Poll: A stereotype that needs to be resolved

[SmugFrog]

All rich people are good, caring, generous people who will give away money to fix societal problems, and are hardworking. Like Paris Hilton.

What the... Did you just use Paris Hilton as an example of hard working?

Since when was being born into a family with money and getting your name slapped all over crap considered "hard working"?

Some poor people don't want to work for what they get; some work their ass of for the little they earn.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

There is an insane tendancy to either point to one exceptional figure and claim it as normal, or to airily dismiss individuality and paint entire groups as essentially identical.

I see all political groups doing both.

Please stop.

-- Steve

 

[John Galt]

There is an insane tendancy to either point to one exceptional figure and claim it as normal, or to airily dismiss individuality and paint entire groups as essentially identical.

I see all political groups doing both.

Please stop.

-- Steve

This man speaks the truth. Liberals are just as guilty of generalization as Conservatives. If we're actually going to address issues, then we need to just drop this practice altogether.

 

[Mathew952]

There is an insane tendancy to either point to one exceptional figure and claim it as normal, or to airily dismiss individuality and paint entire groups as essentially identical.

I see all political groups doing both.

Please stop.

-- Steve

This man speaks the truth. Liberals are just as guilty of generalization as Conservatives. If we're actually going to address issues, then we need to just drop this practice altogether.

I'm not saying that liberals are much better.
And gee, imagine that. Voting for people for their ideas! slow down there!

 

[LewsTherin]

People are people.

Some work hard, some have money, but not neccesarily at the same time.

 

[Xojins]

A friend of mine once met this one homeless person. He told about how he became homeless, and it was actually quite sad; his wife was diagnosed with cancer, and so they had her treated at the hospital. However, she died after a long period of treatment, and he was stuck with an exorbitantly expensive hospital bill. Of course, with just himself left to pay the bills, he couldn't nearly pay back any of it, so they took all of his stuff, and he became homeless... So no, the homeless are not all a bunch of lazy drop-outs.

 

[Saskwach]

A guy once asked me once, "If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?"

So I answered him:

"The fundamental problem in what you're saying is a complete lack of awereness in how money works; you can't just take money out of nowhere, it has to be there in the first place (which is why America is having a depression right now, but I digress). What's more, I have to have money in the first place in order to make money, and as I wasn't born into money, this is a near improbability. Sure, there are things I could do, but at the end of the day, someone like you is still gonna have ten times as much as someone like me."

I then subtly added, "And that's why you can afford pot and I have to suffer through all the crap I get dished out."

He had no rebuttle.

Apoloiges for the big, long...thingy (thing like stuff).

That's pretty self-serving thinking: it's impossible, so I won't try. If money were impossible to get without money then who would have money? This specific conundrum (not really a conuncrum but I agree it's an obstacle) is what the whole banking system is for: providing credit for those with a goal but no money. You don't want to risk your current assets in collateral in case you lose it all on a gamble? Well that's your choice - but never forget that others took that gamble, and some of them acquired the wealth you've decided is impossible to gain without, well, wealth. Making money is always a risk; those who take that risk have already set themselves apart as the type of person with the drive to make it.

 

[000Ronald]

A guy once asked me once, "If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?"

So I answered him:

"The fundamental problem in what you're saying is a complete lack of awereness in how money works; you can't just take money out of nowhere, it has to be there in the first place (which is why America is having a depression right now, but I digress). What's more, I have to have money in the first place in order to make money, and as I wasn't born into money, this is a near improbability. Sure, there are things I could do, but at the end of the day, someone like you is still gonna have ten times as much as someone like me."

I then subtly added, "And that's why you can afford pot and I have to suffer through all the crap I get dished out."

He had no rebuttle.

Apoloiges for the big, long...thingy (thing like stuff).

That's pretty self-serving thinking: it's impossible, so I won't try. If money were impossible to get without money then who would have money? This specific conundrum (not really a conuncrum but I agree it's an obstacle) is what the whole banking system is for: providing credit for those with a goal but no money. You don't want to risk your current assets in collateral in case you lose it all on a gamble? Well that's your choice - but never forget that others took that gamble, and some of them acquired the wealth you've decided is impossible to gain without, well, wealth. Making money is always a risk; those who take that risk have already set themselves apart as the type of person with the drive to make it.

