Top 5 Misconceptions About People Struggling Economically Today

reply to post by Komaratzi11


Minimum wage is liveable if you're single. Having children is a choice. It isn't hard to prevent.

Actually, I should say, minimum wage is liveable in parts of California. I know in other states rent is frequently just as high and minimum wage is lower. Obviously that's not a good thing. Also there are still some decent jobs around here. In other places, that's probably not true.

Instead of demanding handouts, we should be demanding real reform. That means-- stop the unending war. Stop purchasing foreign products, stop the internet censorship, and stop the cumbersome, undemocratic bureaucracies that gain more control over our lives every day.

reply to post by KeepWatchingThem


That was the best post I read in this thread besides the OP post. Thank you for clarifying what has happened and how things have changed over the long range. Some of us young'uns have a vague idea that it all started way back when, but can't really point to the what, how, and who really started this mess in the first place. I'm sure someone can even point further back. Sometimes it seems impossible to change things anymore. The government and corporations have gotten too big.

I was making 13 an hour for 5 years until 2010, When a massive layoff occured. Ever since then Ive been applying at least 2 times a day and still can't find a job in Texas. I heard on Npr radio for every available position there are 4 applicants. I have a baby on the way plus a 3 year old, and had to move in with a grandmother to help her out with bills as well with my unemployment. Now that has run out and Im going to have to inroll in a temp agency because it seems to be the only choice. Now that my unemployment has run out it is creating stress with my wife and we are on food stamps. Ive heard there are people in England who havent worked a day in their lives and are provided with government assistance for rent and bills. We need a better system but we cant all live on handouts forever. This system was broken the day it started and we are finally getting to the tail end of things. Recently the pope has started a clause of making a central world bank. Its all in the cards. and the rothchilds set it up this way. I feel for all the people out there who are struggling because I am one of them.

Originally posted by v1rtu0s0

Originally posted by Propulsion
I call it living to ones means. People want their cake and eat it too. Can’t have everything in life because someone else has it. If you want something, than do what it takes to obtain it. Don’t expect anyone to give it to you for free. I so dislike the pity trips! Stand up and take control of your life! I went from an I.S. position that paid me 90k a year to a warehouse position unloading trailers for close to nothing. I don’t run around pouting like a baby! I had 130k in student loans. Paid them all off! There was a time in my life where I was down and out living on streets! I chose not to be there and made changes! In my opinion, some people are just too lazy! And then they cry about it when things don’t work out the way they want them too! I know everyone is not the same, but I also know everyone can do or be anything they want in life! My grandmother made a career change when she turned 62 years old. She hated her prior work and wanted to find happiness. She has no regrets…

Yes, this is genius!


Great Scott, Marty, I believe we solved the reason for societies problems: It's laziness!!

If these no good lazy socialists would just start working, and stop getting bailouts from the government our problems would be solved!

Then where are the jobs? McDonald's ain't hiring, and neither are any of the other fast food places that many in this thread seem to claim that they are always hiring.

Originally posted by Epirus

#5 I'm not in debt so why are you?(My parents have money and I don't have school loans)

#4 I have a job so anyone can get a job(The world revolves around me and all is relevant)

Not all professions are the same and some people got lucky with the right timing. No one is mad at you if you have a job(GRATZ!) or expects you to pay for the unemployed to lay around and eat Cheetos... if you think this you are missing the point.

#3 Anyone can start a business and make it big(Look at Bill Gates)

Right...

#2 Mcdonalds is always hiring(Work at McDonalds and you'll be able to pay your debt)

So every time a company lays off hundreds if not thousands of workers who have families and prior payment agreements while equivalent jobs fail to pop up they are supposed to go to McDonalds....make $7 hour and everything will be okay? I'm sure they'll be able to pay their debt since adjusting from over 3000 a month to hundreds a month is so easy. Just buy less and go to the movies less, right? Maybe the kids can eat once a day?

#1 Make better decisions(Stop buying drugs and TVs and you'll be okay)
Cause people on unemployment enjoy the hell out of it and can't wait to use the ~$100-400 weekly unemployment check(which used to be over ~$700-1000 check while employed ) to buy a big TV or some more drugs, right? They just want to lay around and live off your hard work...how lazy!

