why are you demanding Jeff Bezos become the social safety net that the government has failed to provide? That’s not Jeff’s responsibility or obligation.

Dont you know, personal accountability is SOOO last decade. Its all about how the rich are making all the poor peoples bad decisions. Buying things you dont need or gambling away what little “disposable” income you have is a necessity that the government should pay for and if they dont then we need the CEOs and…

What is bad faith about saying that adjustments to current spending can make you have more expendable income?

it’s actually pretty spot on. plenty of studies show poor people make choices that keep them poor with shocking regularity. do they get preyed upon? absolutely and it’s awful. but, time and again, people put themselves into bad situations. 

What we’re seeing played out in the comments here is typical. A few people speak the truth and the rest get offended because the truth hits too close to home. This isn’t about politics it’s about reality. If you spend money on stupid shit when you can’t afford it, you will go broke. If you’re already broke and…

Nobody on here will agree with you because it would essentially involve them admitting they have control over their own destiny and future. People would rather be helpless and blame someone else for their shortcomings.

Fletch is right tho. My whole broke family is in that bucket. Just dropped $250 in my mom’s account and half will go to scratch tickets and smokes

aaaaand goodbye goodwill. I don’t care if you’re right or not, that was a red-hot angry reply, punching down into the comment section, using your bully pulpit, and your goodwill is taking a serious hit. 

It’s interesting how liberals from affluent backgrounds scoff at this, while we liberals who grew up in such families know exactly what you’re talking about.  Hard thing for some of our cohort to admit - sometimes people’s shitty decisions contribute to their situation.

Guy I work with is in his early 60's...smokes 2 packs a day. He’s also crying poverty.

No, I’m not superior. That’s the fucking point. Anyone can do it.

Did I say you weren’t? Personal attacks part of the job description, asshole?

To be fair, I think Max was trying to say making good choices can lead to better outcomes.

That’s certainly not going to solve institutionalized poverty but it’s not going to make it worse either.

So you’re proof that hard work pays off then. I was dumped into the workforce just before that same recession, bought my first house just before the crash. I was smart, though, only spent half of what the bank had approved me for. Had I extended myself as far as the bank would have let me, and bought the house I…

Skip the booze, scratchers, and smokes for a bit. Back when I was 14 working the grocery store in my podunk town nearly every person paying with WIC checks seemed to have enough cash to buy a couple cartons of smokes, a couple 30 racks, and $20-50 in scratchers at least every week.

I grew up fucking poor. I stayed in school. Didn’t knock anyone up. Worked my ass off. Now, even if I did lose my job, I’d probably be fine for at least 3 months with no income, much longer with the current unemployment payouts.

I know there are folks out there in shitty circumstances, but the last car I bought I was next to a guy trying to roll his outstanding debt on an Escalade into another top of the line SUV. He had no cash for down payment, and couldn’t afford shit for the monthly, so he wanted to stretch the payments out to 84 months.