December 20, 2011
-
Is Being Poor a Choice?
People are going nuts about Ted Nugent’s comment saying being poor was a choice.
Here is the full comment: “Being poor is largely a choice, a daily, if not hourly, decision. If you decide to drop out of school, fail to learn a skill, have no work ethic or get divorced, a life of poverty is often the consequence. The children of parents who choose a life of poverty quite often pay a horrible price, and so does all of America.” Here is the link: Link
Is being poor a choice?
Comments (161)
NO!!! He’s an idiot.
And how exactly do the children choose to be poor?
…”or get divorced”?… what a douche bag for that one! Is being poor a choice, well sometimes. But not always.
Sometimes for some people.
no. but being stupid is.
Yeah, man, being poor is a choice. Not having access to life’s necessities is a choice. Starving’s a choice.
Just like being a fucking idiot who obviously knows nothing about real people is a choice. Wow, this is exorbitantly frustrating.
A lot of people sank into poverty when the Housing market collapsed, even if they didn’t have a mortgage. It wasn’t choice, they were trying hard and working harder. Poor people don’t have mutual funds to make themselves wealthier.
This sort of mentality is exactly what you’d expect from someone who has never been poor, and doesn’t understand how being born into a certain socio-economic status will rob you of life chances and opportunities. No one chooses to go hungry. There are all sorts of nuances of higher class living that makes it impossible to break out of your lower-class lifestyle. If you don’t have the social know-how of someone in a higher class they won’t accept you, not to mention that it takes money to make and save money.
I’m tired of people saying that poor people screw like rabbits and expect the govt to pay for them. Yeah, birth control is expensive for people that cant even afford to feed themselves and, abortions are even more expensive. I’m sure he’s pro-life since he’s obviously conservative.
I hate close-minded bullshit like this.
He is an idiot. Maybe he needs to sit down with 20 families at least, and hear how they ended up “poor.” But otherwise he needs to be smacked around with a horse shoe to see if that wakes him up from his stupid coma.
Of course not. Nothing is ever my own fault. Just because I choose not to get a job, or a second one if need be, just because I live above my means, and rack up hugedebt I can’t pay, just because I’d rather make excuses than break a sweat or do a job that’s “beneath” me…doesn’t mean I’m poor partly if not completely because of my own choices. Ridiculous!
Ok, so you can’t snap your fingers and be rich, but that’s not what he’s saying. I read a runaway at 14, homeless until 18 and broke for a couple years after that.
Now, I earn $50,000 a year at 31 years old, with no student loans, and no credit card debt. Because of sweat equity. I didn’t like my situation, so I broke my back and changed it. Not everything I tried worked, and it didn’t happen overnight. But I CHOSE to change it, and I never quit, and didn’t let my pride keep me from flipping burgers, mowing lawns, driving semis, etc. (a few years in the army helped)
hard times are real. He isn’t saying they’re not. He’s saying you CAN get out. If you’re calling him an idiot, you’re basically saying he has more faith in you than you have in yourself.
Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t.
But someone has to be poor? If there is rich, there is poor. Some people do choose to be poor. To not budget, to not work hard. But my entire family is upper/middle class and I got stuck with a disability. So I’m poor. I run out of money before I can get enough food. I never get to buy new things. My electric is sometimes late. But I try my best and that’s all I can do.
The Nuge is not one to talk about making good choices. He stayed up for several nights in a row, took psychotic drugs, soiled himself and didn’t change clothing before his draft medical examination during the Vietnam war at Fort Wayne, Detroit. Now, he tries to pass himself as a giant patriot. He had a chance to serve and didn’t which may not be a bad thing, but an act like that ruins all credibility in his posing as an ultra-American. Sorry, Ted you were a loser back then and still are.
Barring mental illness or some disability, poverty is a result of a specific set of values. Choices are made based on values. Prosperous people have a completely different set of values than poor people. As a result they make different choices.
Wow—- sounds like he chosed to be ignorant.
Because white, former, aging rock stars who live on mansions know who what being poor (and a minority) is like. When I was little, I lived in a garage, my mother studied English to try and get a job and took care of us at the same time. My dad made 17,000 a year, was the first to get up and the last to go to bed. He worked as a painter (painting houses) and that did total crap to his body. We worked to make ends meet. We’re better off now, we’re all pulling our weight, but it’s barely enough to get us by.
Fuck you Ted Nugent.
And for people who say that you CAN get out, that can’t always happen. We can’t all work to build up, we work to maintain what we already have. What the hell can you build up towards when you’re living paycheck-to-paycheck? Whatever money we had saved was meager and we always had to spend it all on shit we need.
I kind of get what he’s saying, but its pretty rude of him to say, and it certainly doesn’t apply to everyone who is poor at all…
Depends on what your values are
I don’t think being poor is a choice but I question the validity of my comment when there are people I work with who constantly complain about not having any money, but the second they get their hands on anything they either buy a pack of cigarettes or a case of beers and go right back to complaining.