Felt like answering these misconceptions

#5) I've seen this before and I hear it everyday (I almost wish I got paid $1 for every time I heard it)
I won't get too specific on this one (just easier to say I work in medical field) and occasionally hear or run into someone that ran into a major problem because they stop taking their meds. You know what their reason was? "I can't afford it." Why? Because they're spending it on tobacco, booze, video games, you name it.
I work minimum wage ($7.25), go to college, and pay for my auto,cellular,and leisure activities while having enough to put in a savings account. So why are you in debt when you're provider is Medicaid?

#4) You answered it better than I could

#3) It's d**n hard to start a business. America has a s**t ton of regulations and taxes on businesses it's like it wants businesses to fail. It took years for a friend of mine just to open up a small Indian restaurant that holds barely 30 people.

#2)You said it better than me

#1) I've seen plenty of people that exploit Unemployment benefits (Octamom is a great example). I'm rather surprise by it, and how easily they get away with it. I saw a lady on unemployment with a brand new Mitsubishi. Someone mind explaining that to me, please?

reply to post by Mystery_Lady


I keep hearing people say the system has to change. I like thinking outside the box, but what other options are open? Most people who are spouting about change are talking about socialism and the proletariat(worker) taking over businesses collectively(communism). It amounts to hatred of the bourgeoisie.

I think something a lot of people point out regarding those on welfare but never seem to mention when referring to the rest of society... How about not having kids you can't afford. Just because you have a job, a car, a house, etc. doesn't necessarily mean you can afford children. If you are living paycheck to paycheck, I don't care what car you have or how big your house is, you can't afford kids. People have kids all the time without really planning for them financially. There's a lot of psychology behind this... People still caught up in the American dream... I myself made the choice not to have children, not because I can't afford them but because I look around and I don't see a world I want to bring a child into. I don't think it's fair. Maybe that will change in the coming years, maybe I'll change my mind, but probably not.

It's so ironic how easy it is to create a child, and how terrifically difficult it is to raise a child. I feel that people should take a hard look and consider what I've said. I don't think it's off point and I think it's a huge problem that no one is talking about... Unless welfare is involved.

Divide and conquer... Divide and conquer...

Originally posted by Mystery_Lady
reply to post by KeepWatchingThem

 

That was the best post I read in this thread besides the OP post. Thank you for clarifying what has happened and how things have changed over the long range. Some of us young'uns have a vague idea that it all started way back when, but can't really point to the what, how, and who really started this mess in the first place. I'm sure someone can even point further back. Sometimes it seems impossible to change things anymore. The government and corporations have gotten too big.

I get this for a young gun With Communism man exploits man. With Capitalism it's the exact opposite. and
" If voting could actually make a difference, it would be illegal"
Only we can Free ourselves from Mental Slavery


All the ones who understand the computer that is humanity started its vague but to big of an idea to pin on one being unless you agree with this statement

Chapter 1 In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

, but the concept of mans evolving nature over time is truly that responsible for the cause and the effects faced today and tomorrows problems

You know why you cant patent a perpetual motion machine simple it already exists running on man power over mans will its an unstoppable force that will eventually meets the immoveable object

Originally posted by ThirdEyeofHorus
reply to post by Mystery_Lady

 

I keep hearing people say the system has to change. I like thinking outside the box, but what other options are open? Most people who are spouting about change are talking about socialism and the proletariat(worker) taking over businesses collectively(communism). It amounts to hatred of the bourgeoisie.

By "change the system" they're talking about making sure companies can't just buy politicians, or making sure companies can't just ship jobs off-shore while using the government provided tax loopholes to never pay a dime in taxes (Exxon in 2009-2010), or making sure employees make more than $6/hr if the economic benefit they provide to the company is $5000/hr, or making sure everything's fair and no one is allowed to do insider trading (not even Congress like they're allowed to now), and that the government doesn't use the social security money you paid for decades to fund expensive wars and give tax breaks for the top 1% (and then claims it's your fault they can't pay you your fair share anymore), and the list goes on

That's NOT socialism, that's common sense.

