This Is Why Poor People's Bad Decisions Make Perfect Sense

Screw being a slave to this energy debt corrupt system of debt slavery. Screw allowing these satanic cult energy manipulators who use symbolism and money to take our energy and live like kings and destroy the earth.

Its time to fight back.

I read this on HuffPo earlier, and it hit in a lot of places. I have been both fortunate and unfortunate in life, sometimes my own fault, and sometimes not. The native American philosophy of walking in someone's moccasins before judging them is spot on.

The thing is I find it always difficult to analyze what could be the best of two worlds because it shouldn't be such issue if somebody is rich or not.. There are wealthy people from what I've heard who support anomalously large amounts of money to prestiges civil projects to help the poor sick and disabled.
But they don't want to be recognized as if they are the saviors of mankind.

Although I think it's the governments task to equalize the taxes in such manner that the people come first before infrastructure although that ofcourse is important too. We have to remember that employers creates jobs and jobs creates money that eventually should lead to welfare.

But hopefully governments will finally awake and see that we have to help those who are in need to lower mental sickness and crime rates.

Switzerland for example are really trying to give their citizens the basic income on top of their working or non working income..

Switzerland will hold a vote on whether to introduce a basic income for all adults, in a further sign of growing public activism over pay inequality since the financial crisis. A grassroots committee is calling for all adults in Switzerland to receive an unconditional income of 2,500 Swiss francs ($2,800) per month from the state, with the aim of providing a financial safety net for the population.
Reuters

Let this be the example of how we could care for our citizens and not to read more of these stories anymore..

When I got pregnant the first time, I was living in a weekly motel. I had a minifridge with no freezer and a microwave. I was on WIC. I ate peanut butter from the jar and frozen burritos because they were 12/$2. Had I had a stove, I couldn't have made beef burritos that cheaply. And I needed the meat, I was pregnant. I might not have had any prenatal care, but I am intelligent enough to eat protein and iron whilst knocked up.

Getting pregnant was probably not the best idea. I'm not sure how this bad decision makes perfect sense. (And yes, unless she was raped, getting pregnant was the result of a decision she made at some point.)

I know how to cook. I had to take Home Ec to graduate high school. Most people on my level didn't. Broccoli is intimidating. You have to have a working stove, and pots, and spices, and you'll have to do the dishes no matter how tired you are or they'll attract bugs. It is a huge new skill for a lot of people. That's not great, but it's true. And if you # it up, you could make your family sick. We have learned not to try too hard to be middle-class. It never works out well and always makes you feel worse for having tried and failed yet again. Better not to try. It makes more sense to get food that you know will be palatable and cheap and that keeps well. Junk food is a pleasure that we are allowed to have; why would we give that up? We have very few of them.

Broccoli is intimidating? It's the only food worth talking about? Washing dishes is a huge skill set? If you don't do something right, don't bother improving yourself, just give up? This doesn't make any sense, let alone perfect sense.

The closest Planned Parenthood to me is three hours. That's a lot of money in gas. Lots of women can't afford that, and even if you live near one you probably don't want to be seen coming in and out in a lot of areas. We're aware that we are not "having kids," we're "breeding." We have kids for much the same reasons that I imagine rich people do. Urge to propagate and all. Nobody likes poor people procreating, but they judge abortion even harder.

False dilemma--having kids or abortion. Most poor people can afford the occasional condom or, I don't know, abstinence until they are financially capable of responsible sexual activity.

Convenience food is just that. And we are not allowed many conveniences. Especially since the Patriot Act passed, it's hard to get a bank account. But without one, you spend a lot of time figuring out where to cash a check and get money orders to pay bills. Most motels now have a no-credit-card-no-room policy. I wandered around SF for five hours in the rain once with nearly a thousand dollars on me and could not rent a room even if I gave them a $500 cash deposit and surrendered my cell phone to the desk to hold as surety.

The Patriot Act makes it hard for poor people to get a bank account? Seriously? It's not her ChexSystems report?

Nobody gives enough thought to depression. You have to understand that we know that we will never not feel tired.

Ah, so poor people's bad decisions make sense because they are depressed. If they weren't depressed, they wouldn't be poor, and they would claw their way up to middle class. This is the first explanation that makes sense. It sort of unifies the rest of her fatalism and refusal to improve her situation.

I smoke. It's expensive. It's also the best option. You see, I am always, always exhausted. It's a stimulant. When I am too tired to walk one more step, I can smoke and go for another hour. When I am enraged and beaten down and incapable of accomplishing one more thing, I can smoke and I feel a little better, just for a minute. It is the only relaxation I am allowed. It is not a good decision, but it is the only one that I have access to. It is the only thing I have found that keeps me from collapsing or exploding.

