Picture of What is Wrong With This Country

[BrentAllen]

http://www.macon.com/2010/12/16/1379464/funding-cuts-leave-many-without.html?disqus_thread%3Fstorylink=addthis

 

The picture says it all - the woman wants tax payer dollars to pay here utility bills, while she watches her monster tv. In my line of work, I see this all the time. Usually the tv and furniture are on a rental plan, paying weekly (at an astronomical cost). Neal Boortz took her to task, as well he should. Sell the tv, cable and game system and use that money to pay your bills before you start living off my taxpayer dollars!!

 

http://boortz.com/nealz_nuze/2010/12/2010-the-year-of-the-moocher.html

 

Interesting stats on the "poor":

 

Forty-six percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three bedroom house with one and a half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.

Seventy-six percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, 30 years ago, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.

Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded. More than two thirds have more than two rooms per person.

The average poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)

Nearly three quarters of poor households own a car; 30 percent own two or more cars.

Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.

Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.

Seventy-three percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and a third have an automatic dishwasher.

 

It really makes it hard to want to help the poor when you feel like you are being taken for a ride. Luckily my church does a lot of mission work and I feel very confident those missions are helping the truly needy.

[Eagle92]

My HS did food drives for Thanksgiving. Used the local churches to find people in need. For the most part, they were truly folks in need, and I had no problem helping them. None whatsoever.

 

But there was one family one year that really upset me. They had a large screen TV, large for the time not nowadays, top of the line brand, new stereo system, brand new Nintendo and games, as the kids were dressed in name brand clothing. Needless to say I was ticked. Esp. I was one of those who was on the school's job study program, was working park time to help support myself, had second hand clothes and stuff.

 

Yes some people do milk the system.

[Scoutfish]

While I get pretty mad when I se a mom drive up in an Escalade and talking on a $400.00 phone , then getting out wearing a leather coat, and $300.00 stilleto boots when she asks to get a scholarship for her scout to be in the pack...I do stop and consider a few things:

 

Yeah, that was a pretty big Tv that woman had, BUT...

 

She might have bought that Tv 3 years ago before being laid off from her job while the conomy ( and jobs) were taking a nose dive.

 

May be a case of what I see quite often: People who are vitems of the economy and also their own lack of fore sight.

 

 

That woman might have had a nice job working in the office of a construction company. Maybe she Worked at a car dealership or even possibly any other buisness that shut down, laid off or went bankrupt due to the economy.

 

Could be that she is milking the system like 8 maids a milkin!

 

Things is, I don't know!

[nolesrule]

While I don't like free-loaders that list of stats is superficial when you start to think about it.

 

Forty-six percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three bedroom house with one and a half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.

 

*** Own = paying a mortgage. That can be cheaper than renting, and especially in the great credit giveaway of the last decade was easier than ever to obtain.

 

 

Seventy-six percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, 30 years ago, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.

 

*** Air conditioning seems to have become a standard feature in new construction. Also, window units aren't very expensive to put in a place without HVAC.

 

Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded. More than two thirds have more than two rooms per person.

 

*** Poor and overcrowdedness are correlations.

 

The average poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)

 

*** That has always been the case. We live in a large country with lots of land. People in urban areas tend to live in smaller homes (or apartments), hence our country's suburbia. To compare Paris, London, Vienna and Athens to an entire country is misleading, especially when you consider the population density of Europe as a whole is 2.2 times that of the United States.

 

Nearly three quarters of poor households own a car; 30 percent own two or more cars.

 

***In some parts of the country (sadly) owning a vehicle is necessary due to the lack of public transit options, but it doesn't mean the car wasn't purchased on the cheap.

 

Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.

 

*** They still make black and white? Honestly if I was going to do a stat, I'd be comparing things like tube vs. flat panel or standard def vs. high def as indicators of when TVs were bought and how much was paid for them. I don't have a problem with a poor person owning a TV.

 

Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.

 

*** That's actually a decent stat, and considering cable/sat has over 90% market penetration, that means the poor are putting their entertainment dollars into a cheaper solution.

 

Seventy-three percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and a third have an automatic dishwasher.

 

*** Poor people aren't homeless. I once sold a 15 year old stereo and a 10 year old microwave at a garage sale for pennies on the dollar. Come to think of it, I've also sold old TVs, VCRs and DVDs players.

 

 

 

Gone With the Wind is still the highest grossing movie of all time when adjusted for inflation. It made it 's money during the (wait for it) Great Depression. The entertainment industry has always flourished during economic hardships, so it's no surprise that poor people have TVs and DVD players (and cable/satellite to a lesser extent).

[packsaddle]

Gone With the Wind was released in 1939. Was the Great Depression still going on then?

[skeptic]

Its last throes, but yes, technically. Our support of the our future allies in Europe was already starting to draw us out of the worst of it, but it really was not quite over then.

[Basementdweller]

I stopped delivering food and gifts we have gathered for the needy.

 

My first year doing it we pulled up to the first house, they had a big 4x4 truck in the drive way they had a widescreen TV and a big satellite dish in the back yard. They had a bunch of christmas presents under the tree already when we arrived, a huge amount, piled waist high. Seems they were expert at requesting help. Heck their furniture, TV and vehicles were newer and nicer than what I was driving. We looked at each other and dropped our food box and gifts and left.

