Colbert Report: Poor Not Living Down To Expectations

Good day members!

As most of you probably heard, a recent study done by the Heritage Foundation discovered that the "poor" in our country were actually doing quite well. Many of them have multiple luxury items like answering machines, microwaves and TVs.

I admit to considering starting a thread to show my strong disagreement with this study's findings. Granted this would have taken lots of research and quite a bit of time to compile and edit.

Why bother?

Isn't that what Stephen Colbert and the Colbert Report are for?

Please go to the link below, (it's not on youtube), and watch the hilarious response from Mr. Colbert. It's just 3 minutes long and skewers this sort of rationalization.

Oh, and you get some good laughs out of it as well.

Colbert: Poor not living down to expectations

Just have to quote one bit...

“You will not believe some of the stuff poor people have in their homes,” Colbert reported. “Luxury’s like ceiling fans, DVD players, answering machines and coffee makers.”

“I don’t have those things,” he admitted. “I have central air, a Blu-Ray player and I go to Starbucks every day.”

Priceless!

I thought that was hysterical too.

The fact that a coffee pot was on the list is seriously awful. Are poor people not supposed to be able to go to CVS and spend 15 bucks?

The xbox I can understand as that is a toy and not neccessary, but a fridge? A microwave?
The study must think it's 1982!

Oh and I just about fell over when he said "poor is a choice........just like gay!"

reply to post by spinalremain

Oh and I just about fell over when he said "poor is a choice.......

I have a two year degree (AAS) and I make 50-70,000 per year. when I was not willing to go where the work was I was working poor.MY CHOICE. I work in aviation. I know nurses who make, on a two year degree 100,000+. More difficult today with current economy, you just have to set a goal and make it happen. Everyone can get financial aid and do it.

And lets just also consider on how many are new. Perhaps they are from Goodwill or a yard sell. Now as far as the X box crap.

If you were a parent in a Poor part of town raising kids. I think I would prefer my child indoors and not out running the streets. So I more myself consider that good parenting.

Originally posted by type0civ
reply to post by spinalremain

 

Oh and I just about fell over when he said "poor is a choice.......

I have a two year degree (AAS) and I make 50-70,000 per year. when I was not willing to go where the work was I was working poor.MY CHOICE. I work in aviation. I know nurses who make, on a two year degree 100,000+. More difficult today with current economy, you just have to set a goal and make it happen. Everyone can get financial aid and do it.

And you are everyone who is misfortuned?
You have to realize that there are people in situations that even you cannot fathom. To do so is not only gloriously conceided, but wrong. When you think you know what's best for millions of people, you're only showing that you're naive.

I will say that sure, for many poor may be a choice. Some people are indeed lazy. That said, you can't assume because you moved where there's employment that everyone can. It's ludicrous to assume that.

reply to post by type0civ


My ass. I spent three semesters in college before I ran out of money, and tried every financial aid program there is in CA. I was denied by all of them. That means my only choice, if I were to go back to college, would to be to take a student loan---and I'm sure we can both agree that is a horrible idea.

Poor is not a choice. I have my uncle and GF living with me and we can still barely pay rent, let alone gas for our car, insurance, the vet bills for our puppy, and electricity/heating expenses.
I would love to be able to offer my family a better life so please, tell me--what can I do, if it is my choice?

EDIT---Don't forget food. A single block of cheese is $6. Box of Cereal $6. Gallon of milk $6. 666, the devil owns safe-way! (sarcasm, but food is waaay overpriced)

These right wing conservative, (Stew Barney) that are saying, "If they have this or that, then these people are not poor", have an agenda. It's about the concern for America's loss of middle class. They are trying to lower the "bar" or change the definition of lower and middle class.

It's a bell curve thing, as we approach the NWO, compared to the poor around the world, our poor are rich.

Oh, and I loved the way these guys, tried to pffft of our hungry children. They say, "It's not that stat, it's really this stat. And, it's not every night that they go to bed hungry, it's only at some point in a year, maybe!"

I can't believe that they think these tactics will work on middle class Americans. Yeah, everyone will feel better if we lower the poverty level, so that the lower middle class won't feel poor.

Disgusting!

Haha, when I was at university in Australia I was at the Australian National University, in Canberra. Now, to rent a room in sharehouse in Canberra you're looking at about $150 a week, not including bills such as electricity and heating and internet. I ended up living in an off-campus college and paying $160 a week with bills and internet included.... only I was earning about $200 a week at the time. I had $40 a week to spend on things like food and public transport (the idea of affording a car was absurd). If I wanted to go see some friends and maybe have a drink on the weekend, I'd starve for days on end. I'm not joking. This was not uncommon for me to go hungry. It's not until now that I've been able to afford things like a computer, or a television (well I don't actually own a TV but I could if I wanted).