This is probably her worst decision. The smoking will cause numerous health problems down the road (if not right now) which she will simply be unable to afford. Poor person's bad decision makes perfect sense, because poor person has poor future time orientation. And of course she is enraged and beaten down and exhausted before she has her cigarette ... that's nicotine withdrawal.

I make a lot of poor financial decisions. None of them matter, in the long term.

In the long run, we will all be dead. But in the span of her lifetime, her decisions do matter, and this paragraph is just woe-is-me rationalization for her poor future orientation and innumeracy.

Being poor is more than just the physical aspect of not having money it`s a psychological thing mostly.
Being poor means you are a spectator to life and not a participant. All those commercial and TV shows don`t apply to you because you aren`t a part of life and can`t relate to what is being shown.
Hopes, dreams plans for the future don`t apply to you, those are things that people who have money and are living life have, not you.you are ostracized from life, a mere spectator watching the strange,unfamiliar and foreign rituals of people living something called life.
Being poor permanently alters your thinking processes so even if you someday do come into some money and are no longer poor your thinking and reasoning processes can`t be restored back to the "not poor" state.
poverty should be declared a crime against humanity.

reply to post by 0bserver1


I see an on-going trend that people have always been at the servitude of employers. I remember years ago a boss leaving and saying to me you have a new master now. In my objective opinion the managers I have encountered in my career, 30 percent were reasonable and the remainder were egomanics who were on power trips, and all had a common trait of seeing people as Dogs, resources to be consumed. What I surmise from this is that corporatisation on a global scale relies on having these kinds of personalities to use fear, innuendo, and their upper and protected hands to whip the slaves. Really avoid a career in corporate, for me its too late but for others starting their career consider pursuing trades, avoid universities as they will only be training you for corporate positions where the salary is very average, and then theres the student loan to play off, that's before you even start your home loan.

Tardacus
Being poor is more than just the physical aspect of not having money it`s a psychological thing mostly.
Being poor means you are a spectator to life and not a participant. All those commercial and TV shows don`t apply to you because you aren`t a part of life and can`t relate to what is being shown.
Hopes, dreams plans for the future don`t apply to you, those are things that people who have money and are living life have, not you.you are ostracized from life, a mere spectator watching the strange,unfamiliar and foreign rituals of people living something called life.
Being poor permanently alters your thinking processes so even if you someday do come into some money and are no longer poor your thinking and reasoning processes can`t be restored back to the "not poor" state.
poverty should be declared a crime against humanity.

I have always been poor, but I have always had ambition. It is what drives my willingness to learn and transcend my situation by means of self determination. I will not be a victim.
And yes poverty should be a crime against humanity. Any time I feel like a victim, I think of my fortune in being lucky enough to be living in London. I then spare a thought for the children living on rubbish dumps in Kenya, and it puts things back into perspective.

I'm not sure how broccoli can be intimidating.

You buy it, you wash it, and you eat it. You don't have to cook it at all if you don't want to.

The story shared within the OP was inspiring in many ways as well as some of the, personal shares in the post. It seems once you realize that you are either born into poverty as you mature or fall to from downs in life the only thing you can do is analyze and then attempt to adjust why at the same time trying not to allow the material world overtake your Soul/Spirit/Internal Energy too much.

Its not easy at all speaking from 1 that was born into it but you either figure it out or at least try to or give up... Which is not an option for 1...

Good Luck to all dealing with these financial turmoil's and best wishes.

NAMASTE*******

Her kids need her, and the damage being done to them isn't worth all the tea in china, the income of the corporate heads or any of the political crapola and ISMS people vote into.
1. I wouldnt be working 2 jobs, and see the kids one hour a day. We would have moved in with family first, or a tent if necessary. Or a van, refusing to pay rent and bills and find a van or truck and leave that area for warmer climate and small town.
2. 2 jobs and schooling? Well hope her schoolings finished soon. The women in my family don't have that energy, arthritis and thryoid problems, mine is chronic fatigue. I move slow, my thoughts are fast, my body is like 80 or something. Would never comply or leave the kids. Instead of schooling, unless its very short and is going to be a home business, like desktop publsihing, secretarial, or something very useful...didn't sound like she could with her teeth and general run down health and situation.
But just start a home based very small business. Tie flies if necessary, for heavens sake. And move to the country, somewhere warm in case the power gets turned off. Somewhere with growing food year round.
3. My friend did housecleaning for 20 dollars an hour. Within a year she was turning down customers and that does depend on health however. Energy and health and whether your bondable. But these are examples.
4. Buy and sell something. Research things that have good bids on ebay and craigs list.
5. Find a cheaper place than the motel. They're pretty expensive year round by the month.
6. Refuse to cooperate.
7. Start a vision board of what you really wish: location, home, greenhouse, smaller expenses and dont need the same double or if he's working too, triple income to pull it together, and a home based business to supplement what he is making, school hours.
8. Never ever abandon the kids, they need quantity time with mom, and dad, not just quality minutes a day. I've seen kids turn out rough with stay at home poor mothers, and I've seen kids turn out with mothers who had tons of energy and health and worked 22 dollar an hour job in the hospital, and the teenage son was in trouble nonstop, we had him playing video games with the boys, but after a while the bigger badder set of kids started calling to him. Those are major developmental stages with a boy, 13-16, where you can lose them for life, you cannot abandon your chldren.

