I grew up so poor that when you opened my fridge, they weren’t even condiments because we’d already eaten them. You open your fridge six times in the same day to stare at an empty fridge. That my walls were covered in blankets during the winter because there was no heat in my house in the Chicago winter. That we had no electricity for months on end. at some point we had no water. I know what being poor really feels like. I know the neighborhood that you end up living in because of your poverty. I know the constant fear that you feel with every step you take. That you worry, even as children what happens tomorrow. I am not poor anymore. But my experience has very clearly showed me what poor really is. It is a trap. Poverty is a policy and it does not need to exist in the richest country in the world. I called bullshit. I’ve lived it. I know the difference between the two worlds of poverty and the middle class. The world of the middle class is drastically easier to navigate. It is drastically easier to succeed. It does not have 90% of the hurdles of poverty. it feels like you can breathe in the middle class. You cannot breathe in poverty. Try doing anything when you can’t breathe. And you work 10 times as much to get nowhere. Now everything is easy. Because navigating the middle class is easy. I’m not rich. I could be richer than I am but being so poor in my youth and very content with my life. I do know that if I worked nearly as hard as I did when I washed, I would be filthy stinking Rich. Poverty also taught me that I don’t need to spend every waking minute of my time in the grind so that I can actually take a moment to enjoy living. To feel the breeze. Not fear tomorrow. do not fear walking out of my door. Anyone who says anything negative about the poor is a fraud.
Well said. Poverty is a pit that is unrelenting, unforgiving, and all consuming. It takes constant diligence and extreme luck to claw your way out of it. I just want to see an earnest, honest attempt by any of these ignorant fools to spend six weeks surviving under the conditions of the working poor, doing demeaning and grueling labor just to be told that if you really wanted health care you’d skip Starbucks and hold off on a new iPhone. I just never see anyone who is so keen on dismissing people fighting for their lives even sit down and do the math. You know the “do we buy food, fix the car or pay for electricity this month” math. It’s easier to be “smart with money” when you actually have some. I’m friggin FANTASTIC with money, I don’t pay full price for anything, I maximize every dime. It takes hours every week just to enjoy the bare minimum and I’ve been putting off dental visits and eye exams my whole life. I am better with money than anyone I know, and every time I feel like I can breathe my rent doubles. It’s not just exhausting, it’s brutalizing. One of the things I hate to hear people say is that they were/are a “poor college student” I’ve fantasized about college my whole life. I was in AP everything, in the 97th percentile in test scores, graduated early bc they simply ran out of classes I could take at my school. I was told that we could t afford college and since I was a girl, nobody felt like it was worth looking into. The crappy high school I went to never even bothered to inform me of student aid. Not once. That’s how ITT tech managed to scam me a few years later when I applied to be in the Air Force, hoping I could use the GI bill to fund my schooling. Instead, I was tricked by a recruiter for a fake college and per their own internal training docs, I had an easy pain funnel to navigate. It took ten years to get those false loans taken off of my name, but not before they garnished my wages and took every tax return in between. Now im lucky they removed the fake balance, but they conveniently lost the records of what I’ve paid, and since I have the records they’re dragging their feet. This type of stuff doesn’t happen to middle class people, they have access to help. They aren’t throwaways. Entire lives are destroyed by not being able to afford to pay someone to ensure you’re treated fairly under the law. I’m so desperate to claw my way out of this pit. I’m so desperate to have a chance to make the world a better place. I wish I hadn’t spent so many years wasting my life chasing survival. Sometimes I fantasize about what I would be like if I had a degree. Now, my record is clear and I’ve filled out my fafsa. Wish me luck, if I start now I could be an attorney by 46. I refuse to be defined by this cursed socioeconomic prison
@@rainbomg I'm a 41-year-old neuroscience student. I should get my PhD by 48. I worked as a chef for 18 yrs and lived extremely poorly during that time. No more. I'm paying for school with grants and student loans. Yes I'll have debt, but only 2 years worth, and it's a necessary evil to get where I want to be. What's cool about science phds is they pay you a small yearly stipend in exchange for research you do for the university...the stipend is about the same as my salary as a chef. I get a PhD after 3-4 yrs and will be making 3-4xs that, doing work that I actually care about, studying the brain and finally using the one that I know I've always had. If I can do it, anybody can. It's never too late. FAFSA is the first step...keep going!
@@rainbomg I will pray for you, i think you can do it. I'm sorry that society hasn't done more to help you when you needed it so badly. Thank you for sharing your journey and your story
@@rainbomg Look into medicaid, I have been in a much-less-worse situation than you for a decade, but still bad. I just learned medicaid applies to those making around the federal poverty level. I can now go to the dr for the first time in 15 years, get new glasses for the first time in a decade, and it covers dental as well, at least in the state I am in. Worth taking a look! Good luck.
I was born into a somewhat wealthy family (family business worth a few million) and I also spent a few months homeless. Your mindset changes so quickly, I had never stolen, swore that *I* with my precious morals would do no wrong. By the end of the month I had learned how to fill up a backpack without getting caught. I learned how to bluff my way onto buses and had to keep watch out on the trains for cops so I wouldnt get a fine. I had a small time frame to do things by, the shelter we were in was open 24/7 and wouldnt kick you out, but there were only so many beds. At one point i got so paranoid that I never left the building after being stuck outside on a snowy night in clothes that couldnt handle it. I got out after six months, and it was the most difficult thing I have ever done
I still remember my mom telling me the reason she really started the vegetable garden we had when I was little was not so much a hobby but because it was a common way to actually feed your family in that rural area, and because WIC didn’t cover most nutritious food and we couldn’t afford much.
I got out of poverty because I got a scholarship to a wealthy arts high school. That in itself is a long story. When I was there, I gained many friends. 99% of them were wealthy. Or at least upper middle class. And sometimes I would talk about the night before in my neighborhood or something that I dealt with the day before. And it was so hard for them to hear it that it often would completely alter the mood of joy to depression and it made my presence hard to bear sometimes and I could feel it waning there feelings for me. Not because they didn’t like me we were good friends by this point, but because the reality of my every day life was so severe That it brought their good mood down and made them feel bad. So I learned to just not talk about it. They didn’t want to hear about my cat having their headset on fire and me spending the night trying to save them. Didn’t want to hear about stabbing a man in the eye while I was being attacked by three men. They didn’t understand having to shut in a bucket because my toilet was broken, or having to take ice cold water bucket baths in the middle of winter with no heat in my frozen home. It was very sad that the reality of my every day life was too difficult for them to hear that the easiest solution was to remove it from their ears. My home was so cold that even the cockroaches found a new home.
Someone once told me that they didn't like how all the childhood stories of mine that I'd tell them were so 'negative'... I thought I hadn't even told them the bad stuff. Really changed my perspective on how much of myself I reveal to people.
its such a bullshit party. people just feel violated when you break it to them. they cant cope with reality, they feel you are somehow killing the mood, while they have no idea about humour of the downtrodden. people dont get it, people cant imagine what it means to live in a shithole with rats and bedbugs. roaches are atleast manageble, depending on the house. but living in a bedbug house this was scary as fuck, i trashed most of my shit, i was so scared by these little monsters. the bodily horror of scabies is also an unknown experience for the wealthy, the constant search for a dermatologist, the paranoia if the permethrin still works, the conflicting medical advise, people cannot imagine that shit. the itchyness is nothing compared to the work to get rid of it. the state helps with nothing. not even bedbugs. how can should one sleep if rats are in your room? how can one sleep under the constant attack of bed bugs?
I did not grow up as poor as what you described in your other comment, but I can relate. We always had heat in the winter, but we ate potatoes and the lowest grades of milk and baloney for most of the year. I'm the only one of my cousins who didn't stop school during or right after high school. As a matter of fact, I managed to obtain merit-based scholarships and powered all the way through to a phd and have a well-paying job at a large international firm. And I face the same conundrum as you now. None of my peers came from poverty. They don't believe some of the stories from my childhood when I share them. There's a complete disconnect their lives and the life of my family and childhood friends. Sometimes it's small things, like at 8 or 9, I'd go down to the corner store to buy lotto tickets and cigarettes (which was already illegal at the time for a minor to buy). And then, the utter disbelief when I tell them I know guys who were killed in drugs deals gone wrong or that my first gf was the niece of a very high ranking criminal biker...
@@bp6942 I do what I can. For a long time, volunteered martial arts classes for kids in the neighbourhood. With 4 young kids now, it's kind of hard to find the time. I still volunteer through the scouting and I am involved in our elementary school's administration.
0:01 Intro 0:46 Part 1 How the Other Half Lives 7:42 Part 2 The Lazy Modern Poor 15:54 Part 3 Selected Readings 24:37 Part 4 The Poor Are Disgusting 33:04 Conclusion 34:20 Outro Thank you so much for reposting! Would love to see your new channel grow like crazy this year! 🎉
What I’ve also noticed is that many (middle to upper class) people who are educated about the systemic issues of poverty will still default to personal moral failings as the biggest cause of poverty. It’s sad to see, but I think for the majority of people it’s easier to accept that than to lay the blame in systemic issues that feel so far out of our control.
