[quote=CONCHO]. . . If they would just shop at Whole Foods like I do, they could cook nice, fresh prepared foods. BTW I just picked a great new pan from Sur La Table, everyone should get one. It normally sells for $199 but I got it on sale for $129 because I’M A FREAKING GENIUS.
Back to sleep everyone. . . [/quote]
FWIW, CONCHO, I’ve never set foot in a “Whole Paycheck” market in my entire life. And the most expensive “pan” I’ve ever purchased was a $100 cast-iron skillet on the Macy’s clearance table for $32. With a small scratch, WTH?? It’s lasted me 16 years so far.
This thread has nothing to do with “morality of the poor.” It has to do with the effect inflation on everyday commodities has on the poor. Topics I brought up were food-group ignorance and to a lesser extent, not having the proper kitchen facilities, access to or resources to purchase “top-quality” ingredients.
We are all fortunate in this region, even the poor. We have a vast agricultural region beginning 150 miles north of here that grows a wide variety of produce. We can live without heating our homes. We have “almost adequate” TANF payments, a Section 8 voucher program and other rental programs that adjust rent to a worker’s income.
This is not the case in all parts of the country. Many poor families in other regions cannot exist without resorting to illegal activities if they can’t get consistent help from relatives. Their only other option is to leave their children behind with a relative and leave the area in search of work but this also requires money for travel and food AND a contact person to stay with for several months while they search for work and save up enough to get settled. It isn’t easy being poor in rural America, even though housing there may be cheaper. Utilities and (lesser-quality) food are often HIGHER than here. There is little to no competition in supermarkets in many areas.
All of my particular posts here have addressed the “function of being poor” and the various types of help that IS available to them. Sometimes poor people feel like they have to do desperate things when they have children. You have to put yourselves in some of these parents shoes to understand their actions.
Even the unfortunate “3-striker” incidences are just a function of being poor … nothing else. At the time of being “sprung” from a Big House in CA to your local parole office, you are given 3-5 things by the CDC:
-a clean change of street clothes if no one has brought you any
-money for one-way bus ticket (if no one is there to pick you up)
-an advance payment of about $200 in “General Relief” to be paid once per month for 6 months (may be renewable)
-an EBT card with an advance deposit on it of about $67, refilled once per month with same
Edit: add a 4th (6th) item: large folder of paperwork with name, address and phone number of parole officer and an Order to contact said officer within a certain number of hours of arriving back home (to set up appt).
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Down the line, after settling in with a relative and getting a job (typically manual labor and often “under-the-table”) due to a felony record, these parolees may get their kid(s) back. Then lose their jobs or business is slow and/or they have burned thru living with relatives and may be on a waiting list for subsidized housing. They know they can’t sell drugs because they will end up using again and they can’t test “dirty” or they will certainly end up back at the Inn. When they become desperate enough to feed their kids before EOM again, they’re back in the store trying to score a half-gallon of milk under their clothes w/o paying. For a felon, it’s EASY AS PIE to get a second and third strike against you, even for a (very costly) pack of gum.
It’s just a function of the combination of our screwed up legislature and “being poor.” It’s a terribly vicious cycle. :={
