Poverty and the cost of living today.

Houses might get a lot cheaper pretty quickly soon

 

Milwaukee and Waukesha Wisconsin have some poverty stricken areas. Families have to figure out almost on a daily basis where their next meal is coming from.

Milwaukee is still running the school meal program during COVID-19 just so children get a meal 5 days a week all year long (during summer too)

Cost of living seems decent. Poverty stricken homes start at 5K. Middle income homes about 100K. High income homes start at 225K.

Incomes are higher due to lots of union trade jobs throughout Wisconsin


Off topic
However one of the worst and hardest to fix attributes of Milwaukee is its racial segregation. Only comparable to a prison imo....
This seems to be the reason why poverty cannot break through this endless barrier and have any chance to get better. Sad

 

Poverty for children in the UK, thanks to the scumbag 'nasty party' !!!

 

City folk, they'd pay to breathe air.

 

Milwaukee isn’t alone.


Boston is also running the school meal program while the schools are shutdown, There are designated locations throughout the city in which the parents pick up lunch for their child or children.

 

Poverty, race, and class are irrevocably linked within America and it's hard to facilitate a conversation about one without including the others.
Amid the COVID-19 crisis, I am anticipating the aftermath to look terrible for black and brown communities. It also seems that there's going to be a new large subset of the population without income or insurance which will hopefully lead to some type of movement.
"Middle class" folks are learning quickly that they're working class, and a couple of paychecks from poverty.

We'll... see...

 

I think it's relative. What it means to be poor in a first world country is not the same thing as what it means to be poor in a third world country.

Also,

 

it annoys me sometimes how people define being skint, usually the younger ones, I remember one time being so skint that I had no food and about a fiver to get me until the next unemployment benefit, now to me that's being skint, when you're struggling to buy food or pay rent, a lot of youngsters think they're skint because they can't afford the latest smartphone, or a bigger tv, or fancy clothes. I suppose it says a lot about people and their priorities

 

They may indeed have to someday. I'm sure some big high tax cities are thinking about an "Air Tax"

 

I would say poverty is somewhat geographical. If you have the tools and skills, staying in the forest easily provides your basic needs with only a small upfront investment. Where living in the concrete jungle is a never ending expense. Food and shelter most always have a cost.

Native Americans made living in nature work. When resources thinned they simply moved to another area allowing the land to recover. By today's standards they were way below the poverty level. Yet they survived and perpetuated. If I recall my high school American history, native American societies downfall was not poverty, but European settlers with diseases and guns.

I am fortunate to live a few miles from a National Forest. I can hunt, fish, and find wild edibles most of the year. More than half the worlds supply fresh water surrounds my state. With the items I already own, I could live off the land for zero dollars for a long time if need be. And most of you can too.

 

It's funny because where I live less than $100,000 is considered "Low Income". Since I get paid by a government agency that only has to pay more than state minimum wage I get $14.80 when my local minimum wage is $15.00 an hour, I get no vacation and only 1 sick day a year. Fortunately I live in a rent controlled apartment and only py $600 a month.

C/S,
Rev J

 

welcome back to the forums, it's been a while i think.

 

Yeah, Thanks. Life has been crazy on my end. I'm easing myself back in to here.

C/S,
Rev J

 

Most of my adult life, my family has been "below the poverty line." We have lived on one income so that I could stay home and raise/homeschool our kids. I never took anything from the government except healthcare for my kids, which we hardly ever used. I wouldn't have even taken that if healthcare were anywhere near reasonable. We never had extended family to rely on. We live in an area with very high property taxes and we are still paying off our house. Despite all this we have never felt "poor." I have only been late paying bills twice in 20 years and that was just an oversight, not because we lacked funds. We have no debt besides our mortgage. We don't prioritize money, however, proper handling is important. We have never fought over money and my kids never felt like they were lacking. Although, we don't live the way most people around us do. We have never been on vacation, we take day trips instead. We buy cheaper smart phones and take care of them, we have never even had to get a screen fixed. I often use rags and dish towels to cut down on the paper towels we use. I make my own chicken broth whenever I cook a chicken, usually turning it into soup or a pot pie. We try not to waste anything and we try to stay away from a lot of expensive disposable products. There are a ton of things that people could do to make their quality of life better even if they are poor. I don't think people should limit themselves based on money. Sometimes you just need to think of ways to optimize what you have instead of dwelling on what you don't.