What do poor people want?

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I still don't know what this means. Are you implying that most Democrats are vegan? Are you talking about the people who want to ban big gulp drinks? Are you talking about political correctness?

You've only made yourself slightly clearer.

Why do they waste so much of our time?

One of the most meaningful ways to help people who grow up in poverty is to make it easier for them to be legally employed and at a younger age so they can pay their own bills and live independently. To do this you must have jobs with low qualifications. Entry level jobs that do not require 4 years college, rather a certificate that can be earned in under 2 years or even while working entry level is a realistic approach. Employers need to acknowledge not everyone will go to a four year university nor should they. When they do it becomes costly and there aren't enough vacancies for all those degrees.

it seems to me that the 1% see college degrees as the filter for the type of people they want to keep as opposed to discarding.

Someone is going to have to come up with something for the poor to do. Like in the Rust Belt and the coal mines. Those jobs aren't coming back.
There are a lot of people for whom a university education is a waste of time.
I think there are just too many people.

Yep, I realise that certain types of job need a degree but I hate it when employers say they'd prefere to hire someone with any degree, even one unrelated to the type of work. I hate it when they say it proves they're dedicated, self-motivated, self-organising and hard working. These things may be true but it also proves they're wealthy enough to pay for college and they're wealthy enough to support themselves without full time work for four years.

At my work, they hired a woman with a PhD in biology a few months ago because it proves she's dedicated, self-motivated, etc. Our line of work has nothing to do with biology. Also the majority of their hires have been recruited directly from universities, many of them through internships.

They really push the interns hard because they're still required to take classes and do assignments for university. This leaves them with no time for payed employment. This serves as a barrier that only allows people in who have enough money to survive without paid work.

They really shouldn't prefere college grads for jobs that don't require the specific skills learned in a specific degree becasue that just starts an arms race among young people to become the most educated (and the most indebted).

Nowadays, a higher percentage of youths are going to college than in the past, but this makes it less special. Less of a unique advantage. Instead, for those who can't afford to go, it becomes an increasingly unique disadvantage. The trouble an education arms race is that which used to put you above the crowd is now required merely to keep up (look at what's happened in Asia to see what happens when the education arms race is taken to extremes).

College is supposed to be an opportunity but nowadays it's become a barrier that keeps poor people out of the workforce. It should not be nessessary for so many jobs.

I hate it when they say the solution to poverty is education. No the solution to poverty is employment. Poor people should be spending their time at work, not college. They should not be ammassing debt. Education is not some magic bullet that shoots you straight into the middle class and it becomes less advantagous as it becomes more commonplace.

It's really bad when the not so bright high school students are made to take remedial classes designed to get them into college or when not so bright young adults are pushed to take adult learning programs designed to get them into college. If it takes them that many years just to get into a four year degree, that have zero chance of being able to complete it. Instead let them become a welder or a plumber. Let them drive the garbage truck. I'd feel better driving a garbage truck then I would studying material I don't understand and failing every class.

They should offer job experiences. If I'd been able to work in a shop before going to college I wouldn't have wasted 4 years and got into debt for an automotive degree.

Democrats are known for taxing what they consider unhealthy(sofa) or banning fast food. They also want to take away our right to self defense or defense of others.
They just love banning and taxing in general.
Then there's the political correctness i.e. Removing free speech

Poor people want to vilify rich people. The rich worked very hard for their money and for this they are vilified. Why is hard work an act of viliany? The rich save and invest and reap the rewards later. The poor spend their money as soon as they get it. Why is saving an act of villiany?

It seems like the outward projection of an inward inferiority complex. Some people are not willing to dedicate all their time and energy to something like becoming a doctor or starting their own business. Some people don't have the discipline to save and invest their money. Those who can't vilify those who can.

I would not vilify anyone who works hard to become successful. I would not vilify anyone who saves their income and lives a life of austerity so they have more money later in life.

But on the other hand, I don't think the system should be stacked in favour of families who are already well off. We need more intergenerational social mobility.

Meritocracy is good but I don't like when it leads to overcompetativeness. Hard work should be focused on producing practical results and learning necessary skills. It should not be focused on getting better grades than your class mates. Grading on a curve is a waste of energy that could be spent on more practical purposes.

Society should be set up to allow anyone with drive and discipline to become a success. Competition means that only the top 50% or the top 10% can be successful. Expecting everyone to get into the top 10% is ridiculous. Society should empower every one to better themselves instead of making them compete.

The poor should learn from the rich instead of vilifying them. Instead of being jelous of their work ethic they should emulate it.

Emulate the lifestyle, not the possessions. If you buy a bigger house than your neighbours have, you'll be very happy. For about five minutes! Then the novelty will wear off and before long someone will build a bigger house.

