"Powerful" pictures of poverty in America

ValuJet

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26 years old and four kids already. If she knows how to work the system she can do pretty well for herself.
 

Bamabuzzard

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obesity can be a big problem for the poor. cheap, processed food is generally not very good for you, especially if you eat it your entire life. these obesity problems often start in early childhood
If the photographer was trying to convey the depths of their poverty he/she sure did pick some bad pictures to convey it. I guess poor means different things to different people.
 

Jon

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obesity can be a big problem for the poor. cheap, processed food is generally not very good for you, especially if you eat it your entire life. these obesity problems often start in early childhood
shh, it doesn't fit the narrative
 

Bodhisattva

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The overwhelming majority of the time, poverty is a choice.

Taxpayers have already provided this family with 100s of thousands of dollars in benefits - probably six figures in support alone to pay for the births of the four kids she can't afford.
 

ValuJet

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Is that an Obamaphone in one of the pics?

It's a sad truth - you're right Bodhi. Even if the minimum wage went to $15 an hour, what incentive do these people have to go to work when they do a whole lot better being wards of the state?
 

Bodhisattva

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Everything that was listed as a problem - being unemployed/underemployed, lack of education and job skills, pounding thousands of empty calories daily and all the associated health problems, incarceration, cigarettes, drug addiction, etc. ....... who's fault is that? These people have chosen failure. If that's the way they want to live, then fine. They should do that on their own dime. The welfare state punishes success and encourages sloth. Government policy is stupid.
 

Jon

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The overwhelming majority of the time, poverty is a choice.

Taxpayers have already provided this family with 100s of thousands of dollars in benefits - probably six figures in support alone to pay for the births of the four kids she can't afford.
leaving poverty can be a choice, being born in obviously isn't. The problem with the former is that being "choosing" to leave poverty is really, really hard. My Dad chose to and I thank him for it often as it wasn't a choice I had to make. His sister was too dumb (I've always thought she was autistic/retarded, on the spectrum whatever is the nice way to say it today) and his brothers partied too hard. When my Dad decided to do better he was ridiculed by his family and many of his friends "the mill is hiring, why are staying in high school?" and "why are you turning you back on us, you think you are better? huh, college boy" This was in the 1950's but today is no different and he had the benefit of being born white and to a somewhat stable family. I have a nephew about to go to college he will be the 4th male in my family to do so, all because Dad decided that he didn't belong in a crappy steel town in Pennsylvania. Many of these kids have no Dad's around and their schools are crap a product of the welfare state, the prison industrial complex and a horrible department of education. They have very, very few examples of people making the choice to leave poverty and many have no idea that they can
 
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Jon

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Everything that was listed as a problem - being unemployed/underemployed, lack of education and job skills, pounding thousands of empty calories daily and all the associated health problems, incarceration, cigarettes, drug addiction, etc. ....... who's fault is that? These people have chosen failure. If that's the way they want to live, then fine. They should do that on their own dime. The welfare state punishes success and encourages sloth. Government policy is stupid.
these people have been bred for failure, they haven't chosen it. Ripping away the safety net won't fix a thing, unless you want skyrocketing crime rates. Gradually weening them while educating them might but who has the appetite to actually help?
 

ValuJet

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these people have been bred for failure, they haven't chosen it. Ripping away the safety net won't fix a thing, unless you want skyrocketing crime rates. Gradually weening them while educating them might but who has the appetite to actually help?
Obama was supposed to. Not sure what happened.
 

Bamabuzzard

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these people have been bred for failure, they haven't chosen it. Ripping away the safety net won't fix a thing, unless you want skyrocketing crime rates. Gradually weening them while educating them might but who has the appetite to actually help?
Couldn't agree more. People born into poverty are raised to make decisions (bad decisions) that ultimately keep them in poverty. Despite the trillions of dollars spent on social programs that provide help at almost every stage of life to get them out of poverty, the majority remain in it. Because they are raised to make stupid decisions. I'm not being snarky with that comment but being very honest. It is amazing how one right decision can lead to another right decision, that leads to another right decision that ultimately leads someone to a better life. But the same can be said for the other side of that coin too.

