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Oprah show about women & poverty (sm) - Rose

Posted: Mar 29, 2014

See link below for more info. I think many who have not had personal experience surviving poverty would benefit from watching this.

It is difficult - xx

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to work up any sympathy for someone who claims to be having trouble paying for prescriptions and rent but decides it's a good idea to spend $87 getting her hair colored like the woman in Ms. Shriver's original documentary. Maybe Oprah will have the sense to find subjects who are not perpetuating their own misery by continuing to make bad decisions.

The woman said she spent $87 on hair coloring??? - Rose

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.

Yes, she did - xx

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After showing selected elements of her life to garner the maximum sympathy for the subject, for some reason Ms. Shriver or the show's producers or somebody decided not to edit the part where she gets her Earned Income Credit tax refund (which, by the way, comes out of the taxes PAID by the rest of us). After claiming earlier that she didn't have enough money for her prescriptions and often was short on the rent, she spent $87 to get her hair colored instead of putting it aside for the future when she would again be short on money.

I do believe it was a step in the right direction to replace the old welfare-handout model with the earned income credit model, but the money that low-income people get back as a "tax refund" is really money out of the pockets of those of us who pay taxes. I don't consider spending $87 to get her hair colored not to mention whatever it cost for her tattoos to be particularly wise or responsible use of money taken from the taxpayers. I lost all sympathy for her.

Amen to your post-I completely agree!!! - nm

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x

Can't stand those who fake poverty! (sm) - Rose

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It's as horrendous as faking cancer. Those are the type of people who need to watch tonight's show, as well as those who simply cannot conceive of a person becoming poverty stricken through no fault of their own.

The issue with this woman - xx

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is not so much that she is faking poverty because she does work in a very low-paying job. The issue is with how she chooses to waste the money she gets from the taxpayers, money that is intended be used to alleviate the worst of her money problems--the earned income credit. She receives a substantial sum of money every year as a "tax refund" because she is, in fact, working but has such low income that she not only does not pay taxes but gets a large subsidy in the form of earned income credit, which is what she's getting, not a refund of any taxes she's paid. If she were to make appropriate use of the money and save it to pay for the necessities she says she's foregoing because of her low income, she would be able to solve her own problems. Instead, she spends it on expensive salon treatments and tattoos and then whines about being poor the rest of the year.

She is not alone in this behavior. How many news items or documentaries have you seen about low-income people who are getting EIC who moan about how they can't pay rent or buy food or shoes for their children or some other necessity, but if their home is shown in the program, it can be seen that they have a huge TV and their kids have all the latest electronic game systems, or they've got a brand new car. They get that big "refund" and spend it frivolously and then whine the rest of the year about not having money and it's all someone else's fault and they should be getting more handouts.

It's their own fault they're in the predicament they're in. But it is unlikely anyone else in the same predicament is going to learn anything from that because it is not PC to point that out in the programs focused on people getting EIC. They're portrayed as victims of "rich people" who are somehow keeping them from feeding their children. It's always someone else's fault, and others have come to buy that and believe it. It's just not true.

I choose not to judge or make assumptions (sm) - Rose

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People in poverty can have nice houses, big screen TVs, nice clothes and jewelry that they bought when gainfully employed. I've heard people criticized for receiving food stamps because they "own a television". For shame! These TVs are $5. at the thrift store. When it comes to living a life of poverty and depression, no one can know what it is like without having walked in those shoes. We do not know if someone gave her the money to get her hair colored or if she may have sold something to get the money so I won't judge her. Everyone deserves something in their lives besides working and a constant struggle and we can get very creative in finding ways to do that.

Well, she specifically - xx

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stated that she spent her EIC refund to get her hair colored. I don't begrudge the woman a little pleasure, but I do resent it that she paid for it with money taken out of my pocket (and yours and everyone else's who pays taxes) that was meant to provide for necessities when she's complaining about not having enough money to feed her children and whining about not getting food stamps.

And I've spent my life sending other people's children to school. (sm) - Rose

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I'm certainly not going to judge this woman who is doing an exemplary job working as a CNA and mothering her children. Romney gets nearly 200 times what she spent on her hair claiming his wife's horse is a "therapy horse" and he has no need for OUR charity.

I applied for food stamps and was told I didnt - qualify because I owned a car - sm

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(never mind that it's 17 years old and falling apart), and have a small savings account (where I deposit income, to try to get a tiny bit of interest on it before I pay my bills.)

You obviously have to "game the system" to even get what you rightfully should be entitled to, so it's little wonder that others can game it, too. And look at how politicians, corporations and banks game their own system.

Honestly, there came a point in my own downwardly-spiraling financial situation where I no longer can give much of rat's patoot who is doing what, or who is right and who is wrong, or even who is running the country anymore. (And who IS running the country now? Chevron? RJ Reynolds? Google? Genentech?) It just doesn't matter one way or the other to me anymore, because it's not going to change my own reality: Food. Housing. Clothing. Health.

I'm in survival mode. Politics are no longer relevant in the survival mode world.

You people are very judgmental. - see message

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First, you don't know WHO bought anyone a flat screen TV or video games, etc. How do you know they weren't handed down or bought as a special gift.

If any of you had watched the documentary and really paid attention, you'd know that in the beginning her children's father was not a part of anything. He later came into the picture and was spending more time with the children and providing more for them. If she wants to get her hair done, who the F cares! Instead of pointing out all of the RIGHT things this woman does and all the sacrifices she does make in her life to provide as best she can for her family, you people nit-pick to death all the "bad" things. It must make you feel better. You watched ONE HOUR of someone's life on TV, which was really probably more like 40 minutes because of commercials, and you can pass judgment like that? I'm betting there's not one person who commented on this subject who hasn't splurged on themselves for a guilty pleasure in their lifetime when they felt it was due. I know I have. I doubt anyone here would admit they did.

