My new renter has opened up about how desperate they are financially and within the same 5 minutes told me about how every night they drink 3 32oz beers and smoke a pack of cigarettes. I asked if he had a computer and it was destroyed one night in a drunken party where they lived before. I got a call from one of the neighbors telling me they had a broken window and there had been fighting going on for days. Apparently, the wifes mothers gets drunk and instigates fights between him and the wife. F'en mother does not even live there, just came to visit. If the window is not fixed at the first of the month, they get evicted! They have 2 toddlers and there is broken glass several places on the property. What dummies. I had the place tidy before they moved in.
The neighbors hate me. Or at least what I have done to the neighborhood.
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11:39 PM
PFF
System Bot
Jul 14th, 2011
partfiero Member
Posts: 6923 From: Tucson, Arizona Registered: Jan 2002
Because, no matter how little or how much they have or how much they are in debt or how little income they have, their personal happiness means more to them than anything else--anthing, no matter how destructive that lifestyle policy becomes to their lives. Perhaps they'll be just as happy when ya kick them to the curb.
Because, no matter how little or how much they have or how much they are in debt or how little income they have, their personal happiness means more to them than anything else--anthing, no matter how destructive that lifestyle policy becomes to their lives. Perhaps they'll be just as happy when ya kick them to the curb.
YEAH ,WHAT HE SAID! Also,have you ever noticed they usually think people should look at their problems from their point of view,while totally disregaurding any one who disagree with them.
------------------ David Eric Jenkins, yes1062@live.com WORKING IN THE COALMINES IS HARD---------------WORKING ON MY FIEROS HARDER!!!!!!! FIEROS,WOMEN,FOOD AND SLEEP..........................IN THAT ORDER!
Because, no matter how little or how much they have or how much they are in debt or how little income they have, their personal happiness means more to them than anything else--anthing, no matter how destructive that lifestyle policy becomes to their lives. Perhaps they'll be just as happy when ya kick them to the curb.
Holey sh!t the word is going to end, Hell has froze over, Pigs are flying,
Don and I agree on something.
Steve
------------------ Technology is great when it works, and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't.
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.
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07:33 AM
TXGOOD Member
Posts: 5410 From: Austin, Texas Registered: Feb 2006
I don`t think it ends at smoking and drinking. I have seen HUGE women with a cart loaded with Twinkies, Ho-hums, chips and not one healthy looking food item in the cart paying for it all with food stamps. And usually with at least 3-4 kids. I guarantee if you asked who all of that stuff is for the answer would be the kids.
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07:43 AM
rogergarrison Member
Posts: 49601 From: A Western Caribbean Island/ Columbus, Ohio Registered: Apr 99
I cant tell you how many times Ive told people I can afford cool cars because I dont smoke or drink.....or do drugs. They look at me dumbfounded and I explain if they gave it all up, that money would pay payments for a Porsche. Just a pack a day of cigarettes is $150 a month (Kia)
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10:10 AM
fierobear Member
Posts: 27083 From: Safe in the Carolinas Registered: Aug 2000
I don`t think it ends at smoking and drinking. I have seen HUGE women with a cart loaded with Twinkies, Ho-hums, chips and not one healthy looking food item in the cart paying for it all with food stamps. And usually with at least 3-4 kids. I guarantee if you asked who all of that stuff is for the answer would be the kids.
Maybe it *starts* with smoking and drinking?
Maybe they are losers *because* they smoke and drink and buy shopping carts full of twinkies?
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10:22 AM
jaskispyder Member
Posts: 21510 From: Northern MI Registered: Jun 2002
actually the problem is that they don't have good paying jobs and they would rather just live life day by day. It is not about smoking, alcohol, food... it is a personal choice and if they are not on gov. money, I don't care. If they are using gov. money, then, yes it is a problem. Here in MI, you can only buy certain food with "food stamps", but still, that food is better than I can afford.
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10:54 AM
86GT3.4DOHC Member
Posts: 10007 From: Marion Ohio Registered: Apr 2004
actually the problem is that they don't have good paying jobs and they would rather just live life day by day. It is not about smoking, alcohol, food... it is a personal choice and if they are not on gov. money, I don't care. If they are using gov. money, then, yes it is a problem. Here in MI, you can only buy certain food with "food stamps", but still, that food is better than I can afford.
