Socialism and Democracy

[KuroShiniHentai]

Originally Posted by carathos

being poor in the US does NOT mean you have a car, can eat well, and own a TV.

being poor in the US means you can't get medical treatment, you MIGHT have an old ass TV that you MIGHT be able to watch 2-4 channels of garbage with, you may or may not have a VCR player.

You definately DO NOT own a car, you can probably barely afford bus fare if you need to go somewhere. You live in a slumlord's run down apartment where nothing works and you triple lock your doors and hear gunshots at night.

You can probably eat 3 meals aday, but not much more, and even then it's a chore to make it to the "soup kitchens" and "food pantries" since you don't have a car and you probably have to walk halfway across the city to where you need to go, you can wind up spending most of your day working on getting a few meals if you live out of the way of those places.

THAT is poor in america, and that's well-off for being poor. I should know.

when i was poor I lived under bridges sometimes, I was malnourished, and lacked even the willpower to find food alot of times. Saying that the impoverished are "well fed" "own cars" "own gaming systems" is offensive and downright ignorant.

thank you, if that is what old considers poor then he's either a freaking shut in, or he comes from quite a rich family

[Firelily]

Originally Posted by Shine

And my question remained unanswered... what defines a poor person to you people (still directed everyone)? If you think that a poor person is well fed and never starved even once anually, playing on a PS3 on their free time and having TVs, iPhones and so on, then... let me tell you... you have a very wrong perspective of poverty, in my opinion.

Being poor in Western countries does not mean starving. It means not having the money to buy good quality food, to play all your bills, such as your rent and electricity etc. It means sitting in your house freezing in the winter because the bills are too high and you won't be able to afford food if you don't. Or running up a huge bill that you can't afford just to keep warm. It means that your kids go to school in rags and that they don't really get anything for Xmas compared to all the other kids. Or again getting into debt just so you don't have to tell your kids that Santa doesn't exist and that Mummy and Daddy can't afford Xmas this year. That's what being poor means.

[Shine]

Originally Posted by Firelily

Being poor in Western countries does not mean starving. It means not having the money to buy good quality food, to play all your bills, such as your rent and electricity etc. It means sitting in your house freezing in the winter because the bills are too high and you won't be able to afford food if you don't. Or running up a huge bill that you can't afford just to keep warm. It means that your kids go to school in rags and that they don't really get anything for Xmas compared to all the other kids. Or again getting into debt just so you don't have to tell your kids that Santa doesn't exist and that Mummy and Daddy can't afford Xmas this yeah. That's what being poor means.

That sounds about right. However, from my very own personal perspective, during my childhood, even though I rarely got presents at my birthday and even more rarely got presents at christmas, even though my father had to bargain for prices and many times delay to pay stuff, even though I never had that many clothes (almost always had just 1 pair of shoes around), even though I had to save my pocket money to buy my first cell phone as well as many other things, even though I never owned a playstation... I never felt close to being poor. I was just grateful for what I already had, I guess.

[KuroShiniHentai]

Originally Posted by Firelily

Being poor in Western countries does not mean starving. It means not having the money to buy good quality food, to play all your bills, such as your rent and electricity etc. It means sitting in your house freezing in the winter because the bills are too high and you won't be able to afford food if you don't. Or running up a huge bill that you can't afford just to keep warm. It means that your kids go to school in rags and that they don't really get anything for Xmas compared to all the other kids. Or again getting into debt just so you don't have to tell your kids that Santa doesn't exist and that Mummy and Daddy can't afford Xmas this yeah. That's what being poor means.

kinda why i wanna know how old thought poor people could afford 2 cars, we've only recently had 2 cars at the same time and my parents have just entered their 50's.
reminds me of this story my dad told me about this lad from when he was in school, he'd come in wearing rags, and the teachers would give him a bath and clean uniform, but his mum would sell them off when he got home (if i remember it was probably for drugs)

that old bear, is poor, not having a mobile phone, a games console, 3 meals a day and 2 cars,

[Firelily]

Originally Posted by Shine

That sounds about right. However, from my very own personal perspective, during my childhood, even though I rarely got presents at my birthday and even more rarely got presents at christmas, even though my father had to bargain for prices and many times delay to pay stuff, even though I never had that many clothes (almost always had just 1 pair of shoes around), even though I had to save my pocket money to buy my first cell phone as well as many other things, even though I never own a playstation... I never felt close to being poor. I'm just grateful for what I already had, I guess.

Aww, aren't you sweet? So that's why you're not a console gamer.

I don't know if kids ever really do know they're poor, they tend to just make do. When I was a kid we never had a computer (they were more expensive back then but they were around) or Satellite TV and most of my clothes came from charity shops. Also a lot of things like presents were bought on credit, my Mums the type that doesn't really think twice about getting into debt so that wasn't really an issue for her. Still a lot of my friends were poor so I didn't really notice it that much. I did wish I had Sky TV like my friends had though and I would lie about where my clothes came from but on the whole it was alright.