Poor white woman living in a car...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/19/homeless.mom/index.html

Why is this news ? Because the downturn is affecting people it "isn't supposed" to affect. I feel sorry for her, but I bet for every formerly upper-middle class white person living in a car, there are about 1,000 minorities that don't have a story anyone wants to hear. It's pathetic, really.

Then so be it

Poverty has been ignored ever since "Saint" Reagan said "War on poverty? We lost it. Next issue"

Some people just can't relate or empathize, unfortunately, unless they can easily relate to the victim.

but there will be far more former upper-middle class white people who have lost thier homes and jobs before it gets better. We are in harsh economic times, and I don't see an end in sight. Especially once the price of gas is taken into account.

People will ignore a problem until it's their own a** on the line.

Nothing left to prop up the economy anymore

We're in a Hoover-esque economy.

Let's hope Obama is up for some Rooseveltin'

When Roosevelt turned the economy around the earth was in a much better place.

IMHO

upper middle class or even regular "middle class" downturn, there are at least 1000 or more persons, regardless of ethnic group who never broke the poverty line to begin with.

or who were only one or two paychecks away from it

daughter.

She has a 19 year old daughter.

liberal of you. Your "humble" opinion hit a nerve with me big time...

I am so sick of this shit I could puke.

I waited to have my kids so I could AFFORD THEM.

I guess I could give them away like puppies but they are pretty cute and I have gotten used to them hanging around.

xoxo
51 year old Mom of these:

days. But I'm seeing more and more of this... older parents caught in a bind: Paying for the kids instead of retirement.

How very interesting.

facts?

What is the data showing that when a woman chooses to have her children in her 40's she is going to be severally impacted in retirement?

You think that maybe it is because women are valued less as they grow older? I have been pushed to the limit in this same debate in here in the past. I maintain that people who have their children later do it for good reason. I also maintain that we plan to have them and have enough valuable life experience under our belts to make a more informed decision.

This woman's situation has zero to do with her children who are out of the house, They are gone.

I know I am pissed off over this but I have to defend myself outside of the DU because for some reason, if you are having your children early in life you make a better parent.

My experience is positive. I worked since I was 15 and put myself through college. I travelled and worked and had a pretty great first half of my life but I never met a man that I wanted to have children with nor did I feel financially capable of taking on the responsibility until I was in my 40's - Women who elect to have their children later are more likely to be like me than not like me. Professionals who decide to stay home to be Moms.

It is an assumption that older parents are going to end up living in their cars with their dogs if you base it on this unfortunate example. I doubt that her children had anything to do with this crisis.

We will begin drawing retirement from my husband in less than a year. He will be working part time after that and I will do what I do now - be a Mom and do design work from home. We will be making more money AFTER my husband retires.

The people who tend to tell me how wrong I am about this issue are usually in their 20's or early 30's. I've heard it all. I have been told that I am going to be too old to attend my daughters HS graduation. My own mother was dead and so she couldn't attend mine but I tried to make the best of what life offered me. Parents die in their 20's and their 30's - it is always a tragedy when little ones are orphaned. I will be at my children's graduations and will be there for their college graduations as well.

If not, they will do what I did and make the best out of their futures.

Sorry I was pissed off but maybe you can imagine how annoying it is to be told I am fucking up the world for having my children when I did.

I think it's interesting that the article quoted the woman in question as saying that she went from a normal, middle-class existence to homelessness within weeks. That's scary, and shows that we have an inadequate safety net.

And I agree.

There would have been a second one had my um womanly parts cooperated

something?

Did you read the post?

is still working a minimum wage job, and draws social security is living in her goddam car.

I don't care what ethnicity she is.

Do homeless people who are minorities have similar or worse stories?

Of course.

But it's not this woman's fault, and I doubt she called the local television crew/newspaper to come do an embarrassing story on her.

The bottom line is homelessness is not bound by race.

one of the most expensive places in america. We all have to make some tough choices in life, and she might have to choose to move down to Los Angeles and find a cheap apartment to rent.

who argue that if you live in this state, you must be rich.

These are the same people who say they didn't give a damn about all of the "rich" homes burning near San Diego -- even though many of those victims were middle class families who'd lived there all of their lives -- because they can afford to rebuild, or chose to live there.

and that's why I suggest she move here. I know a lot of middle class families that are just trying to make a living like everybody else. I love California beyond belief and would not even consider moving from this great state. However, you have to be realistic about life and make some of the tough choices necessary to have a good, long-term, sustainable life. She seriously needs to evaluate her choices.

will have to move inland, such as the Central Valley to find a cheaper place versus living in her vehicle.

she needs to move there as opposed to Bakersfield to find a cheaper place to find an apartment.

Nothing, and I mean NOTHING in that has anything to do with California hating.

If the person was homeless in Lake Forest, IL or South Beach, FL, or Long Island or any other rich part of the country, couldn't the same question be asked?

of that during the fires.

I was told I was

stupid
a moran
an idiot

and other things because I live in San Diego.

I can not afford to move from my house. We love San Diego and it is where I grew up.

I loved it when people from the freezing cold part of this country would tell me I deserve to have my house burn down because I am stupid enough to live here crap... So, I should move to Fargo?

(I have nothing against Fargo, just don't want to live there.)

Why is her situation the same as yours?

i was born and raised in orange county, but KNEW i couldn't afford to live there, let alone buy a house there. sometimes you just have to make tough choices and sacrifices.

when i read the article. i feel for her, but i can't think of anybody who WOULDN'T like to live in santa barbara, including me. however, i was realistic about what i could afford, so i bought a SMALL, inexpensive at the time, halfplex in a working class sacramento suburb, that would ensure that, even if i only had SS to live on, i wouldn't be a homeless old woman. i'm single too, having raised (my last son turns 18 next week) 4 sons over the past 30 years, mostly by myself.

and what about her children? can't she move in with them? that's what family is for, for god's sake! barring children, i see a future with the elderly in communal living situations (not nursing homes). that's what they do in "third world" countries, and it seems we're quickly becoming one. :(

It's even sadder imo. Not only are you likely to be poor if you start poor... but if you work like a dog and get lucky and climb the ladder you're still going to end up back where you started.

Race and ethnicity completely out of the equation: Not all poor people are lazy, but all middle class people who used to be poor are hard working as hell. I would argue that you lose more when you put more into it and still fail.

But as has been said - if this is what it takes to wake Murka up to the fact that poverty is contagious... then so be it.

about the plight of the American people, this is all about who has more and damn those who don't.

Must've seeped through from GD-P.

Bake

????