So be successful for your own practical benefit, not for competitiveness. That means work for your financial security, not to build a bigger house than your neighbours, not to get better grades than your classmates, not to have more money than other people. You won't find happiness that way because someone will always have more.

Plan for tomorrow but enjoy the journey. Don't just plan for a happy future, also be happy getting there.

I do not mean to imply there are not poor people who work hard. They exist in many countries around the world. Not so much here in Australia. Our poor tend to be unemployed so I'm speaking from experience, not only experience of the people I know but experience from my own former life of being a lazy unemployed person.

the problem is that the rich folk here like to climb the ladder of success and then pull it up after them so nobody can follow, they are notorious in their stinginess with their knowledge outside of their social class.

Greater prosperity and autonomy. Poor people want to be less poor.

You're talking about the upper middle class though. Nobody vilifies these people. They vilify the billionaires who buy politicians.


Most poor people don't make enough to save in the first place. They live paycheck to paycheck and don't even have a comfortable existence. And even if they save, one major calamity (health crisis, car breaks down, etc...) and poof, it's gone. In order to have significant savings you need a middle class job.


The problem is there are only so many high paying jobs available. It's a zero-sum game. Competition is built in to the system and can't be removed.


Poor people aren't envious of their work ethic. They're envious of the innate advantages they have 99% of the time.

Also, if you look at the entire world, poor people suffer the most. You see poor people digging through garbage for sustenance. Homeless people sleep on the street. Does anyone want that kind of life? I'd rather kill myself. I don't have the "work ethic" to want to live they way the poorest of the world live. I wouldn't bother digging through garbage to survive. I'd find the easiest way to kill myself first. Most truly poor people only continue because they are religious and believe they will finally be comfortable in the afterlife. I'm not religious. I realize it's a scam. Do you believe extreme discomfort and suffering is necessary for the sake of people more wealthy?


This is all superfluous BS though. Most poor people don't care about having a big house. They just don't want to have to fear being laid off. They want to be able to make enough to live comfortably and have enough savings to hold them over. They don't want to live with the fear of homelessness hanging over them.


This sounds like a very privileged first-world perspective for me. Many poor people don't give a s**t about the things you think they care about. They simply want less suffering and a little bit of happiness in their life.


Well, even in countries like Australia, poor people will become depressed and lose motivation if they feel their existence is completely superfluous. Do you think people actually want to feel like useless sacks of meat? This is a problem the whole world is eventually going to have to deal with as automation takes over basic jobs.

Also, I'd say poor people are forced to have the greatest work ethic because they generally do the most dirty, grueling, tedious, undignified, unrewarding of jobs. People who dig ditches until their body breaks down have greater work ethic than white collar people who make 10 times as much sitting on their ass all day. It is the middle class and wealthy who get to do what they enjoy for a living. If life were meritocracy, people doing s**t minimum wage jobs would be paid the most because those are the jobs it is most difficult to get up in the morning for. They require the most motivation because they suck the most.

What most rich people don't work hard. They great grand parents did in the 1930s and they inherited then,only their parents inherited who's parents inherited. They've never had to work at all just spend money while other people work to make their families money.

I know someone who's kid is in a vocational high school program to become an electrician, a high paying blue collar job.

I went to a private high school and learned to program computers before a lot of WPers were born--in 1980.

The advantage of learning all those "useless" non engineering classes is that if you are smart enough, you learn the flexibility to learn new technologies and paradigms as they come along. Folks with "focused" educations often get washed out of their jobs because they can't keep up with the changes. You also learn what you are up against when you study with the best and brightest in other areas of study--it can be a confidence builder if you can do well against such competition.

What do poor people want? I want to be able to buy enough food to not be hungry every month. Soooo not happening...

I have lived below the poverty line all but two years of my adult life. I was homeless as a teenager. I was not fed enough as a child. I don't really know how to live life being anything but poor though. Point being, yeah it would be nice to have things like the money to fix my broken dryer, be able to afford a car (and insurance, plates, gas, maintenance) be able to afford psych and physical health care, seasonally appropriate clothing, to move to a town where people do not shoot each other, to be able to fix the broken plumbing in my house (and the wiring, the foundation, roof and more...) but the reality is that none of that stuff bothers me if I can consistently get enough to eat. And I cannot afford to consistently get enough to eat. I'd cut off the internet for the extra food... but my spouse's work pays for that. *shrugs* Kicker is, I make $17 a month too much to get food assistance now and the last time I qualified, I got dropped because when I called my worker for my appointment, she did not pick up and answer the phone. I spent two hours trying to reach her and she could not be bothered to pick up the damn phone... In my world, it does not matter if you make enough money to eat or not... you will not get the help you need either which way and wow I am being really crabby about this stuff this morning I'm gonna move along now...