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Who is poor?


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First World problems, Eh? This just in: If you have a computer and internet, you are NOT poor.

 

When you don't know where you will sleep tonight or where your next meal will come from, thats is poor. I'm not talking eating Ramen to save up for ME3, or being late on your car payment becuase your MMO subscription overdrafted your account.

 

There is a huge difference between poor, as most of the world sees it, and being below American Middle Class.

 

We weren't complaining just commenting. And i believe poor and destitue are slightly different. This discussion is in reference to the Western Standard of living, not the worlds standard. In world standards we are impossibly rich. But in the west we are considered the lower class, or bottom edge middle class.

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I wasn't poor since 2007 (a couple of years after coming out of the military I was working odd jobs here and there), but you really have to make it your goal to do everything in your power to want to make a lot of money. Making money was never my goal until then. Now it's secondary to just enjoying what I've got - soon to be married, a new dog, and a good job. I also use the money to help support my mom, she hasn't worked since 2006.

 

When you get into the situation of wanting to make a lot of money, you have to realize that there's a lot of people out there wanting the same thing, but will do whatever it takes - lie, cheat, and steal. Almost everyone from hiring agencies, CEO's, HR, etc. I will never go that route, and the truth works just as well, if not better. Hope everyone can get out of the hole they're in, I know what it's like. I came to Boston with nothing more than $400 in my pocket to start over, and I can't believe how it turned out (I even asked to borrow money from my friends - which I would normally never do, but I never got anything since they were all as poor as me).

 

I'm completely on the same track as you. But I went about things a different way: Instead of working myself to the bone, buried in debt trying to go back to school.. I just changed my personality over time, learned to be extremely practical, and a bit ghetto. Anything in my house breaks, I fix it.. Why pay $400 to fix a dryer when you can just sit down for 20 minutes and google a manual? And I learned where to accept less, where I can't accept less (little things, like buying all generic except a few key ingredients, like food for example.. I won't settle for generic butter or coffee, but I don't mind generic bread and lunch meats.) And I learned to be content over time, though I wasn't nearly content at first.

 

I actually started to become content after making more money last year. I started to meet new people thanks to the excess income, and I noticed most were crueler, dumber, and generally more nerve wracking than the poor people I've met in my life. So when I moved and had to take a lesser paying job, I was actually kind of relieved not be around the uneducated silverspoons.

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And @Puck: You take small mentions and assume from them. If you missed it, I spent from my 5th christmas to 16 years old, and a majority of the next 2 years as well: Homeless. I'm talking sleeping outside, no tent until I was 15, no food unless I wanted to steal it or by the grace of God could get hired by someone without giving them my address or being asked to verify my identity by any form of mail.

 

And about "Poor" not being below the American middle class: You're wrong. The area you live in determines the cost of goods and services, and here in America we might make more, but you guessed it.. A lot of our goods and services also cost more than third world countries. When minimum wage goes up, so do prices: that's the basic idea here. More pay for employees, more charge for customers.

 

So even if you made $1,000,000 a week.. If you're paying $900,000 of that to put food on your table like any other family does, and other costs are similarly high: YOU'RE STILL POOR. This isn't a discussion about third world countries, but poverty: the root word of poor. And if your available necessities cost more than you make, well welcome to poverty.

 

--I do believe I said that I'm pulling rabbits out of hats financially to have what I do.. Oh yep, there it is, in my initial post. Kinda implies I live in better class than I should.

Edited by dragonsdontfly

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I'm completely on the same track as you. But I went about things a different way: Instead of working myself to the bone, buried in debt trying to go back to school.. I just changed my personality over time, learned to be extremely practical, and a bit ghetto. Anything in my house breaks, I fix it.. Why pay $400 to fix a dryer when you can just sit down for 20 minutes and google a manual? And I learned where to accept less, where I can't accept less (little things, like buying all generic except a few key ingredients, like food for example.. I won't settle for generic butter or coffee, but I don't mind generic bread and lunch meats.) And I learned to be content over time, though I wasn't nearly content at first.

 

I actually started to become content after making more money last year. I started to meet new people thanks to the excess income, and I noticed most were crueler, dumber, and generally more nerve wracking than the poor people I've met in my life. So when I moved and had to take a lesser paying job, I was actually kind of relieved not be around the uneducated silverspoons.