It was a choice for me, but I had the freedom to choose it; there were no socio-economic barriers pushing me into it. I chose freedom because I realized all I wanted and needed was Jesus Christ, and whether I’m shut away in a prison cell in China or spending the night in a five-star hotel, or on the road for a month with $30 and a phone card, I have everything I need.
The poor that Mr. Nugent is speaking about, while some of them may certainly make choices that perpetuate or worsen their poverty, rarely if ever freely choose to enter it. People like me choose poverty so that we can better be with those who have little or no choice in the matter, in the hopes that if nothing else they can have a wealth of love if not money, possession or worldly comfort.
Even though I don’t think he is the right person to be saying this, aside from mental illness and terrible disability, he is basically right. The mindset that keeps you from getting back up on your feet and keeping you poor is a choice, and a way of thinking. Of course life circumstances can take away your job. But you won’t stay down if you have the will to find new work and do what it takes to adapt to get out of that situation.
*or get divorced
LOL who is this guy? (don’t answer, I don’t really want to know)
of course thats what you hear from a rich close minded man who isn’t a minority. not everyone is able to go from poor to middle class, or rich. I know a lot of people who had to drop out of high school in order to help with paying the rent, especially some kids who had to do it because the dad left them and their mothers income wasnt enough to keep a roof over their heads. I understand when he says being poor is a choice, because as sad as it is there are some people who would enjoy living off of welfare, or government but most of the time
people have no choice
. I know a lot of people who want to get out of the financial crisis that they are in, maybe people like this hick need to experience poverty and see that just because there are poor people doesn’t mean they choose to be uneducated, are lazy, and everything. Not a lot of people are as lucky as he is, I know I am not. But I am grateful for what I have. My family has gone from dirt poor to having steady finances, and we are grateful that we aren’t where we were a couple years ago.
Even though the comment from someone who most country folk despise for his un-sportsman-like habits of shooting animals that are fenced in and thereby, trapped. And he may even have a point, albeit a small one. What we choose as young adults will of course, set the path through which the future will be born. Turning away from education, tech schools, and choosing a life of crime/easy money, these decisions can cause poverty, Many would like to think (and probably do) that all one has to do to better oneself is to decide to do it. But in too many instances to count, poverty is a state many are born into, and being poor has its own ways of trapping people forever in its web. For instance, and I’ll use my own family for this. My Mother came from a genteel southern family that wore old money as casually as last years wardrobe. But a few bad investments by her father, left them destitute. Her dad even went insane over the whole thing, and lived the rest of his life out in Chattahoochee, a horrible mental asylum. She married twice, divorced once, widowed once, had 2 children from her first marriage, one of which was mentally handicapped. Then she met my Dad, a full blooded Navajo. They married and raised a total of 7 children on a poor man’s pay. He worked on dairys, she worked as a seamstress, and in a shrimp plant. Every weekend we all piled in the car and headed for the Gulf of Mexico, to fish, crab, and collect oysters. I can’t remember a time when we didn’t have a garden full of fresh vegetables, and Daddy’s job allowed him to bring home 2 gallons of milk home every day. I was unaware that we were considered ”poor” until a girl complimented my school dress, and I proudly said “My Mom made it for me!” then the girl turned to her friends and said “only poor people make their own clothes” This was quite an awakening for me. I chose to go to college, but not until after my kids got old enough to start school themselves. I studied Business, graduated, went into the business world and HATED it! The in-office politics, the two faced bullshit, the backstabbing; they were all too depressing for me. I’ve worked a lot of different jobs, I was a logger, a semi truck driver, a laborer, a heavy equipment operator, a cook, a sous chef, a manager of a restaurant and I was a floor manager in a factory. None of these jobs made enough money to support my family AND keep up w/medical insurance payments. Because we were a 2 job household, we didn’t qualify for any money saving things like free or reduced school lunches, food stamps, or anything else. BUT we also did not make enough money where we could afford to go to the dentist, doctor, or anywhere out to eat that didn’t have a dollar menu. We worked hard, I often worked graveyard shifts to save money on child care. Our car was an old beater that my hubby could tinker with just enough to keep it running one more day. There were no buses to catch, so that car or walking were our only options. We didn’t qualify for the things most people take for granted like credit cards, decent vehicles, cell phones. Then I got hurt, and it wasn’t on the job. So no workman’s comp. Bills kept piling up; you think the power company gives a damn that you almost died? No, they do not, since you’re still alive pay your fucking bill. It took me 7 yrs to finally get disability, because I had lost 70% of control of my right hand, and although I tried like hell to get my left-also-known-as-stupid arm to pick up the slack, it didn’t work. Now mind you I’ve worked every day of my