ARE WE IN AMERICA REALLY THAT POOR!

[backontrack]

Comparing the life style we have here with the rest of the world, I think we are the wealthiest country on earth bar none!

[FJK]

Awful lot of homeless living in the streets that aren't seen in some other counties.

Lifestyle is more than just how the wealthier members of an economy or country are living, the wealthy live well no matter where they live.

[Neighbor]

At least it is a good place to be poor in, eh?

But statistically not close to being the richest nation in terms of GDP per capita.

Seems the USA rates fifth now; making it a fifth rate country I suppose.  LOL

 

p.s. Of the fifty seven States of the USA which one rates highest in your opinion?

[Neighbor]

16 minutes ago, FJK said:

Awful lot of homeless living in the streets that aren't seen in some other counties.

Lifestyle is more than just how the wealthier members of an economy or country are living, the wealthy live well no matter where they live.

Aren't seen may be the key words. Even Switzerland has now ( as of 2020) made an attempt to learn  of the number of homeless at that country, supposedly the second richest per capita in the world. 

Plus it is  reported( 2022) that only 36  percent of it's inhabitants actually own the place where they reside.  https://lenews.ch/2022/02/17/the-large-number-of-homeless-in-switzerland/

With much  of the world's population fleeing in terror from their own homelands, homelessness counts need include refugee "camps", but do they?

[FJK]

1 minute ago, Neighbor said:

With much  of the world's population fleeing in terror from their own homelands, homelessness counts need include refugee "camps", but do they?

Why would they need to do that?

"Refugees" and the homeless citizens of a country are not equatable in my view.

I wouldn't count those people temporarily displaced by natural disaster (or war) as homeless either.

[Neighbor]

Perhaps this is a good time to read  or reread a couple of modern classic novels to get better perspective on how often  massive homelessness occurs, plus how long it may last. 

Two books come to mind immediately: Grapes of Wrath and Cannery Row.

The Bible of course addresses depictions  of extreme poverty and homelessness  along with practical lessons  and applications for today. Nonetheless the poor will always be with  all of us.

Not only that,  at any moment, any of us may become that poor person that is impoverished and also homeless.

Being a little sympathetic is good, being empathetic  is not uncommon; but the being active in helping the poor and homeless directly, therein is  a serious challenge to our heart, our mind, our very soul.

It is not easy to just give a hand without putting conditions on the giving as governments tend to do.  What do you think our Lord wants of us individually? I find it a hard thing to sort out rationally, but have experienced the making of choices, and yes the giving without conditions being set.

Unconditional giving,  may not be best for all concerned, I just don't know. So I have to trust in the lead by the Holy Spirit at any given moment and situation that comes onto my own life. What  of you?

 

[Neighbor]

18 minutes ago, FJK said:

Why would they need to do that?

"Refugees" and the homeless citizens of a country are not equatable in my view.

I wouldn't count those people temporarily displaced by natural disaster (or war) as homeless either.

Okay. Count and or discount any number of individuals  from a personal list of homelessness. What does one end up with  but still a horde of individuals all over the world that  do not have a place they can call home, - home as long as they can pay the government(s) taxes on it that is. How few on earth might have a mortgage free dwelling over their own head, one for which  they can pay all the annual taxes on it?

To have a mortgage, to have to buy insurance because one has a mortgage, and to have pay taxation on a residence,  makes all of us just one default away from homelessness!

A home is a thing of worry as much as it is  of comfort when it's cost of upkeep and it's taxation  spirals upward without personal  income or resource also spiraling upward along  with it.

From homeowner associations, local ordinances,  City, regional, State and federal taxing boards with their changing rulings all play havoc on the security that is having a home a place one can declare to be theirs. 

Odd how the line from a song goes through my own mind - "Freedom's just another word for  nothin' left to lose."

[FJK]

13 minutes ago, Neighbor said:

From homeowner associations, local ordinances,  City, regional, State and federal taxing boards with their changing rulings all play havoc on the security that is having a home a place one can declare to be theirs. 

We just have no need or room for some people in our modernized world and are squeezing them out of it with no where for them to go..

An increasingly progressive trend with more and more people being added on a daily basis.

[DeighAnn]

1 hour ago, Neighbor said:

At least it is a good place to be poor in, eh?

But statistically not close to being the richest nation in terms of GDP per capita.

Seems the USA rates fifth now; making it a fifth rate country I suppose.  LOL

 

p.s. Of the fifty seven States of the USA which one rates highest in your opinion?

Mine!!!

[AnOrangeCat]

10 minutes ago, Neighbor said:

To have a mortgage, to have to buy insurance because one has a mortgage, and to have pay taxation on a residence,  makes all of us just one default away from homelessness!

A home is a thing of worry as much as it is  of comfort when it's cost of upkeep and it's taxation  spirals upward without personal  income or resource also spiraling upward along  with it.

This is really one of the key elements of poverty in the US as I see it. More and more people are either staying single or both the man and the woman have to work full time just to make ends meet, which in turn undermines traditional family structure a lot. It doesn't seem sustainable.