A valid point.

 

[mr mcshiznit]

Anyone who says that they are all lazy should lose there ability to talk and or type. You can be poor and just not have an opportunity to adavnce in life. If you have nothing and go through a hard divorce your going to be poor. If your house burns down or if you get layed off at work your poor. This has nothing to do with them being lazy, it has to do with bad luck.

 

[mr mcshiznit]

A guy once asked me once, "If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?"

So I answered him:

"The fundamental problem in what you're saying is a complete lack of awereness in how money works; you can't just take money out of nowhere, it has to be there in the first place (which is why America is having a depression right now, but I digress). What's more, I have to have money in the first place in order to make money, and as I wasn't born into money, this is a near improbability. Sure, there are things I could do, but at the end of the day, someone like you is still gonna have ten times as much as someone like me."

I then subtly added, "And that's why you can afford pot and I have to suffer through all the crap I get dished out."

He had no rebuttle.

Apoloiges for the big, long...thingy (thing like stuff).

That's pretty self-serving thinking: it's impossible, so I won't try. If money were impossible to get without money then who would have money? This specific conundrum (not really a conuncrum but I agree it's an obstacle) is what the whole banking system is for: providing credit for those with a goal but no money. You don't want to risk your current assets in collateral in case you lose it all on a gamble? Well that's your choice - but never forget that others took that gamble, and some of them acquired the wealth you've decided is impossible to gain without, well, wealth. Making money is always a risk; those who take that risk have already set themselves apart as the type of person with the drive to make it.

Sure thats a valid point but those people who gamble, what happens when the chips fall the other way? THEY HAVE NOTHING. One can dig an incredably deep whole that is near impossible to dig out of by making said gambles.

 

[Saskwach]

A guy once asked me once, "If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?"

So I answered him:

"The fundamental problem in what you're saying is a complete lack of awereness in how money works; you can't just take money out of nowhere, it has to be there in the first place (which is why America is having a depression right now, but I digress). What's more, I have to have money in the first place in order to make money, and as I wasn't born into money, this is a near improbability. Sure, there are things I could do, but at the end of the day, someone like you is still gonna have ten times as much as someone like me."

I then subtly added, "And that's why you can afford pot and I have to suffer through all the crap I get dished out."

He had no rebuttle.

Apoloiges for the big, long...thingy (thing like stuff).

That's pretty self-serving thinking: it's impossible, so I won't try. If money were impossible to get without money then who would have money? This specific conundrum (not really a conuncrum but I agree it's an obstacle) is what the whole banking system is for: providing credit for those with a goal but no money. You don't want to risk your current assets in collateral in case you lose it all on a gamble? Well that's your choice - but never forget that others took that gamble, and some of them acquired the wealth you've decided is impossible to gain without, well, wealth. Making money is always a risk; those who take that risk have already set themselves apart as the type of person with the drive to make it.

Sure thats a valid point but those people who gamble, what happens when the chips fall the other way? THEY HAVE NOTHING. One can dig an incredably deep whole that is near impossible to dig out of by making said gambles.

Actually, a lot of those who made it big fell into deep holes several times, but never failed to get back out and have another crack. Besides, no one said succeeding was guaranteed; if it were, success would be no more valued than getting up in the morning - both are practically guaranteed. A lot of legislation actually protects risky financial moves for this very reason (and others). For example, one of the reasons the US sub-prime mortgage crisis came about was because anyone who mortgaged had to offer no collateral besides the house they were mortgaging: if they couldn't afford it at any time they just had to return the keys.

To Logician: apologies if I came on too strong.

 

[falcontwin]

There are alot of hard working poor. People who have fulltime jobs that barely make minimum wage and have to struggle to get by. Sometimes being on the dole is actually a smart choice if you can get over the self esteem issues.

 

[falcontwin]

With a GED and a crap minimum-wage burger flipping job, you can at least pull in enough money to survive, may not be grand, but it beats the street.

That is bullshit minimum wage is not enough to keep you off the streets, there are millions of working homeless. the problem is the world is too expensive for anyone to get ahead anymore.

 

[SecretTacoNinja]

Coming from the poor side of the tracks myself, I have to say it's not because we're lazy or stupid.

I have a good reason for being poor but I can't be arsed to explain...

