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Comment by noworld | Hacker News Reader

"...went to the already-crowded Dollar Store and Dollar General and bought dog food, dog treats, Slim Jims, three six-packs of Milwaukee’s Best, pruners for digging roots and a backpack to carry it all.

What was the point in saving when, even if she could scrape together every free dollar, it would never be enough to change her life? So she bought the beer she had looked forward to, enjoyed its release and, as she did now, carried it over to Bobby’s."

She gets paid a tiny bit of money and she buys dog food, dog treats, cigarettes, and beer? Then gives the beer to her brother? Sounds like she's resolved to living this way instead of interested getting out of it, and for that you don't need a check cut from everyone else's tax payments.

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I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you've never been truly poor. Speaking as someone who was raised extremely poor and took a while to get out of it even as an adult, you really have to have been there to understand the mindset.

There are many factors that go into it, some of which are structural (when you're 51 yrs old earning < $1000 / month, no amount of saving is going to change your life significantly) and some psychological. (google search for poverty and impulse control pops out many results, including: https://newrepublic.com/article/89377/poverty-escape-psychol... )

As far as the dog goes, did you pay any attention to the woman's social interactions while you were judging her? This dog is probably the only unconditional affection she experiences in her life.

I have been there. I grew up in that situation and crawled out of it. I struggled for everything I have, and I saw many people who said it was too hard.

For those, I have zero sympathy. There is no reason to buy beer or cigarettes. They are just a crutch.

I have seen my father brought down by that, as well as cousins, sisters and brothers.

If the aforementioned 51yo was living by themselves ? I could almost see their reasoning. But then again, the reason I am not in that same position is by someone who, at the age of 45(approx), spent their time pushing me to learn and not join the other wastrel youth I was surrounded by.

Re: your last paragraph. Do you think that dog is being properly fed? A pet is a responsibility almost as difficult as a child in some ways, in others, moreso. I dread to think about that poor animals life in such conditions, nearly as much as I abhor the situation the articles subjects are living in.

If it happened to that many of your relatives, maybe there was a reason?

Who the fuck are you?

Imagine having nothing and then being told you can't have the companionship of a dog or even cheap beer because that means you aren't interested in changing your situation.

I'm the person that would rather have clean clothes and a shower, then get a job, washer, dryer, and bed, and THEN worry about the dog and cheap beer later. This is an article about people that can't suppress an urge right now for long term gains and it holds them in perpetual poverty.

That's who the fuck I am.

Do you have any experience with actually being this poor and desperate? There's no way to dig yourself out of a pit like this with an extra $12 bucks a month...

I do. No that extra $12 won't help you get out, but God's be damned drinking myself stupid certainly didn't.(I tried drinking it, that certainly didn't help).

What I did see, and realised more and more as I struggled, was that those few drinks was just an excuse for the people around me, to not do anything.

Oh sure, when there was a bunch of us, they were rather elequent I. Their own way, about what they would do - tomorrow, or perhaps next week, or even once they had just a few more dollars. It never happened though.

Out of everyone I grew up with, I am the only one to actually get out. Which shames me, I often wonder what I could do to have helped more, to bring people with me. But then I remember what it was like there.

Those $12 a month spent drinking isn't money that could be saved, it's the opposite, the temporary high that ruins you for many more hours than it provides.

Three six packs is not really a whole lot of drinking for a month, and given lack of running water it could just as easily be a way to keep a beverage around that's probably cheaper than soft drinks. It's also the kind of thing that you can offer to a friend without saying "hang on let me go get the hose from my brother's house."

And I'm pretty sure the "Slim Jim" mentioned are room temperature shelf stable sausage sticks, individually packaged and probably handy for someone possibly with no refrigeration.

Try this before judging:

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/11/your-br...

It's not easy for them.

So, if she kept the beer, she could 'get out of it'?

Is that what you got out of my post? Really?

Not sure what I was supposed to get out of it.

I assume you have advanced degrees in rhetoric?

This sort of comment comes up every time there's an article about poverty.

It's an almost comical copy of itself, posted over and over again, written by people who have 0 frame of reference of what it's like to be poor.

Unsurprisingly, the value of such advice is still nil. Even if it was possible for these people to save a life-changing amount of money, they still won't see it here, on HN.

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