Fix the home life of a child and their chances of making it in life increases exponentially.
 

Bodhisattva

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leaving poverty can be a choice, being born in obviously isn't. The problem with the former is that being "choosing" to leave poverty is really, really hard. My Dad chose to and I thank him for it often as it wasn't a choice I had to make. His sister was too dumb (I've always thought she was autistic/retarded, on the spectrum whatever is the nice way to say it today) and his brothers partied too hard. When my Dad decided to do better he was ridiculed by his family and many of his friends "the mill is hiring, why are staying in high school?" and "why are you turning you back on us, you think you are better? huh, college boy" This was in the 1950's but today is no different and he had the benefit of being born white and to a somewhat stable family. I have a nephew about to go to college he will be the 4th male in my family to do so, all because Dad decided that he didn't belong in a crappy steel town in Pennsylvania. Many of these kids have no Dad's around and their schools are crap a product of the welfare state, the prison industrial complex and a horrible department of education. They have very, very few examples of people making the choice to leave poverty and many have no idea that they can
these people have been bred for failure, they haven't chosen it. Ripping away the safety net won't fix a thing, unless you want skyrocketing crime rates. Gradually weening them while educating them might but who has the appetite to actually help?
I don't believe people are so stupid that they can't realize they are in a bad situation and don't have the ability to improve themselves. The welfare state treats people like retards; I have higher expectations for people. Not getting an education is a choice. Going to jail is a choice. Drugs are a choice. Etc. They aren't bred to choose this path; they have free will. People know that theses are bad ideas; they choose them anyway.

I was born into desperate poverty. At the time, we were a family of five living in an old beat-up, one-bedroom travel trailer. Not a double-wide. Not a single-wide. A travel trailer. I hated my situation, and I wanted something better. I went to a crappy public school - portable classrooms with no air conditioning in southern Alabama. I used that, among many other things, as motivation. I greatly improved my lot in life. I don't see myself as better than anyone else; I'm nothing special. Others can do what I did.

In this country one has automatic access to avenues to improve oneself. In Vietnam, and most other places in the world, that is not the case. No money, no school. Or in my wife's case, no school because her family was declared and enemy of the state. Here people can go to school. And (non Asian) minorities can get a free ride to college. There's no excuse for not taking advantage of what is there.
 

Bamabuzzard

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I don't believe people are so stupid that they can't realize they are in a bad situation and don't have the ability to improve themselves. The welfare state treats people like retards; I have higher expectations for people. Not getting an education is a choice. Going to jail is a choice. Drugs are a choice. Etc. They aren't bred to choose this path; they have free will. People know that theses are bad ideas; they choose them anyway.

I was born into desperate poverty. At the time, we were a family of five living in an old beat-up, one-bedroom travel trailer. Not a double-wide. Not a single-wide. A travel trailer. I hated my situation, and I wanted something better. I went to a crappy public school - portable classrooms with no air conditioning in southern Alabama. I used that, among many other things, as motivation. I greatly improved my lot in life. I don't see myself as better than anyone else; I'm nothing special. Others can do what I did.

In this country one has automatic access to avenues to improve oneself. In Vietnam, and most other places in the world, that is not the case. No money, no school. Or in my wife's case, no school because her family was declared and enemy of the state. Here people can go to school. And (non Asian) minorities can get a free ride to college. There's no excuse for not taking advantage of what is there.
I agree Bodhi, I don't think people are naturally that stupid. But I do think people are raised to think a certain way that ultimately influences their decision making. People end up becoming a lot like those they are around the most. If a child is raised around people feeding stupid ways of life into their minds that will ultimately be how they think.
 

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