It has been my experience that many people of all walks of life make bad financial decisions. Being poor just means the impact is felt more harshly.
You have to be rich to be poor.
- Thread starter yesboii
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And makes the need for a solution more compelling.
D.C. is also one of the worst cities in America. Drawing conclusions about the poor in America based on D.C. is skewed.
That is an incredibly biased and a wacky conclusion. D.C. is a city, and represents other inner cities. D.C. is not worse or better than any other city.
The only conclusions we can draw from D.C. could only be applied to wastelands like Detroit, Baltimore and St. Louis.
So, being poor in inner city in D.C. can be compared to being poor in other inner cities. Well, golly gee, that's what I was saying this whole time.
Tarquelne
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Wasn't there a Jimmy Stewart movie about that? He's a pollster and finds this completely, utterly average town and can use it to do national studies?
I hadn't realized it was based on a true story, and that the town in the movie was D.C.
So, being poor in inner city in D.C. can be compared to being poor in other inner cities. Well, golly gee, that's what I was saying this whole time.
I'd argue that the situation can't be compared except to other really terrible cities that don't bear similarity to other places. You're telling me that there aren't many full fledged one stop grocery stores in The Bronx or Queens? Or southside Chicago?
amadeus
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So we could solve this problem by building Wal-Marts in urban neighborhoods; too bad the city councils don't allow that.
Patroklos
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No, they are four basic characteristics of poor people that they can help themselves. Do you not know anything about alcoholism and nicotine addiction in poor populations? Their use of easy junk food as a form of entertainment? There propensity to waste money on luxuries (this is just people in general)?
Patroklos is correct, I think. Those four things, if applied by many poor people, is the 'low-hanging fruit' for reducing poverty.
Err, what?
If I walk down to my local gas station I can pay probably 20-30% more for anything than I'd pay at my local grocery store. If I tried to go to my grocery store without a car I wouldn't be able to take home much and it'd be a heck of a trip, even if I only have to go about 2-2.5 miles. The local pharmacy isn't too much further away than the gas station, but prices are still 10-20% higher.
Payday advance stores are everywhere.
A washer and dryer are a significant purchase. Not everyone can afford them.
I've also had a friend that, because he didn't have a car, would go to Walmart, cash his paycheck, and do his shopping all in one go when he could hitch a ride with someone. Granted, if he had a bank and direct deposit a debit card would allow him to use his bank without ever visiting, but that's another matter.
And I don't even live in a bad city with well known inner city slums. This article seems pretty applicable to my area.
Note that the poor aren't moochers: They're the backbone of our economy. After all, when you drive into McDonalds, who will flip your burger?
I don't have a car, and I carry all my groceries and I never shop at corner stores. I use public transportation and cabs (if I'm coming back from Costco). Sure, it isn't the most convenient thing but it also is complete rubbish that because something is hard it can't be done by people. I make below the median income and could be considered poor. I don't make enough money to waste it on groceries from a corner store.
So what?
Should society through the State intervene to better their conditions?
This would amount to a subsidy to build grocery stores in inner city areas, right?
Solutions I don't know. I'm not sure for what reasons we should care in the first place, much less intervene to do something about their situation.
That's the thing I don't get... maybe these poor people that are too lazy to actually ride public transportation (which they probably already ride anyway, like myself) and go to the grocery store? It just doesn't make sense to me how one seems to excuse the poor for seeking convenience at a premium.
El Koeno
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I think this is mostly a problem of American urban planning. With denser concentrations of people, it would be less far to a grocery store, and there would be more reason for people to use a bike. But that's just my observation, coming from the Netherlands.
But even though most of the poor here mostly do have access to cheap discount stores (Lidl or Aldi), the problem mentioned of poor choices does affect them; income is for a large part determined by education, so poor people are often the ones with low education, and the ones least able to make optimal long-term decision.
But even though most of the poor here mostly do have access to cheap discount stores (Lidl or Aldi), the problem mentioned of poor choices does affect them; income is for a large part determined by education, so poor people are often the ones with low education, and the ones least able to make optimal long-term decision.
