OP did you happen to see this article in the same series about life in the breadline https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/may/17/life-on-the-breadline-its-a-relentless-daily-struggle-to-not-feel-bad-about-yourself
This lady has $167 for the week after expenses - almost half of the other lady, also living in Adelaide. She is well aware of her financial situation. Although her arthritis keeps her from working continuously she has found temporary work in the past.
I didn't see that. And there's an example of someone in a similar situation who does better for herself, demonstrating what I said about mindset.
She has this to say:
There is a certain “tut-tut, why is she spending her money on that?” And this is a very tacit, underhanded way of keeping people in their place. You want to take pride in your appearance, you want to blend in and be normal, but then when you start talking about poverty, that slight comfort is not seen by others to be your right.
Absolutely. In other threads I have noted that we judge the wastefulness of people on $10k differently to the way we judge the wastefulness of people on $100k. The argument "but it's our taxpayer dollars!" is less persuasive when the speaker has received a free or subsidised education from the state, etc, and does everything they can to minimise those taxes they pay. All of us benefit from tax revenues spent for the public good, both directly and indirectly.
For example, my household on $130k or so can, if we wish, get 3 days a week of childcare, and its cost from July 1st this year is subsidised at about 65% by the government. Since it costs about $120 a day, we could be subsidised - effectively given - $240 a week. This happens to be equivalent to the unemployment benefit. To get the unemployment benefit the person must put in forms fortnightly in person and attend regular interviews and small short courses (in theory) designed to help them get a job, and missing any of these leads to a "breach" where they may have benefits cut off for six weeks. The government is constantly cross-matching any money paid them for working, and using an automated system which assumes that if they happened to earn $100 this week then they are getting $5,000 for the year and thus must pay some benefits back, and so sends threatening letters which take months of back-and-forth and legal nonsense to deal with, etc.
Whereas for us to get the childcare subsidy we need only fill in one online form once a year updating our circumstances (hours worked, volunteered, etc, and income), and there is no ongoing check of this.
So one person getting $240pw of public money is treated with aggressive suspicion and impatience, and another person getting $240pw of public money is treated with friendly trust and patience. And if we waste that money we are not judged in the same way that the unemployed person is.
So I certainly agree that there is a definite inequality in the way people are treated, and this is unjust and wrong. For example, I am against the debit cards that set aside some of a person's benefits for groceries - since then everyone near you can see that you're on benefits and what you're spending it on. It's your freedom to spend or waste your money as you wish.
Nonetheless the two cases illustrate well the difference mindset makes in improving someone's life, or keeping them miserable. I work as a trainer, and have helped people get off walking frames. I am not interested in judging people, I am interested in seeing people improve their lives.
No one chooses to be both ill and poor.....
It depends on the illness, since many illnesses are those of lifestyle, and many can be mitigated by changes of diet and activity. Likewise, some aspects of poverty are a choice. For example, one woman I know in one particular week stole her adult daughter's food because she'd spent all her money on cigarettes. Now, family has a duty to take care of one another, and when her daughter was in need she took her in, so turnabout is fair play. But it shows that it can be a choice in the sense of inertia, of continuing to do what you're already doing, however badly it's working.
But as I said, I understand why an impoverished person can't see beyond the struggles of today and does not worry about a few months let alone twenty years from now. I've been there, and it's part of the reason I had to build wealth in my 40s - I threw it away in my 20s and kind of muddled through my 30s.
I changed my mindset.
Part of that change in mindset was a sense of perspective. Many people here and in similar discussions think they have it tough. Well yes and no...