The real problem is the FS are supposed to supplement what income they have, so they us the FS for milk and food and groceries, then turn around and blow all thier other money on cigarettes.
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11:10 AM
PFF
System Bot
Pyrthian Member
Posts: 29569 From: Detroit, MI Registered: Jul 2002
is anyone suggesting that cigarettes & alcohol should only be allowed to be consumed by people of a certain income level?
yes, I am sure we can all agree the above is a fine example of classic self-destructuve behaviours. Yes, smoking at ANY income level is dumb, drinking too. Most of it is just trying to get back to the "glory days" of ages 16-20 when drinking & smoking went along with good times. when all their freinds are the same way - it just becomes a huge enabling circle of losers. but, in order for their to be winners - there must be losers. so - here ya go. use them as the poor examples they are. especially once they reach mid-life. OMG. 35 years old who look like they are 50. then they start their toothless rattle about how all their friends are now either in jail or dead.
this is actually part of my weekly motivations. After doing yard work, getting on the bicycle, and heading to the park. hanging with the bums. get my 24oz can of Icehouse & kwetch with the bums. maybe play some horseshoes......
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11:23 AM
rogergarrison Member
Posts: 49601 From: A Western Caribbean Island/ Columbus, Ohio Registered: Apr 99
I dont think thats what anyones saying. If you drink every day and smoke thats your right, just dont complain that you dont 'have anything'. Like said, its only a problem for ME if theyre getting government handouts and spending it on those instead of food or housing. In Ohio you cant buy alcohol or cigs with food stamps.
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11:55 AM
2.5 Member
Posts: 43235 From: Southern MN Registered: May 2007
I cant tell you how many times Ive told people I can afford cool cars because I dont smoke or drink.....or do drugs. They look at me dumbfounded and I explain if they gave it all up, that money would pay payments for a Porsche. Just a pack a day of cigarettes is $150 a month (Kia)
I agree. Not to mention gamble. So many folks plinking away their checks every week at the casino. "Why am I so broke"?
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01:15 PM
2.5 Member
Posts: 43235 From: Southern MN Registered: May 2007
Originally posted by Pyrthian: this is actually part of my weekly motivations. After doing yard work, getting on the bicycle, and heading to the park. hanging with the bums. get my 24oz can of Icehouse & kwetch with the bums. maybe play some horseshoes......
You may want to check your local laws to be safe - 'drunken bum kwetching' sounds like it might be illegal in most states.
Or North Palo Alto?..... made that mistake once when I used to work California as part of my sales territory. In the age before cell phones, was told by a receptionist to get back in my car immediately, get back on the 101, and call back from the next exit.
I used to work in a grocery store when I was younger. The abuse I saw made my blood boil. In Iowa food stamps will pay the deposit on cans and bottles. So guess what. Food stamp recipients buy a lot of pop. Then they bring back the bottles and cans and buy their cigs and booze. Before the "food stamp cards" they would come in and buy 2 pieces of bulk Brachs candy and take the $.98 and then head to the next line, until they had enough for their cigs and booze. The best was recently I overheard a gal wanting Obama care. In the 10 minutes I watched her she smoked 2 cigarettes. AND complained that she didn't have enough money to fix her car!
Because, no matter how little or how much they have or how much they are in debt or how little income they have, their personal happiness means more to them than anything else--anthing, no matter how destructive that lifestyle policy becomes to their lives. Perhaps they'll be just as happy when ya kick them to the curb.
And its their right to waste their meager resources on beer instead of food, or a place to live. but its also our right not to lend them a hand either.
And its their right to waste their meager resources on beer instead of food, or a place to live. but its also our right not to lend them a hand either.
If ya try that in Canada, ya get to go to jail for hate crimes beacuse those fresh off the boat have more legal right to your money than the guy who was born here and went to work 70-80-90 hours a week to earn it.
I'm looking foreward to exocet immigration policy......see a boat of them, launch an exocet at it.
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10:50 PM
PFF
System Bot
Khw Member
Posts: 11139 From: South Weber, UT. U.S.A. Registered: Jun 2008
Originally posted by partfiero: In Palo Alto? What is this world coming to?
Nope, Palo Alto is hard to make a profit from with the cost of property to rental rates.
They are in San Jose near my first home, that I still own.
