Well, if my husband’s construction business goes bankrupt, our family will be among the poor. Hard working American families who are dealing with long-term unemployment are among the poor. We get calls from men looking for work, men in their 40s, 50s, and they all tell me the same thing, “I’ve never been out of work before in my life.”
This is the future of American poverty. Families like mine who are out of work for month after mine, use their savings, sell what they can, and then start living off retirement and anything invested. Pretty soon there’s nothing left. Do they move in with family? Can they even get ANY job? Assuming they have been good stewards and responsible, this scenario is still highly possible.
Just about any family is six months or less from that scenario, so please don’t assume it’s only the chronically unemployed and unemployed-by-choice who make up this 1 in 7.
One more thing, 60% of Argentinians were at the poverty level by 2003, following their late 1990’s economic collapse. We could hit numbers that high by the time Obama and the Demonrats are done with us.
Then it’s a real pity that we support the professional “poor” and cannot help those who need it now.
I have no problem giving a hand up.
I’m tired of giving a hand out.
And I just wanted to add that we have skinnied down on everything. No cable, no frills. We shop at Salvation Army and eat hot dogs. Grow as much food as we can and pick much more.
Yet we are rich. Why? Because we have each other and don’t turn to the government to make up our yearly raises. The poor who want to get out of it (like you would be) are not the people posters are speaking of.