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<blockquote data-quote="104Feeder" data-source="post: 1182369" data-attributes="member: 42554"><p>Poor people make poor choices, Middle class people make poor choices, Rich people make poor choices. It doesn't really have anything to do wth being educated or uneducated, it's more about being human. It doesn't benefit society as a whole to just increase the ranks of poor people because we want to punish them just as it doesn't benefit society as a whole to "get tough" on crime by widening the net & having mandatory increasing sentences for non-violent offenders.</p><p></p><p> You're always going to have some poor people, and certainly some abuse of the safety net, but as I said before until we start shooting them in the streets it's better to provide an actual ladder out of poverty & into the middle class: a wide broad stepped one without any rungs that randomly get pulled out. Our strength has always been in our middle class.</p><p></p><p>There are a lot of ways we "hold a gun to the heads" of poor people and keep them poor. Predatory lending is one way, and that has been rampant in my State from car loans, title loans, payday loans (which they finally made illegal & yet they didn't go away), and of course the abused in home loans that decimated our market. AZ has a very low minimum wage which doesn't help either, and our main metropolitan areas are so spread out that a car is a necessity. Speaking of the poor driving nice cars as was brought up earlier, AZ is a dumping ground for salvage titled cars from other States, (flood damage etc) and cleaning a salvage title here isn't hard either. That Mercedes you see being driven in the ghetto might be two cars welded back together. We don't have annual safety inspections either so the cycle is repeated. </p><p></p><p>Registration fees are high for that car, and emissions standards unnecessarily high (our main polution problem is dust) which makes a junker not so attractive. If you do drive a beater, and I as most Feeder Drivers do since our building is in the worst neighborhood of Phoenix, you are going to pulled over repeatedly just by virtue of what you are driving. I'm on a first name basis with most of the police in my city as they kept pulling me over so much because I didn't fit in with my relatively affluent neighbors. Now they just roll up behind me until they realize it's that damn UPS guy again. But for the poor person it's pretty easy to get your performance up since you can usually get them on something and the fee machine starts (they don't sue either).</p><p></p><p>We have cities fighting here to hand out tax dollars for a car dealership etc. that will be located in one city or the other depending on which corner they are on, then they "forgive" the sales taxes generated by that private business allowing them to "recapture" the money themselves to pay for building the business in the first place. Corporate welfare at it's best. Yet in many neighborhoods your "grocery store" is a Circle K because the big players aren't interested in building one there because no one wants to grease them. Try perusing your fresh fruit & vegetable section at a neighborhood Circle K and see how dissapointed you are. </p><p></p><p>Our public transportion system is a joke, and I'm not really for public transportation although I see the need. What I don't see is why we spent exhorbitant amounts of taxpayer dollars on a shiny new light with limited service when what we really needed is relatively cheap expanded bus service that goes everywhere. </p><p></p><p>Our high regressive sales taxes are seconded only by California, and I'm waiting for the CRV to make it's appearance here. It's over 9% in some cities. Of course if you make enough money that you itemize you can get a credit for that on your taxes, but most poor people don't so they are left holding the bag. We're all about sales taxes here, just not having the rich pay them. </p><p></p><p>Lastly I blame employers here that do everything they can to keep wages down. Good luck working two or three jobs here even if you wanted to, as you won't really get ahead as your second job will mostly pay for you to get to & from your jobs. Supply & demand seems to have no effect when it comes to wages, as they never seem to feel any pressure to raise them. Low paying service jobs are plentiful but good luck finding anything that pays real money. Our news organizations always trumpet job fairs & companies that anounce they are hiring, til you look deeper and find at best it's entry level jobs that pay didly squat. Other than a few high technology companies here that mostly don't hire local, our economy is driven by real estate & construction which are highly volatile. Walmart is our largest employer, and that pretty much says it all.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="104Feeder, post: 1182369, member: 42554"] Poor people make poor choices, Middle class people make poor choices, Rich people make poor choices. It doesn't really have anything to do wth being educated or uneducated, it's more about being human. It doesn't benefit society as a whole to just increase the ranks of poor people because we want to punish them just as it doesn't benefit society as a whole to "get tough" on crime by widening the net & having mandatory increasing sentences for non-violent offenders. You're always going to have some poor people, and certainly some abuse of the safety net, but as I said before until we start shooting them in the streets it's better to provide an actual ladder out of poverty & into the middle class: a wide broad stepped one without any rungs that randomly get pulled out. Our strength has always been in our middle class. There are a lot of ways we "hold a gun to the heads" of poor people and keep them poor. Predatory lending is one way, and that has been rampant in my State from car loans, title loans, payday loans (which they finally made illegal & yet they didn't go away), and of course the abused in home loans that decimated our market. AZ has a very low minimum wage which doesn't help either, and our main metropolitan areas are so spread out that a car is a necessity. Speaking of the poor driving nice cars as was brought up earlier, AZ is a dumping ground for salvage titled cars from other States, (flood damage etc) and cleaning a salvage title here isn't hard either. That Mercedes you see being driven in the ghetto might be two cars welded back together. We don't have annual safety inspections either so the cycle is repeated. Registration fees are high for that car, and emissions standards unnecessarily high (our main polution problem is dust) which makes a junker not so attractive. If you do drive a beater, and I as most Feeder Drivers do since our building is in the worst neighborhood of Phoenix, you are going to pulled over repeatedly just by virtue of what you are driving. I'm on a first name basis with most of the police in my city as they kept pulling me over so much because I didn't fit in with my relatively affluent neighbors. Now they just roll up behind me until they realize it's that damn UPS guy again. But for the poor person it's pretty easy to get your performance up since you can usually get them on something and the fee machine starts (they don't sue either). We have cities fighting here to hand out tax dollars for a car dealership etc. that will be located in one city or the other depending on which corner they are on, then they "forgive" the sales taxes generated by that private business allowing them to "recapture" the money themselves to pay for building the business in the first place. Corporate welfare at it's best. Yet in many neighborhoods your "grocery store" is a Circle K because the big players aren't interested in building one there because no one wants to grease them. Try perusing your fresh fruit & vegetable section at a neighborhood Circle K and see how dissapointed you are. Our public transportion system is a joke, and I'm not really for public transportation although I see the need. What I don't see is why we spent exhorbitant amounts of taxpayer dollars on a shiny new light with limited service when what we really needed is relatively cheap expanded bus service that goes everywhere. Our high regressive sales taxes are seconded only by California, and I'm waiting for the CRV to make it's appearance here. It's over 9% in some cities. Of course if you make enough money that you itemize you can get a credit for that on your taxes, but most poor people don't so they are left holding the bag. We're all about sales taxes here, just not having the rich pay them. Lastly I blame employers here that do everything they can to keep wages down. Good luck working two or three jobs here even if you wanted to, as you won't really get ahead as your second job will mostly pay for you to get to & from your jobs. Supply & demand seems to have no effect when it comes to wages, as they never seem to feel any pressure to raise them. Low paying service jobs are plentiful but good luck finding anything that pays real money. Our news organizations always trumpet job fairs & companies that anounce they are hiring, til you look deeper and find at best it's entry level jobs that pay didly squat. Other than a few high technology companies here that mostly don't hire local, our economy is driven by real estate & construction which are highly volatile. Walmart is our largest employer, and that pretty much says it all. [/QUOTE]
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