User00013170, after one big blow out, he left for a few days. When he came back, he found the ignition or the car was attempted to be forced by(get this crap) his Aunt. Broke the lock assembly and some of the switches on the steering column. I basically volunteered to fix it with him "if helped me" and he said that he Mom has a guy that works on her car that he is going to ask to fix it. Hey, no point taking a chance and learning from the guy that fixes everything. They now have no working car (Geo Metro, no air conditioning).
I hope not but, I am betting on an eviction before the end of the year.
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11:51 PM
WhiteDevil88 Member
Posts: 8518 From: Coastal California Registered: Mar 2007
Or North Palo Alto?..... made that mistake once when I used to work California as part of my sales territory. In the age before cell phones, was told by a receptionist to get back in my car immediately, get back on the 101, and call back from the next exit.
You're thinking East Palo Alto.
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11:55 PM
Jul 15th, 2011
FriendGregory Member
Posts: 4833 From: Palo Alto, CA, USA Registered: Jan 2004
And its their right to waste their meager resources on beer instead of food, or a place to live. but its also our right not to lend them a hand either.
Well, it is if the Gov doesn't use our taxes to hand out.
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10:15 AM
84fiero123 Member
Posts: 29950 From: farmington, maine usa Registered: Oct 2004
Both, smoking and drinking can be and are addictive. So it may not be a choice for some.
Steve
Haha, I love this as an excuse. I did both, seen the folly and quit. Stopping drinking, was a ***** with physical reaction and the works. I still want a smoke when I am stressed. I almost only drink to break pain cycles.
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10:52 AM
Pyrthian Member
Posts: 29569 From: Detroit, MI Registered: Jul 2002
Haha, I love this as an excuse. I did both, seen the folly and quit. Stopping drinking, was a ***** with physical reaction and the works. I still want a smoke when I am stressed. I almost only drink to break pain cycles.
not everyone is the same. I can do things others cant. others can do things I cant. if we were all the same, most of this junk wouldn't even need talking about.....
but - good job on the quitting. I am a year on no smoking. tho, I must admit, I have had a few while hanging with buds drinking.
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10:55 AM
Doug85GT Member
Posts: 9706 From: Sacramento CA USA Registered: May 2003
The poor are mostly poor because of poor choices. There are two basic resources in a person's life: time and money. The poor waste both.
They end up with a crappy life and then seek the quick and easy escape from their crappy world through alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs. They are expensive but give instant pleasure. But in the long run they waste a lot of money and time. So that wasted time and money gets spent on temporary pleasures instead of invested in getting an education, acquiring a skill or starting a business.
The bad habits start young in childhood with bad parents that don't instill any kind of discipline in their children. The children and then told repeatedly that they are all victims of society. Telling a child they are poor because they are a victim takes away incentive to better themselves. If the system is set up to make them poor, then there is no use in trying to get out of poverty. So the child grows up emulating what they see around them and will experiment with the quick escapes as they group up in alcohol, tobacco, drugs and sex. They will have children themselves when they are young and/or not even out of school yet. The cycle repeats for another wasted generation. They network and learn the ins and outs of how to get public assistance and game the system. The poor person continues on their downward spiral of instant gratification until they are old and destitute being a ward of the state for most or all of their lives.
The bad habits start young in childhood with bad parents that don't instill any kind of discipline in their children. The children and then told repeatedly that they are all victims of society. Telling a child they are poor because they are a victim takes away incentive to better themselves. If the system is set up to make them poor, then there is no use in trying to get out of poverty. So the child grows up emulating what they see around them and will experiment with the quick escapes as they group up in alcohol, tobacco, drugs and sex. They will have children themselves when they are young and/or not even out of school yet. The cycle repeats for another wasted generation. They network and learn the ins and outs of how to get public assistance and game the system. The poor person continues on their downward spiral of instant gratification until they are old and destitute being a ward of the state for most or all of their lives.
When speaking in generalities there will always be exceptions. For every Charlie Sheen, there are tens of thousands of substance abusers that are poor.
Originally posted by Doug85GT: When speaking in generalities there will always be exceptions. For every Charlie Sheen, there are tens of thousands of substance abusers that are poor.
Essentially thats one reason why some drugs are illegal, some people think they can function while on them. Most can't. A nation of dead beats with to few to pay their way would probably result. Not to mention lung cancer and liver poisoning.
Even with cigarettes and alchohol, what they didn't know they were addictive? Why did they start?