Yeah, I learned how much I can get by on my own with rent, utilities (if any), and food. Rent's usually the big one if you want a roof over your head. In decent parts of Boston, as low as $350/month in a really cramped room. Around $50 split for utitlities, and as little as $35/week for food (around $140 a month). Transportation costs would be $60/month, so about $600 to survive somewhat comfortably. I knew if I had to go for a minimum wage job, half of my earnings could be saved... though if you have any skills of any kind and have any type of drive, you can always make more than minimum wage.

 

I also used to work security/concierge at a condo where there were some really rich people. I couldn't stand most of those people, but some were really cool. Most of those that were cool usually came from a poor background. I think when you've been poor, you appreciate things a bit more, and know a lot more about hardships and working hard.

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I am poor. I had to work to be studying right now and our family barely have money for food every month. :-/

Other expenses like the college, meals, insurance of car, petrol etc... comes out of my pocket.

 

At least I could get the studentship (I don't know if its the right name) that pays the college fees which is a great help.

 

I can't say we are extremely poor, since me and my sister are in college, even if we both have a studentship that pays our college fees.

 

I am poor enough to drive a Renault with more than 15 years old and not have money for a newer. :P

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So even if you made $1,000,000 a week.. If you're paying $900,000 of that to put food on your table like any other family does, and other costs are similarly high: YOU'RE STILL POOR. This isn't a discussion about third world countries, but poverty: the root word of poor. And if your available necessities cost more than you make, well welcome to poverty.

That's a bad analogy, lol.

 

Poor = not being able to buy the things you want because you're having a hard time enough as it is to buy the things you need.

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That's a bad analogy, lol.

 

Poor = not being able to buy the things you want because you're having a hard time enough as it is to buy the things you need.

 

Yeah it's not the best analogy. But it's not really bad either. It gets the point across, just uses an extreme example of income vs expenditure.

 

-El capitan, I'd +1 you.. But I've reached my quota. I did add you as friend though. I see we have pretty similar interests so far.

 

-XtremeDS, I don't even have a car. Heck, I don't even have slippers. In the official "post your ride" thread is my SOLE transportation: A pair of busted up old desert combat boots. I don't even have sneakers lol, just those. Kinda awkward walking into an interview with combat boots, but heck it's all I got and they work. Anyways, i've developed an affinity for them after so many years of having nothing else to wear: They're comfortable and functional, more than anything else IMO. Good for anything from landscaping to running to keeping my feet warm at the desk. But still, I'd kinda like to get a new pair soon. For 2 years I've been saving for a car, and recently my gf started chipping in, too. We're a couple months away from that, so we've been putting extra in lately to get there faster. Even rolling my own smokes has gotten cut, as if it wasn't cheap enough to begin with.

Edited by dragonsdontfly

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Im not poor these days but i've been there when I was young and married with little kids and on welfare and my ex wife and I missing meals so my kids can eat and having zero money left after paying just the necessities. Thats just existance to me and not really living. It was miserable. I feel for anyone who has to go through that or much worse.

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I only have two pairs of shoes (where only one is good for "street" use. :P ) and about two pairs of slippers. I don't have sneakers too. :P

 

The car I have, isn't really mine but from my mother, that was given to her by my grandparents about 3 years ago. However, since I use it every day, its basically mine. :P

If it weren't for my grandparents help, we wouldn't have money for food every month. If I didn't study, I probably wouldn't even have internet.

 

Like I said, I am not extremely poor to the point where I can't have a car, internet or even a computer even if it isn't really that far for my parents, because I still have some money left from when I worked.

However... I am poor enough to have a really old car, a worse computer than most people here have and even worse internet. :P

Edited by XtremeDS

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The poverty threshold, or poverty line, is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a given country.

 

Absolute Poverty

 

It is a level of poverty as defined in terms of the minimal requirements necessary to afford minimal standards of food, clothing, health care and shelter.

 

Relative Poverty

 

A measure of relative poverty defines "poverty" as being below some relative poverty threshold. For example, the statement that "households with an accumulated income less than 60% of the median equivalized household disposable income are living in poverty" uses a relative measure to define poverty.

 

For example, if the median household in a wealthy neighborhood earns US$1 million each year, then a family that earns US$100,000 would be considered poor on the relative poverty scale, even though such a family could meet all of its basic needs and much more.

 

Critisims

 

Using a poverty threshold is problematic because having an income marginally above it is not substantially different from having an income marginally below it: the negative effects of poverty tend to be continuous rather than discrete, and the same low income affects different people in different ways

 

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