What made me angry was that I knew people who didn't work, or study, and yet lived in this expensive city with more money than I did, courtesy of the government. Never once did I see these jobless people too lazy to study go hungry. Usually they just sat around at home all day and smoked pot and played video games, eating food from their fancy fridge and cooking things in their microwave. Even the homeless people on the streets could afford alcohol and tobacco!

Seems like the perpetually hopeless, those without jobs or study plans, were forever better off than I was while I was studying. Indeed, in Australia, students always seemed to have the worst of things, whilst trashy welfare addicts lived quite luxurious lives. This is terrible, because students attending university deserve better consideration, rather than them being left to go hungry all the time, and practically being laughed at by a stuck-up university with a silver spoon up its arse.

Sounds like another "divide and conquer" tactic. I think they are trying to lower the bar, redefine poverty. I think that Colbert does a good job discrediting using sarcasm. I'm poor, and have an xbox, but I got the xbox when I wasn't so poor, so does that make me not poor? No, I still struggle to pay the bills and provide food for my family. If I sold the xbox, it wouldn't be enough to provide a decent meal, so I am stuck with it, until it's "planned obsolescence". But, I would rather play xbox then watch the news. (and no, I don't have INet access at the house, or cable, too expensive. Probably better that I don't have cable, nothing good on anyway.)

Another thread about the "poor" study. Wow that sure has people riled up.

And did I see someone say X-box = good parenting? Wow.

reply to post by DigitalControl


My rear end is poor and I can tell you that the last thing I am getting is a puppy. So you voluntarily took in another family member that needs to eat and see the vet?
But other then that, I agree with you.

reply to post by jjkenobi


Children need entertainment. If all they have is an xbox and a tv, so be it.
I know of a single mother who got a wii. Because she can stream movies on it. She has that as her sole entertainment and doesn't pay for cable or anything else. I see nothing wrong with that.

$300 xbox games that run $50 apiece

and children need entertainment really wow

theres those things call books and back in the day imaginations and there use to be that thing called a library that everyone use to go to.

hell if your going to be poor these days america is the place.

Originally posted by windword
These right wing conservative, (Stew Barney) that are saying, "If they have this or that, then these people are not poor", have an agenda. It's about the concern for America's loss of middle class. They are trying to lower the "bar" or change the definition of lower and middle class.

It's a bell curve thing, as we approach the NWO, compared to the poor around the world, our poor are rich.

Oh, and I loved the way these guys, tried to pffft of our hungry children. They say, "It's not that stat, it's really this stat. And, it's not every night that they go to bed hungry, it's only at some point in a year, maybe!"

I can't believe that they think these tactics will work on middle class Americans. Yeah, everyone will feel better if we lower the poverty level, so that the lower middle class won't feel poor.

Disgusting!

I'd have to agree with you on that. It definitely seems like an agenda to make us feel appreciative of everything we have, and remind us that not everyone in the world is as "fortunate" as we are. While I can see their point, I don't appreciate them suggesting to me that I must be richer than I think I am just because I have the luxury of a refrigerator or a microwave. Those things don't cost hundreds of dollars anymore, especially second-hand. Poor people aren't going to Home Depot or Lowes buying brand new, stainless steel refrigerators for $1,000.00. They buy then for a couple hundred bucks at the most from friends, family, or the Good Will.

I don't like what this study is implying, and I don't like these people belittling the poor or the soon-to-be-poor people who live from hand to mouth, surviving one day at a time. The citizens and ancestors of this country worked hard to raise America up from the bare poverty line, and above certain poor countries like Africa, India or parts of China. We didn't provide these "luxuries" for poor people overnight. It took decades to make these technologies better and more affordable to everyone, including those who live below the poverty line.

Are they suggesting that we go back in time??? Back into the stone age? Hell, four walls, a flushing toilet and a sink are huge luxuries in some places in the world. Should we stop providing those for people as well??? RIDICULOUS! Their study should be a great shame for them. I'm embarrassed just watching that video, knowing that idiots like this get air time on national TV. It's a free country, I guess.

reply to post by neo96


If you buy wholesale. Amazing how cheap you can get them from gamestop, blockbuster and craigslist.
Oh and how are children going to get to the library, walk down gang filled corners? Oh their single mother working two jobs will take them.

Originally posted by nixie_nox
reply to post by neo96

 

If you buy wholesale. Amazing how cheap you can get them from gamestop, blockbuster and craigslist.

Agreed. People need to realize that all these luxuries can be purchased second-hand, and they're not always top-of-the-line or in perfect working condition. You can pick up some older X-box games for $5.00, and there's always sharing or swapping with friends.

reply to post by DigitalControl


Yep, bread for 5$ a loaf....now they sell half a loaf of bread!!! I know this sucks. Get the heck out of CA and maybe put the puppy up for adoption. But you made my point. you choose NOT to finance your own future. Do some research on tuition in other states like NM, very inexpensive and a decent career field like maybe engineering and make a commitment. I know of people in Roswell NM who relocated from Oregon to attend the nursing program there. One year and they get in state tuition which is probablhy half your monthly rent payment in CA.