Yeah people are cruel as fuck. I'm not doing great right now but I came from a middle class family and the judgement thing happens instinctively, before logic has a chance to step in. We are specifically groomed by culture to offset our anxieties with belief in the (false) security of our supposed meritocracy. The news terrifies and reassures us in equal measure every day, and with that cultural priming in place the real world does the rest of the work. I sometimes fall for it myself to this day, when people are rioting, or in court for serious crimes, or just out on the street acting belligerently, I have been primed by our culture to analyze speech patterns and watch behavior to build an assessment of "intelligence" (read "similarity"). I still somewhat believe (deep down) that some 20/30% of people are either; helpless, destructive, cruel, stupid, or dangerous, and that people with some combination of these traits end up evicted from the higher branches of the economic tree. On some level I still believe that my failure so far in life is justified and rational. Don't forget, we apply the same standards we apply to others to ourselves. Your worth as a human being is derived near exclusively from your ability to remain stably within the cultural standards of your family/neighbors. Short of your closest friends, it seems like EVERYONE is watching you for signs of struggle, blood in the water. If you really struggle/fail to succeed, you get no sympathy or understanding, you will be ostracized and looked down upon. You will probably struggle alone (because poor people will never fully accept you), and while you are struggling your entire class cohort will look at you only as proof of their own intelligence and moral virtue. Depressed/mentally ill people suffer from the same morality based dynamic, people who aren't depressed/mentally ill just CANNOT understand our perspectives and experiences. Being judged like this has broadened my understanding of how we display and talk about poverty, all prejudice is essentially the same.
Obviously, we should do what we can to help the unhoused resolve their addiction issues if they have them- but even if they remain addicted, I'd rather they do drugs in a tiny home or little apartment than on the street. It's just safer for everyone. People want to act so afraid, saying "the children can't play outside because of the homeless drug addicts", but then refuse to get 'em off the street so kids can play outside. Ridiculous.
Honestly I think many of them need sheltered accommodation under supervision. You still see people on the street in places with plenty of housing or shelter because they cause problems for their neighbours and get kicked out. Some people are not in a fit state to live fully independent lives, it's harsh but true. Getting rid of so many asylums was a mistake, many were horrible places, but "care in the community" has led to people on the street. They should have been reformed, not shut down.
I absolutely agree with shelter for everyone! Housing is a human right. I do worry that sticking all these people in little sheds like a lawn mower in winter would just hide the addiction problems from those of us who aren't in that situation, and make us think it's not happening. The housing issue seems like one piece (one large piece, mind you) of the problem instead of addressing the conditions that got them there. Poverty is not an individual moral failing when there is so much abundance in the western world. It's a systemic one
Bruh, the problem isn't just "give the houseless houses". You can give all these people living accommodations and it still won't solve all the problems. Its a far more complex issue than each side seems to make it out to be. And the more left originated concepts/solutions for the homeless problem are starting to prove to be woefully inadequate. Unfortunately, I feel like this poor performance from such left like ideals will lead to a pendulic shift to an equally woefully inadequate right originated response/set of solutions. Its a complex topic that requires nuance.
It is so much cheaper to keep people in their homes, than to provide a plethora of low quality social services once they're evicted. The issue becomes, how does a government provide those services while maintaining the illusion of a meritocracy.
Why is maintaining an illusion of meritocracy is of great concern? Playing that game is a race to the bottom with the right wing for whom most government services are an affront to the divine free market system (and meritocracy) anyway.
A note on WIC: the only thing it's good for is baby formula. The program covers a metric ton of cereal and high sugar juice (good luck diabetics) and no meat. My point is that these programs have a ton of waste because they are poorly designed and poorly distributed.
In Oklahoma there is a bill to make homeless outreach illegal everywhere but okc and tulsa. I can only presume we need more prisoners to work for 30 cents an hour at the corporate fast food establishments. We will get these lazy homeless working one way or another, huh? Why am i not shocked?
That's f'n outrageous. I spent a year homeless in DFW as a direct result of the pandemic. The area had become so overpopulated and the homeless community so large that I couldn't land a job or get any meaningful assistance. And try living without phone/internet service today. That makes assistance even more impossible. PS, I don't drink or use drugs... but I understand how the homeless experience could drive people to do it.
Sadly, a good percentage of folks are probably only one paycheck away from homelessness. Does anyone really own their homes anyway? Once registered with the state, isn't it really the states property? If a missed property tax payment happens, can't the state take it?
@@amoore7357 I lost my job and still get 20 000 euros per year + dental and healthcare. And our economy sucks in Finland compared to your souring stock market. It"s highway robbery what they do to you over there. Not that its perfect but capitalism seems to only work on paper.
What many people who society consider "able bodied" don't realize how HARD it is to get on disability. You think welfare is easy? I have to make a tank of gas in a car last every month, I have to decide what weeks the fridge is full and which ones I'm suffering with colitis thanks to cheaply given out grains and cereals so I can just not go to bed hungry, I have to budget for my own medication and have decided my high blood pressure medicine is what I can do "without" most months. It's horrid but it's what I have gotten used to since I finally got into housing that I'm not in danger from being mugged every day. And all of THIS would be impossible without disability. Without disability I'd be dead.
I love this video, it rocked my socks off! I particularly loved your conclusion including a talking point, and a specific one at that, very helpful. Can't wait to watch more of your stuff in the future!! Edit to say, wow, this is your FIRST video and currently it's at 700 views?!?! What a huge accomplishment!!
good economics for hard times and poor economics are two incredible and well researched books on poverty. They tackle the "what if they are spending their money on drugs" claim really well, and show with quality empirical work that direct cash transfers are extremely benefitial.
But direct data from the ground in the western us states show that these direct cash transfers have done nothing to solve/fix the issues. In fact, its seemingly coincided with a period where its been made even worse.
As someone who physically cannot work, yeah. It’s a trap and even if I do want to earn more, I lose my benefits. I was lucky, but I know others are not.
Dude, you hit this one out the park! So glad the algorithm recommended this. It was clearly a passion project, and i think that showed on the final product. If you keep making videos, ill be watching, but do it for you, tell us about whatever you like, not just poverty/social justice, and on your own scedule. Don't become a slave to the algorythm. Anyway, great content, subscribed.
Homelessness and poverty and are actively enforced by states. (Wow its almost like states and capitalists serve each other) As long as the systems that exist today exist, there will be no end to this.
My view on welfare and programs like it are actually that it’s a saving grace for the middle class. That it forces the government to pay for poor. Which means that the poor that are in our society, take up more of their time and resources. Which means that they are forced to have an economic strategy that prevents at least a portion of the population to not be impoverished or they will have to foot the bill to fix it. All having less tax money coming in to pay for it. they have decided what what the line is, but we’re at a point where they are trying to get rid of those safety nets and if they do there’s no penalty for bad economics. there’s no price for them to have to pay if we’re all poor. It’s similar to my feelings about Healthcare. If we had universal healthcare, it’s very unlikely that our government would allow poison. That’s illegal in most countries to be sprayed onto our vegetables. It’s very unlikely that our government would allow food industries to put poison in our food. Poison illegal in most countries. but we put that in our food because it’s a profit for the healthcare industry and for the food industry who pay off our government with bribes to allow them to. And our government has no penalty as we do not get universal healthcare. And if we did have universal healthcare the cost of having to fix the damage to our health that those poisons create would outpace the amount of money they get in bribes from those companies making the bribes useless. Making better health a better policy. Making medicine more about curing the disease over treating it.
It cut pave in half in just 10 years. And the only reason that poverty raised up again is because they reversed many of the things that he had done. But the point is in just 10 years LBJ initiatives cut all of our poverty in half. A clear indicator that poverty is policy. as well there is plenty of historical data that suggests that poverty and crime go hand-in-hand. That as poverty goes down so does crime. so does violence. Meaning that poverty is policy and so is violence and crime.
@OK-pi6fq the problem I have is that his tax cuts were purely to appease the white people who were offended that he did so much for the poor and marginalized communities. But due to these tax cuts did the Republicans come with the trickle down economics scheme Reagan benefitted from. And everyone loves to shit on Reagan, deservingly so, even tho LBJ was the one who set it all up. Just a little hypothesis here. If LBJ's presidency was exactly the same except he kept the 24brackets income tax with 91% at the top would the US never have seen the rise of Reagan.
Someone in a third world country thinks the same about you. You don't have any right to take something from someone else. Wealth redistribution is theft.
@@mikieperson4135 exactly. There is an organization that steals 20-25% of my wages before I even see it. And if I don't pay it they will send people with guns to my house. What do they do with my money? They give it to others who don't deserve it. I'm glad we agree about the problem.
Amazing video! I hope one day we'll realize as a society to look at the societal and economic reasons that homelessness exists (ie. limited supply of housing, etc), instead of looking for moral failings amongst those who are afflicted with it.
Impressive to make a whole video about poverty and barely mention the problems with capitalism and end it with "its an investment to help the poor" as if we should only do things that benefit us. The fact is that having a poor underclass benefits the capitalists. People in poverty can easily be exploited. Threatening the rest of society with poverty keeps them working hard. Thats why they exists. Thats why the propganda about how disgusting they are also exists. It's a system that exists to benefit the selective few, it doesnt matter the issues they cause for society as a whole because the society as a whole is not in charge, the few rich capitalists are.
Awesome video!! I saw a calendar in the background of one of your shots that read Dec 2023...is that when you originally filmed this video? If so, why'd it take so long to come out?
