Stunning piece on poverty

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-tirado/why-poor-peoples-bad-decisions-make-perfect-sense_b_4326233.html

  Quote

I know how to cook. I had to take Home Ec to graduate high school. Most people on my level didn't. Broccoli is intimidating. You have to have a working stove, and pots, and spices, and you'll have to do the dishes no matter how tired you are or they'll attract bugs. It is a huge new skill for a lot of people. That's not great, but it's true. And if you fuck it up, you could make your family sick. We have learned not to try too hard to be middle-class. It never works out well and always makes you feel worse for having tried and failed yet again. Better not to try. It makes more sense to get food that you know will be palatable and cheap and that keeps well. Junk food is a pleasure that we are allowed to have; why would we give that up? We have very few of them.

Get a job you leeches

Job creators

Socialism

Not on my dime

I'm not gonna comment on the gofundme below the article, btw. I think the piece is well written and able to immerse any western rich kid with a heart into what it's like to be in the lowest % of western society.

I've been both well-off and poor and I can say that

When you're poor you're often faced with situations where any decision you make is bad

And when you're well-off it's hard to relate to or sympathize with poor-people problems

And where are you now on the relative scale?

I found the part on the long term memory especially eye-opening. Makes sense if you consider your body is in survival mode that your long term memory actually does suffer.

  On 11/23/2013 at 9:34 AM, goDel said:

And where are you now on the relative scale?

I found the part on the long term memory especially eye-opening. Makes sense if you consider your body is in survival mode that your long term memory actually does suffer.

This month I was poor and plowed under by bills

Doing that thing where you have to decide which bills to pay and which not to

Deciding between food and gas

Stuff like that

Next month I'll be well-off again

All bills paid and money to burn

Yay self-employment

Geez good luck man

... Dont know what to say really. Just hope all will be well in the long run.

Yeah actually I never really thought about it until you asked

But I really do oscillate between swimming in Thai food and pizza and new gear

And pawning guitar pedals to pay the phone bill

Unfortunately my bipolar seems to prevent me from saving too much

No matter what buffers or safeguards I try to devise

Impulse control is my tragic flaw

Not trying to make excuses

But it's just an inbuilt weakness courtesy of the condition

Anyway

I should say that I love life

And my happiness is mostly immune to financial matters

( acting on impulses)Might just be a side effect of the survival mode. More focus on your bigger (self) perspective might be what you need. Train your long term memory whenever you do have the means to overcome that survival mode, i guess.

I can promise you that my poor impulse control is most definitely a symptom of bipolar

In fact I would argue that without the impulse control factor

Bipolar wouldn't be 1/10th as destructive as it is

Last time I had $10,000 in savings

I had this uncontrollable urge to spend it

Took like two weeks

  On 11/23/2013 at 9:34 AM, goDel said:

I found the part on the long term memory especially eye-opening. Makes sense if you consider your body is in survival mode that your long term memory actually does suffer.

I agree, that bit on memory was amazing. I'm doing quite decently now by my own standards but I've been through stretches of hard times and that bit really nailed it for me. It's like a fog of decisions to make yourself relevant in various ways.

The only thing I disagree with is the idea that money brings happiness. Only self-control does.

Good thing I'm rich and happy.

  On 11/23/2013 at 12:14 PM, chim said:

 

  On 11/23/2013 at 9:34 AM, goDel said:

I found the part on the long term memory especially eye-opening. Makes sense if you consider your body is in survival mode that your long term memory actually does suffer.

 

I agree, that bit on memory was amazing. I'm doing quite decently now by my own standards but I've been through stretches of hard times and that bit really nailed it for me. It's like a fog of decisions to make yourself relevant in various ways.

 

The only thing I disagree with is the idea that money brings happiness. Only self-control does.

 

Statistically it does bring happiness, about five years ago it was 80 thousand USD per year, the threshold for regular comfortable no worries be life fulfilling happiness. Below that people tend to be more stressed = lower scores in the happiness stakes. Of course Sweden has a good social safety net so stats might be rather different there, you can wallow without the sadness swallow.

  On 11/23/2013 at 12:55 PM, delet... said:

 

  On 11/23/2013 at 12:14 PM, chim said:

 

  On 11/23/2013 at 9:34 AM, goDel said:

I found the part on the long term memory especially eye-opening. Makes sense if you consider your body is in survival mode that your long term memory actually does suffer.

 

I agree, that bit on memory was amazing. I'm doing quite decently now by my own standards but I've been through stretches of hard times and that bit really nailed it for me. It's like a fog of decisions to make yourself relevant in various ways.

 

The only thing I disagree with is the idea that money brings happiness. Only self-control does.

 

 

 

Statistically it does bring happiness, about five years ago it was 80 thousand USD per year, the threshold for regular comfortable no worries be life fulfilling happiness. Below that people tend to be more stressed = lower scores in the happiness stakes. Of course Sweden has a good social safety net so stats might be rather different there, you can wallow without the sadness swallow.

 

I know what you're talking about but I consider long-term happiness to be distinct from financial satisfaction. I work as an elderly caretaker and those who were most well off in their lives are extremely anxious and depressed.

That's probably cause their family are douches, and now they have fallen a long way down losing all that sense of self empowerment. Whilst they were with it though they were living the yummy cream puff delight of a dream. ;-]

Yeah I guess, but time is a passing dream...

Thanks for posting this. She has a really strong voice. I hope she becomes some kind of voice for people in poverty.