A question about the poverty level.

[151]

Do any of you know people, like I do, whose income puts them below the poverty level?

I am thinking of those that are happy with their income.

It is one thing to earn 10k a year and try to keep up with the Jones'. And another thing entirely to earn that 10k and be content with fishing your life away and eating taco bell all the time.

I actually know a few people who would be considered poor but do not think of themselves as poor.


I would also like to add they are not on welfare. I am sure they probably do benifit from some form of medicaide medicare or something along those lines.

 

[nutmeg]

I do. They might have a few gripes but they enjoy the littered streets and their little chump scams and raise their children in same lifestyle, so their children can grow up just like them.

They don't want your help but they might want your stuff.

 

[151]

I was actualy refering to some pretty good people. These guys arent interested in having things.

They are more do'ers than have'ers.

I know there are some people out there like you mentioned.

they would rather steal than buy or maybe just borrow for a long time.

But thats not exactly who I meant.

 

[hughb]

I had some neighbors that lived in a duplex across from my apartment building. The family "matriarch" was a tattoed up 20-something who squirted out a new baby every year. She lived with a couple of other relatives in addition to her husband. the husband was often unemployed, and sometimes employed as a security guard.

Were they happy? Depends on your definition of happiness. They were constantly yelling, fighting and complaining. One funny conversation I overheard was the little skinny brother on the phone asking for someone to go in together with him a buy beer. He said he was "sick of all the bullshit" and needed to get drunk/stoned. The guy had no job or responsibilites, it made me wonder exacly what bullshit he was sick of. But maybe they are happy because the misery of poverty is what they want in life. Their parents would come by from time to time in a nice minivan, they seemed well spoken and polite. So maybe they are rebelling against a good middle class upbringing and love the poverty and dirty house they had.

Just a side note here - I keep a daily journal not only of the market but the happenings, big and small, in my daily life. I remember writing in my diary back when these folks were my neighbors how I would go days for a time without sleep because of all the noise over there. The cops who partolled out neighborhood knew them on a first name basis.

 

[hughb]

Here's the poverty levels from the govt for the 48 states, AK and HI are higher.

Family of 1: 10,400
2: 14,000
3: 17,600
4: 21,200

Myself being a family of one would barely be able to pay my rent on 10,400 a year of income, even if I only made 20K a year I would stil be living on PBJ and ramen. So it makes me wonder how they determine that 10,400 is the basic neccesity level.

I got out of the navy in 1990 and had trouble finding employment. I worked as a stockbroker for a while, but I literally never made a dime. I moved on to working in other straight commision sales jobs and in 1991 my taxable income was $5,703.00. Yes, that is fivethousand sevenhundred and three dollars. My income was only slightly higher over the next couple of years. Those were some dark, dark times. I remember one morning getting up in the early 90's with a hangover and trying to find the number for Alcoholics Anonymous in the yellow pages. My hands were shaking too much to turn the pages and I couldn't read them anyway from all tears streaming down my face. That was a bottom point and I was able to get my shit together soon after that.

I can tell you that I was not happy during those days, not in the least. I truly believe that people who say they are happy living in poverty are being dishonest. People should strive for financial abundance just as they strive for spiritual abundance, relationship abundace or anything else.

 

[nutmeg]

I remember writing in my diary back when these folks were my neighbors how I would go days for a time without sleep because of all the noise over there. The cops who partolled out neighborhood knew them on a first name basis.

-------------------------

I hear ya. I lived next door to a guy like that. I think I got some PTSD as a result.

 

[hughb]

Interesting comments I found while searching for the poverty level:

In a 2003 editorial in The Washington Times, Bruce Bartlett wrote, "In a supplementary report that got no press attention, the Census Bureau looked at some of these new necessities and their ownership by the poor. It turns out many poor people today own appliances that were considered luxuries when I grew up, and some that would still be considered luxuries today. For example, 91 percent of those in the lowest 10 percent of households -- all officially poor -- own color TVs, 74 percent own microwave ovens, 55 percent own VCRs, 47 percent own clothes dryers, 42 percent own stereos, 23 percent own dishwashers, 21 percent own computers and 19 percent own garbage disposals. When I grew up in the 1950s, only the wealthy owned color TVs, clothes dryers, stereos, dishwashers and disposals. These were all considered luxuries. We got by with black-and-white TVs, hanging our wet clothes on a line to dry, washing dishes by hand and throwing our potato peels in a pail instead of down the drain. So did most other middle-class families. Not even the wealthiest people owned microwave ovens, VCRs or computers." [24]

This reminded me of standards for confining prisoners. Prisons are required by law to provide television for inmates. So can the descendants of prisoners who were confined before the invention of television sue for human rights violations?

 

[hughb]

BWAHAHAHAHA! As I type this, there's a neighbor moving out of my building because he can't afford San Diego. He's arguing with the landlord over how much he has to pay for the damage to the window and the wall. That's a good thing about living here in San Diego, schmucks who can't afford it get out pretty damb quick. (he's a musician who plays gigs in local bars).

 

[ZZZzzzzzzz]

If a person wants to live in Alaska on 10K a year, why would anyone have a problem with that?

Affordable Anchorage
Anchorage, Alaska weighs in as one of the cheapest places to live in the western side of the United States. The income per capita is about $8,000 more than the national average and the household income is about $20,000 higher. That leaves a lot of disposable income for things like fishing and hunting, favorite Alaskan pastimes. The city has, however, struggled with a high crime rate for years.