Yes, I splurge on things I want all the time - xx

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The difference is that I can afford them and I'm not taking handouts and whining about not getting more. I am not taking money from the taxpayers to pay for my splurges while at the same time claiming to have trouble paying rent and whining about not getting food stamps. Maybe she wouldn't have so much trouble paying for necessities if she didn't waste the money she gets from the taxpayers on expensive salon visits and tattoos. That woman invites judgment because of the poor choices she has made and continues to make. No one begrudges her the pleasure of getting her hair colored, but I think anyone who pays taxes resents the fact that she spent money frivolously that was taken from taxpayers and was supposed to ensure that she had necessities. Because she chooses to waste the hand-outs she's getting, she continues to be short on money for necessities like rent and food. How hard is that to understand? She's no saint, she's just someone who landed in a mess because she did not acquire any marketable skills before breeding children she cannot support. There are too many like her, but it's not politically correct to point out that people like her are the source of their own problems. It is fashionable to blame everyone but the one who is really at fault. She has a low-paying job because she chose not to acquire any marketable skills. Then she had three children with a loser husband, and she cannot now support those children. That is no one's fault but hers. If you're going to marry and breed with a loser, at least get some marketable skills when the inevitable happens.

I think you're a very bitter person. - see message

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You've never walked in her shoes or anyone's but your own, hence your very narrow-minded judgments and lack of compassion. At the end of this documentary, you'll see where she gets into a school for radiology tech because she wants to better herself and not continue the path she's be on. Give the woman some credit. She's likely doing the best she can with what she has at the time, but is moving forward. She'll probably make more money than any of us here.

Another knee-jerk reaction - xx

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Label the successful person "bitter" or ascribe some other unpleasant motive to the natural and reasonable reaction to irresponsible behavior. It is unfashionable to hold the welfare class responsible for its own circumstances. It's always the fault of people with money.

She hasn't even started the program she has been offered, so it remains to be seen whether she follows through and completes it and then chooses to get off the public dole or just continues as she is.

Sometimes the wrong choices bring us to the right places. sm - struggling MT

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The choices we made when we were 20 probably wouldn't be the same ones we'd make at 40. There are a lot of hardworking, good mothers who are barely making it, but who work full time with a side job and still can't get ahead. We aren't lazy or looking for a handout. I can relate to a lot of what this woman has dealt with. Perhaps that's what you lack in your thinking, you can't identify yourself with her situations.

I don't get it - NK

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I thought earned income credit was for people who have income from working but earning low wages and that it was a tax credit in order to lower their tax burden and sometimes get a tax refund. Are you saying that all the tax credits received by people who make zillions of dollars and reduce their tax burden are coming from taxpayers' money? Taxpayers are paying for all the refunds of people who have enough credits and deductions to lower their tax burdens and thus get refunds?

I do get this, though. I grew up poor. Didn't have enough food many times. And sometimes on my mother's payday I got a Milky Way. She occasionally went to the "beauty shop" and got her hair cut, as did my sister and me. Poor money-spending decisions? Perhaps. But, when you make so little money and have to worry daily about food and heat and clothing, you need a little respite from it. A bit of gratification from the usual drudgery of every day life. So, no, I don't begrudge her for having a little bit of money and rewarding herself for her efforts. I hope it brought some momentary joy to her life.

You are deliberately misunderstanding - xx

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the EIC replaced the welfare-handout model by basically eliminating income taxes for low-income people and providing a cash payment (the "earned income" credit) that they receive upon filing their taxes (hence the misperception that it is a tax refund -- it's not, it's a handout from the rest of us paying taxes). This is supposed to serve as supplementary income so they don't experience the kinds of problems this woman experiences regularly -- inability to pay for needed expenses. However, if they waste the money on frivolities like tattoos and expensive salon visits, they find themselves back in the same hole they were in before, whining about being unable to pay for necessities and looking for more handouts. This woman is complaining because she's not getting food stamps, but she decides to spend $87 on hair dye. She doesn't need more of the taxpayers' money, she needs to make more responsible choices. I don't begrudge the income support for the working poor to give them a chance to catch their breath and work at getting ahead and out of the working-poor life. I do resent paying for their tattoos and hair dye and then hearing about how hard it is for them to pay for necessities and how it's all the fault of successful people, you know, the successful people who paid the taxes that gave them the money intended to ensure they did not do without necessities.

I color my hair, too. Better chance of landing - a job than if its all mousy gray.

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We gotta do what we gotta do. If looking old hurts my chances, then I'll do what it takes to shave off that unwanted decade.

I agree with that. New hair or nails or clothes for an interview for sure - otherwise save up for it...

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And it doesn't even have to be "new" it can nice outfit from Goodwill clean, pressed, coordinated. DIY press on nails and home box color if you had to. Wait until you get the better job with more money to splurge on the good stuff. I just got my hair colored at the salon recently but I can afford it plus I'm hoping to have interviews lined up and want to look prepared, not brassy gray (choke) strands sticking out everywhere because they do show through even with good styling. I'm not even 40 and I have grays? WTH?

Makes me mad too - worker bee

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I don't get a dime from the government, in fact we end up paying a couple thousand in federal and state taxes at the end of every year.

I haven't had a haircut in 3 years, let alone a dye job. I also have only bought one pair of pants in 3 years. Between hubs and me, we can barely pay the rent, bills, eat and still end up paying taxes to for people like this. Nice. It's almost enough to make me Republican, almost, but not quite.

Where's the link? nm - MTMT

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??

Link was put in link field. I have no idea what happened to it. - Rose

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