How poor are those below the poverty line really? About 81% own a cell phone...

[QUOTE="THE_DRUGGIE"]

Erm, I was going to make a silly post like usual...but I don't think I can compete with TC's level of silly.

mAArdman

Okay, uh...he-here I go!

Uhm, I think poor people own so many phones because they thought it was food!

Ever think that cellphones are about as expensive as normal phone lines yet 10x as useful?

How dare those so called "poor" people spend their money on refrigerators and stoves! It is interesting that there is now a lower percentage of people who have them now.Kurushio

People in poverty now have TV's, cell phones, air conditioning, refrigerators, etc.

When I say "poverty", you may have images in your head of people who can't afford to eat enough, live in a slum, and are in general despair.

You don't generally picture people in poverty with TV's, computers, cell phones, modern appliances, air conditioning, etc.

How do you live in the modern world without a phone or refrigerator?

[QUOTE="Kurushio"]How dare those so called "poor" people spend their money on refrigerators and stoves! It is interesting that there is now a lower percentage of people who have them now.BMD004

People in poverty now have TV's, cell phones, air conditioning, refrigerators, etc.

When I say "poverty", you may have images in your head of people who can't afford to eat enough, live in a slum, and are in general despair.

You don't generally picture people in poverty with TV's, computers, cell phones, modern appliances, air conditioning, etc.

You're thinking about destitution, brosephina.

Poverty has plenty of different definitions depending on where you live, but one that is used in the first world is when the impoverished lack the ability to live without a marked amount of government assistance. Also, those on the bottom of the barrel have the additional disadvantage of lacking any feasible options for improving their lives to a state that is at least an iota above the poverty line.

BUUUUUUT, I guess having a cell phone while you have to whore yourself out to random men while your kids are in the next room just to make enough money to pay the rent means your life is going pretty sweet if you're a weird nympho; otherwise, I don't think the cell phone means you're completely out of poverty.

83% of people in poverty own an air conditioner? I dont even own an air conditioner :s I find it sad people are buying computers and Air conditioners, but are in a situation where they live paycheck to paycheck and complain that they're poor.Nibroc420

The apartment I rent has an air conditioner, probably similar for many people around the poverty line. I would doubt many of those at the poverty level actually own houses, or lug around air conditioners to new rental places.

Your second point is pretty bad, computers are not exactly luxuries anymore, just as much as phones are luxuries, or a roof over your head.

[QUOTE="Nibroc420"]83% of people in poverty own an air conditioner? I dont even own an air conditioner :s I find it sad people are buying computers and Air conditioners, but are in a situation where they live paycheck to paycheck and complain that they're poor.Zlurodirom

The apartment I rent has an air conditioner, probably similar for many people around the poverty line. I would doubt many of those at the poverty level actually own houses, or lug around air conditioners to new rental places.

Your second point is pretty bad, computers are not exactly luxuries anymore, just as much as phones are luxuries, or a roof over your head.

[QUOTE="Kurushio"]How dare those so called "poor" people spend their money on refrigerators and stoves! It is interesting that there is now a lower percentage of people who have them now.BMD004

People in poverty now have TV's, cell phones, air conditioning, refrigerators, etc.

When I say "poverty", you may have images in your head of people who can't afford to eat enough, live in a slum, and are in general despair.

You don't generally picture people in poverty with TV's, computers, cell phones, modern appliances, air conditioning, etc.

[QUOTE="Zlurodirom"]

[QUOTE="Nibroc420"]83% of people in poverty own an air conditioner? I dont even own an air conditioner :s I find it sad people are buying computers and Air conditioners, but are in a situation where they live paycheck to paycheck and complain that they're poor.Nibroc420

The apartment I rent has an air conditioner, probably similar for many people around the poverty line. I would doubt many of those at the poverty level actually own houses, or lug around air conditioners to new rental places.

Your second point is pretty bad, computers are not exactly luxuries anymore, just as much as phones are luxuries, or a roof over your head.

Please re-read that last sentence I wrote, I did not say "computers are not luxuries". The two other "luxuries" I noted are also "inessential" but you would be hard pressed to survive (and have any chance of future prospering) in this day and age without them.

[QUOTE="Nibroc420"][QUOTE="Zlurodirom"]

The apartment I rent has an air conditioner, probably similar for many people around the poverty line. I would doubt many of those at the poverty level actually own houses, or lug around air conditioners to new rental places.

Your second point is pretty bad, computers are not exactly luxuries anymore, just as much as phones are luxuries, or a roof over your head.

Zlurodirom

Please re-read that last sentence I wrote, I did not say "computers are not luxuries". The two other "luxuries" I noted are also "inessential" but you would be hard pressed to survive (and have any chance of future prospering) in this day and age without them.