The government has been hijacked by the top 1% and corporations, and they are using politicians as mere sock puppets to entertain the (dumb) masses. That's why people say the system needs to change!! Those politicians aren't working for the people any longer, they are working for their corporate donors!

reply to post by MrXYZ


i agree but that's been going on all this time. don't you wonder, i know i do, why it suddenly is a really big deal? could it be because the current batch of politicians are trying to fix it and the bigwigs are panicking that if they do manage to get repairs underway, they'll lose their chance to finish us off good and proper in a nice big bloody revolution?

Originally posted by undo
reply to post by MrXYZ

 

i agree but that's been going on all this time. don't you wonder, i know i do, why it suddenly is a really big deal? could it be because the current batch of politicians are trying to fix it and the bigwigs are panicking that if they do manage to get repairs underway, they'll lose their chance to finish us off good and proper in a nice big bloody revolution?

It's suddenly a big deal because of the Internet and social media quite frankly. Just look 10 years back, and you realize that back then, most of the information came from BOUGHT mass media. So as long as those puppet masters controlled CNN, Fox, and NBC...all was good and they could continue to screw everyone over.

Nowadays, you have people waking up because of online sources. There's a ton of online news sources nowadays, and there's too many for all of them to be bought....so those damn puppet masters are sloooooowly losing control. The OWS movement is a sign of this, and so are those youtube news shows like "The Young Turks". Those guys provide all of us a service by standing up and saying "NO MORE!!"...and in the process, they wake up others.

It remains to be seen whether those corporate puppet masters can wrestle down all this opposition...but at least it's a good start. People need to quit with the "left vs right" bull#, it only serves to distract them. What's important are the issues, issues like congress participating in insider trading while outlawing it for everyone else. Issues like them allowing Exxon to ship thousands of jobs off-shore while getting massive tax breaks (because Exxon pays off politicians). Stuff like that NEEDS TO BE FIXED!

Unless you have an extremely good job with disability insurance, excellent health care coverage and a nice bank account or friends and family with money, you are one unexpected accident/illness away from being in the red. It won't happen to me, you may think. I've seen it happen to a few people. Medical issues burn through money very quickly!

You may foolishly believe that there's a social net like SS Disability that will save you. You'll have to hire a lawyer and wait at least 3 years before you might receive a check. Not many folks can hang on that long when illness/accident has taken their health and ability to work while the medical bills roll in. After your credit is ruined, how will you get employment? No one wants to hire anyone with bad credit. It's a reflection of their character, right?


That's a circumstance one gets sucked into. It doesn't happen everywhere in the world. It happens in
America, though. I've watched 3 friends die while their paperwork was being reviewed. Who needs death panels? Just tie up the process and say you're sorry that happened, but it's their fault.

[/rant]

reply to post by MrXYZ


oh i absolutely agree! the problem is, and this is the unspoken (or rarely spoken) underlying issue i see with OWS, and that is, if the economy does officially collapse, they will already be in place to just sweep across their respective cities, murdering and plundering and blaming the whole dang thing on whoever happens to be the most easy target to blame, such as rich people, white people, jews, christians, republicans, tea partiers, farmers (who have been called stupid country hicks by the democrats since the dawn of their racist paradigm shift from being slave owners to being racist against white people even when many of them are white.), oh yeah, if this keeps going, all the ammunition will be in place for the biggest genocide in human history. it'll make hitler, stalin and mao, look like sweet old men.

Originally posted by RainbeauBleu
Unless you have an extremely good job with disability insurance, excellent health care coverage and a nice bank account or friends and family with money, you are one unexpected accident/illness away from being in the red. It won't happen to me, you may think. I've seen it happen to a few people. Medical issues burn through money very quickly!

Exactly!!! For example, when I was 17 years old I almost died of Meningitis, something everyone can get at any point if they come within 2m of people. The 2 week in intensive care cost over $58k!!! Obviously my insurance covered it, but what about those who can't afford insurance or those who chose not to take out insurance. How many of you can put down $58k from one day to the other without facing major issues? The "it won't hit me" claim is complete and utter nonsense, it can hit EVERYONE at ANY TIME. I was doing sports 5 times per week (fencing), didn't smoke, hardly drank back then...I was super healthy...yet it didn't spare me.

