Big-Screen Televisions [What exactly does the word "poverty" mean in the USA?]

slate.msn.com ^ | Aug. 24, 2005 | Bryan Curtis

[altura]

Wow. I'm as elitist as the next elitist, but you have me beat.

[OldFriend]

On the contrary, welfare reform by the republican congress during X42 has not been undone by President Bush.

Why would you suggest otherwise?

[OpusatFR]

"In short, they get into trouble because they are greedy."

Bingo! And very Un-PC.

We can't speak of greed since that might imply people are responsible for themselves!

[dawn53]

I was having a discussion this AM with my sister about the exact same thing.

A friend of our teens, whose parent's are lower income, and will not be able to help him with college costs, bought himself a big screen LCD TV with the money he had made from his job.

We told our teens that purchases like that would lead to a "poverty mentality."

Now when he needs money for college, he'll think he's too poor to go, or will have to take on student loans, when in fact, if he had saved the money and not bought the TV he would have had almost enough for a year's tuition at a state college.

[TheForceOfOne]

Poverty = Entitlements and racial preference.

[proudofthesouth]

A couple of years ago my office "adopted" a family for Christmas. The father was and had been out of work for a considerable time and the mother was working as a waitress at a chain restaurant. They had 2 teenage children. Well rather than asking for necessities which is what they really needed, they requested a large screen TV, playstation, video games. I did donate a bike to them which I no longer had room for.

[montomike]

I just sit about two feet away from my 27" Sony and pretend its a 100" HDTV.

I have a really good imagination!

[cyclotic]

About 20 years ago, I worked as a contractor doing rehab weatherization work on welfare houses in Detroit. As we were doing doors and windows, it wasn't unusual to see other contractors at the house doing roofing or HVAC. One house had a couple of other workers there but I paid them no attention until I walked out in the backyard at the end of the day to dump some trash. These other contractors were installing a 6' satellite dish in the yard of these poor downtrodden, down on their luck poor people who were victims of life lottery and need to be taken care of us through our taxes since we are rich and successful.

[Gefreiter]

K,
My wife and I just bought a house earlier this year.

She was really leaning toward buying a multi-family to ensure some income. I told her I wanted nothing to do with tenants, and stories like your brother's are why.

I work 2 jobs (3 this week, actually- yeah, improving economy!) to afford our place, which is nothing spectacular. But it's outside of the nearest urban hellhole: it's quiet and I don't need bars on the windows.

BTW, a big flatscreen tv is nowhere in my future. And that's fine by me!

[RadioAstronomer]

LOL! :-)

[pepperdog]

I know what you mean, I became a conservative the day I read about public housing having central air conditioning and paying less rent than my house payment. I was sweating like a pig at the time because my little window unit had gone out and I had no money to get it fixed. Trying to sleep in the heat and then go to work was miserable. The thought that I was working, sweating and paying taxes so that others, who would not work, were kept comfortable made me an instant rabid right winger. I'll never forget that moment.

[not2worry]

Well, guess I'd rather see them use the money for family entertainment than drugs. I have no problem with whether or not they got a big screen TV in every room if it's their money that they have worked for...Just goes to show you how great America is. If getting the "BIG TV" motivates them to get up in the morning to go to work to make the payments, so what?

IMHO, we have bigger issues to resolve than who has or who has not.

I guess all this big screen TV in low income families is all Bush's Fault to boot.

Reminds me of a great Jeff Foxworthy skit with the $9,000 stereo...if you haven't heard that one you're not from Red Neck Country. OOPS, just realized the article was in Slate, I do not believe they have been out of NYC or the Hamptons!

[Blood of Tyrants]

He is right. If you can afford payments, you can afford to save that much each month.

[Gefreiter]

OF,
I read once that the poor can have things like top of the line tvs, computers, and other hardware because they often don't own it at all. Thank you, Rent-A-Center.

None of them can swing $5k outright for a spiffy new tv, but any of them can get $30/week or whatever to rent it indefinitely.

[ctdonath2]

The median income of the world's population is $2 per day.
If you're making more than $2 per day, you're earning more than half the world's population.
If you're making more than half the world's population, you're not poor.

[Personal Responsibility]

We can't speak of greed since that might imply people are responsible for themselves!

I could not have said it better myself! (points to his screen name!)

[Terabitten]

One of the key steps in my journey to becoming a conservative was a trip to Panama I took in 1990. I met a family of five living in a washing machine box - the big cardboard box that a washing machine comes in. They'd found a kiddie pool and used that as a roof to keep the rain off.

I suddenly realized that poverty is relative and that we really don't have any poor people in this country.

[Gefreiter]

That's a good bit.

Hasn't everyone had "the spool"...?

[Old North State]

This whole article is another example of the bizarre world view (I can't spell weltenschuung) of clueless self styled "journalists" who will repeat ridiculous assertions about poverty like, "studies show that there are 35 million people in America who suffer from hunger, or "40 million below the poverty line."
Most of there people are in debt, not poverty, because of the way they choose to spend.

[jude24]

If getting the "BIG TV" motivates them to get up in the morning to go to work to make the payments

The problem is not with the people who are working and splurging on a big TV, but rather the people who are not working, and yet have great electronics, cars, etc. and are asking for handouts.

Back in the late 1980's, when I was a kid , I knew a guy who claimed that in America, "poor" meant you didn't own a VCR. That's not wholly true - poverty is very real in some areas, for instance, look at the homeless at Downtown Buffalo. Still, the truth of it is that poverty is often the result of poor lifestyle choices. If you graduate high school and work even at minimum wage at 40 hrs. a week, you will be just above the poverty line. Even in high school, I never worked minimum wage.