Why people are poor and how we fix it

I have limited this to America simply because every country is different.  People are poor here for two main reasons.

1. hard times
2. stupidity

Stupidity often leads to ignorance.  Ignorance is the worst thing that could happen to anything.  But before I go on, let me tell everyone what sparked this today.

I dont live in the best neighborhood.  This is mostly because of my own stupidity.  I could move.  I could do this and that...but I havent.  Why?  Because of my own patience.  Sometimes things are good to wait for.  This isnt quite one of them.  Since I have realized this bad move, I have worked for a way to get out.  Anyway, I was walking the dogs today with no problem.  My neighbor and I chatted up a bit.  This guy, awesome.  He lives here because he has a family to take care of and it was a cheap house with an extremely large yard.  He has two large pit bulls that arent walked, but played with for hours a day while some of the family tends to the garden in the back.  As I walked further down the street, I came across a dog nearly hopping the fence.  Two things could have happened

1. the dog wouldnt have made it
2. the dog would have had his face smashed in because Im not the kind of person that stands there screaming "oh no stop please!"

The dog didnt make it.  The dog wasnt the problem.  The owner standing in the yard that let her dogs jump all over her and became nervous at the sight of me walking by was the problem.  A weak owner should either man up or not have two large, aggressive breeds.  She probably got them as cute puppies.  Stupidity.  However she didnt fix this stupid move one bit.  Nope, they grew up to own her.  What made me even more mad was the neighbor that commented "almost ol boy!"  I question if she would have said the same thing if the dog did jump the fence and I did, to protect my pack, injured him.  Ignorance.

So why are people poor in America?

Well lets rephrase this.  Why do people stay poor in America?

First, lets look at the definitions of poor (used in our context of course.)

Merriam-Websters definition of poor (of course Oxford you have to pay for and the free dictionary isnt working for me at this time.)

1. lacking material possessions
2. small in worth
3. less than adequate 

No wonder why everyone is money hungry and materialistic.  People dont want to be "less than adequate" but instead happy and...adequate.

Anyone taking Economics may come across this interesting thing called standard of living and another thing called quality of life.  These things, interestingly enough, do not like each other.  When standard of living is high, quality of life is low and vice versa.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN PEOPLE IN THE SLUMS ARE HAPPIER THAN PEOPLE IN MANSIONS???!?!

It isnt just worldwide.  Often "poor" people in the country are happier than people financially happy and with more possessions in urban/suburban areas.  There is much less crime in the country and it has nothing to do with nature or living far apart.

These poor people (living in those purple mountains of the US or those hills of China) have one thing many city folk have forgotten about.  They have communities and family that are willing to be there for them.  Im not dissing city folk (after all, I was raised suburban and have lived suburban my entire life) but we seem to be so into what we dont have.  Many minimalists (the lifestyle, not the fashion/music/anything of those sorts) are catching on as well.  Less is more.  Besides, our real friends and good family dont care what we have or how messy our living room is.

In short, how do I think we should fix poor?  Stop being so damn materialistic.  I can spew on about being eco friendly which, with knowledge on how to not be scammed, comes out being much cheaper but that isnt what this post is about.  In fact, I will probably blog that next.

In this wonderful country we call home, we do need some income.  We dont own anything for fuck sake and when we do own it 100%, there is usually some law keeping an eye on it.

HOW TO STOP BEING POOR pt 1

Do yourself a favor and be eco friendly (more on that in the next blog.)  What you need and what you want are two different things.

HOW TO STOP BEING POOR pt 2

This requires more than just yourself.  Go to a farmers market or a local farm to shop.  Buy from local stores.  Yes this costs more but think of it this way.

Wal Mart opens a new store and it creates 200 local jobs plus temporary jobs for construction workers.

A family shop opens a very large store of the same size and it only buys products from other family owned shops.  It creates 200 local jobs plus more jobs for those shops that it is getting product from.  It encourages more local practices.  This also means less people need to be on welfare or need financial assistance because we opened up more than 200 jobs.  Tada!  Less taxes we have to spew out.

HOW TO STOP BEING POOR pt 3

Knowledge.  Yeah simple.  Dont be stupid or impulsive.  Since dogs and cats are a big pet peeve of mine, I will use them as an example.

We buy a puppy from a pet store which likely came from a puppy mill.  This has helped our local economy but not in a good way.  The greedy owner just wants your money and doesnt care about you.  Same with a free



kitten.  We encourage these people to allow animals to breed thus more die in shelters.  Putting animals down isnt cheap but county and city shelters usually get some sort of government help.  Tada...minus more tax money!  A little research goes a long way.