I enjoyed the video but I just wanted to add that you didn't address Social Security which is one of the most impactful forms of public assistance, the most difficult to get on and the most difficult to get off of as well as the most restrictive in terms of the qualifications to apply for and the most difficult to work on/get off of (which is something I personally have a lot of experience with as well as homelessness). There's a lot more to address as well but this is a good intro to some of the more pressing issues facing modern poverty.
Drug addiction and the un-housed issues are solvable, but we , as people, are unwilling to spend the money. Human beings have a hard time wrapping their heads around, giving someone something for free. That's the actual solution. If they're homeless, give them a house with no strings attached for an extended period of time. Then, start your outreach and assistance. There is a hierarchy of needs.
The problem is that "no strings attached" can mean the place gets trashed or they become the neighbour from hell. Some people out on the street are there because they've been thrown out of their accommodation for doing those things. It's not always their fault, some might be addicts or have mental health conditions, but I'm not sure just giving them a house is the best solution if they're just going to ruin it again.
I like your idea. As soon as it is enacted I will quit my job so I can get my free house too! See how that doesn't work? Everyone would stop working if anyone could get a free house. It's kind of a catch 22. I want to help the impoverished but you can't just give people everything they need for nothing. At the very least there need to be strings attached. Strings like no drug use, required counseling, and assistance getting a job.
@Animorphster when i say house i mean shelter of some kind with no strings that could be a 90 sq ft room. You put a time limit of 2-3 years and provide services. Why would you quit your job to go live in a hundred square foot room with a bunch Of other people. It makes no sense.These people are desperate, so to them its a god sent. To you or me, it would be unacceptable that's why people wouldn't do it unless they had to.
Money isn't the problem. You can't solve drug problems just by throwing money around. States spend billions and the problems only get worse the more the budget goes up. Institutionalization was a path towards a solution, but it was the left that decried it first and pushed for decades for "community-based" care for people suffering chronic and ongoing mental and substance abuse issues. And "community-based" meant just releasing people with ongoing problems back to their families and neighborhoods to roam around with little to no professional help. Only a tiny minority of substance abusers actively seek help, and only a tiny minority put themselves into rehab, and even after rehab most of them relapse. They need to be committed involuntarily and forced onto the right path, self-help doesn't work.
I remember one time when I was on food stamps but because it was my birthday I wanted to get something special so I got steak. And the cashier literally, look down on me I could see it in her eyes. Yeah I mean there are people who waste money certainly but they're people who waste money in every class but just because you want something once in a while. Also doesn't mean you were wasting money. But this is why I think like just having a Ubi where it doesn't really matter how you spend it. It's the fact that you spend it the way you want, then it isn't about helping the poor. It's just about giving the right to the citizens, citizens have the right to housing not because they deserve it or it's owed to them, but because it is their right. A lot of people think about it in the terms of what they deserve versus what are actual rights. Rights don't make you a good person. It doesn't make you a bad person, but it guarantees you fairness, that's the point. A person who is in prison, for a crime they committed doesn't really deserve rights. They have rights because it is fair, justice. When people think about what people deserve, it becomes about their opinions about people. It becomes about what they think. Rights are Liberty are they not? If you go based on deserve, then other things come up like class division, race, cast system etc. Our prejudice, and our religious indoctrinations play a role, in what decides what we deserve. It isn't to say that people do not deserve their fate, but humans are really bad about determining whether someone truly deserves it, whether they believe it to be an act of God (s). I mean people will believe and wish the worst unto others just for saying the wrong thing. But this is why rights cannot be based on 'deserve'. Like they act like the wealthy don't make poor decisions. I see them all the time and I'm certainly critical of their decision making. However, then explain buying a big mansion is not a crime nor should it be. It is not against the rights to have a big mansion that is gratuitous, gratuitousness isn't a crime, I'm a morally oppose it I may even think you don't deserve it. However, if they obtain that big mansion by denying others rights then it isn't fair then that is truly wrong. I feel we have regressed in the understanding of Rights, and rights have become about entitlement, who is entitled to the rights when in truth everyone is entitled to having rights, although it doesn't free them from the responsibility. There's also the difference between of course individual freedom versus social freedom. And of course there is a difference between welfare and the difference between rights. Which will be better I think would depend on the person and their abilities. Obviously children are limited in their individual rights as they cannot fight for nor can they be truly responsible and thus there is more welfare spectrum right. Simply being homeless isn't to crime, nor should it be. All humans need shelter which is a welfare argument. A right to a home. Not even just a right to housing. What makes a home a home? I've seen people target people living in RV campers because they don't view it as housing, more so government officials, to be honest, I actually rarely hear this be an argument between the left and right, I believe this is due to the fact that the government only truly views housing tied to land ownership, You're either a property owner, landlord or a renter. From a governmental perspective, they don't like it because they can't gain more tax money in revenue.
Crazy that eating well is considered “wasting money” those cashiers are likely about 2 missed paychecks away from being on assistance themselves. This system is a cancer.
@ keep that same energy when billionaires hoard hundreds of millions of taxpayer funds in the form of subsidies and buy back their stocks. Your disdain is misplaced.
I feel like your critique of the bell curve was a strawman (happy to discuss more), but I really enjoyed the video overall! Excited to subscribe to a new video essay channel
Eugenics is an inaccurate theory linked to historical and present-day forms of discrimination, racism, ableism and colonialism. It has persisted in policies and beliefs around the world, including the United States.
Umm...man just comes in with no established channel and drops this banger on us? Where's the rest of the college grad-level analysis and slow leftist radicalization videos?
It's amazing how the messaging is strong agaisnt for welfare, though would be interesting to see how much welfare goes to buisnesses. Though, it's not called welfare its called subsidies.
Excellent video. Please consider making a video about the 5 Earned Income Quintiles updated each year by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In general Americans are ignorant about wage stagnation since 1970's. They also are unaware how extremely low a person's income & assets must be to qualify for SNAP/food stamps. Most only become aware when they personally have an extended job loss AND they still are disqualified; it's a shocker to them. Even half of people in 1st/Bottom Earned Income Quintile will NOT qualify for food stamps.
This is why we need UBI. Money isn't real, the only thing that constrains how much money can be spent into existence is real resources, remember, in a service economy, labor is both a RESOURCE AND A PRODUCT. Poverty is a policy failing, not a personal one.
I agree with a lot of points in the video, but I don’t trust the government to get complex, systemic solutions right. I would rather give money, time, and resources to effective private charities that have direct relationships with the communities they serve than pay higher taxes for an inefficient, oftentimes corrupt government social welfare program. Why is the government the only discussed solution when private entities can do things so much better? Case in point: the politician who gave money meant for social welfare to his kid’s sports team. That happened at the state level, but there is nothing to suggest the same corruption doesn’t happen at the federal level.
Have you considered working with "poor people" instead of reading books about them? Maybe make a video about that? I think you have some homeless people in San Diego.
29:53 falling asleep homelsss in the wild could literally reset you back to square one ehere ypu have noyhing but the clothes on your back. Ex homeless person here; ex meth head as well; definitely did a lot of drugs but had i not done drugs id be starving every day with no energy to work
Sorry the bit about clothes had me laughing so hard. A few years ago i had to tent it in the mountains. Was doing great tell the bears started packing on the pounds. I miss that tent. And congratz on being clean so long 🎉 meths a heck of a drug.
Dont forget that you cant talk about mental health without talking about the effects of the poisonous diet most poor people can only afford/are pushed into. (Per your section on the three shows)
You can’t talk about this without talking about the poor decisions and laziness many humans exhibit. Just wait until you have some more life experience. The things you’re saying are also true.
i wonder if the people who read these occidental novels understand they are engaging in the same level of intellectual stimulation as watching a jake paul vlog... a well read person reads academic textbooks and research journals, not slop that would show up in a bookstore written by pundits and hacks
I think it's a new channel, got here early. I think both sides have things to add to this conversation, no doubt some discipline helps the poor, like we see with Asian migrants that in a single generation get out of poverty due to being so driven in whatever they do. But you did a perfect job in conveying your point of view, your channel will grow fast with this level of quality.
I think this is a really good video, however the times where you talk over yourself is really distracting and makes it difficult to hear the things you're saying. I want to hear all you have to say, but those segments make it hard to.
I thought your arguments to show that people are disgusted by the poor wasn't the most persuasive. While it’s true that poor individuals might not always have the best representation, your examples don’t necessarily support the claim. For instance, "My 600-Lb Life" features a person who happens to weigh 600 pounds and also happens to be poor, but being overweight isn’t exclusive to poverty. Similarly, not all hoarders are poor (even on that show), so the connection there feels tenuous. As for The Jerry Springer Show, I would argue it wasn’t anti-poor so much as anti-decency, often showcasing sensationalism across various demographics. Wealthy individuals also face negative portrayals in media, often depicted as aloof, cold-hearted, sheltered, out of touch, or spoiled. Media frequently portrays people of all income levels in a poor light, depending on the narrative being pushed.