life, whether it was on the farm when I was a kid, and ever since I was 16 I worked for pay. I always put in to SocSec, paid my taxes, didn’t claim more than what was truly mine. Now I’m on SSI, living on $445 a month and $109 if EBT a month. I live so far below the poverty level I’d need a hand up to just be poor. In a world where “the working force” is no longer revered, where the elderly often live on dog food coz they can’t make ends meet otherwise, because the cost of electricity goes up, price of gas goes up, food prices soar, everything goes up but our income, I have to say that NO ONE truly chooses to be poor. And you know that line about history and those doomed to repeat it? Government needs to wake up and realize the gap between the ”haves” and the ”have-nots” is now a chasm, growing wider by the day. There really is no middle class as we once defined it. Shouldn’t we all, the elected officials, the business owners, the work force, shouldn’t we remember the French Revolution, where heads of self important Royalty rolled….and rolled…..and rolled.? Perhaps it won’t come to that. But it could. Very easily. And I bet when the Donald’s head rolls, his hair won’t be mussed a bit.Oh, and one more thing, my husband is a construction superintendent, and extremely good at his job. He isn’t afraid to labor w/his tools on. But there ARE no jobs to be had. Between all those bad loans, foreclosed homes, and illegal immigrants snatching up all the construction jobs because they will work for less, we are in big trouble now, because after 35 yrs of working steadily, he has already used up all his unemployment benefits, so my measly little check is what we have to try to live on. Thank heavens our kids are all grown now. We go hungry a lot, but we’re grown, and that’s different. A child should never go to bed hungry. Our troops deserve to come home after performing so valiantly for their country, but has anyone thought about jobs for them? We don’t want riches, we are already rich in our love for each other and our family. But it would sure be nice to be able to keep the water, lights, and trash pickup going.
I’m learning how to do insane guitar solos and kill animals so I can be rich.
Yes, for the most part.
Too many variables to consider. Not all cut and dry.
How well does the person know himself? What they truly need? What they prioritize? What opportunities are they able to perceive?
Is poverty a choice? Perhaps in some cases, but not all. Often it’s just. Lack of education. Granted, people have the will to learn what they feel they need to, and if they’re not using that to improve their lot in life, then that’s their fault…. etc…
but then, sometimes circumstances in life can prevent people from pursuing their “wants” … example, accidents/death (after which they lose a lot of money), illness, etc.
No it is not a choice but what is wonderful is that families are joining together and sharing homes, in order to make it financially.
I know people who have lived in poverty not because they chose to be poor, but because they chose to no longer live with an abusive spouse, or to embrace a life of service, or to go to college, or to get medical treatment. There’s a difference between something being a choice, and being the unintended result of other choices made in the course of life.
yeah, you know i work 2 jobs that barely make ends meet because i chose to be poor…….this country needs a total overhaul
I am poor. I didn’t choose it but I am not sad about it. I went from $100,000 in a year to homeless in 3 years. The funny thing I was happier when I was homeless than when I made the $100,000.
I went up 3 times and down 3 times. The third time I realized God wanted me to stay down and help others find their way out of the hole.
I was close to death 15 times and God said “What the hell, let the SOB live.”
Live is what you make it. I have seen more happy poor people that rich people. Why? Because they do not have to put up with the BS.
I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. Now that I am poor I am rich.
of course being poor is a choice. Just like I had a choice in being black
I can confidently say that being awesome isn’t a choice.
Also, he’s right. But being stupid usually isn’t a choice. And making stupid decisions repeatedly, frequently leads to being poor. So in a sense, being poor is not a choice.
living beyond your means is…most of the times your choice.
For more people than realize, yes, being poor is a choice. Choosing to value materials above the lives of others or health of the planet makes you poor. Being rich requires only forming a community of volunteers and telling those who value money or materials above nature or people that human labor is too valuable to purchase, regardless of skill level. It’s earned simply by having a need and not being a severe asshole. The exceptions are those being forcefully oppressed.
It can be the result of poor choices, sure. Sometimes it is one’s own poor choices; sometimes it is a parent’s poor choices. But life is more complex than it is portrayed in these Nugent quotes.
Poverty grows inside people like a seed, it’s not a question of choice. It can also have to do with an sense of inferiority. Some people don’t think they are capable or have the right to be equal. And other reasons…
It’s only not a choice because a lot of people don’t know how to leave poverty. If they knew how, maybe they would.
I kind of get what he’s trying to say, but he sure did make himself sound like a total douchebag.
when the hurricane Katrina wiped out everything the person had, was that man-made? No! That wasn’t a choice. Nobody wanted that to happen. But I guess there are people who don’t mind being poor.
i would love to see someone make the decision to be un-poor by robbing him blind~
I try to keep my cursing to a minimum…….but what a fucking douchebag.
