What is poor?

[i-need-a-martini]

There was a really interesting article in todays SMH about how many of us think we are poor which is far from the reality.

I grew up in a migrant household where my dad worked 6 days a week and sometimes 2 jobs to keep us fed and housed. More often than not our food was basic and heating in winter was a luxury. But it never occurred to me that we were poor. I thought we were middle class.

So what is poor? ?:|

The last line of the article sums it up for me: 

Which brings us to the other side effect of our collective crying poor: it makes it easier to look past the struggles of those who are genuinely struggling. When you're declaring social bankruptcy over drinking cleanskin wine instead of $17 cocktails, catching the night bus home instead of a taxi, or having to skip out on your friend's destination wedding – indeed, when this becomes your vision of what “poverty” looks like – there is a little less room in your heart for those for whom poverty means having no choice at all.

http://www.dailylife.com.au/news-and-views/dl-opinion/is-there-such-a-thing-as-the-privileged-poor-2...

(And please don't make this a political thread cause it has nothing to do with the freaking carbon tax)

[i-need-a-martini]

Yes, I have as a matter of fact, and didn't find one single example of what being poor really is there.

THEY ALL EAT and have clothing etc.

Doesn't mean they aren't poor.

I work around the corner from a couple of the big homeless and womens shelters in Surry Hills and it's heartbreaking to see the people camping out on the doorsteps of these places because there are no places for them on that particular night or going through the bins for food. You don't really see them during the day (not sure where they all go) but at night when they are desperate for a bed then emerge often with a couple of kids in tow.

Yes they have clothes on their backs. And yes, they can scrounge for food.

But if a person has no idea where they are going to sleep that night, then they are pretty much at the bottom of the economic pile.

[the_great_she_elephant]

“There is no limit to the amount of good a man can do,

as long as he does not care who takes the credit.”

That is one of the most beautiful and profound statements I have ever read, Az.Thanks for posting it.♥

[purple.cow]

Doesn't mean they aren't poor.

I work around the corner from a couple of the big homeless and womens shelters in Surry Hills and it's heartbreaking to see the people camping out on the doorsteps of these places because there are no places for them on that particular night or going through the bins for food. You don't really see them during the day (not sure where they all go) but at night when they are desperate for a bed then emerge often with a couple of kids in tow.

Yes they have clothes on their backs. And yes, they can scrounge for food.

But if a person has no idea where they are going to sleep that night, then they are pretty much at the bottom of the economic pile.

The vast majority of those you talk of have made given choices in their lives that saw them sink to their present level, even remain in it, but even those who didn't STILL have the ever present Australian Social Security network to back them up, but they either choose to stay clear of it because they see it as having some kind of control over them, or take what they can and waste it on things that most probably got them into their present predicament in the first place, booze, drugs etc.

The system hasn't failed them, they fail themselves.

There is not a single citizen/legal resident of this country that doesn't not have a perfectly legal right to claim benefits which would see them fed/clothed properly at the very least, and even enough to contribute toward a roof over their own heads, even if that roof is shared between them many others.

If that is beyond their shared means in a city like Sydney they should look to moving away from it to where homing costs are far cheaper so they can afford it together.

After all, it's not as though they MUST remain there for the sake of a paying job is it?

The government means of financial support would still be just as available to them if they were sharing homes in the back of Bourke or somewhere.

However, they continue to choose to live as they do, and people like you continue to come out with sob stories about them, but I don't buy them.

Real poverty is when you have no home, no food, no support, and no hope of having access to any way out of it, while not being responsible for you being in such a situation in the first place, as everyone in this country has available to them.

It's those who have no hope I am more than willing to try help if & where possible, and once they are helped in some small measure they are more than willing to try help themselves to escape their poverty given the slightest opportunity to do so.

That often takes a only tiny amount of financial aid too, not the bottomless pit of handout money we are ever more being crippled by as a country in ever more taxes to cover for those who are not prepared to seek a way out of their low situation no matter how much you try to help them.

[purple.cow]

I say again ... THERE IS NO TRUE POVERTY IN AUSTRALIA!

& THERE ARE NO TRUE POOR HERE EITHER.

[dateless2010]

I say again ... THERE IS NO TRUE POVERTY IN AUSTRALIA!

& THERE ARE NO TRUE POOR HERE EITHER.

Depends on your definition of poor

Your are certainly poor of spirit.,

So sad.

[azureline**]

Life circumstances can change in an instant........

There are people who have no address, no postbox, no id to get a bank account, no electricity bill/rates/phone etc to show. Those people can't claim benefits without id.

There are poor people...... speak to those who work with some of them.

I don't know any poor people... I am lucky I suppose but I don't doubt they exist.

[siggie-reported-by-alarmists]

If you don't own an Island, plus a private jet as well as several houses in multiple countries....you are poor. 🙂

[cherry*135]

It is usually Charities that support these people that fall through the cracks (including the mentally ill for whom there is not always services available to help them), volunteers  and restaurant/cafes with donated food etc.. they do amazing work... not using precious taxpayers money either.

There are people from other countries who are legally able to work in Australia,  for years & years they support themselves, but if they lose their job (redundancy or any other reason) they are not entitled to any Centrelink benefits.

[purple.cow]

If you don't own an Island, plus a private jet as well as several houses in multiple countries....you are poor. 🙂

:^OThen you better place me at the top of the poor list :^O

[j*oono]

You are already there Moorna.