[ACC25026]

Do you seriously think people 'choose' to sleep on heating grates in the winter and get covered in sweat and dirt in the summer, risking beatings, robbery and police harassment? Do you seriously think people 'choose' to live in run down dangerous neighborhoods with rats and roaches and shootings? Frankly, what you think about the poor is a slur and just so much ugly and vicious character assassination. (You say you are Indian. I'm surprised, cousin, I don't think I've ever heard of Indian people who didn't think generosity to poor people, which includes most Indians, is not one of our most important values.)

It's easier to blame the victim than to think about the way the economy is deliberately structured to keep some people poor. The Federal Reserve quite openly says it deliberately plans to keep the unemployment rate at 5 percent. That keeps wages down all across the board. Tell me how that 5 percent (plus the additional 25-30 percent who live in poverty) could possibly 'choose' to be poor, then?

Outside of monks who've taken a vow of poverty, I doubt anyone has ever 'chosen' to be poor or homeless. Most poor people do work, and they work damned hard, far harder than people with money. Many hold down two or even three jobs. In my home town, it's quite common to have both parents working at minimum-wage jobs, and still have a poor household. Even many homeless people work at jobs that no one else wants, at car washes, as day laborers, etc. Many homeless have mental health problems, or drug or alcohol addictions. Many of the poor, homeless or not, are so trapped in a cycle of despair that they can't see any way out. That includes some of our own Indian people on the reservations, possibly your own relatives.

Who you choose to give your money to is your own choice, certainly. But please, don't be so mean-spirited as to justify your scrooge attitude by attacking people who have, for the most part, done nothing to deserve the state of poverty they are living in. A roll of the dice, and you could easily wind up where they are. We all could.

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Name : ACC25026, Gender : M, Race : Mexican and American Indian, City : Phoenix, State : AZ Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower class, 

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