ITT: OP and Nibroc don't actually understand poverty.

ITT: OP and Nibroc don't actually understand poverty.

Guybrush_3

[QUOTE="Guybrush_3"]

ITT: OP and Nibroc don't actually understand poverty.

Nibroc420

ITT: Nibroc doesn't know about several government programs related to distributing technology to the poor.

Half of that crap can be found for mega cheap at goodwill outlets or similar stores. Cheap phone plans aren't gone. We aren't at the point where everybody wastes their money on an iphone(or clone), and prepaid phones are still a thing.

[QUOTE="Zlurodirom"]

[QUOTE="Nibroc420"]Computers are not luxuries? lux·u·ry (lgzh-r, lksh-) n. pl. lux·u·ries 1. Something inessential but conducive to pleasure and comfort. Yeah, Computers are luxuries, as are cell phones and televisions.Nibroc420

Please re-read that last sentence I wrote, I did not say "computers are not luxuries". The two other "luxuries" I noted are also "inessential" but you would be hard pressed to survive (and have any chance of future prospering) in this day and age without them.

Many rural areas have poor local facilities, computers are not always available for use. Email is essential to correspond for many people. Entertainment provides a destraction from the real world, and holds societal value. Similar with a phone. Social contact and community are core aspects of culture, and living as a human.

Taking away different avenues to a social lifestlye may be doing more damage than the monetary value that is saved.

You speak in absolutes but these are not absolutes.

Many would call social interactions a "luxury", but because in-person communications generally don't have a price, we don't worry about it.

Your problem is you lump all percieved luxuries in the same category, when degrees of luxury may be more applicable. Like I stated before a roof can be described as "inessential" (which you so bravely ignored my point about both having a roof, and the point about air conditioners, great job!), as well as a bed, heated water, and many other "luxuries" used in day-to-day living .

For your last point, do you really see many homless using computers?

Just to illustrate your failure in making this thread

200$ fridge 2000$ fridge Please understand there is a difference between the two and modern day to day life requires you to have the things you listed in order to survive, without a cell phone you can't get a job as they cant contact you if you apply for a job and landlines cost a lot more then cell phones (at least where I live).

Wow, it's almost like improvements in technology make things cheaper!chessmaster1989

The only point I took away from this is that less poor people now own a fridge and stove than they did 20 years ago. Cellphones are cheap as **** but how do you get by without a goddamn fridge and stove!?Ace6301

ITT: OP and Nibroc don't actually understand poverty.

Guybrush_3

Correction: OP doesn't understand poverty, Nibroc is just a shitty troll.

You can get a cell phone for less than £5

This means absolutely nothing. 

Cellphones are cheaper than most home phones now.foxhound_fox

Besides the TV and DVD player, all those things seem quite necessary to not make life needlessly more difficult.

I don't get the point of this thread other than you feel like shitting on poor people as if there's not already enough of that on this forum.

 

 

Aljosa23

This.

Wactch this thread devolve into a raction discussion.

Yeah, f*ck the impoverished! That's what's wrong with the country, poor people being able to call their kids.

PatchMaster

Wow, it's almost like improvements in technology make things cheaper!chessmaster1989

83% of people in poverty own an air conditioner? I dont even own an air conditioner :s I find it sad people are buying computers and Air conditioners, but are in a situation where they live paycheck to paycheck and complain that they're poor.Nibroc420

Who said I bought the AC? You do know the shit comes with places right?

Wow, it's almost like improvements in technology make things cheaper!chessmaster1989

you can get a phone for almost nothing these days and just use pay pas you go.

They have cell phones because Obama used our tax dollars to give them free cell phones. Everybody I know that has one calls them "Obama phones".AmazonTreeBoa

[QUOTE="AmazonTreeBoa"]They have cell phones because Obama used our tax dollars to give them free cell phones. Everybody I know that has one calls them "Obama phones".Person0

I am not Obama. I don't blame others not responsible. Obama is the one that gave them out, not Reagan.AmazonTreeBoa

The cell phones are cheaper than the landlines guaranteed under Reagan.

[QUOTE="AmazonTreeBoa"]I am not Obama. I don't blame others not responsible. Obama is the one that gave them out, not Reagan.br0kenrabbit

The cell phones are cheaper than the landlines guaranteed under Reagan.

The US is ranked 3rd in the world in the Human Development Index.

But it drops 13 spots at 16th when you consider inequality into account.

Draw your conclusions.

Some of those things aren't really that expensive anyway. I think stoves and refrigerators are relatively costly, I think refrigerators could cost a couple thousand depending on the type and quality.