Sometimes maybe… but also no, it always depends on a lot of things. To put something so complicated like that is stupid and ignorant to me. I spent two years working two jobs, one min wage and barely being able to pay bills & with my student loan debt, it is still very hard sometime but with my new job, it is getting better now. Truth is sometimes it is because people are lazy and other times life just sucks. The hope is if you have the education, someone will come and give you a chance. It takes some longer than other before they get their chance and to others, they might never get that first break, they might be great people but if no one looks at their resume and calls for an interview, all they can do is keep trying. I mean, most people who criticize in this job market are the ones who have kept their jobs and have no idea how hard it is to keep or get a job.
Not everyone is born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Sure people make poor choices, but I highly doubt anyone would choose to be poor.
In America yes it’s a choice
The rest of the world, no it’s not much of a choice
not once you make certain life decisions like have children, but as a late teenager, we all decide our fate. We just don’t realize it.
the whole point that he doesn’t understand is that our nation has to have a breeding population, so they force these choices onto us in an invisible mannerism. Then you end up with the innocent offspring of the losers. I will not have kids, but I see why they do thta. Like, people are forced to get married young when they don’t know any better. Our society does it. They are disabled and can’t keep up with school work, so they have to drop. It isn’t a choice. Or, they have to pay for the babies they made. That’s what happened to my parents. My parents were poor growing up but once we grew up became fairly well off. Thier mistake was me.
I will always live in technical poverty, but i’ll never be poor. I’m disabled, so my basic needs will always be met.
@howsthewheather - both of my cousins said they want the simple life. I think they’re retarded–they’re not just stupid. I’m poor because I’m mentally handicapped in two ways.
@howsthewheather - it’s actually really, really easy to be poor in America. Like i used to work really hard before I became poor, and this is way easier. That’s why they’re all obese.
@iscaphia - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_49POj4RZA&feature=g-vrec&context=G2c5bedbRVAAAAAAAAAQ
I’m damned but content. I like to beg if I need anything, or I used to before an agency picked me up. It’s a hobby.
see, I like to eat out even though I can’t afford to, so I used to beg to eat out. I know, I know. You make a lot doing that though. I’m like chronically malnourished, so I don’t feel bad. It’s not about what I eat. It’s my body just not absorbing.
I disagree on being poor due to divorce, that would be considered being taken to the cleaners!
However, I somewhat agree on the rest! There are some people who choose to be lazy. Some are jobless of their own choosing. Instead, they’re producing a ton of kids and living off our tax dollars instead. People choose to be poor, because of the choices they make.
@AgainstTheWind1 - yeah, I was like fuck student debt too. I joined the army. THat’s the easiest way out of poverty, which was where I was before since I was thrown out at 17. Then I became disabled while i was in. I’m mentally handicapped, which screws me over. I’m going to go back to school to learn to write technical manuals, but until then, I eat your bread. I think they should just give me a job until then because everytime I apply, i have to explain that I’m disabled and never get the job. It should be like, these are disabled peoples’ jobs.
@armnatmom - don’t forget about railroad spine.
For me, to step out of my room is a discomfort. I have will power, but that doesn’t mean, that, you see I… have this disease where I feel everyone is my friend.
@RulerofMasons - oh, you suffer an avoidant disorder with histrionic personality disorder. Can’t work.
@Colorsofthenight - I can still work. Thank you so much on the evaluation. I just looked it up, it describes me perfectly.
@RulerofMasons - I was being sarcastic about the work-thing. That’s a weird combo to have. I’m schizoaffective with a paranoid personality disorder, but I’m not paranoid. People really are out to get me… I’m not joking.
@Colorsofthenight - So wat’s up with you and Putin. You mention him a lot.
@RulerofMasons - well, the FBI trd to frame me as being a spy while I was in the army, and he feaked out about it and said I should die, hence this picture. He was trying to make them happy, but I’m also madly in love iwth him – stockholm syndrome.
No, it’s not a choice, granted, some people make decisions that ultimately lead to them being poor, but I don’t think anyone intentionally chooses to be poor. I sure haven’t. = Job market sucks, I apply to jobs every day and still haven’t gotten one. *shrug*
@Colorsofthenight -
What?
Well. I was going to wait for my last comment to be answered but I guess I’m just going to go for it. Being poor is sometimes a choice. And before I have anyone jump down my throat let me explain.
I grew up poor. And when I say poor, I mean really poor. My parents came from puerto Rico that way. Not owning much at all but the nine children they had together. Was it smart to continue to have children when they couldn’t afford the ones they had, absolutely not. My mother was on government assistance and my dad, well he worked his a$$ of in a factory to make ends meet. After many years we weren’t so bad off. Middle class. But then we had a fire that put us back on the bracket of being poor. Then my dad got sick.
