Again, you are misrepresenting what I said. Of course there are poor (such as the disabled) who have no way out and we should treat them much better than we do now. And, I never said that all of the poor do not work hard. I realize that working at Walmart and McDonalds is much harder work than most of the rich do (pretty much been there, done that myself). But, there are many of the poor who are lazy. I.[/QUOTE
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No offense.. but your post just showed your intellectual disconnect here.
First:
moderate right said:
Eventually this factory closed down long after I left.
Bingo.. right there is a fact.. manufacturing jobs have gone down in this country.. and those good jobs for uneducated workers.. went down. I don't believe that you are looking at todays conditions.. but are looking back upon a time when there was more social mobility.. when you were a kid.
Any person who works at McDonalds can work their way up to shift supervisor, assistant manager, and beyond - everyone who has the desire
Wrong. honestly.. are you really going to tell me that EVERYONE working in the MCDONALDS can become shift managers so on and so forth? That's simply not possible.. There are simply NOT ENOUGH POSITIONS in Mcdonalds to do that. Probably for every 10 employees.. there is one shift manager.. for every 25 employees an assistant manager and for every 50 employees a overall manager. Not everyone in that MCDONALDS can be a manager. Its simply a fact.
I have seen many, many of these poor get huge tax refunds every year due to the EIC and they don't use the money for necessities or living expenses at all - they just piss the thousands of dollars away on stupid stuff.
That can be said about a lot of rich people I know as well.
Most of those poor elderly you refer to are people that squandered opportunities and money their whole lives
Actually no.. many of them are people that were middle class and now have become poor because they have outlived their income.
You get a windfall of a few hundred or a few thousand dollars and you have to find a way to spend it, often times pissing the money away into nothingness.
Yep.. sometimes happens. However, studies show that in poor people.. they have an added difficulty in saving those windfalls.. and that's because of the social structure of being poor. People that are poor create their own survival and safety nets within their "community". When Joe has a few hundred bucks.. he could save it for college... the problem is that his friend Steve needs some help with his car and so he helps his friend Steve out with that money.. because when Steve was doing okay.. and Joe lost his job Steve helped out joe. (which took money out of Steves pocket).
The poor often have a social network that helps them survive when times are lean... and to get ahead.. they have to forego being a part of that social system.. which sounds easy... but if you start keeping that money to yourself.. and stop helping out when you can.. then if you suddenly have a problem.. then you have lost that safety net.
Now you seem to be in a business where probably you deal more with middle class'rs than the very poor so, it's possible you are relying more on information you receive than actual experience but I have worked with those very poor for decades.
I own several businesses... one is in agriculture.. I have worked alongside the poor for decades. Heck.. I started out as poor.
I would bet that you are significantly older than me.. and your impressions are not based on current conditions.. but based on a biased view of an earlier economic time.