I am shocked the extreme conservatives have not popped in with their usual rhetoric yet.

You know the ones where you can predict what the post is going to say before reading it.

"All the worlds problems are the poor peoples fault"

"If the poor weren't around, the government would be able to lower my taxes".. Mostly because they are stupid enough to believe that if government expense went down, taxes would go down.
They also think it is the low income "entitlements" that are killing our economy, while ignoring the rich entitlements through taxation tricks or things like "no-bid" government contracts and so forth.

The ones that will come in this thread and try to point out every fault the author has and indirectly imply that should should just go and die if can't "pull herself up by the bootstraps".

Anyway, I wish the author luck and the knowledge she is not alone. I have been in the same situation, though I have gotten myself out of it, not everybody has the opportunity to or the streak of good luck needed so one does not get knocked down after gaining a little.

To others in a similar situation, do let not the extreme conservatives on this board get you down, they suffer from many delusions that will hopefully be dispelled soon, but who knows how long this social evolution will take.

Now I await the flaming and name calling. You know the usual "liberal" and "progressive" name calling that they fall back to in order to make themselves think they have"won" something. The truth is I am neither, I tend to see things in shades of grey and know utopia is not possible.
I am sure that mankind can be better then this, and do not think it is beyond our capacity to make sure even the most impoverished among us can be brought to the level of having a basic good life without what now amounts to camouflaged slavery.

A few actually choose to be near the bottom because they have a conscience and some sense of civil accountability.

It we all "chose" to be at the top, the hollowed out bottom would cave in and all economy would be in shambles. Most human beings have the capacity to excel economically. However, if we all had the audacity that most at the top have we'd never become a type 1 civilization. Simple arrogance, fear and primitive sense of survival to date has wiped out ANY sort of technology coming through that would allow us to abandon capitalism. All cause those at the top are too afraid to lose their square footage.

reply to post by 0bserver1


The woman's name is Linda Tirado. It turned up on Alternet.

reply to post by Dreamwatcher


Don't worry there's no need for name calling here. It's merely a discussion from everyone's point of view and situation. I think that everyone in here reflects this on their own situation and or what they may face in the future. .. it's a story that shows the life of one person's life but so recognizable for millions .

Unity_99
Her kids need her, and the damage being done to them isn't worth all the tea in china, the income of the corporate heads or any of the political crapola and ISMS people vote into.
1. I wouldnt be working 2 jobs, and see the kids one hour a day. We would have moved in with family first, or a tent if necessary. Or a van, refusing to pay rent and bills and find a van or truck and leave that area for warmer climate and small town.

This is not about you or your self-righteousness.

Unity - where's the unity in judging other people, judging their needs and decisions.

The whole point of the essay is that poor people's decisions are not made from the same perspective as people who's basic needs are more easily met.

But then, to hear that, you need to have empathy and compassion.

reply to post by 0bserver1


First of all, I'm not bashing the writer of that piece. I can understand the frustration. But the way the whole thing is climaxed by the last sentence, it makes the whole thing smack of the attitude "Nothing matters and what if it did".

Her decisions may make perfect sense to her, but they don't make perfect sense to everyone. Some people may wonder why she was walking for 5 hours in the rain looking for a hotel. Where the hell was her husband? Some people may wonder why she see's herself as struggling so hard, when she's in a city that has the highest cost of living right behind NYC. Sounds to me like she needs to change her circumstances in order to change her lifestyle. Too bad she doesn't see it that way though.