I think the main differences between "rich" and "poor" people being shown in media is that often times, the rich get a choice. they might do it for fame or vanity, to create a brand or a image of themselves, and, frankly, to become even richer than they are. I don't think his point was that the shows mentioned only portray poor people, but rather that they, in particular, are being made a spectacle of. and because they already have so little, they are willing to go further than they perhaps otherwise would have, if the production company didn't dangle a cheque in their face that could help keep them afloat for a little while longer. the problem really is that the portrayal of poor people in these shows further reinforces the stereotype that there is a "they". that "those" people are so filthy and weird and you wouldn't wanna be like "them" now would you? when in reality most americans are only a couple bad months away from being part of that group. it's a display put on for people to watch and feel better about themselves because at least they are not like "them". that's what I get from this. pardon my rambling but tl;dr: he didn't mean everyone on those shows was poor necessarily and only used it as an examples to show how poor people are exploited in the media
Tyler's videos are infuriating. What's more he is takes away views from other creators out there that do a good job showing real people and their lives, like Peter Santanello and Invisible People. I swear its like Tyler was hired to follow Peter around and counter his videos with Jerry Springer-esqe clickbait.
You shouldn't give away money for "welfare" but instead nudge employers to pay a proper wage. Just approach it similar to the anti-smoking policies: make cheapskating employers pay additional taxes, stigmatize them, prohibit access to certain public places for cheapskating employers, etc. If employers experience a lot of down sides to cheapskating, most will stop cheapskating, despite still having the freedom to cheapskate. A small amount of cheapskating employers would result in a small amount of poor people who actually work for their money.
One of the problems that I had growing up in an extremely impoverished ghetto was there were no jobs. In a very large space there was one very small grocery store and a fast food restaurant. Every other business was family owned. Which were very few to begin with. They were dangerous. They didn’t pay very much at all and everybody in the entire area wanted them. Which meant that if you wanted a job you had to get it outside of your entire neighborhood. But the transportation was absolutely horrible. It be 45 minutes in between a bus. You had to wait for that bus in the weather in a neighborhood that was extremely dangerous. You were safer walking while you waited for a bus because being in movement was safer than sitting still for that period of time however, you also wrist missing your bus if you walked. They were shut off times for buses, which meant that you could not take a good portion of jobs that would hire people from neighborhoods like the one I came from because most of those jobs do things like graveyard. But you couldn’t take a graveyard shift because there were no buses that road during that time so you have four hour gaps five hour gaps between bus rides. Also meaning you had to take multiple buses. And if you consider working eight hour day and it taking you two hours to get to your job per direction by the time you got home, you had time to cook dinner and go to sleep now imagine doing that while raising children. You never see your children. They become raised by the neighborhood. The neighborhood their best bet for income independence. It allowed you the most free life you were going to get from neighborhood like that. It allowed you time to actually make money support yourself and actually enjoy some of your life. Where is those that did work? We’re working all day every day, and they were barely scraping along. I knew many people who wanted to go the legitimate route but the act of doing that was so difficult that they often succumbed to crime. If you magnify that by the fact that once you’re jailed for a crime, it’s even harder to get work, it makes a cycle that perpetuates. As well as those that go into jail, often come out much harder than when they went in. Meaning that their level of crime tends to go up and be more serious. and the decent folk of all those neighborhoods are constantly constantly battling the danger of that reality just to go to work just let their children go to school so much mental capacity has to go into just walking outside. Having good paying jobs in those neighborhoods wouldn’t exist because there’s still no jobs there. I do believe higher education does help. Because it lets those that are educated move out of that neighborhood to get a good job. And that’s their best bet. As more people have good paying jobs those neighborhoods get smaller, which make other jobs more accessible to them.and that shrinks them even further. What does help with good pay jobs is preventing more people from falling into poverty and making those spaces bigger. It helps because it allows more of them who are reaching out doing the extra and working the legitimate version to bring home more money so that those in the neighborhood who see those ones doing OK for themselves have an option to work a little harder to venture out further and try to get those jobs as well versus, see them as pointless or waste and convert to crime. So yes indeed having better paying jobs does minimize violence and crime in general and help the poor neighborhoods move up but it’s a slower process than education so I see both of them as a essential. Not one or other but the combination of the two.
I feel like this take is a bit shallow and tries to fix something that isn't really the main problem. as explained in the video, finding employment can be very difficult, no matter at what pay level. plus consider many people have obligations like young children at home that they need to take care of and don't have the ability to work because there is no childcare service provided. and that is what welfare is for. helping people through tough times and making sure they can get back on their feet when they're ready. simply saying "everyone should just get a job and employers should pay them well for it, problem solved" is not the solution. reality is more nuanced than that. also consider that the people in charge of the policies are also often the people in charge of employment, so I doubt they would tax themselves. but that's just my short take
@ Yes the people in charge are typically the people who benefit from allowing employers to be cheapskates without consequences. That's definitely one of the primary reasons why this will never get fixed. As for the other reasons to "give away free welfare money", it's not really giving away, but more like investing money into caregivers.
Okay so what about when people get sick, have a baby, have a family emergency, get fired or have a toxic workplace, have a disability? I’m all for pushing fair wages but I think empowering workers and unions and continuing to provide welfare that has proven effective is a better approach
@@mggardiner4066 Social security is not the same as giving away free welfare money, so all of your points don't apply. These red herring responses is typical behavior of people who don't genuinely want things to improve; they come up with all sorts of reasons why it's a bad idea or why something else should be prioritized instead. If we want to *significantly* reduce poverty, we have to stop being soft towards cheapskating employers, because they're by far the primary source of poverty. Once that's done and the vast majority of former poor people have been lifted out of poverty, you can take further steps to solve the remaining poverty. Always start with the things that are the most effective and move forward from there.
The problem is we need to address as a society that there will always be a portion of the population who do not want to succeed and are happy to just survive, even on the government dole.
The problem is you thinking they need to "succeed" rather than whatever they are happy to do. I would wager you also make poor assumptions about what resources people actually have access to.
You should buy a house and rent it out to one of those people who live in squallar. Let's see a video on that. You'll get to learn about what it's like to be one of those greedy landlords.
Poverty creates a perspective. And yeah, they can be pretty destructive. And that doesn’t go away without removing poverty. But there is evidence that when you remove poverty that goes away.
@rbhkg3 part of the whole landlord issue is the fact that housing is treated as a way to get rich. The only way for that to work is for the renters to pay WAY more than just the mortgage and repairs. Affordable houseing that only charges the base fees of the building are so damn cheap compaired to one owned by a for profit. Combined with shit wages, you end up with to many people in an apartment, no money for anything but rent which leads to fights and all sorts of crap. These people end up hating the home, its a prison at that point. You cant expect those people to treat a prison with respect, and if they have kids they are most like so over worked they can barely parent. It just fuckin spirals. Oh and this whole argument is only valid if the landlord is even doing their job. Its very hard to find a good landlord unless your in a fancy condo.
The more I watch this video the more I think we need to end all of these welfare programs. "TANF is bad because it's only 5 years" what a stupid argument that people should be able to spend more than 5 years of their life on TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE
I grew up so poor that when you opened my fridge, they weren’t even condiments because we’d already eaten them. You open your fridge six times in the same day to stare at an empty fridge. That my walls were covered in blankets during the winter because there was no heat in my house in the Chicago winter. That we had no electricity for months on end. at some point we had no water. I know what being poor really feels like. I know the neighborhood that you end up living in because of your poverty. I know the constant fear that you feel with every step you take. That you worry, even as children what happens tomorrow. I am not poor anymore. But my experience has very clearly showed me what poor really is. It is a trap. Poverty is a policy and it does not need to exist in the richest country in the world. I called bullshit. I’ve lived it. I know the difference between the two worlds of poverty and the middle class. The world of the middle class is drastically easier to navigate. It is drastically easier to succeed. It does not have 90% of the hurdles of poverty. it feels like you can breathe in the middle class. You cannot breathe in poverty. Try doing anything when you can’t breathe. And you work 10 times as much to get nowhere. Now everything is easy. Because navigating the middle class is easy. I’m not rich. I could be richer than I am but being so poor in my youth and very content with my life. I do know that if I worked nearly as hard as I did when I washed, I would be filthy stinking Rich. Poverty also taught me that I don’t need to spend every waking minute of my time in the grind so that I can actually take a moment to enjoy living. To feel the breeze. Not fear tomorrow. do not fear walking out of my door. Anyone who says anything negative about the poor is a fraud.
Well said. Poverty is a pit that is unrelenting, unforgiving, and all consuming. It takes constant diligence and extreme luck to claw your way out of it. I just want to see an earnest, honest attempt by any of these ignorant fools to spend six weeks surviving under the conditions of the working poor, doing demeaning and grueling labor just to be told that if you really wanted health care you’d skip Starbucks and hold off on a new iPhone. I just never see anyone who is so keen on dismissing people fighting for their lives even sit down and do the math. You know the “do we buy food, fix the car or pay for electricity this month” math. It’s easier to be “smart with money” when you actually have some. I’m friggin FANTASTIC with money, I don’t pay full price for anything, I maximize every dime. It takes hours every week just to enjoy the bare minimum and I’ve been putting off dental visits and eye exams my whole life. I am better with money than anyone I know, and every time I feel like I can breathe my rent doubles. It’s not just exhausting, it’s brutalizing.
