How Would You Deal With Poverty?

[Theland]

How would you deal with poverty?
Universal Cradit? Evictions? Food banks ? In work poverty? The Underclass?

[teacake44]

A lot of the poverty you get today, is more of a miss management of money, more than anything else, if you don't know how to budget, or don't stick to one, then sooner or later you will be in trouble.

[ummmm]

Or addictions, mental health, being sanctioned or universal credit taking 6+ weeks to process.

[ummmm]

I assume we're talking about poverty in the UK and not worldwide?

[teacake44]

Not to sure if just the UK, but poverty in lets say parts of India is a whole different ball game I would say than the UK.

[New Judge]

I'm gonna vote Labour because that nice Mr Corbyn has told me he will eradicate all known diseases, give me free broadband and 75 quid a week, bankrupt all the billionaires and tax all the successful companies out of existence. So that will obviously deal with poverty as we'll all have our own house and a private hospital each.

[Mamyalynne]

It rather depends on what your question is, do you mean 'How would you deal with being in poverty' or 'How would you solve poverty'.


Two totally different things.

[naomi24]

I think it's clear he means 'How would you solve poverty'? He's talking abut a whole 'class' of people .... he calls them the Underclass.

[Mamyalynne]

In that case I have to say that I wouldn't know where to start, as earlier outlined poverty is different things to different people and the causes are equally complex and very individual.


It would take more than a couple of broad brush strokes to clear the decks.

[ummmm]

How on earth can Theland call a certain type of person or their situation 'the underclass'? He tells us about his financial woes enough.

[Mamyalynne]

It does sound derogatory though he maybe didn't think that through.

Only a few days ago he was waiting for his fuel payment so he could repair his mobility scooter, so like many is feeling the pinch too.

[david small]

Eradicate mankind en mass, sorted.

[THECORBYLOON]

Do you want to be the first to volunteer?

[Zacs-Master]

LOL

[david small]

Never volunteer, no names, no pack drill.

[Mozz71]

Maybe redistribute the wealth from somewhere that doesn't need it but has a horde of it regardless. Like, y'know, the Vatican.

[Theland]

I feel the pinch bur not in poverty.
Poverty is using food banks and not able to pay rent, kids going hungry. It happens. You know it happens.

[Zacs-Master]

I don’t think there’s anyone who’s denying those things happen. There are some very in depth academic studies which suggest it’s an inevitable consequence of capitalism. Each individual circumstance is slightly different so the only real way to tackle it would be for each case to be assigned a social worker of some kind to assess them, find out why they’re in that situation and advise them how to get out. The money needed to resource that would require a raising of income tax or cuts elsewhere and it would be a very brave (or stupid) govt who would introduce it.
As I think someone else has pointed out, in the case of the implementation of universal credit, the system being introduced actually exacerbated the problem it was trying to solve.

[naomi24]

Mozz, //Maybe redistribute the wealth from somewhere that doesn't need it but has a horde of it regardless. Like, y'know, the Vatican.//

Firstly, however wealthy the Catholic church may be, that is not enough to solve the problem because once the money is spent, it’s spent - and then what?. ‘Give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and feed him for life’, applies. I have no objection whatsoever in contributing towards the care of those who really can’t care for themselves - in fact I would very much like far more to go to the elderly and the sick - but our culture of benefits has created a nation of bleatingly expectant and needy people who know their ‘rights’ and will not take responsibility for themselves. And before anyone says it’s alright for me, you’d be wrong. Work, for me, was never a dirty four letter word.

[naomi24]

Theland, despite AB, allegedly, heaving with older people you are the only pensioner here who constantly bemoans his lot - and to such a degree that you say you cannot afford a pair of cheap trousers to keep yourself tidy - but strangely you can afford plentiful cans of beer so there’s a curious anomaly going on there somewhere.

So just why are you less well off than anyone else? You get your pension, your wife gets her pension, your six children (your choice to father six children), are no longer at home, are all working and have never claimed a penny in benefits, so why can’t you manage sufficiently? Additionally, you say you lost your house through ill-health - but you were a high earner so where was your insurance - and where’s the pension from all those years of earning well? Or, in truth, are you just one of the poor managers that teacake rightly mentions?

We live in one of the most generous and caring societies in the world and yet nothing is ever enough for some. They want as much as they can get for nothing - and more and more of it. Society must look after those incapable of caring for themselves - and look after them well - but those who claim whatever they can are a drain on the whole system and need to understand that no one owes them a living and none should expect the world to owe them a living.

Incidentally, Theland, if you think people in this country are living in poverty, you’ve never seen poverty.

[david small]

Naomi I love you:-)