My sisters made unwise choices and decided to become young mothers. They are also on government assistance. Difference is they never got off. They don’t want to attend school or go to work. They are fine having section 8 pay their rent, having food stamps for food, and child support as their only means of cash. They choose to be poor.
Myself. I am on government assistance. I was left by my fiancee to raise three children under the age of six. I was pregnant with my third when he left. Together we weren’t too bad off either. He had two jobs and I had one. We had enough to pay for our lifestyle. Then he left to have another family and now theyre poor cause they can’t afford the kids they have and the children we had together that he needs to support. But….. Even though I am on assistance, I have a job. A job I would have never had had I not been on assistance. There are a few programs implemented now to get you off assistance and back into work. I been in a program looking for work and have been unsuccessful. Then into a work site where I volunteer in order to keep my help. I did that for six months. Then after my six months, I was hired part time to work for the City. I am a City employee and by 2012, I will be full time.
I choose not to be poor. I plan on going to school and providing my kids with the best that I am able to provide them with.
Being poor at times is a choice. Some people choose not to do anything. Not all though. Some just don’t have the right opportunities in front of them. You can blame the economy for being poor, other times it’s poor decisions or planning, and at the worst, plan ole bad circumstances that were not foreseen. But I do believe that it is possible with some help, peoples situation can become better. I have been fortunate.
Time for a cheesy saying…. I may be poor, but I am rich at heart.
@misslei11 - i have a schizoaffective disorder by their design, so I can’t say anythig, but they framed me. They also framed me as trying to hit on him. I’m in the movie, “I want to believe.” I swear we all have one of those ‘ how could this ever happen stories?” Do you have one?
If I had a nut, I’d tell Nugent to go suck it.
Anyone else up for Occupy Ted Nugent?
It never ceases to amaze me how many poor people, forced to live on food stamps because they don’t have any other options, also have computers, internet service, and time to bloviate on Web blogs about how hard it is to succeed.
“get a real hair cut, and get a real job. Get your act together like your big brother Bob.”
@winterEnds - “ This sort of mentality is exactly what you’d expect from someone who has never been poor,”
BAM! Exactly right! You find this so much in right-wing publications, especially the National Review.
@AgainstTheWind1 - The internet is free, my friend. You can get on the net at any public library.
Food, on the other hand, is not free.
Wait until you’ve been let go from your workplace due to a drop of customers. Wait until you’ve spent 8 hours a day, 6 days a week, 7 months in a row searching, searching, SEARCHING for a job and finding NOTHING pecause every other business is having troubles as well. Wait until you see your savings dwindle, disappear and finally are forced to live in debt because you have absolutely NO cash whatsoever to pay for rent or food.
Then, my friend, you will understand why people “bloviate” online about being poor.
@iscaphia - That’s bullshit. There are pockets of the US that are extremely poor and we live in a system that is failing. I had to fight other kids just to get food for me and my siblings, and we lived in a concrete complex with boards over the windows so we wouldn’t get shot at.
People very rarely choose to be poor.
@phoebester - I’ve literally eaten out of a trash can. Last night, I ate lobster.
There are aluminum cans anywhere. They can be sold for money and you don’t even need an application. There are leaves ppl will pay you to take.
The issue isn’t that it can not be overcome, the issue is that you’ve given up.
If your situation is that bad… Get out of the fucking library, and go knock on doors!
What a douche. No!
I say that being poor isn’t a choice. It happens to thousands of American’s every day! One does not choose to lose their job due to cutbacks. Typically if you were the last one hired in, then you are the first to go. With the crappy economy these days, finding a job is damn near impossible. Not saying that it is totally impossible, but it’s damn close.
If one loses their job and then they are going to lose their home (if it isn’t paid for), they won’t be able to pay their bills, they won’t be able to afford their car and gas for their car. So it’s a domino effect. Some have been lucky to find a job right after losing their former position somewhere, but some are not so lucky. I know people that can’t find a job at McDonalds because they do not want to hire someone with a college degree and will be expecting more money as pay, so what do they do? They hire the high school senior that is just looking for a summer job and will pay them the minimum wage. So where does that leave the starving college graduate? Without a job. For one I don’t care if I work at McDonalds. It will get my bills paid so why in the world won’t they hire me? Because they think that I expect a larger salary than most because I have some certificates and a diploma in Business.
My ranting is done. I could write about this all day, but I must visit other blogs now.
Thanks all for reading!
I don’t agree with everything he said but in my case it is my choice to be on the lower end of society. I don’t rely on the government like many of my neighbors. And I know for a fact there are many people who choose to be poor just for the benefits the government gives them. I would not say every single poor person chooses that way of life but I would say that there are people who do.
