids OR are just looking for work, internet connection
IN other words, why don't you actually THINK before you sound off again!
The TRUTH is that for every person who abuses the system.. and note, abuse happens at ALL levels of the economic ladder, ironically enough the IMPACT to the rest of us is far less at the lower ends than the higher ends. I mean, sure, its obnoxious to see someone in the food pantry line who smells of smoke, but when a CEO takes tax breaks for years, then decides to just move a company overseas because he can boost his stock profits by a few dollars.. that impacts ALL of us. When Walmart goes out of its way to undersell all competitors specifically to drive them out of business, meaning a lower tax base (Walmart, many of these larger retailers often arranges deal with communities to not pay various taxes) and lower general incomes (even if wages are about the same, far more of local retail money stays in place.. Walmart money goes to feed its corporation and stockholders)
AND.. let's forget the "single mom" sob story, though I know I am going to get a lot of flack for that. I DO understand what it is to raise a kid alone. It IS tough, but here is the irony... most aid is based on very strict income limits that are very low. Essentially, if you are married and both parties are working, its impossible to get most aid. My single neighbors got aid for food, toys for Christmas, clothing for their kids and free childcare, (beginning when they were just looking for work). Since my family was across the country and my in-laws were almost always not available (long term illnesses), I could not even LOOK for work most of the time when my kids were young. (and, in my case, I had a child when everyone else did, so there weren't even any day cares available). I wound up doing childcare at home, but I also owned my own home (with the bank) and had skills that others don't always have. Even so, my kids got used birthday and Christmas presents, did not get to swim at the Y except on free days (2-3 times a year). They were not "deprived". I know how to stretch a dollar, but we were also living on FAR more than minimum!
Worse, let's look at second marriages. If a woman marries, she generally gets to count 2 separate families. If she stays at home, the new spouse's income is generally not counted toward family income (note..this varies by state and may have changes in the past 2 years). The new spouse is not obligated to support these older kids unless he adopts them, just any new children. If a man with kids marries, though, he still has to pay child support (OF COURSE!!!!) BUT... he doesn't get to deduct his child support payments OR to count those other kids as part of his household. Just as an example, we were typically about $50-100 from getting all the various subsidies available, BEFORE paying out child support for my stepsons. We could not count one penny paid in child support, so we had much less money to live on than most people getting all kinds of subsidies for their kids. No question the step kids got their money (and more.. we had to pay for sports fees and other assorted items), THAT is not the issue, its that we were not "counted" as being below the poverty line, though we had less money to use than many who were!
My single neighbors, either divorced or never married, to contrast, WERE counted as being "poor", but had far more money to spend... AND got all kinds of subsidies.
Again, we did OK, but ONLY because we had land to grow a garden, live in an area with low housing prices, and I am very, very good at bargain hunting. And, I did childcare in my home, bringing in additional income. But, an income at a time when I probably would have been financially better off just sitting at home. (My usual profit after all expenses was about $40 a week, because I actually paid all the legal taxes and deductions) "Better yet" -- I should have just left my husband and then I would have gotten a second degree for free, plus all kinds of other assistance!