Spending 5 hours to find a room.........that's a lot of dedication to a cause. I've never known "hotel honeys" personally, but I know of them. They never rent apartments or homes, just hotels. It's a quick-fix so you don't have to be outdoors, but once a person falls into that trap, it's very hard to get out because it's so expensive. A person simply can't save up money for deposits on other living arrangements. The only way to do that is to stay outdoors for awhile so you can save up money, but when you have kids that's a pretty hard choice.

After doing this long enough, you get comfortable with your surroundings and the other people who share them. It's easy to cop a "F**k it" attitude. Do you know why some rich people want to stay rich? Because they don't want to fall out of favor with the people in the same class as them. Do you know why some people want to stay poor? Because they don't want to fall out of favor with the people in the same class as them. Change is too hard for some people regardless of their socio-economic class. As far as poor people are concerned though, it's not so much the wide gap between the rich and the poor that keep people poor. It's other poor people who don't want to see one of their own make it out and make it good. Trust me, there are average people out there who treat their own worse than the people at the top do. They're scum.

Again, I can understand the frustration. She's painted herself into a corner she doesn't know how to get out of. What I can't understand though, is that defeatist attitude coming from a parent. Whether she realizes it or not, as a parent, she is leading her children by example, and her example is the attitude that things will always be what they are regardless of how hard one tries to change it. It's one thing to have a defeatist attitude, but it's another to let it bleed onto your kids.

It takes a bit of courage to admit you've made an arse of your life and bad decisions, but at least she recognises that. Took me years before I realised that I was blaming everything and everyone for my predicament except myself.

There are 2 large problems with being poor 1) getting out of it and 2) you develop a poverty mindset. They don't call it the poverty trap in this country for no reason, it really is a trap! Every day is a battle and a struggle and before long you can barely see the wood for the trees and your entire days are spent just thinking of ways to survive. Getting through it out of it and past it rarely cross your mind, your whole being is consumed by thoughts of poverty bills food. Yes we make bad decisions and so do the ultra rich the speculators and investors but why on earth shouldn't we have the right to live a little instead of just exist? The odd cigarette chocolate cake or whatever. We are pariahs and scapegoats but the world needs the poor....we are cannon fodder for any wars you want fighting, we are lab rats for experiments and test subjects for new laws and policies

All right. I'll bite a take the tough line.

Suppose we do come up magically with a so-called living wage so that we can throw money at her.

Will that suddenly change her attitude about her life? Will she suddenly stop taking the attitude that it's too hard to get birth control, take responsibility about her pregnancies and children? Will she magically decide she can now learn to cook and stop eating crap food? Will she quit smoking? Will she stop blaming her lack of initiative on her exhaustion because she has no time due to always having to work? Will she stop living in hotels and live elsewhere?

Will she take some charge of her life instead of blaming everything that happens to her on her lack of money/time/sleep?

For years, my mother worked all night and slept maybe four hours so that she could be at home to take care of my sister and I during the day. It was how my parents avoided paying for daycare. She had about as much sleep as this woman, but she found time to do all those things this woman feels too defeated to do.

One thing they taught us in my training to teach inner city school was that poverty is as much a culture as it is a state of lack of resources, and this woman seems to typify it. I'm very sorry for her, but until she starts to make some different decisions to help break out of her culture, she will never be free of it ... even if she gets more money.

phyllida
It takes a bit of courage to admit you've made an arse of your life and bad decisions, but at least she recognises that. Took me years before I realised that I was blaming everything and everyone for my predicament except myself.

There are 2 large problems with being poor 1) getting out of it and 2) you develop a poverty mindset. They don't call it the poverty trap in this country for no reason, it really is a trap! Every day is a battle and a struggle and before long you can barely see the wood for the trees and your entire days are spent just thinking of ways to survive. Getting through it out of it and past it rarely cross your mind, your whole being is consumed by thoughts of poverty bills food. Yes we make bad decisions and so do the ultra rich the speculators and investors but why on earth shouldn't we have the right to live a little instead of just exist? The odd cigarette chocolate cake or whatever. We are pariahs and scapegoats but the world needs the poor....we are cannon fodder for any wars you want fighting, we are lab rats for experiments and test subjects for new laws and policies

I agree, self determination is the only way out of the poverty trap.

And for your last sentence, yes, I agree, but I would summarise that sentence into a word.... expendable.
Dont forget the rich will always need people to serve their tables, clean their toilets, deliver their material goods and wipe their damn arses for them.

reply to post by Taupin Desciple

Trust me, there are average people out there who treat their own worse than the people at the top do. They're scum.

I know but evil gets more grip on the lower societies I think but you're right there's good and and bad on every level of society ..but every stone on the pyramid has to bear the one on top of the other, so bottom stones have to carry everything I guess