[kiki04]

We make a decent living, but are frugal. I ran into another class mom shopping for school clothes. She is a single mom, doesn't work. She had cash and was buying her son $90 sneakers. I just left payless with my kids. I asked if she had gone to walmart yet to get supplies, and she told me hers were covered by the school. All her kids have cell phones and nintendo DS's. I had to tell my girls we could not buy them a DS for their birthday, because they are too expensive. Just got me a little miffed.

[stuartcr]

It’s amazing how things change with time.

[P.O.E.]

I see lots of kids on the free/reduced lunch list with iPods and what not.

[the invisib1e hand]

it's almost impossible to believe, but it's real. there is a "gameable" system that rewards non-white-non-males and slackers in general.

It's pretty sickening.

[MissEdie]

Another observation about America’s poor is they are the fattest poor people anywhere on the planet.

[knittnmom]

We had a neighbor who opted to pay her cable bill instead of her utilities when she ran short. She was totally freaked when her power went out and cable would not work. (Our utilities don’t shut anyone off during the winter, but this was not during winter.)

[rarestia]

Shame on that mother for her insouciance! My fiancee and I make a decent living, but we aren’t going to be giving our children any digital devices until they’re teenagers. We realize this is an uphill in the snow battle, but it’s one that we believe in.

I’m scared to raise children in this digital age. The Internet was an idea in a lab when I was a kid. Nintendo transformed our worlds. Now the Internet? Yikes!

Kiki, if you can keep your kids busy with sports or other activities, more power to you. You do not have to spend inordinate amounts of money to raise your children. A bocce set or even some board games are cheap and provide plenty of entertainment for a family.

[svcw]

My Mom used to tell me, “if we give the poor everything they need or want, what is their incentive to improve their lot”. My Mom was a wise woman.

[Verbosus]

A good article with interesting facts.

[Verbosus]

A good article with interesting facts.

[ladyvet]

I hear you. My youngest just finished high school and we raised five and had to deal with what your talking about. Now my youngest is having to deal with where the college grants and such go. Seems to be never ending.

[nascarnation]

Record number on food stamps.
Record number of obese people.

America has the highest caloric consuming “poor” in the world.

[surroundedbyblue]

I’m a single mom. But I went to grad school & got myself a GOOD job (praise the Lord). I now make 6 figs but it annoys me to no end to see these welfare queens walking down the street with their cell phones & Louis bags, while I get up at 0430 every day to slave away paying my taxes to support them.

Pigs. I’d say they live like animals, but truly, I think that’s a disservice to animals. My cat is more civilized than some of these folks.

[Buckeye McFrog]

and a taxpayer financed trip to the grocery store every month

[neefer]

Not to mention that welfare fosters crime. I lived in a double with a guy who was Section 8 and didn't work. He committed identity theft with his spare time and eventually went to prison. A couple that lives down the street don't work (so I assume they're getting a handout). From the traffic that comes and goes and the partying that I see, I'm sure they're selling drugs of some type.

[Straight Vermonter]

The dirty secret about the working poor is that they are largely “single” moms. These “single” women almost always have a man living in their home. He may be “disabled” or he may have a job but in any case his income is not counted towards her finances. If this couple were married they would not be getting any benefits so, of course, they will never marry. They can afford to live on her government benefits so his income can go towards booze, smokes, toys and vacations. Poverty is rough.

[Truth is a Weapon]

I know times are tough and some families are truly struggling to provide housing and food for themselves. These people need help from the government and/or charities.

I find it insulting/dishonest to include in the definition of “poverty” people who have homes, cell phones, big screen tvs with asses so fat they can’t walk to the corner and back. When some people are going hungry I refuse to call a fat person “poor.”

[I am Richard Brandon]

"Modern Poverty Includes A.C. and an Xbox"

Time for an activist group to sue for a realistic official definition of poverty.

[FourPeas]

Who among us doesn't have stories of being in the grocery store watching people with buying junk food with cash and then using WIC to buy their milk, bread, etc.?

Or, kids who receive free lunches who take expensive ballet classes?

Or people on welfare who have cable TV, a blu-ray player, a computer, and spend their days not looking for work, but playing on-line subscription games?

Or, people who exist on finding government program after government program to pay them to live without any accountability?

Or, senior citizens who are repeatedly given medical supplies even though they clearly express that they don't need them (and have family members there to back them up) by medical personnel that assure them it's OK since it's only the government's money.

The whole system is broken. It can't be scrapped over night, but the sooner it's started the better. Not raising the debt ceiling may be the best place to start.

[Pan_Yan]

I had to tell my girls we could not buy them a DS for their birthday, because they are too expensive.

Goodwill for clothes, flea markets for tools and toys, coupon clipping for food. We know exactly how you feel. But we are raising our children to be self sufficient, hard working and honest. My kids go to church every Sunday. My daughter can shoot and my son knows how to live on what's in his backpack. They will be good employees, good citizens and good Christians.

The mom you referenced is not. She has crippled her children far more than she'll ever know. Don't envy them for what they get for free now, pity them for what they will become later.

[kcvl]