 

[Madshaw]

I'm from the UK, and you do havea very fair point

 

[axia777]

I have been wealthy at one point in my life. Not rich but wealthy. I was making around $50,000 in the Silicone Valley during the huge Internet boom of the 90's. Then the crash happened. Tone of my friends, colleagues, and I were totally screwed. We were without jobs, going bankrupt, losing houses, cars, everything. I have never really recovered fully from that. I have gone back to college and am now in another 80K of debt. Yah for me.

Sure this is just my anecdotal story, but millions of people have been through the same or similar situations. Poor people were not always poor and rich people were not always rich. I will get back to how my life was before, all it takes is hard work and determination.

Who I feel sorry for now is all the millions of people getting foreclosed on as I type these words. Millions of families are losing it all right now. There are about to be a whole shit load more "poor" people in this nation of ours and that is a fact.

With a GED and a crap minimum-wage burger flipping job, you can at least pull in enough money to survive, may not be grand, but it beats the street.

That is bullshit minimum wage is not enough to keep you off the streets, there are millions of working homeless. the problem is the world is too expensive for anyone to get ahead anymore.

He is right. Minimum wage is economic suicide. Anyone who thinks minimum wage is a living wage is insane and needs to get their head checked. That or get themselves educated in the economics of real life.

 

[BigKingBob]

With a GED and a crap minimum-wage burger flipping job, you can at least pull in enough money to survive, may not be grand, but it beats the street.

That is bullshit minimum wage is not enough to keep you off the streets, there are millions of working homeless. the problem is the world is too expensive for anyone to get ahead anymore.

He is right. Minimum wage is economic suicide. Anyone who thinks minimum wage is a living wage is insane and needs to get their head checked. That or get themselves educated in the economics of real life.

Minimum wage is not economic suicide, but neither is it comfortable. Until recently I was a till monkey at mcdonalds (university didn't go well for me) and while it was not easy it was possible to support myself (a 40 hour week would get me £720 a month before tax, enough to live off but not by much.)

I have moved jobs since then (I'm now a phone monkey in a call centre) and I am now earning enough for me to consider finishing my degree. This would have been impossible in my job at McD's.

Minimum wage is a living wage (at least in the UK) but that's all it is, you can survive, as long as you don't mind living in rented accommodation and owning nothing more expensive than a second hand car or a laptop.

I can't vouch for the systems in the US or on the continent of course but that's how it is in the UK if you can claim no benefits.

 

[BurnoutPriest]

People need to get it through their heads that situational and generational poverty both exist.

 

[axia777]

With a GED and a crap minimum-wage burger flipping job, you can at least pull in enough money to survive, may not be grand, but it beats the street.

That is bullshit minimum wage is not enough to keep you off the streets, there are millions of working homeless. the problem is the world is too expensive for anyone to get ahead anymore.

He is right. Minimum wage is economic suicide. Anyone who thinks minimum wage is a living wage is insane and needs to get their head checked. That or get themselves educated in the economics of real life.

Minimum wage is not economic suicide, but neither is it comfortable. Until recently I was a till monkey at mcdonalds (university didn't go well for me) and while it was not easy it was possible to support myself (a 40 hour week would get me £720 a month before tax, enough to live off but not by much.)

I have moved jobs since then (I'm now a phone monkey in a call centre) and I am now earning enough for me to consider finishing my degree. This would have been impossible in my job at McD's.

Minimum wage is a living wage (at least in the UK) but that's all it is, you can survive, as long as you don't mind living in rented accommodation and owning nothing more expensive than a second hand car or a laptop.

I can't vouch for the systems in the US or on the continent of course but that's how it is in the UK if you can claim no benefits.

Yes, in the UK. How much an hour do they pay you? What is your cost of living wage index like? In America, in most States, minimum wage is shit. Trust me, it is very different here in the USA. But then you guys also have socialized health care too. Most workers at minimum wage jobs have no health care. Hell, most workers at jobs that pay more than minimum wage don't have heath care here in the USA. It is all bullshit. Minimum wage in most states here should be around $10/Hr to make a decent living at all.

 

[xitel]

Many poor people don't have the money necessary to get what they need to start earning more money so they can stop being poor. It's a serious vicious cycle, generated by the ungodly high cost of a college education nowadays, and the fact that most jobs you can get with a high school diploma pay minimum wage.