Yes, being poor is a choice. For example, if I was poor and I then robbed Ted Nugent, I would then be rich. My refusal to put time and effort into a complex masterplan to rob Ted Nugent is, therefore, the cause of my poverty.
Nonsense!! It’s not a choice. If it was, I should have gotten rich because I choosed to study Hungarian philology and in order to learn Hungarian language, you need to have great skills. It’s a tough language. So I did’n't drop out of school, I study at university, I have skills and I work but the average salary here in Bulgaria is about 600lv, which is about 300 € and, as you can guess, it isn’t enough at all.
Like others have said, most people who are poor do not choose to be poor. However, there are some people who choose to be poor and revel in the lifestyle. I honestly do not know if they have given up and feel they really don’t have any way out because it is the only thing they have known or if they really do indeed enjoy being self proclaimed “ghetto” “trailer trash” etc. Ted Nugent has a point but he lost it by lumping all poor people in the same category. Most poor and working class people are hardworking, have learned several skills, have a great work ethic, but they have never had the luxury of coming from a family that is rich or upper middle class that can support them through the hard times.
This guy is an idiot! It isn’t a choice! Shit happens in life! Ignorant people like this make me want to scream!!!!
@chicbananas - That’s nice, but I grew up on a tiny island where the government stores nuclear waste without ever telling us what it was. It wasn’t until we started blocking their naval ships from docking that the government negotiated nuclear waste storage for electricity, food, housing, and allowance.
The system isn’t failing. But the poor fear and blame the system, and chooses not to understand and use it to their advantage. It’s like that everywhere.
@iscaphia - Your shitty area doesn’t negate the fact that the US has shitty areas, too. Don’t look down on the suffering of others just because you view yours as worse. And read the news. The system is falling apart.
@iscaphia - Are you fucking dense? Just because you come from a shitty country doesn’t mean that other countries are not shitty at all, or don’t have shitty areas. Get your head out of your arse. America is not the country of gold brick roads and endless jobs immigrants used to dream of.
@chicbananas - I don’t. But guess what, some people take the effort and spend decades to make a better life for themselves. It’s do able, especially in the US. My island isn’t shitty, it’s the most peaceful and beautiful place in the world.
For some people it is. WHY would anyone think dropping out of high school is a good idea? I have two stepsons who did just that (before I came into the picture) and they are both living at home (21 and 25) and making/delivering pizzas for a living. They won’t go get even a GED and don’t seem to understand that what they are doing now is their future.
@AffinityInUnderstanding - No, I’m not dense at all. My country is hardly shitty. It’s the most beautiful place in the world. The government policies can be shitty. But guess what, the US is a country of gold brick roads, people here just don’t see it.
@iscaphia - A lot of people make the effort, right here in this country. Anywhere you go, there are always some who do not, but to generalize Americans as a whole is ridiculous. If your island is so beautiful and great, it makes even less sense for you to sneer at the poverty my family and many others have experienced, without a choice. It’s extremely ignorant and brazen of you, and you should do better than to make assumptions and sweeping generalizations of a place you clearly know little about.
DOUCHEBAGGGGGGG.
@chicbananas - My island is beautiful and great in indeed. We didn’t have to fight for food because we catch our fish, herd our pigs and goats, and collect whatever the sea brings us. It’s not paradise, a bad year more than a quarter of the population will die.
All I’m saying is, most people here have not seen fucked up class difference and choice-less. India comes to mind in terms of choice-less and class difference.
I cannot honestly formulate a reply because I do not see poverty as being simply a matter of how much you make a year. I know some people who are upper middle class and struggling because they are a bit incompetent when it comes to money managing which should not be an issue where I live. Then there are families like mine where we live at sixty percent of the poverty level without feeling the money crunch because we are creative with our lifestyle and take advantage of bartering and unusual odd jobs.
Maybe it is a choice or at least the mindset is.
@AgainstTheWind1 - Real life is not quite like an inspirational movie.
Upward mobility is becoming harder and harder in America. Inner city children are trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty due to poor education and few opportunities. It is a conservative myth that hard work and back-breaking labor are all you need to get out of poverty.
I’m not saying that you didn’t work hard to get where you are; of course you did. All I’m saying is that getting out of poverty is not nearly as easy as right-wing Randists portray it to be, especially in today’s economy. And sometimes, you can work hard and still fall flat on your face. It does happen.
Ted Nugent is a right-wing douche nozzle.
Yes,if you drop out of school and sit on your ass all day you’re probably
not going to be well off (unless your parents are rich.) But more often
than not, people bust their asses, work and go to school, and they
still can’t make ends meet.
As usual, the right-wingers see it all in black and white.
Moron.
“The children of parents who choose a life of poverty quite often pay a horrible price,”
Right there, he disproved his idea that being poor is a choice.
He’s an idiot.
in the context that he put it.. yes, it is a choice.
