You have to be rich to be poor

[jeffrey]

You have to be rich to be poor.

That's what some people who have never lived below the poverty line don't understand.

Put it another way: The poorer you are, the more things cost. More in money, time, hassle, exhaustion, menace. This is a fact of life that reality television and magazines don't often explain...

washingtonpost.com

[mommyof4]

Interesting article.

[Inkstain82]

Interesting article.

My dad emphasized this too me constantly when we were growing up.

"Poor people have poor ways."

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Urban poverty. Hope everyone realizes that poverty is also suburban and rural.

[Inkstain82]

Urban poverty. Hope everyone realizes that poverty is also suburban and rural.

It's true in rural areas, too. I still remember being a little kid trying to explain to my dad that he should by the really big package of cheese because it was cheaper per slice, and him telling me that we were having grilled cheese for supper and he only had $5 for bread and cheese.

[swanson719]

This is what I don't understand. Everyone in this country is given a chance to go to high school, and college is affordable if you look hard enough. So why don't people go to college and get a job that pays well enough they don't need to be poor?

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Well sometimes they do get better educations which enables better jobs. Poverty is not always a permanent condition. But even a few months of it can be very difficult.

[geojen]

This is what I don't understand. Everyone in this country is given a chance to go to high school, and college is affordable if you look hard enough. So why don't people go to college and get a job that pays well enough they don't need to be poor?

Because not everyone has the opportunity to do that. A child growing up in extreme poverty doesn't have the same social and economic capital that a child growing up in middle class America has. They live in a culture of poverty. Their parents probably work long hours or several jobs to support themselves, their schools are crappy, their neighborhoods dangerous. As demonstrated in the article, they don't even have access to adequate nutrition--inner cities are often called food deserts for a reason. What real chance to do kids have with no support network whatsoever to succeed?

Yes, you can go to high school. But if you attend a highschool where the textbook are 25 years old, has aging technology and inadequate funding for upgrades, how is that a real "opportunity?". It is definitely not the same high school that you or I probably went too.

Can't attend college without money. If you went to a crappy highschool, you probably didn't have help applying for colleges or learning how to go after scholarships. So you need to take a loan. Who is going to give you one? Your parents probably aren't credit worthy, and you certainly wouldn't be either.

What this article highlights is that there are a lot of things that affect poor people that don't necessarily factor into middle and upper class lifestyles and choices. Things we can't even consider because we don't have a clue.

[swanson719]

I grew up dirt poor digging out of a change bottle to be able to buy school lunches. Unless it was christmas or my birthday, I never wore new store bought clothes. I used to have to take a city bus to school because my parents couldn't take me because they only had one car and left for work before school started. We'd have to walk to the grocery store on the corner a mile away and walk back, so by the time we were home nothing was cold. I went to a highschool where our newest text books were at least 10 years old. I still had the opportunity to go to a state school or junior college, but I didn't. I remember not knowing where I was going to sleep at night, being homeless with maybe $10 in my pocket for my next few meals.

You can pull yourself up by your own bootstraps if you have the determination to do it. It's not like these people have to be poor. I've lived in their shoes, and all the people I met were there because of the choices they made. There is a difference between broke and poor. I've been broke and homeless... but poor is a lifestyle, and that, I've never been. If people want to help themselves and get out of that kind of rut, they can.

[disneysteve]

This is true and not often discussed. In poorer neighborhoods, the shopping options are limited and prices tend to be higher. Transportation is limited so residents can't just hop in the car and drive to the cheaper markets. I work in a very poor area and see this all the time. Even though the cheaper options are just a few miles away, they might as well be across the country for folks who have no access.

The poor are more likely to be renting and spending a larger % of income to do so, very likely to be using a laundromat, less likely to have bank accounts and thus paying for cashing checks and getting money orders, etc. Many of the money-saving tips we all share simply don't apply to the poor.

[Inkstain82]

You can pull yourself up by your own bootstraps if you have the determination to do it. It's not like these people have to be poor. I've lived in their shoes, and all the people I met were there because of the choices they made. There is a difference between broke and poor. I've been broke and homeless... but poor is a lifestyle, and that, I've never been. If people want to help themselves and get out of that kind of rut, they can.

Of *course* they are there because of the choices they've made. That's the entire point.

Human beings make bad choices sometimes. We can't help it. It's our nature.

Of course you can look at any person's life in hindsight and say "if you had done X, Y, and Z, you would be better off."

[Inkstain82]

And I *did* go to college to try and get a better paying job, and I still ended up pretty poor for awhile.

Why? Because I was sold on the idea that as long as you were going to college, you were doing things right.

Borrow money to go to college? That's alright. Major in a field that has the lowest pay of any four year degree? That's alright. Bollocks up your personal finances so you can commute to school and work extra hours on the school paper to improve your resume to help get a job? That's alright. Because you are going to college, and that provides all the answers.

Most of the time, people are poor because they don't know how to make good choices. Being good with money is an acquired skill, and if your parents are poor, their parents are poor, your friends are poor and your neighbors are poor, who is going to teach you?

[geojen]

Most of the time, people are poor because they don't know how to make good choices. Being good with money is an acquired skill, and if your parents are poor, their parents are poor, your friends are poor and your neighbors are poor, who is going to teach you?

Exactly. That is my point. Swanson, that is great that you managed to overcome your situation growing up. It sounds like you are an American success story. That being said, it is inappropriate to take your personal situation and apply that to everyone else.

Besides that, I heard somewhere ( I have no idea if this is true or not) that for capitalism to work, someone has to be poor. That makes sense to me. I mean, if everyone was rich, who would do the crappy low-paying jobs that we need people to do? So it really isn't fair to be constantly demonizing poor people, when we rely on them for our own lifestyles.

[mommyof4]

And I *did* go to college to try and get a better paying job, and I still ended up pretty poor for awhile.

Why? Because I was sold on the idea that as long as you were going to college, you were doing things right.

Borrow money to go to college? That's alright. Major in a field that has the lowest pay of any four year degree? That's alright. Bollocks up your personal finances so you can commute to school and work extra hours on the school paper to improve your resume to help get a job? That's alright. Because you are going to college, and that provides all the answers.

Most of the time, people are poor because they don't know how to make good choices. Being good with money is an acquired skill, and if your parents are poor, their parents are poor, your friends are poor and your neighbors are poor, who is going to teach you?

Yep, you're talking to a person who was a History and English major as an undergrad. Guess what? Even though I graduated from a private college with honors and a double major, I couldn't get a decent paying job for nothin'. I eventually went back and got my MA in Communication Disorders (Speech Therapy), and there are good paying jobs galore in this industry.

[disneysteve]

Most of the time, people are poor because they don't know how to make good choices.

I think this is very true. As I said, I work in a very poor area with a very poor clientele. Their education level is minimal and many things that you and I take for granted, they simply don't know or understand. I see it all the time when counseling patients. They don't have financial knowledge. They don't have nutrition knowledge. They don't know where to go to get a good deal. They are victims of their surroundings. Of course, some do escape and rise above it, but it is not an easy task and takes a certain personality and innate skill set.

It is very easy to be an outsider and say, "You don't need to live like this" but when you're the one living it, the solution isn't nearly as clear.