One of the things I hate to hear people say is that they were/are a “poor college student” I’ve fantasized about college my whole life. I was in AP everything, in the 97th percentile in test scores, graduated early bc they simply ran out of classes I could take at my school. I was told that we could t afford college and since I was a girl, nobody felt like it was worth looking into. The crappy high school I went to never even bothered to inform me of student aid. Not once. That’s how ITT tech managed to scam me a few years later when I applied to be in the Air Force, hoping I could use the GI bill to fund my schooling. Instead, I was tricked by a recruiter for a fake college and per their own internal training docs, I had an easy pain funnel to navigate. It took ten years to get those false loans taken off of my name, but not before they garnished my wages and took every tax return in between. Now im lucky they removed the fake balance, but they conveniently lost the records of what I’ve paid, and since I have the records they’re dragging their feet. This type of stuff doesn’t happen to middle class people, they have access to help. They aren’t throwaways. Entire lives are destroyed by not being able to afford to pay someone to ensure you’re treated fairly under the law. I’m so desperate to claw my way out of this pit. I’m so desperate to have a chance to make the world a better place. I wish I hadn’t spent so many years wasting my life chasing survival. Sometimes I fantasize about what I would be like if I had a degree. Now, my record is clear and I’ve filled out my fafsa. Wish me luck, if I start now I could be an attorney by 46. I refuse to be defined by this cursed socioeconomic prison
@ 46 is young.You have the fire in you. Grit your teeth. Don’t get distracted, get out, and then you can breathe. I can feel your crawl to success.
@@rainbomg I'm a 41-year-old neuroscience student. I should get my PhD by 48. I worked as a chef for 18 yrs and lived extremely poorly during that time. No more. I'm paying for school with grants and student loans. Yes I'll have debt, but only 2 years worth, and it's a necessary evil to get where I want to be. What's cool about science phds is they pay you a small yearly stipend in exchange for research you do for the university...the stipend is about the same as my salary as a chef. I get a PhD after 3-4 yrs and will be making 3-4xs that, doing work that I actually care about, studying the brain and finally using the one that I know I've always had. If I can do it, anybody can. It's never too late. FAFSA is the first step...keep going!
@@rainbomg I will pray for you, i think you can do it. I'm sorry that society hasn't done more to help you when you needed it so badly. Thank you for sharing your journey and your story
@@rainbomg Look into medicaid, I have been in a much-less-worse situation than you for a decade, but still bad. I just learned medicaid applies to those making around the federal poverty level. I can now go to the dr for the first time in 15 years, get new glasses for the first time in a decade, and it covers dental as well, at least in the state I am in. Worth taking a look! Good luck.
I was born into a somewhat wealthy family (family business worth a few million) and I also spent a few months homeless. Your mindset changes so quickly, I had never stolen, swore that *I* with my precious morals would do no wrong. By the end of the month I had learned how to fill up a backpack without getting caught. I learned how to bluff my way onto buses and had to keep watch out on the trains for cops so I wouldnt get a fine.
I had a small time frame to do things by, the shelter we were in was open 24/7 and wouldnt kick you out, but there were only so many beds. At one point i got so paranoid that I never left the building after being stuck outside on a snowy night in clothes that couldnt handle it. I got out after six months, and it was the most difficult thing I have ever done
I still remember my mom telling me the reason she really started the vegetable garden we had when I was little was not so much a hobby but because it was a common way to actually feed your family in that rural area, and because WIC didn’t cover most nutritious food and we couldn’t afford much.
I got out of poverty because I got a scholarship to a wealthy arts high school. That in itself is a long story. When I was there, I gained many friends. 99% of them were wealthy. Or at least upper middle class. And sometimes I would talk about the night before in my neighborhood or something that I dealt with the day before. And it was so hard for them to hear it that it often would completely alter the mood of joy to depression and it made my presence hard to bear sometimes and I could feel it waning there feelings for me. Not because they didn’t like me we were good friends by this point, but because the reality of my every day life was so severe That it brought their good mood down and made them feel bad. So I learned to just not talk about it. They didn’t want to hear about my cat having their headset on fire and me spending the night trying to save them. Didn’t want to hear about stabbing a man in the eye while I was being attacked by three men. They didn’t understand having to shut in a bucket because my toilet was broken, or having to take ice cold water bucket baths in the middle of winter with no heat in my frozen home. It was very sad that the reality of my every day life was too difficult for them to hear that the easiest solution was to remove it from their ears. My home was so cold that even the cockroaches found a new home.
Someone once told me that they didn't like how all the childhood stories of mine that I'd tell them were so 'negative'... I thought I hadn't even told them the bad stuff. Really changed my perspective on how much of myself I reveal to people.
its such a bullshit party. people just feel violated when you break it to them. they cant cope with reality, they feel you are somehow killing the mood, while they have no idea about humour of the downtrodden. people dont get it, people cant imagine what it means to live in a shithole with rats and bedbugs. roaches are atleast manageble, depending on the house. but living in a bedbug house this was scary as fuck, i trashed most of my shit, i was so scared by these little monsters. the bodily horror of scabies is also an unknown experience for the wealthy, the constant search for a dermatologist, the paranoia if the permethrin still works, the conflicting medical advise, people cannot imagine that shit. the itchyness is nothing compared to the work to get rid of it.
the state helps with nothing. not even bedbugs.
how can should one sleep if rats are in your room? how can one sleep under the constant attack of bed bugs?
I did not grow up as poor as what you described in your other comment, but I can relate. We always had heat in the winter, but we ate potatoes and the lowest grades of milk and baloney for most of the year. I'm the only one of my cousins who didn't stop school during or right after high school. As a matter of fact, I managed to obtain merit-based scholarships and powered all the way through to a phd and have a well-paying job at a large international firm.
And I face the same conundrum as you now. None of my peers came from poverty. They don't believe some of the stories from my childhood when I share them. There's a complete disconnect their lives and the life of my family and childhood friends. Sometimes it's small things, like at 8 or 9, I'd go down to the corner store to buy lotto tickets and cigarettes (which was already illegal at the time for a minor to buy). And then, the utter disbelief when I tell them I know guys who were killed in drugs deals gone wrong or that my first gf was the niece of a very high ranking criminal biker...
@@Kakaze1 Use your position to give back. Find a way to help people using you skills. No one else is going to do it, so we have to.
@@bp6942 I do what I can. For a long time, volunteered martial arts classes for kids in the neighbourhood. With 4 young kids now, it's kind of hard to find the time. I still volunteer through the scouting and I am involved in our elementary school's administration.
0:01 Intro
0:46 Part 1 How the Other Half Lives
7:42 Part 2 The Lazy Modern Poor
15:54 Part 3 Selected Readings
24:37 Part 4 The Poor Are Disgusting
33:04 Conclusion
34:20 Outro
Thank you so much for reposting! Would love to see your new channel grow like crazy this year! 🎉
What I’ve also noticed is that many (middle to upper class) people who are educated about the systemic issues of poverty will still default to personal moral failings as the biggest cause of poverty. It’s sad to see, but I think for the majority of people it’s easier to accept that than to lay the blame in systemic issues that feel so far out of our control.
Yeah people are cruel as fuck. I'm not doing great right now but I came from a middle class family and the judgement thing happens instinctively, before logic has a chance to step in.
We are specifically groomed by culture to offset our anxieties with belief in the (false) security of our supposed meritocracy. The news terrifies and reassures us in equal measure every day, and with that cultural priming in place the real world does the rest of the work.
I sometimes fall for it myself to this day, when people are rioting, or in court for serious crimes, or just out on the street acting belligerently, I have been primed by our culture to analyze speech patterns and watch behavior to build an assessment of "intelligence" (read "similarity").
I still somewhat believe (deep down) that some 20/30% of people are either; helpless, destructive, cruel, stupid, or dangerous, and that people with some combination of these traits end up evicted from the higher branches of the economic tree. On some level I still believe that my failure so far in life is justified and rational.
Don't forget, we apply the same standards we apply to others to ourselves. Your worth as a human being is derived near exclusively from your ability to remain stably within the cultural standards of your family/neighbors. Short of your closest friends, it seems like EVERYONE is watching you for signs of struggle, blood in the water. If you really struggle/fail to succeed, you get no sympathy or understanding, you will be ostracized and looked down upon. You will probably struggle alone (because poor people will never fully accept you), and while you are struggling your entire class cohort will look at you only as proof of their own intelligence and moral virtue.
Depressed/mentally ill people suffer from the same morality based dynamic, people who aren't depressed/mentally ill just CANNOT understand our perspectives and experiences. Being judged like this has broadened my understanding of how we display and talk about poverty, all prejudice is essentially the same.
Obviously, we should do what we can to help the unhoused resolve their addiction issues if they have them- but even if they remain addicted, I'd rather they do drugs in a tiny home or little apartment than on the street. It's just safer for everyone. People want to act so afraid, saying "the children can't play outside because of the homeless drug addicts", but then refuse to get 'em off the street so kids can play outside. Ridiculous.
Honestly I think many of them need sheltered accommodation under supervision. You still see people on the street in places with plenty of housing or shelter because they cause problems for their neighbours and get kicked out. Some people are not in a fit state to live fully independent lives, it's harsh but true. Getting rid of so many asylums was a mistake, many were horrible places, but "care in the community" has led to people on the street. They should have been reformed, not shut down.
@@Croz89agreed they needed reform and more funding.
I mean, the outside belongs to adults.Kids should be staying inside.
We shouldn't have to change our behavior for your stupid little kids
I absolutely agree with shelter for everyone! Housing is a human right.
I do worry that sticking all these people in little sheds like a lawn mower in winter would just hide the addiction problems from those of us who aren't in that situation, and make us think it's not happening.