Statistically speaking, every time the economy takes a dump, alcohol sales go through the roof.
I think this phenomenon is driven by depression and addiction as much as anything.
Money aside, I dont know anyone who wants to be addicted to smoking or drinking.. if ONLY it were so easy to stop doing these things as some of you would suggest.
I even find myself drinking more when there is less money coming in.
Loser? Poor choice? Label it how you will, I am still getting my bills paid, even if I am stinko.
[This message has been edited by tbone42 (edited 07-15-2011).]
Wonder how church (synogague, temple, etc) attendance is in relation to the economy (Do more people go to mass when times are tough?)
FInd solace in God?
People from a few generations ago would scrathy their heads in seeing how unhappy so many people are today. Some are miserable because they had unrealistic expectations or have trouble coming to grips with their 'mediocrity' (the fact that they didn't become something 'more')
i dunno.
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01:34 PM
2.5 Member
Posts: 43235 From: Southern MN Registered: May 2007
Statistically speaking, every time the economy takes a dump, alcohol sales go through the roof.
I think this phenomenon is driven by depression and addiction as much as anything.
Money aside, I dont know anyone who wants to be addicted to smoking or drinking.. if ONLY it were so easy to stop doing these things as some of you would suggest.
I even find myself drinking more when there is less money coming in.
Loser? Poor choice? Label it how you will, I am still getting my bills paid, even if I am stinko.
A stinko. lol
I suppose if you are getting your bills paid, you wouldn't fall into the category the thread is about.
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01:34 PM
Pyrthian Member
Posts: 29569 From: Detroit, MI Registered: Jul 2002
Originally posted by Doug85GT: When speaking in generalities there will always be exceptions. For every Charlie Sheen, there are tens of thousands of substance abusers that are poor.
and even more who are NOT poor. more substances are abused by those who CAN afford it, than by those who cannot. this is, after all the main reason these things are illegal. because of bored housewives & children who HAVE money.
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01:58 PM
Doug85GT Member
Posts: 9706 From: Sacramento CA USA Registered: May 2003
and even more who are NOT poor. more substances are abused by those who CAN afford it, than by those who cannot. this is, after all the main reason these things are illegal. because of bored housewives & children who HAVE money.
Where can I find information about drug use and social stratification? More specifically, where can I find information on what types of drugs are used within specific social classes?
Belinda Dodge
Dear Belinda:
One of the most common myths is that drug abuse and alcoholism are "equal opportunity" destroyers. This is not true. Sometimes, in making this claim, the claimant points to overall prevalence figures, which often show that white, middle-class people use drugs as frequently—or more so—than lower socioeconomic status groups and minorities.
But these data always end up showing more unhealthy usage patterns among lower SES groups. Perhaps the best illustration of this pattern is drinking. Higher SES groups both drink more often—and drink more often without problems. Put alternately, lower SES groups have fewer drinkers, but a higher percentage of this smaller number drinks problematically.
Nonetheless, popular claims that the middle class is more endangered by drugs than lower SES groups remain prominent. And yet it is obvious how silly this claim is. Is it more common in the suburbs or inner cities to find drug assassinations and violence, children abused by drug users, people incapacitated by drugs and alcohol, and so on? The logic often used to undercut these truisms is that people with greater resources are simply better able to hide their dysfunctional drug use. But if addiction is characterized by loss of control of drug use, is this statement not self-contradicting?
There are certain exceptions to the trend towards greater addiction/substance abuse problems in less privileged groups. These are areas of special concern to middle class people—or the better access of the middle class to the objects of the addiction. Thus, middle class people are more likely to have bulimia or exercise addictions, because these reflect particularly middle-class concerns. Likewise, middle-class people will more likely be addicted to antidepressants and tranquilizers, since prescription drugs are more in the province of employed, insured people.
However, the simple equation that greater resources — more drug use is self-evidently disproven by the most widely abused drug—cigarettes. I remember speaking at a prominent Canadian animal research center (Concordia University, where Roy Wise works). I asked the assembled whether middle class or lower class people are more likely to smoke. Several researchers actually claimed that smoking was more prevalent among those better-off economically. This is in fact incorrect; there is an inverse correlation between social class and smoking. Although people better-off economically could more readily afford cigarettes, they are prevented from smoking by greater health consciousness and enabled to avoid cigarette addiction by better control of their environments and the availability for them of more alternatives.