General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe "poor can work their way out of poverty" meme is a lie.
There may be some examples of such but they are extreme examples, they are not by any means the reality. This is why people are making fun of someone talking about a poor experience, a potentially unique one, and dismissing the overall message, because in the context of the message it is about "working out of poverty."
Joni Ernst's "bread bag" story is a set up for a larger context of working ones way out of poverty. This is why Ernst believes in abolishing the minimum wage, because like some deranged Libertarian-types, the minimum wage is holding those poor folks down. This is why Ernst is against choice for women and wants to defund Plan Parenthood and other choice related health care, because, you know, an unplanned teen pregnancy is just oh so good to help you get out of poverty.
Don't fall for the trap.
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)world wide wally
(21,734 posts)Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)but the generic brand bread bags ripped to shreds almost immediately. Perhaps name brand bread bags are stronger.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)marym625
(17,997 posts)That and using something that many people did, in all classes except rich, is hardly a "I was poor and worked my way out" story. It's a reach and ridiculous.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)joshcryer
(62,265 posts)It's just as funny. Oh, and totally, 100%, real.
marym625
(17,997 posts)I love that. Thanks for sharing it!
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)But the real issue is what policies we should adopt to respond to the economic injustice that is threatening the fabric of our society.
ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)all aid to the poor and end the minimum wage. all while pretending she understands their pain when she was born on third base.
Cha
(296,773 posts)fun of poor people.
thanks josh
Response to joshcryer (Original post)
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ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)Last edited Wed Jan 21, 2015, 05:02 AM - Edit history (1)
the poster who says poor people are all lazy scum. a friend of yours?
joshcryer
(62,265 posts)I try to help her out as best I can, but it's still an excruciating existence, and there's really no escape. I grew up in a bottom 1% family of 6. But the embarrassing point for me wasn't wearing bread bags in my shoes over my socks. It was taking them off at school and stuffing them into my shoes before 3rd grade class started to questioning looks. And reusing the same bags for much of the winter.
Put it this way, escape is nearly impossible especially this day and age. The idea that you can "work your way out" is a pure lie and the only way is with good government assistance and programs and trust.
Glengoolie
(39 posts)Which obviously isn't as often as one would like...
joshcryer
(62,265 posts)All because I don't get the "nuance" of a Republican lying shill using a story to push an anti-poor agenda.
I should be totally embarrassed because I actually get what the Republicans are trying to do.
92 million unemployed under Obama, don't you know?
Response to joshcryer (Reply #9)
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ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)whose interest are you protecting?
Poverty NEEDS to be politicized.
joshcryer
(62,265 posts)It is to show that they are not part of the solution.
If you actually believe Ernst's propaganda is part of some "solution" I'd like to see how we get there. There is absolutely no merit in giving Ernst's message any platform, because it is a lie.
Response to joshcryer (Reply #16)
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joshcryer
(62,265 posts)That, oh, I dunno, a liar got caught and it just so happened that perhaps her experience was something someone may have experienced and we should pity it?
Response to joshcryer (Reply #18)
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ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)yeah, I buy your act.
Response to ND-Dem (Reply #36)
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ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)joshcryer
(62,265 posts)Just because people latched on to that one thing doesn't magically mean that the Republicans are immune from criticism. It could've been anything. The point is she was using it as a talking point to back herself up. I posted up thread how the Republicans played the "worked hard, poor upbringing" card. It's ludicrous when they do it because they don't want to help anyone.
The reason they pull that card is that they act like they want to help people, but they don't.
Response to joshcryer (Reply #62)
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joshcryer
(62,265 posts)It was unfortunate that someone did have that experience and was upset people were mocking it.
But people don't have pig testicles laying around and can easily make a picture of bread bags on their feet for a joke.
I don't think the genuinely poor are upset by that. Even those who did have to do it.
In retrospect I do recall attending Church with Food Lion grocery bags on our shoes when it was really muddy or rainy or snowing but we were kids and dress shoes were expensive as hell. It was not embarrassing or a "poor thing" to do, it was just parents in our situation making sure we didn't screw up our expensive shoes.
If anything I think mocking the statement by her is allowing people to vent and is allowing the discussion to have more exposure. Jokes go a long way in public discourse, for better or worse.
ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)lazy scum, so....
Skittles
(153,104 posts)she does NOTHING to help the poor - NOTHING
Hubert Flottz
(37,726 posts)fight for air!
ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)mail and posted the email. cause there's something stalkerish about your methods.
Prediction:
Mail Message
You won't make it to half of my present post count.
(Don't bother responding, I have you on ignore.)
ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)Response to joshcryer (Original post)
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Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)This is not your father's economy and hasn't been for quite some time.
Response to Fumesucker (Reply #21)
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Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)If they hadn't paid their house off when they had the money they would be out on the street.
I did a thread some time back on DU about what your first job was and how much you made and then included a link to an inflation calculator so people could figure out what that would be in dollars today, my own first job was in 1969 and in today's dollars I made over $20 an hour.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022734785
Response to Fumesucker (Reply #27)
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Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)The $300 black leather jacket for instance I got for $5 at a yard sale and I paid $2 for the Aspen Sports insulated boots I'm wearing at the moment, I haven't looked them up but they are probably close to $200 if you buy them at retail.
One of the up sides to a throwaway consumer culture is that used goods, often indistinguishable from new, are inexpensive.
My parents were adults during the Depression and knew how to squeeze a penny until Abe shrieked so I grew up getting my clothes from the Nearly New store. It was a habit the family I married into frowned on so I dropped it for many years but now I have them asking me how to make old Abe cry themselves.
My point being that just because someone is wearing "$200 shoes" does not mean they paid anything like $200 for them.
ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)JI7
(89,239 posts)Response to JI7 (Reply #22)
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JI7
(89,239 posts)just because you were irresponsbile doesn't mean others are.
why blame drugs for your incompetence ?
Response to JI7 (Reply #28)
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JI7
(89,239 posts)Response to JI7 (Reply #35)
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wysi
(1,512 posts)Google "Free Republic", you'll find that more to your liking
JI7
(89,239 posts)and blame drugs and other things for your own failures ?
Response to JI7 (Reply #46)
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ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)you.
Response to Name removed (Reply #20)
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ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)Skittles
(153,104 posts)what's next - "our party"?
ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)Behind the Aegis
(53,918 posts)Skittles
(153,104 posts)wealthy Jews run America, poor people are lazy.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Behind the Aegis
(53,918 posts)Skittles
(153,104 posts)TeamPooka
(24,204 posts)indivisibleman
(482 posts)and ended up taking jobs for much less pay and yes even minimum wage for some. They take it because they say, "I have to because it is all I can find." How I wish they would just say, "no way! I will not work for that." Imagine if minimum wage was removed. These same people would say the same thing. "it's all I can find."
Hubert Flottz
(37,726 posts)"Arbeit macht frei"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbeit_macht_frei
I doubt if any republican in Washington, has ever dug a lump of coal, or planted a family garden out of necessity. Or crawled under barbed wire in the mud, with bullets flying around their heads.
ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)sounds like a couple of people on this thread
Hubert Flottz
(37,726 posts)Welcome to DU...I hope!
SoapBox
(18,791 posts)For those saying that DUer's are picking on the poor, I'm sorry, i don't see that.
But what I see and it's a tried and true Puke trick, is to be the "compassionate conservative". Express all sorts of sadness for the lower percentage of Americans...but just screw them over even worse.
I can hardly believe that people still fall for this old ploy.
Hubert Flottz
(37,726 posts)and making their children's clothes out of print feed sacks. I have heard children cry for something to eat, or because they were cold in winter. I saw Jack Kennedy and LBJ make things better for the poor around here. But I can't remember ever seeing the GOP ever doing anything around here but robbing the poor to give to the rich. I can't for the life of me understand, why the state of West Virginia has gone red? I'm inclined to believe that there is one of two reasons or perhaps both. 1. The people here have all become total idiots. 2. The electronic voting machines that flip votes and crooked vote tabulation are where the major "election fraud" truly lies.
I do believe that this state is headed back to the days of owing the company store, if the GOP is allowed to turn back the clock.
joshcryer
(62,265 posts)The poorest states. And they pull that "welfare is the cause of all ills" crap. And that's really what Joni Ernst was getting at. She repeats this same meme that if the state was smaller and wasn't "meddling" then people would get out of poverty magically all on their own.
merrily
(45,251 posts)BootinUp
(47,053 posts)AngryOldDem
(14,061 posts)And GOD, am I sick and tired of hearing how any raise in the minimum wage, or making anything at all easier for the American worker, will cost jobs and drive down profitability, and therefore, is not a good idea.
The ruling class wants a slave class. That is it in a nutshell.