He said it is LARGELY a choice. Most of the time it IS a choice. Not all the time. You choose not to budget, not to save money when you can (WHEN you can) and not to manage your money/life properly, and you will end up poor. I have been broke and I have been financially well off. Mind you, some times, things happen that you can’t help – natural disasters, your employer going under, identity theft, etc. Those are not the people he is referring to. He is referring to those who don’t go to school and don’t have any motivation to find a job, spend every penny on shopping for designer brands and such instead of saving, even if it’s $5 a week. He also never said their children choose to be poor. He said they are often the ones who suffer for the choices of their parents. Some people should sit and read/listen to the entire quote instead of picking and choosing. I was the victim of identity theft two days after I moved to another state, and it took me almost a year of struggling and working a minimum wage job to recover. People sit there and expect that the world owes them the best job, the best benefits, etc. It’s rare to find a person who is financially destitute that didn’t CHOOSE to be there. BECOMING poor isn’t always a choice – however STAYING poor is. Coming from someone who has been there, I don’t see why people are so offended.
My immigrant parents came to America wih $ 2 USD, after the Vietnam War/Polpott, Khmer Rouge etc etc… Being poor is a choice because they have more than $2 now.
I agree with some of it like dropping out of school and having no work ethic….If you don’t have education and no will to work then you will be poor.
@phoebester - ”Food, on the other hand, is not free.”
Not unless you get it from a soup kitchen… or a homeless shelter…
No it’s not there’s a lot about it in economy books but I doubt someone like him has the ability to understand anything else than Stephen Covey’s bullshit.
what a closed minded idiot… …
Such a diverse variety of circumstances drive peoples journey through life. Gotta look outside the box. A pretty careless and thoughtless comment. 
@TheThinkingPerson - i don’t disagree with a single point you’ve made.
But you’re changing the question before you answer it. Nugent is a jack ass, sure, but he didn’t say being able to rise above poverty was easy. It’s hard as hell! There’s no guarantee of wealth for a hard worker either. But anyone…ANYONE can eventually do better than poverty.
Until no one ever does, my argument can’t be broken.
depends on the situation i guess.
No being poor is not a choice you fucking dumbass bastard! I’m not making money off of the American people. I’m a poor white guy from the state of Ohio which it seems like we don’t have any jobs to make that money that you think we will be getting. They say that there are jobs out there that they are bringing in so we can have this so called “job” but in reality that’s not the case. You Mr. Ted Nugent have made MILLIONS on your movies, TV shows, and your music while the poor people in the country are struggling to find fucking jobs so they can’t be poor. So no, no being poor isn’t a choice and you need to get it through your fucking head you fucking moron. I’m just tired of these comments from these rich people. I really am.
(Sorry for the language. Point is that I don’t like being poor but it’s this economic depression that we are in that makes it so hard to get a job)
@AgainstTheWind1 - lmao. I don’t see the point in my explaining myself to you but I’ll humor you. I own a computer because it was a gift from an old professor from high school who wanted me to go back to college. I’m enrolled for spring semester at a community college. And my Internet is free, I use the wireless network lynkis. Anything else you want to ask?
I agree with him to a certain extent.
of you drop of of school, don’t work 40 hours, or don’t lookfor a job, then yes, you are putting yourself if that lifestyle.
I have had a job (several) of 6 years and I’m sorry, If I can find one, ANYONE can.
they’re just not doing what it takes, or they’re not willing to work b/c they THINK they deserve more.
@BlueButterf1y - Actually, yes. Myquestion is, “can you show me where in the comment you responded to, that I actually asked a question?”
@BlueButterf1y - you can start with where I asked you to explain yourself, or to humor me, or how the comment even applied to you, since I presume you’re going to college as a choice to better your future.
Advice: understand what you read before you reply to it. Thanks.
@AgainstTheWind1 - Well just that you made comment on how someone on food stamps can own a computer and access to the internet. You were in fact amazed by how it was at all possible. I answered one scenerio in which it is possible. Just simply asked if there was anything else you needed explained to you is all.
@AgainstTheWind1 - Well then my mistake. Sorry for “misunderstanding” your comment that came directly after I commented on having bee on government assistance.
@BlueButterf1y - but you didn’t give me a scenario that applied because you left out the key factors that qualified my statement.
@BlueButterf1y - just coincidence. I have no problem with people needing food stamps. My comment was about ppl who do nothing for themselves to stop needing them.
@AgainstTheWind1 - You can tell I’m pretty touchy on the subject of needing government help. Truthfully, I am doing what I can to not have to be depending on this help. It actually feels a bit selfish after I got my job. But I can’t make it to the end of the month without it.
I guess understand about the people who do nothing to get off the help. There are programs that are in place right now to help ween you off. Too often have I seen those who truly see these programs as an inconvience when in all reality it got me to where I am. Imagine hearing from someone with one child that they can’t do something you’ve been doing with three children. It’s aggravating.
