Quote:
Originally Posted by Struggle4Peace
You cannot be poor if you live in the west. In western dictionary poor == not having a t.v. in one's room or not been able to afford swimming lessons. I don't know how things are in usa but being in the uk, people get all sorts of benefits and it anger me when people moan about how little they get...hang on us british are born moaners. You'll find very little stories like...'In pursuit of happyness'.
When I was at school I used to get £10 a week whereas my friend got £50 a month...I always thought it was because we were poor  . I was a smart arse  |
the USA is not a socialist country, they don't provide a safety net for the poor. There are next to no social services. If you're on welfare, there are tons of doctors who won't see you. You can be very poor in the west. Food stamps do not cover the cost of your groceries. Housing subsidies don't pay for your rent, or electricity bill, and in most of the USA you can't live without electricity or gas (especially in winter) since you will freeze.
After my parents divorced, we couldn't afford our groceries. We lived off church charity off and on (they even had to pay our rent a few times), and in winter time, when it was really really cold, the power company decided to shut off our electricity for non-payment. My sisters and I all slept together in the same room becuase it was -15C outside, and we had no heat except for a small fire box in the kitchen. The wood for that also came from our charitable neigbor.
In the USA, a car is a necessity. You can't get along without one. You can't have a job, go to school or anything without a car. TV is not a luxury item (at least ours wasn't) we had a TV, and it was 15 years old, bought when my parents were seeing better days. Mind you, we had the crappiest cars available, and many of them were free, given to us by people who were going to take them to the junk yard.
I had another friend who was also really poor (in the USA) she had 2 pairs of shoes, one for church, and one for school. Rest of the time she went barefoot. They had 5 kids in a trailor which had no electricity, an no running water. They actually used a modern outhouse. In winter, they had a generator, and once a week they went to their uncles house to take baths.
Don't tell me you can't be poor in the USA. The standard of living is different, but poor is poor. Having a car or a TV doesn't make you rich. Those things are dirt cheap here. Would you call someone in India with a motor scooter and a cricket bat rich? Of course not.
Just becuase someone doesn't live in a refugee camp doesn't mean that they aren't poor, and haven't experienced poverty.