The housing issue seems like one piece (one large piece, mind you) of the problem instead of addressing the conditions that got them there.
Poverty is not an individual moral failing when there is so much abundance in the western world. It's a systemic one
Bruh, the problem isn't just "give the houseless houses". You can give all these people living accommodations and it still won't solve all the problems. Its a far more complex issue than each side seems to make it out to be. And the more left originated concepts/solutions for the homeless problem are starting to prove to be woefully inadequate. Unfortunately, I feel like this poor performance from such left like ideals will lead to a pendulic shift to an equally woefully inadequate right originated response/set of solutions. Its a complex topic that requires nuance.
It is so much cheaper to keep people in their homes, than to provide a plethora of low quality social services once they're evicted. The issue becomes, how does a government provide those services while maintaining the illusion of a meritocracy.
Why is maintaining an illusion of meritocracy is of great concern? Playing that game is a race to the bottom with the right wing for whom most government services are an affront to the divine free market system (and meritocracy) anyway.
You are the kind of creator we need more of in this platform. Looking forward to your future uploads, I wish you success!
A note on WIC: the only thing it's good for is baby formula. The program covers a metric ton of cereal and high sugar juice (good luck diabetics) and no meat. My point is that these programs have a ton of waste because they are poorly designed and poorly distributed.
They aren't poorly designed. They are perfectly designed. Just for someone else's profit.
I mean... why not just use ebt?
For 9 subs this is a fantastic video. Congrats, I'm glad this video got in my feed.
As a single parent (widowed) poor but not poor enough, this hits close to home.
In Oklahoma there is a bill to make homeless outreach illegal everywhere but okc and tulsa. I can only presume we need more prisoners to work for 30 cents an hour at the corporate fast food establishments. We will get these lazy homeless working one way or another, huh? Why am i not shocked?
That's f'n outrageous. I spent a year homeless in DFW as a direct result of the pandemic. The area had become so overpopulated and the homeless community so large that I couldn't land a job or get any meaningful assistance. And try living without phone/internet service today. That makes assistance even more impossible. PS, I don't drink or use drugs... but I understand how the homeless experience could drive people to do it.
Oklahoma has become the armpit of satan. Absolutely horrific malicious governance.
Modern day slavery. For profit prisons. What could go wrong? :-)
Sadly, a good percentage of folks are probably only one paycheck away from homelessness. Does anyone really own their homes anyway? Once registered with the state, isn't it really the states property? If a missed property tax payment happens, can't the state take it?
@@amoore7357 I lost my job and still get 20 000 euros per year + dental and healthcare. And our economy sucks in Finland compared to your souring stock market. It"s highway robbery what they do to you over there. Not that its perfect but capitalism seems to only work on paper.
What many people who society consider "able bodied" don't realize how HARD it is to get on disability. You think welfare is easy? I have to make a tank of gas in a car last every month, I have to decide what weeks the fridge is full and which ones I'm suffering with colitis thanks to cheaply given out grains and cereals so I can just not go to bed hungry, I have to budget for my own medication and have decided my high blood pressure medicine is what I can do "without" most months. It's horrid but it's what I have gotten used to since I finally got into housing that I'm not in danger from being mugged every day.
And all of THIS would be impossible without disability. Without disability I'd be dead.
Indeed😊
Then isn't everything working as its intended to then?
I love this video, it rocked my socks off! I particularly loved your conclusion including a talking point, and a specific one at that, very helpful. Can't wait to watch more of your stuff in the future!!
Edit to say, wow, this is your FIRST video and currently it's at 700 views?!?! What a huge accomplishment!!
good economics for hard times and poor economics are two incredible and well researched books on poverty. They tackle the "what if they are spending their money on drugs" claim really well, and show with quality empirical work that direct cash transfers are extremely benefitial.
Where does the money from the "direct cash transfers" come from?
@@DeadYorick taxes
@ so make everyone poorer just to make a sliver of the population more comfortable.
Are you Brazilian?
But direct data from the ground in the western us states show that these direct cash transfers have done nothing to solve/fix the issues. In fact, its seemingly coincided with a period where its been made even worse.
Pleased the algorithm lead me here. High quality content, subscribed and looking forward to more.
TH-cam needs more people like you. I'm surprised you are such a small channel, you have great production quality. I subscribed.
Great video, thoughtful and thought-provoking. Subscribed and looking forward to what you present next!
I feel so incredibly happy this exist, your research is amazing ❤
As someone who physically cannot work, yeah. It’s a trap and even if I do want to earn more, I lose my benefits. I was lucky, but I know others are not.
If not low income/poverty, then what level of living should we expect someone who cannot physically work to live at? Mid income?
Dude, you hit this one out the park! So glad the algorithm recommended this. It was clearly a passion project, and i think that showed on the final product.
If you keep making videos, ill be watching, but do it for you, tell us about whatever you like, not just poverty/social justice, and on your own scedule. Don't become a slave to the algorythm.
Anyway, great content, subscribed.
WIC in Idaho just covered cheese, juice from concentrate, and peanut butter.
What should it cover instead? As opposed to whats covered by ebt already?
10/10: well researched, well spoken, and honest.
Great research, feels like a continuous zoom out; congrats on posting your first video, cant wait to see a TH-cam plaque hanging beside the phd
Interesting points! Looking forward to future vids.
Homelessness and poverty and are actively enforced by states. (Wow its almost like states and capitalists serve each other)
As long as the systems that exist today exist, there will be no end to this.
They want homelessness they need for free and cheap labor
Hoarders is just about the poor hoarders. The rich ones in our reality get glorified
Indeed😅😅😅
Can you give a few examples of rich ones who are glorified?
My view on welfare and programs like it are actually that it’s a saving grace for the middle class. That it forces the government to pay for poor. Which means that the poor that are in our society, take up more of their time and resources. Which means that they are forced to have an economic strategy that prevents at least a portion of the population to not be impoverished or they will have to foot the bill to fix it. All having less tax money coming in to pay for it. they have decided what what the line is, but we’re at a point where they are trying to get rid of those safety nets and if they do there’s no penalty for bad economics. there’s no price for them to have to pay if we’re all poor. It’s similar to my feelings about Healthcare. If we had universal healthcare, it’s very unlikely that our government would allow poison. That’s illegal in most countries to be sprayed onto our vegetables. It’s very unlikely that our government would allow food industries to put poison in our food. Poison illegal in most countries. but we put that in our food because it’s a profit for the healthcare industry and for the food industry who pay off our government with bribes to allow them to. And our government has no penalty as we do not get universal healthcare. And if we did have universal healthcare the cost of having to fix the damage to our health that those poisons create would outpace the amount of money they get in bribes from those companies making the bribes useless. Making better health a better policy. Making medicine more about curing the disease over treating it.
this is truly such a well done & informative video, very glad it came up on my recommended !
i hope you make more! i'll be keeping my eye out
This was excellent. Looking forward to hearing more from you.
This was brilliant man, please make more 💯👍
LBJ's War on Poverty would've been really good if he didn't lower the income tax rates by about 15%.
It cut pave in half in just 10 years. And the only reason that poverty raised up again is because they reversed many of the things that he had done. But the point is in just 10 years LBJ initiatives cut all of our poverty in half. A clear indicator that poverty is policy. as well there is plenty of historical data that suggests that poverty and crime go hand-in-hand. That as poverty goes down so does crime. so does violence. Meaning that poverty is policy and so is violence and crime.
@OK-pi6fq the problem I have is that his tax cuts were purely to appease the white people who were offended that he did so much for the poor and marginalized communities. But due to these tax cuts did the Republicans come with the trickle down economics scheme Reagan benefitted from. And everyone loves to shit on Reagan, deservingly so, even tho LBJ was the one who set it all up.
Just a little hypothesis here. If LBJ's presidency was exactly the same except he kept the 24brackets income tax with 91% at the top would the US never have seen the rise of Reagan.
The real hoarders are the billionaires they're sick. No normal person is that greedy most just want enough to not be constantly struggling.
Someone in a third world country thinks the same about you. You don't have any right to take something from someone else. Wealth redistribution is theft.
Wage theft is the most significant form of theft in America, and that's without discussing whether the agreed wages are commensurate.
@@mikieperson4135 exactly. There is an organization that steals 20-25% of my wages before I even see it. And if I don't pay it they will send people with guns to my house. What do they do with my money? They give it to others who don't deserve it. I'm glad we agree about the problem.
Amazing video! I hope one day we'll realize as a society to look at the societal and economic reasons that homelessness exists (ie. limited supply of housing, etc), instead of looking for moral failings amongst those who are afflicted with it.
fantastic video, thx
Great video! I really appreciate your hard work!
Impressive to make a whole video about poverty and barely mention the problems with capitalism and end it with "its an investment to help the poor" as if we should only do things that benefit us. The fact is that having a poor underclass benefits the capitalists. People in poverty can easily be exploited. Threatening the rest of society with poverty keeps them working hard. Thats why they exists. Thats why the propganda about how disgusting they are also exists. It's a system that exists to benefit the selective few, it doesnt matter the issues they cause for society as a whole because the society as a whole is not in charge, the few rich capitalists are.
He said that to echo the quote he read earlier in the video from "How the other half lives". It was a framing device.
Excellent video, thx you!
Like your new channel. Subscribed.
Great video. Not sure how I got to it, but I’m glad I did.
