Quizzes & Puzzles1 min ago
Rioting and Looting taking place? no just the new Nike Air Jordans going on sale.
22 Answers
http://www.dailymail....Nike-Air-Jordans.html
Come to England, one could get them for nowt, given the right circumstances.
Come to England, one could get them for nowt, given the right circumstances.
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I think, redhelen, that AOG is suggesting that, should there be further unrest, these goods may be available from a stoved in shop window near you.
This story raises a wider issue in my mind. We are told that the “recession” is hitting the US as hard as it is affecting the UK. Yet here we have people rioting and fighting to buy (yes, buy, not steal) a pair of plimsolls costing around £120. In the UK a couple of weeks ago similar scenes were evident when something (I think) called an I-Pad went on sale. These devices were priced at around £500 and people were queuing on the pavement during the night to secure one.
We are told that “hard pressed families” are struggling like never before to cope with the desperate financial straits in which they find themselves. Yet people are queuing all night to part with a Monkey of hard-earned for an unnecessary luxury. Something does not hang together.
This story raises a wider issue in my mind. We are told that the “recession” is hitting the US as hard as it is affecting the UK. Yet here we have people rioting and fighting to buy (yes, buy, not steal) a pair of plimsolls costing around £120. In the UK a couple of weeks ago similar scenes were evident when something (I think) called an I-Pad went on sale. These devices were priced at around £500 and people were queuing on the pavement during the night to secure one.
We are told that “hard pressed families” are struggling like never before to cope with the desperate financial straits in which they find themselves. Yet people are queuing all night to part with a Monkey of hard-earned for an unnecessary luxury. Something does not hang together.
"We are told that “hard pressed families” are struggling like never before to cope with the desperate financial straits in which they find themselves. Yet people are queuing all night to part with a Monkey of hard-earned for an unnecessary luxury. Something does not hang together."
Here's a mad thought: suppose the famiies who are struggling not the same families. Or maybe they save all their money to buy these things. In Ukraine I see people on a fraction of the money people earn here and having to cope with prices that are comparable to the UK. However, many save all their money to buy certain things, which leaves them strapped for everything else. Just because you spend a lot of money on something - be it your children's clothes or some sort of non-essential shoe, does not mean you are not poor in relative terms.
Here's a mad thought: suppose the famiies who are struggling not the same families. Or maybe they save all their money to buy these things. In Ukraine I see people on a fraction of the money people earn here and having to cope with prices that are comparable to the UK. However, many save all their money to buy certain things, which leaves them strapped for everything else. Just because you spend a lot of money on something - be it your children's clothes or some sort of non-essential shoe, does not mean you are not poor in relative terms.
Poor relative to whom, ichkeria?
I am poor relative to Bill Gates. The problem with relative poverty is that it is very subjective. If people are absolutely poor and they cannot afford life's essentials they will not buy a pair of sports shoes at £120.
Yesterday in Tesco’s I saw a woman spend over £250, most of it on goods which were by no means among life’s essentials. When she came to pay she proffered a large number (about 8 or 10) “Healthy Start” vouchers. When she left she loaded all her booty into the back of a two year old large saloon car.
If you check the qualification criteria for “Healthy Start” vouchers you will see that you have to be “relatively poor” (that is, in receipt of one or more of a limited range of income-related benefits). So here we have a woman who is relatively poor but able to spend £250, much of it on frivolities for Christmas, running a two year old car. Yes, I know, she could have been shopping for somebody else; should have borrowed somebody else’s car to do that shopping; she could have saved all her money up for Christmas. But I would wager she did none of those things.
Relative poverty in the UK is not quite the same as absolute poverty and I would not have been surprised to see the same woman from Tesco’s queuing up for her I-Pad or her Air-Jordans (though I doubt she could have used her Healthy Start Vouchers).
I am poor relative to Bill Gates. The problem with relative poverty is that it is very subjective. If people are absolutely poor and they cannot afford life's essentials they will not buy a pair of sports shoes at £120.
Yesterday in Tesco’s I saw a woman spend over £250, most of it on goods which were by no means among life’s essentials. When she came to pay she proffered a large number (about 8 or 10) “Healthy Start” vouchers. When she left she loaded all her booty into the back of a two year old large saloon car.
If you check the qualification criteria for “Healthy Start” vouchers you will see that you have to be “relatively poor” (that is, in receipt of one or more of a limited range of income-related benefits). So here we have a woman who is relatively poor but able to spend £250, much of it on frivolities for Christmas, running a two year old car. Yes, I know, she could have been shopping for somebody else; should have borrowed somebody else’s car to do that shopping; she could have saved all her money up for Christmas. But I would wager she did none of those things.
Relative poverty in the UK is not quite the same as absolute poverty and I would not have been surprised to see the same woman from Tesco’s queuing up for her I-Pad or her Air-Jordans (though I doubt she could have used her Healthy Start Vouchers).
"If I were strapped for money ichkeria I certainly would not be spending £120 on a pair of trainers and going without the essentials - but there again I would no spend that amount on trainers full stop. "
Neither would I, but that isn't the point is it?
"If people are absolutely poor and they cannot afford life's essentials they will not buy a pair of sports shoes at £120. "
You'd be surprised. Same applies to the lady with the vouchers. Good luck to her, I say. And good luck to the city folk sloshing champagne and expensive food at Aurelia and Cut. They doubtless are also poor compared to Bill Gates.
But, like I said earlier, maybe the people queueing for this rubbish aren't the poor. Either way, it seems this is what keeps our economy going so I suppose good luck to them.
Neither would I, but that isn't the point is it?
"If people are absolutely poor and they cannot afford life's essentials they will not buy a pair of sports shoes at £120. "
You'd be surprised. Same applies to the lady with the vouchers. Good luck to her, I say. And good luck to the city folk sloshing champagne and expensive food at Aurelia and Cut. They doubtless are also poor compared to Bill Gates.
But, like I said earlier, maybe the people queueing for this rubbish aren't the poor. Either way, it seems this is what keeps our economy going so I suppose good luck to them.
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You're certainly right there, Steve. Clever marketting, though.
My point about the lady with the vouchers, ichkeria, is that, if my assumprtions are correct, she is not "absolutely" poor and is therefore not in need of means tested benefits. She may (or more likely may not) be relatively poor. But so long as poverty is defined in relative terms and not in the absolute these anomalies will be apparent.
My point about the lady with the vouchers, ichkeria, is that, if my assumprtions are correct, she is not "absolutely" poor and is therefore not in need of means tested benefits. She may (or more likely may not) be relatively poor. But so long as poverty is defined in relative terms and not in the absolute these anomalies will be apparent.
Sure, New Judge. But I think that most, if all of the poverty yardsticks are valid, in spite of the fact that poverty is relative. It doesn't necessarily have to mean having next to no money. In my view if you can afford to buy luxury goods you're not poor BT if you can afford to buy X and this leaves you strapped for (other necessities) then IMO you are poor. If, perhaps, less deserving of sympathy :-)
Merry Xmas to you by the way!
Merry Xmas to you by the way!
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