3 ms·

I grew up under the utter misery of communism. Even my illiterate grandmother working the earth knew to always have a valuable or two put aside to bribe the par

by nickpp 3y ago

I grew up under the utter misery of communism. Even my illiterate grandmother working the earth knew to always have a valuable or two put aside to bribe the party representatives in case one of us got sick or in trouble.

chefandy 3y ago
That doesn't give you a useful perspective on the logistics of poverty in the US. This isn't some kind of qualification based on a misery meter.
- nickpp 3y ago
  I also lived in the US. My roommate with half my salary had a car twice as expensive as mine. He had house payments while I was renting. Restaurants and bar outings while I stayed home reading. No wonder he was always broke on salary day...
  - borski 3y ago
    The “stop drinking Starbucks” is old and nonsensical. That isn’t why people are poor.
    - nickpp 3y ago
      > That isn’t why people are poor So for you I guess lazy people don't exist? People who refuse to learn, change and adapt? People who just wanna smoke weed, play xbox, jerk off to pornhub and eat Nachos (not necessarily in that order)? People who'd rather make a quick buck doing some border-line illegal "deals" than have a regular honest job? People who would rather play the popularity game in high school than study? People who would rather slack off around the watercooler at work than do what "the boss" asks? People who prefer to coast although their field is changing under them? It must be nice to live in a world without such people...
      - borski 3y ago
        Of course they exist. They are a minority, though, and the trope of representing people in poverty as lazy is tired and old, in addition to inaccurate.
        nickpp 3y ago
        Different worlds it is then. In mine, they are the great majority.
borski 3y ago
I’m not sure what any of that has to do with the topic at hand? My parents also fled communism. It’s not that poor people don’t want to save and invest; it’s that because cost of living in most places has far outpaced salaries, there literally is no money to save. Most Americans live under mountains of debt. My mother had thousands and thousands of dollars in credit card bills because she had to, in order to survive and support a family of four. And we lived in the projects in Brooklyn. She never told me about it until I was in my twenties, because she never wanted to worry me with it, and moreover, she never wanted me to know we were poor. Pride is a real thing.

by nickpp 3y ago

chefandy 3y ago

That doesn't give you a useful perspective on the logistics of poverty in the US. This isn't some kind of qualification based on a misery meter.

nickpp 3y ago
I also lived in the US. My roommate with half my salary had a car twice as expensive as mine. He had house payments while I was renting. Restaurants and bar outings while I stayed home reading. No wonder he was always broke on salary day...
- borski 3y ago
  The “stop drinking Starbucks” is old and nonsensical. That isn’t why people are poor.
  - nickpp 3y ago
    > That isn’t why people are poor So for you I guess lazy people don't exist? People who refuse to learn, change and adapt? People who just wanna smoke weed, play xbox, jerk off to pornhub and eat Nachos (not necessarily in that order)? People who'd rather make a quick buck doing some border-line illegal "deals" than have a regular honest job? People who would rather play the popularity game in high school than study? People who would rather slack off around the watercooler at work than do what "the boss" asks? People who prefer to coast although their field is changing under them? It must be nice to live in a world without such people...
    - borski 3y ago
      Of course they exist. They are a minority, though, and the trope of representing people in poverty as lazy is tired and old, in addition to inaccurate.
      - nickpp 3y ago
        Different worlds it is then. In mine, they are the great majority.

borski 3y ago

I’m not sure what any of that has to do with the topic at hand? My parents also fled communism. It’s not that poor people don’t want to save and invest; it’s that because cost of living in most places has far outpaced salaries, there literally is no money to save. Most Americans live under mountains of debt. My mother had thousands and thousands of dollars in credit card bills because she had to, in order to survive and support a family of four. And we lived in the projects in Brooklyn. She never told me about it until I was in my twenties, because she never wanted to worry me with it, and moreover, she never wanted me to know we were poor. Pride is a real thing.