Really well done. Thanks
Awesome video!! I saw a calendar in the background of one of your shots that read Dec 2023...is that when you originally filmed this video? If so, why'd it take so long to come out?
I enjoyed the video but I just wanted to add that you didn't address Social Security which is one of the most impactful forms of public assistance, the most difficult to get on and the most difficult to get off of as well as the most restrictive in terms of the qualifications to apply for and the most difficult to work on/get off of (which is something I personally have a lot of experience with as well as homelessness). There's a lot more to address as well but this is a good intro to some of the more pressing issues facing modern poverty.
SSI or SSDI
Drug addiction and the un-housed issues are solvable, but we , as people, are unwilling to spend the money. Human beings have a hard time wrapping their heads around, giving someone something for free. That's the actual solution. If they're homeless, give them a house with no strings attached for an extended period of time. Then, start your outreach and assistance. There is a hierarchy of needs.
The problem is that "no strings attached" can mean the place gets trashed or they become the neighbour from hell. Some people out on the street are there because they've been thrown out of their accommodation for doing those things. It's not always their fault, some might be addicts or have mental health conditions, but I'm not sure just giving them a house is the best solution if they're just going to ruin it again.
We need asylum that actually help people and don't look at them as problems and things to sovle
I like your idea. As soon as it is enacted I will quit my job so I can get my free house too! See how that doesn't work? Everyone would stop working if anyone could get a free house. It's kind of a catch 22. I want to help the impoverished but you can't just give people everything they need for nothing. At the very least there need to be strings attached. Strings like no drug use, required counseling, and assistance getting a job.
@Animorphster when i say house i mean shelter of some kind with no strings that could be a 90 sq ft room. You put a time limit of 2-3 years and provide services. Why would you quit your job to go live in a hundred square foot room with a bunch Of other people. It makes no sense.These people are desperate, so to them its a god sent. To you or me, it would be unacceptable that's why people wouldn't do it unless they had to.
Money isn't the problem. You can't solve drug problems just by throwing money around. States spend billions and the problems only get worse the more the budget goes up. Institutionalization was a path towards a solution, but it was the left that decried it first and pushed for decades for "community-based" care for people suffering chronic and ongoing mental and substance abuse issues. And "community-based" meant just releasing people with ongoing problems back to their families and neighborhoods to roam around with little to no professional help. Only a tiny minority of substance abusers actively seek help, and only a tiny minority put themselves into rehab, and even after rehab most of them relapse. They need to be committed involuntarily and forced onto the right path, self-help doesn't work.
Every time I see the homeless I feel disgust by the system. I could be homeless tomorrow if I had a very bad day.
Impressive video from a guy with 34 subs... Well, congratulations on getting your 35th
I remember one time when I was on food stamps but because it was my birthday I wanted to get something special so I got steak. And the cashier literally, look down on me I could see it in her eyes.
Yeah I mean there are people who waste money certainly but they're people who waste money in every class but just because you want something once in a while. Also doesn't mean you were wasting money.
But this is why I think like just having a Ubi where it doesn't really matter how you spend it. It's the fact that you spend it the way you want, then it isn't about helping the poor. It's just about giving the right to the citizens, citizens have the right to housing not because they deserve it or it's owed to them, but because it is their right.
A lot of people think about it in the terms of what they deserve versus what are actual rights. Rights don't make you a good person. It doesn't make you a bad person, but it guarantees you fairness, that's the point.
A person who is in prison, for a crime they committed doesn't really deserve rights. They have rights because it is fair, justice. When people think about what people deserve, it becomes about their opinions about people. It becomes about what they think. Rights are Liberty are they not?
If you go based on deserve, then other things come up like class division, race, cast system etc. Our prejudice, and our religious indoctrinations play a role, in what decides what we deserve. It isn't to say that people do not deserve their fate, but humans are really bad about determining whether someone truly deserves it, whether they believe it to be an act of God (s). I mean people will believe and wish the worst unto others just for saying the wrong thing. But this is why rights cannot be based on 'deserve'.
Like they act like the wealthy don't make poor decisions. I see them all the time and I'm certainly critical of their decision making. However, then explain buying a big mansion is not a crime nor should it be. It is not against the rights to have a big mansion that is gratuitous, gratuitousness isn't a crime, I'm a morally oppose it I may even think you don't deserve it. However, if they obtain that big mansion by denying others rights then it isn't fair then that is truly wrong.
I feel we have regressed in the understanding of Rights, and rights have become about entitlement, who is entitled to the rights when in truth everyone is entitled to having rights, although it doesn't free them from the responsibility. There's also the difference between of course individual freedom versus social freedom. And of course there is a difference between welfare and the difference between rights. Which will be better I think would depend on the person and their abilities. Obviously children are limited in their individual rights as they cannot fight for nor can they be truly responsible and thus there is more welfare spectrum right.
Simply being homeless isn't to crime, nor should it be. All humans need shelter which is a welfare argument. A right to a home. Not even just a right to housing. What makes a home a home? I've seen people target people living in RV campers because they don't view it as housing, more so government officials, to be honest, I actually rarely hear this be an argument between the left and right, I believe this is due to the fact that the government only truly views housing tied to land ownership, You're either a property owner, landlord or a renter. From a governmental perspective, they don't like it because they can't gain more tax money in revenue.
Crazy that eating well is considered “wasting money” those cashiers are likely about 2 missed paychecks away from being on assistance themselves. This system is a cancer.
You were spending other people's hard earned money on steak for yourself. And you still have no shame about it.
@ keep that same energy when billionaires hoard hundreds of millions of taxpayer funds in the form of subsidies and buy back their stocks. Your disdain is misplaced.
@@preparedfarmer lol "other people steal so it's ok if I do it" nice philosophy you got there, let's see how it play out.
@ nobody’s stealing jackfruit. The point of government is to support its citizens.
There's a big delay in your videos, but when I go onto your channel there's only one video.
You are spot on.
I feel like your critique of the bell curve was a strawman (happy to discuss more), but I really enjoyed the video overall! Excited to subscribe to a new video essay channel
Eugenics is an inaccurate theory linked to historical and present-day forms of discrimination, racism, ableism and colonialism. It has persisted in policies and beliefs around the world, including the United States.
He's back!
Well done 👍🏻
great video mate.
Umm...man just comes in with no established channel and drops this banger on us? Where's the rest of the college grad-level analysis and slow leftist radicalization videos?
The doctor suggests to the patient, "perhaps you should resolve your hatred for the poor." "But doctor, " cried the patient, "I *am* poor!"
Fantastic video. Where did you come from?
Thank you
It's amazing how the messaging is strong agaisnt for welfare, though would be interesting to see how much welfare goes to buisnesses. Though, it's not called welfare its called subsidies.
To all "Nouvaeu Pauvre": suh-bu-bwuh REAP! I mean reap what you have sown!
If you need help, we poor look after one another. Reach out.
Thank you for starting out with How the Other Half Lives. Also, Phd in Bio Engineering?
Excellent video. Please consider making a video about the 5 Earned Income Quintiles updated each year by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In general Americans are ignorant about wage stagnation since 1970's. They also are unaware how extremely low a person's income & assets must be to qualify for SNAP/food stamps. Most only become aware when they personally have an extended job loss AND they still are disqualified; it's a shocker to them. Even half of people in 1st/Bottom Earned Income Quintile will NOT qualify for food stamps.
Enjoyed it, subscribed.
Brilliant. Subbed!
good video man
Thumbnail Pic: Breakfast Club, Emilio Estevez look.
This is why we need UBI. Money isn't real, the only thing that constrains how much money can be spent into existence is real resources, remember, in a service economy, labor is both a RESOURCE AND A PRODUCT. Poverty is a policy failing, not a personal one.
that last sentence really sums it up, well said
Really good video
Subscribed.
I agree with a lot of points in the video, but I don’t trust the government to get complex, systemic solutions right. I would rather give money, time, and resources to effective private charities that have direct relationships with the communities they serve than pay higher taxes for an inefficient, oftentimes corrupt government social welfare program.
Why is the government the only discussed solution when private entities can do things so much better?
Case in point: the politician who gave money meant for social welfare to his kid’s sports team. That happened at the state level, but there is nothing to suggest the same corruption doesn’t happen at the federal level.
Have you considered working with "poor people" instead of reading books about them? Maybe make a video about that? I think you have some homeless people in San Diego.
29:53 falling asleep homelsss in the wild could literally reset you back to square one ehere ypu have noyhing but the clothes on your back.
Ex homeless person here; ex meth head as well; definitely did a lot of drugs but had i not done drugs id be starving every day with no energy to work
Sorry the bit about clothes had me laughing so hard. A few years ago i had to tent it in the mountains. Was doing great tell the bears started packing on the pounds. I miss that tent.
And congratz on being clean so long 🎉 meths a heck of a drug.
Is this a reupload from another channel or something? The outro has me a tad confused lol.
Dont forget that you cant talk about mental health without talking about the effects of the poisonous diet most poor people can only afford/are pushed into. (Per your section on the three shows)
Here before this takes off (first comment yada yada you know the jist)
SD is a horrific place
You can’t talk about this without talking about the poor decisions and laziness many humans exhibit. Just wait until you have some more life experience.
The things you’re saying are also true.
