kaos_never_endingcomment 109
Can I ask you what you think poor is?
I can't speak for Andrew, but here's my definition of poor:
It is when you have no assets to liquidate, and -
- you can't feed yourself or your children the minimal amount necessary for healthy living.
- you can't afford minimal shelter for you and your family.
- you can't provide clean clothing that more or less fits for your children and keeps them warm and dry.
- you lack the minimal resources required to obtain better employment. This includes clothing, transportation, communications (phone, internet, fax, mail, etc)
[Poor] is not when -
-[1] you have to take the bus to work because you can't afford a car.
-[2] you can only afford one vacation per year.
-[3] you have to sell cherished assets in order to take proper care of your family.
-[4] you have to use the library computer to look for work.
-[5] you can't afford some non-necessity of life that you would like.
-[6] you can't afford to sustain your past habits (smoke/drink/drugs).
-[7] you have to buy food at the grocery store, walk 1/2 mile home, cook your dinner for yourself, and clean up afterwards.
I could go on, but I think you get the point.
[1] is very debatable. It depends greatly on the area a person lives in. Areas with less established public transit systems may not give this option. Areas with more expensive public transit systems may be near as expensive as car ownership and yield no assets for the cost. Here in Vegas, have fun waiting for a bus out in 100+ degree heat, hoping it isn't running behind...and if you live in a less than convient location, have fun walking that half-mile to mile to the bus stop in that heat.
[2] I would definitely agree with.
[3] is iffy. If you're selling cherished assets to take care of basic necessities, you've probably already sold the other non-essentials; how this isn't at least marginally approaching "poor" I don't know.
[4] agreed owning a personal computer is a luxury.
[5] true within reason. If you can't scratch enough together to splurge on a pack of gum or condiments for the dinner described in [7] after taking carre of necessities, that pretty much fits my definition of poor.
[6] yeah, not poor.
[7] no, not poor, but what about when the grocery store is farther away? What about getting to the point you have to actually sit down to do the math to find out if this is actually cheaper(per unit of nutrition) after calculating in the cost to cook the meal.
If we went by your definition, a person isn't truly poor until they've lost every possession, are homeless, possibly starving, wearing rags, and unemployable (having no address or reliable means of contact). That may be one definition of poor, but I personally would prefer to have a minimum acceptable level of human existence higher than subsistence.
I think a problem in this conversation is too many stereotypes being thrown around on both sides. If the worst that were said here were true, all poor people would be lazy, drug-addicted, morons who it is insinuated "get what they deserve", and all rich people would be conniving, cheating manipulators who hoard what is the rightful wealth of others.