What about getting diagnosed with cancer where treatment can be upwards of $500k over a remaining lifetime?

Fact is, those medical bills are one of the main reasons why people couldn't afford their mortgage bills anymore...next to losing their job of course

Originally posted by undo
reply to post by MrXYZ

 

oh i absolutely agree! the problem is, and this is the unspoken (or rarely spoken) underlying issue i see with OWS, and that is, if the economy does officially collapse, they will already be in place to just sweep across their respective cities, murdering and plundering and blaming the whole dang thing on whoever happens to be the most easy target to blame, such as rich people, white people, jews, christians, republicans, tea partiers, farmers (who have been called stupid country hicks by the democrats since the dawn of their racist paradigm shift from being slave owners to being racist against white people even when many of them are white.), oh yeah, if this keeps going, all the ammunition will be in place for the biggest genocide in human history. it'll make hitler, stalin and mao, look like sweet old men.

We need to stop fooling ourselves by taking stuff to extremes. Making sure people don't die on the street isn't socialism. Hell, even the so-called "communist" China isn't communist at all if you ever did business over there. It was at one point, just like Russia, but none of those 2 countries are communist or even socialist today...the only reason people claim they are is because they put it on some leaflets. But Russia's anything but a communist state nowadays...it's a mafia corporatists state, just like the US. A state where a select few manipulate the laws in ways that gives them (and ONLY THEM) benefits while the rest are paying for it.

Fact is, those medical bills are one of the main reasons why people couldn't afford their mortgage bills anymore...next to losing their job of course

reply to post by MrXYZ

The last time I went to the emergency room, they charged me $150.00 for 2 tylenol tablets. That kind of mark up should be a crime. Yet, people justify instead of complain about that. "Well, they have to store that tylenol, right? That's why it costs so much!"

Even if you have excellent insurance, you may need a lawyer and they may not cover your illness due to a loophole or clause.

Let's not forget that people are now slowly losing their right to free speech too:



I mean, clearly, those aggressive protestors voicing their opinion and dangerously sitting on the floor deserved to be pepper sprayed....makes perfect sense

Luckily, they can't control the Internet...yet...

And anyone who doesn't believe mobile phones with video recorders aren't the greatest thing since cake is delusional

reply to post by MrXYZ


as i said, i completely understand what you mean and agree that things are out of whack and not even remotely user friendly. . what i'm trying to say is, that's not the end game that seems to be brewing.. the end game is genocide. what happens, do you think, to OWS here and around the world, when the economy thing does collapse in on itself? you KNOW. you know.

Originally posted by undo
reply to post by MrXYZ

 

as i said, i completely understand what you mean and agree that things are out of whack and not even remotely user friendly. . what i'm trying to say is, that's not the end game that seems to be brewing.. the end game is genocide. what happens, do you think, to OWS here and around the world, when the economy thing does collapse in on itself? you KNOW. you know.

They don't want to kill citizens, after all, they need obedient little workers footing the bill

RIP George Carlin who said it best:



So no, I don't think they want genocide or to kill the people. You don't kill your workers, you "discipline" them

Originally posted by RainbeauBleu

Fact is, those medical bills are one of the main reasons why people couldn't afford their mortgage bills anymore...next to losing their job of course

reply to post by MrXYZ

 

The last time I went to the emergency room, they charged me $150.00 for 2 tylenol tablets. That kind of mark up should be a crime. Yet, people justify instead of complain about that. "Well, they have to store that tylenol, right? That's why it costs so much!"

Even if you have excellent insurance, you may need a lawyer and they may not cover your illness due to a loophole or clause.

edit on 20/11/11 by RainbeauBleu because: (no reason given)

yeah no doubt. i was in a coma on total life support in the neuro critical care unit for 5 days. man, i was receiving bills for years afterwards, and that was after 75% of it was covered by my insurance, and after i had received financial help with it to boot. i couldn't believe how many specialists had been called in to give their appraisal of my situation, who i never actually saw because i was in a coma, but who's bills i had to pay. it was awesome that i survived it but gosh, woulda been nice if they had actually come back and saw me and talked to me while i was awake so i could actually see who i was paying