 

The next house we pulled in the driveway and another group was walking out the door from dropping of their assistance. We gave them our donation and left. They were laughing right after the door shut.

 

I worked at the food pantry at the church today for the Christmas dinner hand out. Most of the "POOR" had cell phones, they were all on them and texting. we handed out 500 meals, I was helping load cars and traffic management, I was thanked 39 times total, yes I counted because last year, I didn't remember being thanked at all. sooooo, 8% of the people said thank you. there were a lot of really new cars getting loaded donated food......

 

 

I am dealing with the entitlement problem in our Pack currently. We have a number of new scouts who are on a council scholarship. The one scout dropped out because it was interfering with Karate lessons, say what, your poor, you shouldn't be able to afford karate lessons, new car, cell phone or air conditioning. The boys who were on scholarship did not participate in fund raising, why should they council has given them a free ride.

 

 

[nolesrule]

I don't disagree that there are entitlement issues out there and that people in need are lacking sound judgement when allocating funds, I just felt that some of those "shocking" stats needed some context.

[Beavah]

Yep, there are abuses.

 

That's da problem with government aid, eh? It gets allocated by people and by rules. There is always a way to "game" a set of rules. Yeh can't possibly write or keep track of enough rules to prevent people from gaming them.

 

That's why generally speakin' I prefer private charity. Because private charities and private citizens can make considered choices about who is truly in need and who is gaming the system. Yeh can't do that in a government system, because sure as shootin' someone would complain of bias if yeh allowed any discretion.

 

There are really needy folks out there this season. Some of 'em have a lot of money, but are lonely, depressed, or just angry at da world.

 

Some are folks who look like you and I, but hit a patch of bad luck and have just been caught in it. Only break-even on their mortgage after property values declined 30%, they can't sell to move to a smaller place. They're tryin' to keep the kids from being affected by not sellin' off the TV and playstation, and keepin' those seems worthwhile since there's been no vacation for the past two years.

 

There will always be a few abusers, eh?

 

But this season, remember to keep an eye out for the many folks who are truly in need. Don't let the few abusers harden our hearts against all da rest.

 

B

 

[GernBlansten]

In the spirit of the season,

"Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged"

[BrentAllen]

Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Proverbs 31:9

 

I think we have lost site of who the real poor and needy are.

 

Years ago, we were running a housing rehab program in a rural south Georgia town, providing the materials while Habitat for Humanity provided the labor. Everything was going fine until the volunteers got to this one particular house. The house was in bad shape, with a bad roof and the ceiling falling in. In fact, the residents had a 2x4 set up on the back of a sofa, holding the ceiling up. Two unemployed healthy young men in their late teens/early twenties lived here with their mother. Not only would they not do anything to help, they complained when the workers asked them to move off the sofa so they could make the repairs. The two young men kept complaining that they couldn't lounge on the sofa and watch tv while these volunteers did all the work. That was the last house we rehabbed - the volunteers had enough and quit; they figured they could go elsewhere to find some truly needy people to help. The real problem is these people are spoiling the well for those who truly need the help.

[Eagle92]

Gern,

I understand, but I acknowledge it is sometimes hard, very hard, not to.

 

I'll give you a story that had my blood pressure boiling. There was a lady who was complaining about no longer getting money from the government to help pay her rent and utilities. She was a Katrina refugee, and qualified for government and NGO aid. She was complaining b/c after I believe 18 months she was no longer going to get aid.

 

Grant you needed a bunch of new stuff b/c she did lose everything. But every thing, and I do mean everything, in her new apartment was not only brand spanking new, but also top of the line. No thought about what would happen when the aid came out.

 

Now my mom was also a Katrina refugee. But b/c she did have flood insurance, she received very little aid, basically vouchers to help get her some clothes and meds for a month. When she finally got her claim check, she did buy furniture, appliances, etc. But she went to thrift stores, unfinished furniture stores, etc. because she knew that she also had bills to pay while she relocated.

 

Kinda hard not to judge.

[GernBlansten]

It's never easy. But that shouldnt mean we shouldn't try.

[Basementdweller]

Please...........................

 

I drive an old pickup truck. It is really hard to pull up to a house to deliver donated food and presents when the people inside have a nearly new pickup truck and the then latest home entertainment system in the living room. Not only that, the fact that they blatantly have multiple agencies sending aid.

 

Please..............................

 

 

Yes today it was hard to load boxes of ham dinners into kia's and toyotas with temperary tags. I can't afford a new truck payment, hey wait a minute, if I can get thanksgiving and christmas dinner donated, and christmas for the kids, that might be a start on that truck payment.

 

Did it ever occur to you that if they didn't have cell phones, some of their kids even had cell phones, or new cars they could afford Christmas dinner???? or gifts for their kids???????

 

Still driving that old truck.

 

We own one TV, my cell phone is provided by my employer, My wife's van is 9 years old. I do have high speed internet and cable TV, luxuries in my book. I live very well within my means, I am saving for retirement and Saving for my children college.

 

Gern go ahead and judge me, my life is an open book and I have nothing to hide or fear. I live my life with near zero regrets and giving back to my community.

 

I will not disagree that there is an element of the poor that need help.

 

It still ticks me off. We Americans are soft and lazy. Gone is the spirit that built and made this country great.

[Basementdweller]

I forgot to mention the twentysomethings with the Tattoos all over their face, Who is going to ever hire them for anything more than a warehouse or factory worker.