Your perspective needs to be shared.
i wonder if the people who read these occidental novels understand they are engaging in the same level of intellectual stimulation as watching a jake paul vlog...
a well read person reads academic textbooks and research journals, not slop that would show up in a bookstore written by pundits and hacks
I think it's a new channel, got here early. I think both sides have things to add to this conversation, no doubt some discipline helps the poor, like we see with Asian migrants that in a single generation get out of poverty due to being so driven in whatever they do. But you did a perfect job in conveying your point of view, your channel will grow fast with this level of quality.
I think this is a really good video, however the times where you talk over yourself is really distracting and makes it difficult to hear the things you're saying. I want to hear all you have to say, but those segments make it hard to.
I agree - not sure it is having the intended effect.
I thought your arguments to show that people are disgusted by the poor wasn't the most persuasive.
While it’s true that poor individuals might not always have the best representation, your examples don’t necessarily support the claim. For instance, "My 600-Lb Life" features a person who happens to weigh 600 pounds and also happens to be poor, but being overweight isn’t exclusive to poverty. Similarly, not all hoarders are poor (even on that show), so the connection there feels tenuous.
As for The Jerry Springer Show, I would argue it wasn’t anti-poor so much as anti-decency, often showcasing sensationalism across various demographics. Wealthy individuals also face negative portrayals in media, often depicted as aloof, cold-hearted, sheltered, out of touch, or spoiled. Media frequently portrays people of all income levels in a poor light, depending on the narrative being pushed.
I think the main differences between "rich" and "poor" people being shown in media is that often times, the rich get a choice. they might do it for fame or vanity, to create a brand or a image of themselves, and, frankly, to become even richer than they are. I don't think his point was that the shows mentioned only portray poor people, but rather that they, in particular, are being made a spectacle of. and because they already have so little, they are willing to go further than they perhaps otherwise would have, if the production company didn't dangle a cheque in their face that could help keep them afloat for a little while longer. the problem really is that the portrayal of poor people in these shows further reinforces the stereotype that there is a "they". that "those" people are so filthy and weird and you wouldn't wanna be like "them" now would you? when in reality most americans are only a couple bad months away from being part of that group. it's a display put on for people to watch and feel better about themselves because at least they are not like "them". that's what I get from this.
pardon my rambling but tl;dr: he didn't mean everyone on those shows was poor necessarily and only used it as an examples to show how poor people are exploited in the media
Tyler's videos are infuriating. What's more he is takes away views from other creators out there that do a good job showing real people and their lives, like Peter Santanello and Invisible People. I swear its like Tyler was hired to follow Peter around and counter his videos with Jerry Springer-esqe clickbait.
You shouldn't give away money for "welfare" but instead nudge employers to pay a proper wage.
Just approach it similar to the anti-smoking policies: make cheapskating employers pay additional taxes, stigmatize them, prohibit access to certain public places for cheapskating employers, etc.
If employers experience a lot of down sides to cheapskating, most will stop cheapskating, despite still having the freedom to cheapskate.
A small amount of cheapskating employers would result in a small amount of poor people who actually work for their money.
One of the problems that I had growing up in an extremely impoverished ghetto was there were no jobs. In a very large space there was one very small grocery store and a fast food restaurant. Every other business was family owned. Which were very few to begin with. They were dangerous. They didn’t pay very much at all and everybody in the entire area wanted them. Which meant that if you wanted a job you had to get it outside of your entire neighborhood. But the transportation was absolutely horrible. It be 45 minutes in between a bus. You had to wait for that bus in the weather in a neighborhood that was extremely dangerous. You were safer walking while you waited for a bus because being in movement was safer than sitting still for that period of time however, you also wrist missing your bus if you walked. They were shut off times for buses, which meant that you could not take a good portion of jobs that would hire people from neighborhoods like the one I came from because most of those jobs do things like graveyard. But you couldn’t take a graveyard shift because there were no buses that road during that time so you have four hour gaps five hour gaps between bus rides. Also meaning you had to take multiple buses. And if you consider working eight hour day and it taking you two hours to get to your job per direction by the time you got home, you had time to cook dinner and go to sleep now imagine doing that while raising children. You never see your children. They become raised by the neighborhood. The neighborhood their best bet for income independence. It allowed you the most free life you were going to get from neighborhood like that. It allowed you time to actually make money support yourself and actually enjoy some of your life. Where is those that did work? We’re working all day every day, and they were barely scraping along. I knew many people who wanted to go the legitimate route but the act of doing that was so difficult that they often succumbed to crime. If you magnify that by the fact that once you’re jailed for a crime, it’s even harder to get work, it makes a cycle that perpetuates. As well as those that go into jail, often come out much harder than when they went in. Meaning that their level of crime tends to go up and be more serious. and the decent folk of all those neighborhoods are constantly constantly battling the danger of that reality just to go to work just let their children go to school so much mental capacity has to go into just walking outside. Having good paying jobs in those neighborhoods wouldn’t exist because there’s still no jobs there. I do believe higher education does help. Because it lets those that are educated move out of that neighborhood to get a good job. And that’s their best bet. As more people have good paying jobs those neighborhoods get smaller, which make other jobs more accessible to them.and that shrinks them even further. What does help with good pay jobs is preventing more people from falling into poverty and making those spaces bigger. It helps because it allows more of them who are reaching out doing the extra and working the legitimate version to bring home more money so that those in the neighborhood who see those ones doing OK for themselves have an option to work a little harder to venture out further and try to get those jobs as well versus, see them as pointless or waste and convert to crime. So yes indeed having better paying jobs does minimize violence and crime in general and help the poor neighborhoods move up but it’s a slower process than education so I see both of them as a essential. Not one or other but the combination of the two.
I feel like this take is a bit shallow and tries to fix something that isn't really the main problem. as explained in the video, finding employment can be very difficult, no matter at what pay level. plus consider many people have obligations like young children at home that they need to take care of and don't have the ability to work because there is no childcare service provided. and that is what welfare is for. helping people through tough times and making sure they can get back on their feet when they're ready. simply saying "everyone should just get a job and employers should pay them well for it, problem solved" is not the solution. reality is more nuanced than that. also consider that the people in charge of the policies are also often the people in charge of employment, so I doubt they would tax themselves. but that's just my short take
@ Yes the people in charge are typically the people who benefit from allowing employers to be cheapskates without consequences.
That's definitely one of the primary reasons why this will never get fixed.
As for the other reasons to "give away free welfare money", it's not really giving away, but more like investing money into caregivers.
Okay so what about when people get sick, have a baby, have a family emergency, get fired or have a toxic workplace, have a disability? I’m all for pushing fair wages but I think empowering workers and unions and continuing to provide welfare that has proven effective is a better approach
@@mggardiner4066 Social security is not the same as giving away free welfare money, so all of your points don't apply.
These red herring responses is typical behavior of people who don't genuinely want things to improve; they come up with all sorts of reasons why it's a bad idea or why something else should be prioritized instead.
If we want to *significantly* reduce poverty, we have to stop being soft towards cheapskating employers, because they're by far the primary source of poverty.
Once that's done and the vast majority of former poor people have been lifted out of poverty, you can take further steps to solve the remaining poverty.
Always start with the things that are the most effective and move forward from there.
The problem is we need to address as a society that there will always be a portion of the population who do not want to succeed and are happy to just survive, even on the government dole.
Bullshit. Tired weak argument.
This is such a profoundly stupid take from an obviously incurious mind. Congratulations, you are a useful idiot.
The problem is you thinking they need to "succeed" rather than whatever they are happy to do. I would wager you also make poor assumptions about what resources people actually have access to.
I think that's called a depression.
please research learned helplessness in relation to poverty
You should buy a house and rent it out to one of those people who live in squallar. Let's see a video on that. You'll get to learn about what it's like to be one of those greedy landlords.
Oh no think of the poor land lords. They can't make extra money providing literally nothing oh no won't someone think of the poor landlords
Exploiting housing as an investment is parasitic.
Poverty creates a perspective. And yeah, they can be pretty destructive. And that doesn’t go away without removing poverty. But there is evidence that when you remove poverty that goes away.
@@dylanmoore5015 Paying the mortgage on a $300k house and maintaining it is literally providing nothing?
@rbhkg3 part of the whole landlord issue is the fact that housing is treated as a way to get rich. The only way for that to work is for the renters to pay WAY more than just the mortgage and repairs. Affordable houseing that only charges the base fees of the building are so damn cheap compaired to one owned by a for profit. Combined with shit wages, you end up with to many people in an apartment, no money for anything but rent which leads to fights and all sorts of crap. These people end up hating the home, its a prison at that point. You cant expect those people to treat a prison with respect, and if they have kids they are most like so over worked they can barely parent. It just fuckin spirals.
Oh and this whole argument is only valid if the landlord is even doing their job. Its very hard to find a good landlord unless your in a fancy condo.
The more I watch this video the more I think we need to end all of these welfare programs. "TANF is bad because it's only 5 years" what a stupid argument that people should be able to spend more than 5 years of their life on TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE
Everyone needs free stuff to get anything done - they're called natural resources.
@@someonenotnoonethe only people these guys think deserve free stuff are people who are already rich.
its a 5 year LIFETIME cap. Way worse.
I hope you experience real poverty, so you can see if you really believe that. Learn what your heart really feels about it when you really need it.
Just stop being poor
Gets money!
Funny how a person with no id, social security number and doesn't speak English can get a job but these homeless can't.