TV's are a lot cheaper than they used to be, with the consequence that a lot of times people buy a new tv when their tv doesn't work instead of calling a repair man.

Cellphone's probably vary in cost depending on what type you buy and what your plan is. A new iPhone probably costs around $100 and I think it requires a data plan, but a pre-paid phone could cost only $20 for a phonecard that lasts three months. The government does have a program that helps poor people get cellphones, sometimes referred to as "Obamaphones" but I think Reagan started the program for landline phones and G.W. Bush expanded it to include cellular phones (though I don't think it covers satellite phones, could be wrong though).

Refrigerators cost a good bit to buy, but they also reduce food spoilage and allow people to store items longer which could allow them to save on grocery bills (and gas) by buying items that are on sale even if they aren't needed. Refrigerators may also save money on health-care costs if people would otherwise consume spoiled food. I think milk would have to be consumed fairly quickly, for example, if it weren't for refrigerators.

I was making 10 bucks an hour at my first job, that is well below the poverty line...

...my boss got me a cell phone

...the house I moved into had a fridge, range, microwave, washer, and dryer (pretty much every house I have moved into since this first house has had the same setup as well).

...handwashing dishes aint bad, who needs a dishwasher. After all, I was doing that as my job prior.

...I took my parents old TV that had been sitting in the basement for a couple years

...DVD players cost like 40 bucks

...I build my own PCs, and upgrade them over time for small amounts of money, so that is no big expense.

Is this something exclusive to California or something? Does the rest of the country suck? Don't the houses you rent come with these things? I Thought this was commonplace and, thus, this was another pointless BMD thread

mrbojangles25

[QUOTE="mrbojangles25"]

I was making 10 bucks an hour at my first job, that is well below the poverty line...

...my boss got me a cell phone

...the house I moved into had a fridge, range, microwave, washer, and dryer (pretty much every house I have moved into since this first house has had the same setup as well).

...handwashing dishes aint bad, who needs a dishwasher. After all, I was doing that as my job prior.

...I took my parents old TV that had been sitting in the basement for a couple years

...DVD players cost like 40 bucks

...I build my own PCs, and upgrade them over time for small amounts of money, so that is no big expense.

Is this something exclusive to California or something? Does the rest of the country suck? Don't the houses you rent come with these things? I Thought this was commonplace and, thus, this was another pointless BMD thread

whipassmt

I don't know anybody with free landline service. Never even heard of anybody with free landline service.AmazonTreeBoa

Visit rural Appalachia sometime.

[QUOTE="br0kenrabbit"]

[QUOTE="AmazonTreeBoa"]I am not Obama. I don't blame others not responsible. Obama is the one that gave them out, not Reagan.AmazonTreeBoa

The cell phones are cheaper than the landlines guaranteed under Reagan.

anyway. i'll just post this and be on my way.

Besides the TV and DVD player, all those things seem quite necessary to not make life needlessly more difficult.

I don't get the point of this thread other than you feel like shitting on poor people as if there's not already enough of that on this forum.

Aljosa23

Also a computer might not be necessary, though it could be helpful. I didn't have a computer until 2003 when I was in eight grade, so it wasn't really necessary for me then, but it would've been a big hassle not to have a computer when I was in high school and more so now with college.

[QUOTE="whipassmt"]

[QUOTE="mrbojangles25"]

I was making 10 bucks an hour at my first job, that is well below the poverty line...

...my boss got me a cell phone

...the house I moved into had a fridge, range, microwave, washer, and dryer (pretty much every house I have moved into since this first house has had the same setup as well).

...handwashing dishes aint bad, who needs a dishwasher. After all, I was doing that as my job prior.

...I took my parents old TV that had been sitting in the basement for a couple years

...DVD players cost like 40 bucks

...I build my own PCs, and upgrade them over time for small amounts of money, so that is no big expense.

Is this something exclusive to California or something? Does the rest of the country suck? Don't the houses you rent come with these things? I Thought this was commonplace and, thus, this was another pointless BMD thread

Nibroc420

Also a computer might not be necessary, though it could be helpful. I didn't have a computer until 2003 when I was in eight grade, so it wasn't really necessary for me then, but it would've been a big hassle not to have a computer when I was in high school and more so now with college.

whipassmt

The poorest poor in America isn't anywhere near the normal citizens of a 3rd world nation. We are very lucky even if sometimes we think we can't get by with what we've got. ferrari2001

I usually hear the word oven to describe the bottom part where you put food in and stove to describe the top where you put pots and pans on.whipassmt

[QUOTE="whipassmt"] I usually hear the word oven to describe the bottom part where you put food in and stove to describe the top where you put pots and pans on.Nibroc420