[quote=CA renter][quote=jstoesz][quote=CA renter]
Have you ever been in a poor family’s house? Somehow, I doubt it.
[/quote]
For someone who claims to try and keep it civil, your comments reek of calling me ignorant. Have you forgotten that I have somewhat recently graduated College? Many of my friends graduated into a very awful job market. One lost his job 3 times in a year and a half. Another has been looking for work for 2 years. Both with a decent pile of student loan debt. They did not collect food stamps nor welfare, some didn’t qualify for unemployment insurance, because they had not yet been employed. One of my closest friends accidently got pregnant and had a kid (she is married), she was marginally unemployed and then unemployed and the other was in the middle of grad school, yet somehow they managed to stay of government assistance and buy health insurance. Currently my parents would qualify for food stamps and welfare after my dad’s last employer stopped paying him but did not lay him off, but they have enough assets to keep their pride.
I suspect though that this is not the kind of poor people you are referring too. You are referring to the type that have themselves on their heels with poor decisions and seem to constantly take steps back. Well I know a few of those people to, but to spell that out seems a bit unflattering.
In my view neither group of poor people needs free stuff, they need opportunity.
I wonder if you have ever been to a poor persons house.[/quote]
There’s a big difference between young people, fresh out of college, and families where both parents work and they still can’t afford to keep a stocked refrigerator.
I’ve been in these homes, and know how they run out of food every week because they have to juggle bills and can’t afford more groceries. They have to ration their food so they don’t completely run out before they can afford to go shopping again.
In your post above, you said that poor people in the US were overfed. They’re not overfed, but they often eat higher-calorie junk foods that tend to be cheaper, which can lead to obesity problems (if that’s what you were referring to).
An interesting article with insightful posts here:
Calories are calories. If you lived on 1000 cal of McDonalds you would be skinny, and not even malnourished if you stuck to their salads and grilled chicken. We should rejoice at the service McDonalds provides, I guess that is why it is the largest restaurant company in the world.
Furthermore, people don’t eat healthy because they don’t want to. Giving them more money will just divert their income to other appetites (cell phones, cable, etc). Why do you think there is a thriving black market for food stamps?
Its like housing. We made it possible for everyone in this country to “own” a home, because it was the “road to the middle class.” Problem was most people who obtained those mortgages were not financially mature enough to keep their homes, leaving them more destitute. Just because people have the means to be healthy does not mean they will take the opportunity. Obesity among the poor is not symptomatic of too few resources which is contradictory on its face, it is systematic of poor decision making.
Caveat, obesity is not a tell all of poor decision making. Churchill became quite obese…
Oh, one other note. With our safety nets in place, there are no families in america where both parents work, and they can not fill their refrigerator. If this were the case (and statistics are not on your side here), the issue is too many financial obligations/appetites for non food products.
