Why poor people are poor.

Come on in and enjoy some ripple chips.  I realize that's a terrible breakfast but sometimes I'm a terrible person.  So y'know, balance.

So I've given this a lot of thought, and done a lot of research, and have lived very poor myself.  Hell I'm still poor.  And I've figured out the root cause of poverty.  And I thought, since I've discovered this mind altering and possibly even society altering fact, I would share it with you all so perhaps we can all start benefiting from this knowledge.

Poor people are poor because they have no money.

I know, that's so weird right?  to think that the only reason that poor people are poor is because they have no money is completely against everything we've been taught right?  But it's true.  Speaking as a poor person, and knowing a lot of poor people, and having really dug into this issue, I've discovered that it is nothing more than a lack of money that makes people poor.

We're taught that poor people are poor because they just don't know how to handle money.  Really?  I know for a fact that's fucking bullshit.  My grandmother?  She was poor, yet all the kids had food and clothing.  No one went hungry.  My mom?  She was poor.  I remember have a lot less than my friends as a kid but I don't remember ever needing for anything.  Sure our 'night out' might be burgers from 7-11, but we never needed anything.  I'm poor.  Both my girls are fed and clothed, they get to participate in sports and cultural activities.  They are fed the best quality of food I can afford.  Y'know why?  Because I know how to squeeze every last cent out of a dollar.  Learned from the best.  I get as much benefit from my dollar as is possible.  So don't give me any crap about how poor people don't know how to handle money.  I could give you about a million other examples of this but I think you get the point.

Add to this money management things such as our current 'boom' here in Rejayjay.  My rent, over the past two years, has gone up by over 50% from when I first moved into my apartment.  Every six months they've jacked the rent by as much as they could and it's not just here, it's everywhere doing it.  So it's not just a matter of if I'm good with my money now or not, because I don't recall getting a 50% raise over the past two years to keep up with the cost of my rent.  And I also know a lot of people in this same boat.  So trust me when I say poor people ain't poor because they don't know how to handle their money.  They do.

Well maybe it's because they're lazy right?  I mean, I know we've all been taught that hard work and effort will eventually pay off and we'll all be rich.  What a pile of fucking shit.  A big steaming pile of crap is what that is.  If it was based entirely off work, why don't I get paid about 80 bucks a minute for how hard I work.  Forget the parenting part of the equation, but every day, all the time I can muster, I am reading, researching, writing, note taking, or teaching.  I work my butt off and do I damn good job at the things I do.  And half of what I do I don't even get paid for, in fact I'm paying for it, because it's related to my education.  And don't get me started on how hard my grandmother worked.  She worked every fucking day of her life, she worked hard too, that woman was a machine.  There was no rainbow with a pot of gold at the end of it for her.  She lived on a fixed income and was never rich.  She never flew to Europe, she never saw the tropics, she never once stepped on a plane for all I can remember.  But boy did she work.  So I guess that lazy thing just can't be true.

It must be because they deserve it for some reason.  They're drug addicts, or maybe they beat their kids, or maybe it's just because they're stupid, because only stupid people would be poor.  Or they're crazy, yes, crazy.  Well.  I can't deny this one.  Nope, I must deserve to be poor because I have had addiction issues.  I've slapped a kid or two yep.  I doubt it could be called abuse, but why not for the purposes of this exercise.  And yes, I've been on anti-depressants and even ended up spending part of last summer enjoying the facilities at the General's psych ward.  So I guess I deserve to be poor.  Of course ... if you actually examine those issues, a lot of the reason people use drugs is to escape their miserable reality (usually due to mind crushing poverty), and abuse of children usually spouts from other issues, such as their own up bringing (where poverty was a big factor) and their lack of skills, or stress from not being able to pay bills, and I know my own depression can be set off by the realization that I can't afford where I live but I can't afford to move, what with having to have first and last months rent plus a damage deposit now and I can't save a dollar anywhere because there's always something that needs to be paid for and done and holy shit, what I wouldn't give to just not have to worry about this, where the fuck is that bottle of whiskey, and why do those kids always have to fight, I'ma slap the little bastards ... oops!  I guess you see the point, hmm?

As far as the stories of people that abuse the system ... well fuck a duck, rich folks abuse the system too.  How about we focus on stopping the folks who have ALL THE MONEY from fucking the rest of us over before we start fighting over the crumbs at the bottom when it comes to things like social safety nets, welfare, or employment insurance.  How about we stop looking at poverty as a symptom and rather as the root cause of a lot of our issues.  Poverty is a weapon that is used by our system, by our governments, by ourselves, to justify greed, abuse, and downright shitty behavior all around.

So the next time you start thinking about how poor people have it so good, what with all the social programs  and not working, and how life is so good, I'd like you to figure out how to live on $1100 dollars a month when your rent is over $900 dollars, see how that works out for you, because last time I had to apply for assistance, between that and other benefits, that's what I received.  That's hard fucking work folks.