How should poverty be defined given that it drives the benefits culture

chewmylegoff

MrsE wrote: »

The child said she was hungry & couldn't go & get something to eat.

so? do children have to be given food every time they feel hungry to be defined as being not in poverty? surely if the family can afford to feel the child three meals a day - i.e. a normal amount, then there isn't a problem...

The_White_Horse

why is poverty always a bad thing? some people deserve to live in poverty, and it is a crime that they don't. layabouts, workshy, criminals. they should all live in abject poverty. hateful people sponging of the workers.

many in prison have more than the genuine people in need. hot meals, choice of menu, parties, gym, hair salons. the people running the system need shooting.

bluey890

The_White_Horse wrote: »

why is poverty always a bad thing? some people deserve to live in poverty

Who gets to decide who lives in poverty?
Should the mentally ill live in poverty? I think not.

sjaypink

The_White_Horse wrote: »

why is poverty always a bad thing? some people deserve to live in poverty, and it is a crime that they don't. layabouts, workshy, criminals. they should all live in abject poverty. hateful people sponging of the workers.

many in prison have more than the genuine people in need. hot meals, choice of menu, parties, gym, hair salons. the people running the system need shooting.

who are the genuine people in need?

those without jobs i take it?

wouldnt they then be either layabout/ workshy/ hateful people sponging off the worker?

The_White_Horse

children, some oap's, genuinely ill people and those with mental problems. no one else.

olly300

chopperharris wrote: »

essentials are food , shelter ,basic clothing , heating and electricity.

Credit is an essential when its used to pay bills , or to buy an emergency essential item like a fridge.

Everything depends on your lifestyle.

My mother never used credit to pay bills. We just lived in a cold house and weren't allow to run up the phone bill.

chopperharris wrote: »

Sorry but to say the internet is an essential item is a joke , what did we do before the internet?

I would have excluded the internet except:
1. None of my friends under 40 can get jobs apart from bar work without applying on the internet. Even shops expect you to apply online. If they don't have it at home they have to go to the local library or use an internet cafe.

2. My nephews and nieces have to do a certain amount of homework on the internet in secondary school. I was disgusted when I heard this.

Particularly when one of my nephew's showed me the rubbish they had to do. For some reason educators forget that the average child is much better with technology than the average adult.

I talked to them and asked them what happened to the children who didn't have internet at home. I was told they:
a. could stay in school an hour later on certain days
b. could go to the local library
c. go round to a friend's house
d. use an internet cafe (only when they are older)

chopperharris wrote: »

Same goes for mobile phones , a payg phone is all anyone needs if they absolutley NEED one.Even then you only use it infrequently to keep it active.

Again this depends on your life style and living arrangements.

People who live in shared or temporary accommodation won't have a BT phone line as it costs about £120 to set it up and you are signed into a contract for a year. A payg phone avoids this and if you are looking for work you can be contacted. Plus you don't have the issue where you have to find a phone box.

chopperharris wrote: »

I grew up in a poverty (yet working) single parent family , every penny counted , credit was used and not abused.No sky tv , no broadband.There was no car in the driveway as there is no driveway in a council flat , school was 2 miles away I was never driven once.I never had a holiday outside the uk until I was in my 30's , and rarely had one before that.

Times change.

For example now you can get Freeview and Freesat in most areas so there is no need to get Sky or cable to watch multi-channel TV.

DVDs are very cheap you can get films for £2 or free with newspapers. So unlike videos you don't need to spend a lot to entertain yourself.

Broadband didn't exist, and now if you sign up with the right provider you can get it free with your landline phone.

Until very recently thanks to cheap airlines, cheap package deals and the strength of the pound people could take holidays cheaper aboard than in the UK. Now it's come about that it's may be cheaper to stay in the UK then go to some European destinations.

chopperharris wrote: »

Stop posing , showing off new cars , home improvements and holiday homes is useless.Your going to be paying for the credit crunch for the next 10 years anyway so start frugal living now to have a decent life after it....Gordon brown never made the credit crunch it was everyone else that had credit cards , loans and mortgages , so its biblically just that the same will be paying for it and the ones that didnt being punished anyway.

The government didn't help.

One of the issues that still shocks me is that lots of people thought that because they had been banking with an organisation for ages, they wouldn't be offered more credit than they could afford. They didn't realise that the friendly bank manager who wouldn't offer them more than they could afford doesn't exist anymore until it was too late.

sjaypink

problem being...

The_White_Horse wrote: »

children,.

how do you stop the money going to the workshy parents?

The_White_Horse wrote: »

some oap's, .

why not all?

The_White_Horse wrote: »

genuinely ill people .

distinguishing between? who decides etc

The_White_Horse wrote: »

and those with mental problems. no one else.

biggest problem here imo. arguably the majority of the workshy, layabouts, and those in the prisons fall into that catagory :cool:

LizzieS_2

Poverty is not being able to afford the absolute essentials to survive, not any % of average earnings.

Creating the words "relative poverty" just creates a higher benefits bill whichever way the benefits are paid.