actually, they do. You see hobos walking down the streets of seattle with smart phones. And you can get a basic flip phone for 20 bucks a month from walmart.
I get the feeling that you are extremely out of touch with what "poverty" has become in America, yet you argue and think that you do.
Poverty in the west is Cable LCD TV, smart phone, and one bedroom 600 sq ft apartment. And these are the people bitching that tjey have it so fucking hard.
1st world problems, jesus christ. I lived on my own moving furniture for 9 bucks an hour in 08 when the crash hit and I was out of the military. ... I could still afford a nice place, comcast cable and internet, 2 cars (a cheap commuter and my truck), and a cell phone, on NO government benefits. People today just want what others have and arent willing to accept that may have to start with next to nothing (which is still a shit ton more than most of the world).
You're feeling is wrong. Several of my friends and my wife and I volunteer at shelters, feeding the homeless. My wife worked for years in the "Life and Career Options" program at a local community college. This program was designed to help people get into or back into the workforce. Many of the participants were homeless or nearly so. My wife and I help distribute food at food banks. This year we are participating in a program that gives toys to the children of currently unemployed or underemployed working folks. I believe I have a pretty good idea of what it is like to find yourself out of work and trying to support a family.
Today being Thanksgiving, my wife and I are fixing dinner for some of our family.
My sister is here for the weekend. Because of her meager income, she qualifies for food stamps and help with her utility bills. She is disabled and unemployable. Her income is SSD and a small pension as a result of the few years she worked at the DMV. She lives in a shit apartment. She does not own a car. She has one television that is ancient and it is not a flat screen TV. The computer she had, which was a gift, quit working. She cannot afford to replace it. Her cell phone is nothing special and her service is cricket, a pay as you go minimal type service.
Later today, my nephew his girlfriend and their 2 year old daughter are coming over. They are struggling to make ends meet. Like my sister, the live in a crummy neighborhood in an apartment building filled with people living on the fringes of society. Neither my nephew nor his girlfriend take drugs. Currently, my nephew is working part time as a cook for a restaurant and picking up odd jobs where he can. His girlfriend is in school studying to become a nurse. She is currently a CNA and until recently was working at a nursing home for low wages. She has applied to the University of Oregon Medical School for work as a CNA or a Nutritionist. If she lands a position there, they will help her pay for her schooling. My nephew's cell phone has a cracked screen. I am not sure how he can read what comes up on it. I helped them move, there furniture is clean and looks like it might have come from Goodwill or it was handed down to them. It is nothing fancy. The car they drive looks like it wouldn't make it to the corner much less back a forth to work. I don't know if they qualify for food stamps (a card actually).
So I guess when you compare these two family members' lifestyles to that of some homeless people or a poor person living in a third world county, they are living the life of Riley. And one could argue that everything is relative.
I haven't heard the term hobo for years. When I was a kid living with my dad in Michigan, we kids were told not to go near the railroad tracks because of the hobos and yet people would put food and old clothing out for them. Seriously, are there still hobos in the sense of what they once were when the railroad was more viable?
