Violence Is Necessary!
No. Shit. - That sums up my opinion on this study.
Sadly, This is why violent revolution and destabilization of govt are on my mind when I read shit like this... Even when a better solution should be on my mind instead!
I know I shouldn't say these things, but with the direction We, the People are going when you hear stuff like this... I hope no one can blame me.
edited 15th Dec '11 9:49:23 AM by LostAnarchist
This is where I, the Vampire Mistress, proudly reside: http://liberal.nationstates.net/nation=nova_nacio
Karkadinn
Clearly we just have an epidemic of lazy people who need to pull themselves up by their boot straps and stop blaming the job creators for working harder than them. ;)
This is a lot more meaningful than unemployment numbers, imho, since those numbers tend to leave out people who've just given up on looking for work or who are underemployed.
Since the 50's
, is it? Nice.
But do 1 in 2 Americans have refridgerators and washing machines?
You can't even write racist abuse in excrement on somebody's car without the politically correct brigade jumping down your throat!
Violence Is Necessary!
Ninja'd for truth.
Just as I thought. So this is just another study on "How to raise my blood pressure - even with SOME bit of truth about said struggle attached to it."
GREAT- And I fell for it. Almost...
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
FTR, I bet they do. Otherwise, to wash their clothes (which I hope they can), it's off to the laundromats...
edited 15th Dec '11 9:54:46 AM by LostAnarchist
This is where I, the Vampire Mistress, proudly reside: http://liberal.nationstates.net/nation=nova_nacio
Actual Wrestling Legend
^^ I don't have a washer, and the fridge came with the place. And the vegetable drawer always sticks.
A new aristocracy I could almost deal with. Unfortunately we have billionaire theocrats just waiting to take advantage of all those angry destitute people.
edited 15th Dec '11 10:11:30 AM by johnnyfog
I'm a skeptical squirrel
This is quite saddening, if only because the situation won't change, because those counted as poor suffer from the media demonising them, even demonising them against each other.
edited 15th Dec '11 10:05:32 AM by AllanAssiduity
@Wicked: I know it was tounge-in-cheek, but I never understood how that's supposed to be an argument for poor people wasting their money.
I mean, I came under flack on another forum for "not being poor because you have a computer", and was very confused by that. It's not like I could sell the shitty computer that I had gotten ten years ago, and I don't really understand how "luxuries" are a measure of being able to pay bills, considering that a lot of "luxuries" have virtually no resale value.
"I don't know how I do it. I'm like the Mr. Bean of sex." -Drunkscriblerian
Karkadinn
It's just a conversational sleight-of-hand trick that doesn't even attempt to address the issue, only confuse and redirect it. 'You're not starving in Africa, so your petty first world complaints have no meaning' is how it typically goes. The relevant fallacy is, IIRC, Appeal to Worse Problems.
Furthermore, I think Guantanamo must be destroyed.
I changed accounts.
You got the opportunity to buy electricity, clean water, basic food...
@Breadloaf: Except when you can't afford it. I've had electricity shut off before because I couldn't make the bills. Not to mention the growing number of homeless out there.
Edit:
Flat "What". I'm not poor because someone gave us a nice (secondhand) television and we drive to work every day?
edited 15th Dec '11 1:13:42 PM by DrunkGirlfriend
"I don't know how I do it. I'm like the Mr. Bean of sex." -Drunkscriblerian
@ drunk girlfriend
I forgot /sarcasm? ;)
Victim of Poe's Law there, I guess.
oh no the snack table
If you want to break the habit of talking in tropes (and you should), it's a dicto simpliciter: the fallacy of accident. "Poor people don't have such-and-such possessions, thus these people aren't really poor!" This ignores the fact that these possessions don't do much to mitigate poverty.
It's beautiful and so full of deep imagery that it doesn't surprise me to find that it has gone WAY over your head
Only One Avatar
Hmm, this sucks. What can we do? Is this gonna be a socialism thread? A plutocracy thread? An anti-capitalism thread? A "damn, this sucks" thread?
edited 15th Dec '11 1:22:45 PM by Grain
Anime geemu wo shinasai!
Gunpla is amazing!
Well what I'd like to know is what is "poor" to those people? Living in the corner for change and starving to death?
Flat screen tvs are cheap as fuck nowadays. And you NEED a car to LIVE in this country, or at least ot have a job!
"Get a job! But dont get a car, then you wont be poor, but you need a car to get a job"
Wandering Student ಠ_ಠ
@DG: its the Heritage foundation, the think tank set up to spout this bogus statistic science to help defund things for the poor.
Very big Daydream Believer. "That's not knowledge, that's a crapshoot!" -Al Murray "Welcome to QI" -Stephen Fry
You know, the more I see shit like that coming from conservatives, the less moderate I get.
Gunpla is amazing!
Either way, it seems the response is "Oh well they aren't starving so its okay!" or "Oh well they have a TV so obviously they aren't poor."
When did we become a third world country where "TV = Well to do"?
Its pathetic.
Question: how exactly is "poor" defined?
Infinite Tree: an experimental story
Christmas Sheep
Oh, hey guys! Guess what? The economy is bad!
...
I just wasn't sure if you noticed, is all. *
Edit: Also, this. I mean, it sucks that Americans all have to have last year's computers and microwaves and smart phones, right?
edited 15th Dec '11 3:07:09 PM by TheEarthSheep
Still Sheepin'
^ Half of a nation being poor is not same-old, same-old. While I realise that you may be so jaded as to presume that it is this bad without needing evidence, some actual basis of factual statement that, yes, things are worse then many people assume, is somewhat important.
A cursory reading of the sourced article gives these definitions that you and INUH ask for. While I realise that not reading the source articles is in vogue (and I have not read them myself in the past), I would greatly advise reading them over asking questions that can easily be answered.
edited 15th Dec '11 3:13:33 PM by AllanAssiduity
We're Having All The Fun
Shit has sucked for years, no need to start worrying about those poor people now. They just are not bootstrapping hard enough! I mean, it is not like income received by poor families has decreased while the value of the dollar has increased or anything. I mean, those poor people must just be lazy if they have to work two jobs just to make ends meet and every month they need to decide between having running water or being able to eat.
That's awful.
edited 15th Dec '11 3:12:08 PM by YeahBro
All I do, is sit down at the computer, and start hittin' the keys. Getting them in the right order, that's the trick.
Eye'm the cutest!
Oh yay another class warfare bitch thread...
"Allah may guide their bullets, but Jesus helps those who aim down the sights."
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/15/9461848-dismal-prospects-1-in-2-americans-are-now-poor-or-low-income
One wonders if democracy can handle such an enormous wealth gap. I'm of the opinion that it won't - either the dwindling middle class will revolt, or they will be crushed and we will usher in a new era of aristocratic privilege and noblesse oblige in North America. Yet we still glamorize the idea that working hard will get you ahead in life here in the USA, and that the rich are somehow role models we should emulate. Sigh.