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For context, following is a brief but incomplete list of the ways life is “easy” when you’re poor:

*Compared to middle and upper-income Americans, the poor are three times less likely to have health insurance coverage and more likely to put off or skip necessary medical treatment as a result;

*They are three times more likely to be victimised by crime;

*The daily stresses of living under poverty impose a cognitive burden equivalent to losing 13 IQ points;

*Poor children are three times more likely to be affected by food scarcity and obesity;

*Poor children receive a lower quality education in public schools and the ones who make it to college are more likely to drop out;

*Poorer Americans breathe dirtier air, they sleep less, and they even have less sex;

*And in the end all this “easy living” literally shaves decades off their lives.

The notion that poor people have it easy is at odds with the data.

-source

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Yeah, but do the poor have TVs and refrigerators?! ;)

And let's not forget cell phones.

OMG, it's time we ended social security
and government-funded public education,
and let the job-creators keep more of their money,
as we have arrived at Utopia! ;)

Along these lines (reducing income inequality):

More here. (http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/07/19/332879409/states-that-raised-minimum-wage-see-faster-job-growth-report-says)

Edited 2014-07-20 21:51 (UTC)

But eventually it will result in their utter destruction!

/or something to that effect

Of course! not being able to point out any time that has happened is meaningless of course.

Are state-to-state comparisons in US really that relevant? Isn't say New-York economy very different in terms of industry types etc from, say, Arizona economy?

Not for minimum wage jobs, no.

Edited 2014-07-21 16:01 (UTC)

"Aluminium wage" really had a ring to it. You can just imagine someone getting paid in worthless aluminium dud dollars.

Obviously the poor have great lives! That's why you are constantly hearing about all these rich people giving away all their money to go live in Section 8 housing and live off food stamps!

It does seem quite odd that if the poor have it easy, why more rich people don't become poor on purpose.

I mean, it's not difficult to become poor, if that is your goal.

I really wonder what "has it easy" means to those folks....

Well, it means that you drive your Cadillac up to the welfare office and get your huge check (and free abortion) then drive that check to the bank where you use it to pay the full amount for your second summer home...

Seriously, though. I have a cousin who is one of those knee-jerk conservatives, and got into it with her once. She was saying while she was on welfare (err?) she knew all these people who were living fraudulently and making all this money instead of working... I won't go into her story about how her trip to PP get birth control pills (to control her periods) where they tried to get her to get an abortion even though she wasn't pregnant... (NOT. JOKING.)

Oh yea, red-staters on welfare is classic.

"But I *deserve* it!"

MANDATORY ABORTIONS FOR ALL! EVEN MEN!

They wanted to make really sure she wouldn't breed? Seems smart.

A fine pre-emptive move on PP's part, from what little you've described of your cousin. The human race should thank them.

I don't know that it's the very rich that feel that way... more like the people just over the line between receiving help and not. Like we all know there has to be a cutoff of income where if you are below that cutoff, you qualify for assistance and if you're above it, even by a dollar, you don't.

I think those people that are really close are perhaps just as needful of help as those who are below the line... but they can't get it. Those are the ones thinking maybe they ought to just turn down that overtime, or give up that part-time job, or what-have-you, and get assistance because it would be easier.

I've heard almost those exact words coming from several of my relatives, which is why I say this.

Bingo!!!

But they don't do it for some reason. Namely that they know its better to have the job.

Where do such categories (Steadfast conservative, Hard-Pressed sceptic etc.) come from?

The categories do seem a bit capricious...faith and family left but no faith and family right?

They are the terms Pew Research has decided to break people into.

They don't mean to imply that the right-wing isn't about faith or family. You can discover more about how Pew categorizes these things if you wish. But don't get too upset, they're just terms.

Meh, I'm not upset, I just find the categories a bit capricious.; heck I'm not a big fan of polls :D

They describe the categories here: http://www.people-press.org/2014/06/26/the-political-typology-beyond-red-vs-blue/

Or for that matter "Young Outsiders" and "Next Gen Left." Seems arbitrary.

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