General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why Poor People Stay Poor [View all]The Green Manalishi
(1,054 posts)There is a lot to the subject; your excellent post is a great example. I might humbly try to add a little bit of my observation:
Two brothers who have always been poor are a good example of some of the other structural issues. They have absolutely no idea how to budget, save or spend money. None.
For a long time I just assumed that anyone poor probably knew how to stretch their money much better than I (born middle class, still middle class, enough assets and savings that I'll probably die middle class)... but I realized that is ass backwards. The discipline to save, the knowledge of the power of compound interest - it's either going to work for or against you- all the stuff regarding money that our parents taught my wife and myself, they never learned; and IMHO they can no more be blamed for that than someone who never had a car in the family can be blamed for not knowing how to drive. And when they briefly had more money than bare survival required they blew it on (in my opinion) stupid shit- but while *I* might think a poor person buying a big screen TV is not the best use of funds that could be invested in an emergency fund I started to realize that it's damn near impossible for someone to live 50 years in a consumer society with everyone else having neat toys and then deny yourself something enjoyable the only time in your life you have a chance to experience it.
Here in Sonoma County there is much ado about people without licenses having their cars impounded at DUI checkpoints, even though they weren't drunk- with the same results- no car, no job, no place to live, all visited on someone just trying to play the game by the rules.
Thanks for posting.