What is your view of the poor?

[Hereford]

the Pursuit of Happiness was a Will Smith & his kid 'vehicle' film.

[Captain Equipoise]

I grew up broke as fuck so I know what its like.  I always keep extra dollars in my wallet and each week when I see people with signs I give them the money.  Why?  1. It makes me feel good. 2. A person is in need and those 1 or 2 dollars will make a bigger difference to them then it will for me.

I know there are scammers out there but that's not for me to judge. 

What are your views on poor people domestically?

True story, you want to seperate the legit broke ones from the scammers and junkies? offer to buy them a sandwich when they ask for money, see how many take the food..lol

[The Showstoppa]

True story, you want to seperate the legit broke ones from the scammers and junkies? offer to buy them a sandwich when they ask for money, see how many take the food..lol

Truth.....if you noticed my post about the friend who carried a cardboard box full of crackers, soup, etc.. in his car so that when the panhandlers came over to the car he would offer them to them......he said about half just walked away.

[Hereford]

Truth.....if you noticed my post about the friend who carried a cardboard box full of crackers, soup, etc.. in his car so that when the panhandlers came over to the car he would offer them to them......he said about half just walked away.

It's hard to trade soup and crackers for drugs and plastic-bottle vodka.

Get a little compassion, man!

[The Showstoppa]

It's hard to trade soup and crackers for drugs and plastic-bottle vodka.

Get a little compassion, man!

haha....so true.  There is a convenience store I pass by here sometimes that has a painted sign on the side of it that says "We take food stamps or phone cards...." hahah......pure class.

[Hereford]

Why are poor people shopping at conveience stores anyways? You would think their scarce resoures would go farther at a Winco or Foodmax type discount store.

[The Showstoppa]

Why are poor people shopping at conveience stores anyways? You would think their scarce resoures would go farther at a Winco or Foodmax type discount store.

Its right across the road from a mexican infested trailer park.....

[Crossbow]

Why are poor people shopping at conveience stores anyways? You would think their scarce resoures would go farther at a Winco or Foodmax type discount store.

That is one of the things I can't get my head around either. Why do they buy food in gas station shops that are even more expensive.

They made interesting experiments in Europe when they gave the same amount of money to rich and to poor two kid families and told them that this was all they were allowed to spend on food for the entire week.

Then they observed their shopping habits. The poor families tended to buy over-prized ready made meals and ran out of cash after a few days, while the rich families tended to make a budget and then shopped mainly fresh and healthy products and often had money left over at the end of the week.

[Primemuscle]

Police are under intense pressure to not discriminate.  They can lose their pension over doing it.  If police are arresting more poor people than rich people it is because [surprise, surprise], poor people commit more crime.

Modern day USA and Canada are still meritocracies for the most part.  My friend has a disability and his IQ is around 60.  It only makes sense that he would be poor while someone like Einstein would have gone on to great success, does it not?  In a meritocracy, the cream will eventually rise to the top, although I admit that sometimes it may take a while.  I truly hope that the USA in its current form can be preserved.  American capitalism has given more to the world than it is has ever taken from it.

Lighten up Matt! I was being sarcasstic in my post. Also, I said nothing about the police arresting panhandlers, what I said was they send them on there way. To be honest in the last fifteen years, I have only seen two panhandlers at our town's freeway ramps. One young lady was out there for about three days and then she was gone. Another fellow, dressed as a neo-nazi, was hitchhiking when the police pulled up.

[Primemuscle]

West Lynn was pretty nice when I was there. Of course, that was about 12+ years ago...

Hasn't changed much. Folks are still building million dollar homes. If anyone is suffering from the economic downturn, their doing a good job of concealing it. I have noticed an upswing in property improvements this summer. I suspect some folks are staying put as opposed to moving since property values are down about 35% from their high in 2007.

My wife and I were going to downsize, but we've decided to stay where we are...two people and two dogs rattling around in a 3,000 sq. ft. home. Well, we do have plenty of room to put our kids up when they visit. That's one nice thing.