Myths About The Poor

Myth #1. The poor are poor because they are lazy. This is the biggest myth of all. The typical“poor” person in America works 40 or more hours a week. He also spends countless hours commuting to and from work and tending other tasks because when you’re poor you have to do everything for yourself. And the jobs they typically have are among the most physically demanding there are.

Myth #2. The poor are poor because they are irresponsible with their money. It is true that most poor people have what is known as “bad credit.” But what is one to do when your monthly expenses constantly outpace your income. I’ve heard Republicans complain that if poor people would stop spending their money unnecessarily and put some away they wouldn’t be so poor. Gees, how clueless can you get. Poor people pay their bills until there isn’t anything left. They agonize every single month over what to pay and what not to pay. There’s no “what do we do with the left over money” because there isn’t any.

Myth #3. The poor are subsidized by welfare. Wrong, most people who are counted as “poor” don’t get any public assistance at all because they don’t qualify. Those who do mostly receive some kind of food assistance, but only of they are severely disabled or have children. And the vast majority of those people work full time at jobs like police officers, firefighters, and members of the U.S. military. I personally believe that welfare does not subsidize the poor; it subsidizes the employers who refuse to pay an equitable wage.

But there other reasons the Right-Wing have such disdain for the poor. These reasons have to do with the habit of dehumanizing your enemy in order to ease your conscience. And the best way to do this is to invent myths about your enemy and then repeat them until you believe them yourself

I could go on, but I think I’ve made my point, although my views are generally conservative, I have a deep passion for issues dealing with the poor. No one asked to be poor...Being poor is knowing how hard it is to stop being poor, Being poor is seeing how few options you have, Being poor is a six-hour wait in an emergency room with a sick child asleep on your lap, Being poor is relying on people who don’t give a damn about you. Republicans, stop being so damn hard on the poor at a time when everyone....EVERYONE is having a hard time with the ongoing sluggish economy & the lack of jobs being created at this juncture. No one wants nor asked to be poor!