That's horse shit. I work because if I don't I have nothing.
I bought a nice house because I like living in a nice house, not for pride.
I have a nice car because I enjoy riding in a nice car and was tired of the stress and panic created by having to get my car running by Monday every other weekend.
When you're poor, even in developed nations, that poverty is an axe blade hanging by a thread just over your head.
No, that's simply not true. And thanks to Obamacare, not even true in the US anymore. One caveat of course, is this assumes you don't have dependents. That's obviously a completely different problem.
I'm glad you like your standard of living btw. Completely unnecessary of course, but hey, whatever floats your boat.
It is tempting for me to turn this into a personal attack. To decry your ignorance or delusion but because of the nobler intentions of this forum I am not going to do that.
I could extract examples from my personal life of how poverty severely impacted my quality of life. But really I think the best thing I can link you to is the research. There are excellent studies that show how a single bout of homelessness causes a person's chances of imprisonment, joblessness and social disenfranchisement to skyrocket.
In a sense it is possible when you're very young (i.e. early 20's or so). I was able to slide by at that age with minimal employment, for months at a time, followed by a few months here and there of retail / delivery work.
Of course, I ate shitty food, had no access to medical/dental care (possible when you're 20 years old, not 40), lived with multiple roommates in rather cramped conditions, and lived very frugally - little going out, no girlfriends, kids, etc. We were not forced to buy health insurance, and most of us just gambled.
Once you're older, all it takes in the US is one trip to the ER, a traffic accident, bad roommate, etc. to screw your life up big time. Once in a hole, it is very difficult to climb out here without serious money. The US does have some social safety net, but it doesn't really apply for a single male (with skills) that is simply choosing not to work much.
Nowadays, with rents and other costs having doubled or tripled in most areas in the last 15 years, I'm not sure I could pull it off as a 23 year old in 2015 like I was able in the late 90's
Yeah, but a bad trip to the ER can screw up your life even if you have money. Everyone dies, unfortunately, and interventionist medical methods don't seem to help that much. What does help, though, is living a clean and healthy lifestyle.
I agree, living without money is certainly more challenging. Growing up without it and not getting well educated makes it much much harder. But again, I know people (no children, no dependents) who do just fine. They just realized at some point that they can survive without the trappings of wealth. I envy them greatly.
I bought a nice house because I like living in a nice house, not for pride.
I have a nice car because I enjoy riding in a nice car and was tired of the stress and panic created by having to get my car running by Monday every other weekend.
When you're poor, even in developed nations, that poverty is an axe blade hanging by a thread just over your head.