Why Poor People Stay Poor

Bodhisattva said:

Most of the time, yes. Show me someone who is poor and most of the time I'll show you a catalogue of bad choices that person has made.

To repeat an earlier post:



My brother's situation is not unique. Millions of people live like him. Let me know if you don't blame him for his situation, and I'll let you know where to send a check.

Another example ...... I interact with the poor regularly. One of the apartment complexes I own has largely poor tenants. The units are nice, but the complex is older and doesn't have the amenities newer places have. (We used to have a swimming pool, but the ghetto dwellers next door kept invading the pool and trashing the place. Eventually, we decided to get rid of the headache (and potential liability), so the pool was filled in. Democrats are why we can't have nice things.) It is a routine to have tenants stop paying rent and wait for the eviction process so they can get a few months of free accommodations. These people have the latest iPhone, nice cars, big screen televisions, etc., but they can't/won't pay their rent. I regularly have to fly back for trial. A couple of weeks ago was a two-fer.

One tenant skipped about of one of the furnished apartments ..... and took the furniture with her. Winning the case is easy; collecting on these deadbeats is hard. I'll get my $8000 (rent, damages, furniture) back in pennies every two weeks when I have her paycheck garnished.

The second case is a pending criminal trial. A denizen of the neighboring ghetto apartment complex was caught dumping trash on our property. When confronted my Mom was attacked and hospitalized. I have so much sympathy for scum who contribute nothing to society and go out of their way to destroy what others have built.

Click to expand...

Displaced Bama Fan said:

Unfortunately, the entitlement mentality runs deep and is built upon now generations of entitlement involvement. The so-called safety net has had an inverse effect. I hope your mom is ok, btw.

Click to expand...

bama_wayne1 said:

Thanks for posting the article. I heard on the news one day last week that the Alabama legislature was considering capping payday loans at 36%. That is horrible. It should be either illegal or capped at 10%. With money at 3.75%, 36% is much too high. That is preying on the poor!

Click to expand...

NationalTitles16 said:

2. I know it's been a while, but I am sorry you lost your father, especially at such a young age. (literally just saw that upon re-reading) I came very close to losing mine when I was about 7yo. He's in his 80's now and in rapidly declining health. That's hard enough with me in my 40's.

Click to expand...

TideEngineer08 said:

I would like to point out something about the margin for error that you've got if you are born into a wealthy home or even a middle-class home. It's obviously true that you've got a margin for error. But that margin exists, often times, because of the efforts taken by your parents, grand parents or even great grandparents. The sacrifices made in order to give their children (your parents), a better life than they had. Both sides of my family were dirt poor just a generation or two ago. I realize a little luck, or good fortune, was in play but mostly it was hard work and sacrifice.

So yes, I had a bit of a margin for error. But my parents did not. Their parents were poor and fought their way out of it. My great-grandparents were poor and died poor. It may be cyclical, but I refuse to believe that in this country a person can't break the cycle. It might take more effort than I've given my entire life combined for someone else in worse circumstances to pull out of it. I get that, and I'm not looking down my nose at anyone. I'm very fortunate to be where I'm at today, and every effort in my life is now to make sure I pass it down to my sons before I leave this place.

Click to expand...

hollisx4 said:

It is none of anyone's business how and who adults choose to do business with. You nanny staters will not rest until every single freedom we have is made for us by a centralized body, "for our own good" of course.

Click to expand...

Bodhisattva said:

A lot of people make the mistake - no just the poor - of having their expenditures rise to meet their income. I see this all the time..... That bigger screen tv is more important. People tend to go out of their way to live on the razor's edge financially.

Click to expand...

Bodhisattva said:

Thanks. She'll be ok - the facial lacerations and the concussion will heal. I'll fly back when the trial starts. My preference would be five minutes of alone time with this worthless pos. The entitlement mentality is dyed in the wool with many. "I should be able to swim in your pool, get a check from the taxpayers, live in subsidized housing, toss my garbage onto my neighbors property, etc." A lot of people are a complete waste of carbon.

Click to expand...

crimsonaudio said:

So true, this hit us hard as we tried to climb out.

Click to expand...

cuda.1973 said:

I actually did lose my dad, when I was 7. I learned first-hand "we are from the gubbament and are here to help you" is a load of crap.

I am not going into ANY details, but if you want to believe the "fairy tale" of gubbament and its infallibility and its good intentions, well, go peddle that crap to someone else.

At least I know it was not Ayn Rand (still not sure how anyone can read her tomes, regardless of her beliefs, just because, well.................if you want to torture yourself, there is always Proust) who caused any of that.

I did learn how to be frugal. Came in very handy, when I had to "retire", at about the age my dad died, due to tons health issues.

And guess who showed up.....................ready to pigeon-hole me, and make sure I stayed in that pigeon hole.

Not going into any details of that fiasco, either.

All I will add is being poor sucks, and life isn't (and never will be) fair. You learn how to deal with it, and move forward. (Retreat is not an option.)

Click to expand...

hollisx4 said:

It is none of anyone's business how and who adults choose to do business with. You nanny staters will not rest until every single freedom we have is made for us by a centralized body, "for our own good" of course.

Click to expand...

bama_wayne1 said:

I'm not a nanny stater. I do believe that people have the free will to do business with whoever they desire to. However, I am glad that I have always been able to succeed without taking advantage of somebody in a bad situation. I am sorry if it hurts your feelings but I still believe it is preying on the poor. With all that being said I do think anyone that will pay that kind of interest is a fool.

Click to expand...

NationalTitles16 said:

I think you have mixed me up with someone else, straw man or otherwise. I don't trust people. People with power even less. And that's all the government is.

Click to expand...

92tide said:

i went back to get a grad degree (left a nice stable job with a good company) in my early-mid 30s. i had enough money saved to cover tuition, etc costs for the two year program. at the end of the first semester, my first wife left and proceeded to take most of the money we had saved for that, left me with a massively underwater mortgage, two years of car payments, a dog and two cats (with associated vet bills) and 1.5 years of school loans. i thought about ditching school and leaving town (could have gotten a solid job on the west coast with my previous employer) but stuck it out and it worked out very well despite the financial setback.

Click to expand...

92tide said:

i wouldn't let the going back to school fear get to you too much. there is a lot of upside for continuing education even if the time in school is tough.

i went back to get a grad degree (left a nice stable job with a good company) in my early-mid 30s. i had enough money saved to cover tuition, etc costs for the two year program. at the end of the first semester, my first wife left and proceeded to take most of the money we had saved for that, left me with a massively underwater mortgage, two years of car payments, a dog and two cats (with associated vet bills) and 1.5 years of school loans. i thought about ditching school and leaving town (could have gotten a solid job on the west coast with my previous employer) but stuck it out and it worked out very well despite the financial setback.

Click to expand...

Tide1986 said:

Great example of making good decisions during a time of extreme adversity and fighting to overcome one's negative circumstances.

Click to expand...