"Poverty in America"... mostly rhetoric

I don't think it is OK, but I am just saying, look at the general health of the family, good skin, not even really thin, decent casual clothing in good repair... they are likely housed and fed somewhere. Pictures can be the biggest liars in the world.

As for the entirety of the issue, I have several posts here that make my position clear.

 

You said it yourself; 'pictures can be the biggest liars in the world'.
Who would have thought that the clean-cut men in nice suits who worked for Enron could have been some of the biggest crooks you could ever hope to meet? You're right; appearances lie. All the time. Pre-judging, however, from the perspective of 'personal responsibility' is transparent.

 

Everyone is good at something, at worst you can perform unskilled labor. If that many people were not good at anything, we would be way, way worse off.

How do you know about the caliber of people who make it over here? I would say our immigrants represent a diverse cross-section of people.

 

I have made it clear that, for instance, a mentally disabled orphan would deserve and receive help, no doubt, and we can easily afford that.

Someone makes a choice to use drugs given all that we nowknow about their dangerous addictiveness and effects? You actually excuse that? Unbelievable.

Yes, absolutely, drug addiction is the responsibility of the person who chose to break the law and chose to use drugs knowing the consequences, no doubt about it.

Again, I see a culture of "victimhood" and criminal here.

Who do you blame for the drug addicts decisions?

 

Ahh, if only you had comprehended what I said: the heritage foundation's story is scewed because the heritage foundation is part of the right-wing agenda: it's not the facts; it's what you do with the facts . . .

Watch this video very closely:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/21/sen-al-franken-focus-on-the-family-doma_n_906187.html

 

The Tea Partiers want to destroy our country with adherence to the U.S. Constitution and a simplified, just tax code? Because that is what the Tea party is about, despite what MSNBC and Bill Maher might say.

Please explain what you mean.

 

I mean, I like living in a country where we don't have hordes of the elderly, infirm, or temporarily out of luck families living under freeways begging at stoplights.

I appreciate that is the Tea Party ideal.

 

No, I am accounting for the utilities, oils, and spices. The cost of the natural gas to heat the chicken @ 350 for 45 min-1 hour may be 3-5 cents at best. It will hardly make the price comparable.

 

And you are certain they are sincere?

 

Why would you automatically assume they aren't? That's more to the point.

 

Most people classified as poor do have this equipment, that was the exact point of the OP. If you don't have the skills, that is a wholly different issue. There is no way you will convince anyone that fast-food is cheaper than making your own when it comes down to pound-for-pound comparisons.

So, if the spuds are about $.25 each, the overhead may be another quarter (as for the driving, you have to count that when they go for fast food as well, so that cancels out), I think it would still be much cheaper.

 

Uh, yes, in charitable giving, more is better. That is exactly correct. I can't believe that you don't get that.

You even believe that yourself right? Because Europe gives "more" in income redistribution and you have supported this in myriad posts, correct?

 

Yeah screw you poor. I read.

 

What if their mentally disabled, crazy and an orphan? Sink or swim, sink or swim? You fail to acknowledge humanities frailties with little more than a passing it's their failings that make them that way. What if the person is flawed by nature? Your suggestions of people who wind up in tough situations are pretty callous... you want a retarded person to "work harder", "learn more", "grind it out" to make things better for themselves... I suggest you are as lost as they are.

 

LOL, silly little man, so jealous, so resentful, so angry.

More nobels than anyone, nbest university sytem on earth, leaders of the space age and computer age, more (and the most significant) inventions in modern times that any nation, responsible for what many considr man's greatest acheivement, the moon landing, world's most productive workers, inventors of social media.

The fact is, and the evidence supports, we are the smartest, most innovative, capable people in the world.

So go ahead and keep your silly little meaningless opinions underpinned by your tragically European inferiority complex, I will just stay with the facts.

By the way, it speaks volumes how you flippantly dismiss the idea of personal responsibility as some strange idea.

How European. Liberalism is a mental disorder.

Hey, i guess that is why the world laughs at you for always trying to compare to us when in fact you never will, which is why more immigrant choose to come here than there, they know who the big daddy is.

 

Oh dear; did I touch a nerve?

 

So you dont think "making it over here" takes any effort? It's just a pick a number and wait in line situation to get here?

You're awesome my man. gl to you, at least I know various social programs are there to help you should you need them.

 

With a free stove top?

EDIT: honestly I wanna drag this out to include the time it takes someone to prepare the food @ minimum wage is lie 7 dollars for an order of fries (time it takes if you prepared them yourself).... but of course those poor folks have nothing but time to TRAVEL MUCH FURTHER to get to the grocery, cook and prepare the food, and pay for all the appliances/utilities that it takes to make the food...

...lazy freaking poor.

 

When we were kids, we would dig up spuds. Build a fire and throw the spuds on the coals. When they were all blackened and covered in ash, we'd drag them out with sticks, break them open on a rock and eat the centers. They were great. The roasted, toasted smell made your mouth water. Had to be a bit careful about burning your mouth or biting on a charcoaled skin. That tasted awful and made your teeth squeak. Pull up some green onions, strip the outer layer and you had a perfectly cleaned onion. Bite of spud, bite of onion. All that smoke from the fire and the onion breath and the parents couldn't tell we'd been sneaking smokes too. Of course we'd been riding bikes, running, playing baseball from dawn till dusk too so we were putting out other covering odors too. Wasn't a fat kid in the neighborhood, and we all ate all day long. We had a very ethnic neighborhood, with more than a dozen different kinds of foods, and everyone ate at everyone's homes. And still ate a big dinner of Mom's cooking.

 

You driving them to the grocery too?

 

Same way they get to Mickey D's, in the salvaged and 'clipped' Caddie!

 

Darn lying infants.... LMAO do you read your responses in context? Ever?

 

I did not pre-judge. Pre-judging means you have judged before you have the information.

I have the information in the form of Data brom the impartial US census bureau as provided in my OP, so I have simply judged.

The fact that you don't like the idea of personal responsibility and self-sufficience is telling. We expect that from most Euros though.

 

McDonalds are closer to most inner city residences than groceries, not to mention it is much easier to get an order of MickeyD's home than a load of groceries.

 

"Hordes" may be a stretch.