Election 2020

[IdleRich]

Don't forget foodstamps, which anyone under the poverty line is eligible for, and which will supply all the nutritional basics you need.

I'm not claiming poverty isn't hard; it is, very. And extreme mental illness is a real, serious problem that makes filling out basic paperwork or walking to the church each morning for breakfast tough. But let's not erect strawmen.

But to me someone whose wage is inadequate for them to eat without food stamps or food banks is in absolute poverty. If they're angry it's likely to be cos their life is extremely hard and depressing in itself, not just cos the guy down the road has flash trainers. Really what I'm asking is - is the number of people in this situation increasing or decreasing? I honestly don't know but I thought that this group was larger than one would expect in the world's largest economy.
Not that people in that situation were able to travel to the Capitol and smash it up presumably.

 

[luka]

Gus! Why do you behave this way! Be cool! Don't be an angry nerd!

 

[constant escape]

As an aside, maybe depression undergoes some kind of existential mutation when it cannot be attributed to material suffering. That may distinguish a poverty-fueled depression from a more bourgeois one.

 

[luka]

At the very least learn to pick your battles!

 

[constant escape]

Its not clear to me any longer what this argument is about, aside from pathos perpetuating it and fabricating reasons to do so.

edit: that is, we seem to have already reached a synthesis regarding @suspended 's point. At least I have.

 

[IdleRich]

This interpretation factually wrong. Poverty line is defined relatively. You just get them if you're below 130% of the relative poverty line.

Well I don't know, I am genuinely asking here, it's not an attack. But if you have 130 percent of relative poverty does that mean you will have enough for food etc? I'm not sure it does.

 

[constant escape]

Is the poverty line globally constant? Just expressed in different but equivalent monetary figures? I recall learning that it was equal to a dollar and some change per day, but perhaps that was just in the case of a certain African nation.

 

[constant escape]

I thank you, dudes and lads alike, for the heated morning, and I wish you all a temperate day.

 

[luka]

you lot are weird

 

[linebaugh]

@suspended all I'm saying is that if you make $15 or less an hour you're material situation is fucked and emotionally youre going to struggle with alot more than ennui and disenchantment. I think you like ignore that to sell your social psychology line as some unified theory that Explains It All. Anything I said that implied you hate the poor or dont understand poverty was just for the banter I apologize

 

[luka]

That's what I admire most about the dudes, their civility.

 

[Mr. Tea]

Over time, the rage of the lower class fluctuates. Material well-being steadily improves.

Well hang on, that's obviously not a given, is it? A huge number of people are much less financially secure than their parents were at the same age. They may have smartphones but they also pay a fortune to rent a small, cramped apartment they could be kicked out of at a moment's notice, and work like a bitch for the privilege.

I mean, observations like this have become virtually a bromide over the last decade.

 

[luka]

That's a boring argument though. That's the sort of boring argument vimothy would try and trick us into having.

 

[WashYourHands]

Had to finish a bunch of chores, finish a week’s worth of work in 48hours and missed the last death rattle of the MAGA cultists. Why couldn’t they run into a hail of bullies like real heroes and heroines?

Amateur theatrics. If you give them enough rope logic etc.

Bit foggy out.

 

[linebaugh]

Gus I see all that

 

[sus]

I think you like ignore that to sell your social psychology line as some unified theory that Explains It All.

If I sell my takes as authoritative, I apologize. You're right—they're just my opinion and I'm probably mostly wrong.

 

[linebaugh]

do you really think food is 100 dollars a month?

 

[WashYourHands]

Whole Foods salad maybe.

 

[IdleRich]

Depends on a lot of things, but the 130% of the poverty line is a monthly salary of about $1500. A monthly grocery budget is probably about $100. Rent will be between $500-1000 if you have a spot to yourself, but many people under the poverty line live in big families, splitting up rent so it's only a few hundred a month.

One hundred dollars a month doesn't seem much for groceries. Also if you have to live in a huge group discounting your rent that's not great is it?
Again this is absolute poverty, if you're struggling with rent, food, clothes, health etc and yeah you can get by by sacrificing one (I have clothes and a house but I eat pot noddles for breakfast lunch and dinner, or I eat and dress well but I share a bed with seven of my cousins) that doesn't mean you're not in that situation.

 

[IdleRich]

do you really think food is 100 dollars a month?

Snap. I mean for one person, that works out 22 dollars a week or so. Call it three dollars a day. Hmm. That's tight. And that's what I mean by poverty, it's theoretically doable if you plan it to the last penny, never change it cos you fancy something nice... and as long as your fridge or the car you need for work doesn't break.