@BlueButterf1y - based on that, I have no problem with you at all. My problem isn’t those who aren’t rich. My problem is those who blame others for their problems and do nothing for themselves.
He’s afraid of being poor, most rich people are. In my life I have learned, in a way its better not to be rich or flaunt your wealth because its harder to maintain the facade and the harder you fall.
I don’t think being poor is a choice, though some decisions we make in life can lead us in the path of poverty. However, I know a lot of hard working people who are still struggling, such as myself and made good decisions. Unfortunately we are finding it hard to make ends meet.
@autumn_cannibal76 - omg I almost pissed myself. Best comment ever.
a choice? why would you chose to be poor? -.- (btw am i the youngest here?)
@TheCowboy2010 @craigbrand009 - @MS_TWISTED_N_LIFE - - I love your comment, I hope we are friends or become friends soon.
Being poor can most certainly be linked to the choices we make but it’s not necessarily always the case. I kind of get the gist of what he was trying to say but how he said it was kind of inappropriate.
@tgwiy - @petegreta - @grizzlybearr - @JennyBenj @aislinn_91 - - Love and like you guys comments. If we’re not friends, I’ll be inviting you, this is why, especially JennyBenj
@Megabyyte - @Shadowrunner81 - @misslei11 - I like all these comments here, I will be trying to come friend you, this will be the reason. Or, stop by!
@crazy2love - @BI0chemical_EQUACI0N - @hollowhopes - @snugglebunnie7777 - @PervyPenguin - @ALovingAdversary - @winterEnds - @wutuwaitn4 - @Losertastic - @Bobby -
I really love each one of these comments. If you see a friend request from me, that will be why. Or else, come friend me first. We are on the same wavelength, and I need more friends like that!
@DivaJyoti - Um…okay? Why are you inviting everybody alive to all of a sudden be your friend?
@Shadowrunner81 - Everybody alive? LOL, when theo makes a flagrantly provokative political blog like this, I come and select the people who made a wise comment in an attempt to get more sane people on my friends list. It’s an estimation though, sometimes one wise seeming comment does not a wise person make. I invited about 20 of the people who commented here, leaving the other 50 some odd commenters as idiots I’d want nothing to do with. That is hardly “everybody alive.” silly!
People who say the American dream is dead don’t know immigrants who have come here with nothing and, through working crap jobs and saving every dime for years, are able to start a business or go to college. It’s hard to emmigrate from the inner city, too, but people do it. The one way I can see that you could choose to be poor is to have a bunch of kids.
@ThaPlatinumOne - See, the difference here is that you actually read what he said, and considered the qualifying words he used, and you comprehended his statement instead of glazing over it, classifying it as his being a jerk, and then dismissed it.
Shame on you for actually thinking!
First, he said “largely” a choice. He is not claiming that every case is a choice, he is saying that in most cases it is.
Second, he blames the ones making bad choices, not their children when their children are stuck in poverty. It is true that parents who live above their means, lack work ethic, don’t learn any skills, and get divorced will likely not be financially stable. These things are choices. They affect their children, it is not the fault of these children that they are poor, I do not believe he is saying that it is. A lot of people are overly sensitive and miss his point so they can wallow in their first world problems. The U.S. gives people far more opportunities to rise above their poverty than the majority of other nations.
@AgainstTheWind1 - ::gasp:: heaven forbid I use that thing we call a brain! lol I didn’t even get into the whole debate about what “poor” actually is. A lot of people here complaining about being “poor” are just bitter because their $8.50-9.00/hr job can’t buy them the Prada bag they so badly want, so they can be like the socialites they see on TV. As opposed to actual homeless, ten cents in their pocket, don’t know where their next meal is coming from destitute people. I have been blessed to travel the world and see different walks of life, and “poor” means something totally different than what I am seeing most of the people on here complaining about.
@ThaPlatinumOne - Can I be your friend?! Haha.
Yeah, that’s a huge part of the deal. The American definition of poor is laughable to the children I’ve seen in a few countries. If you look at the global economy, an American who can stand on the side of an interstate on-ramp and panhandle enough to buy a piece of chicken is rich by comparison.
I’m about to post an entry that talks about some of this. I’d love to hear your thoughts, if you’d be kind enough to come by!
@Nativesquaw78 - no one cares
@DivaJyoti - Well I was using hyperbole a little bit. Anyways, the reason I asked was because I wondered if your site was hacked and somebody from Iran was inviting a slew of people to be friends. I saw your site and you seemed normal enough so I knew you weren’t a spambot or something. Just wanted to be sure of ya.
@Shadowrunner81 -
Yeah, if I was a spam bot I was a very friggin selective spam bot for sure.
@PatentMagician - Bingo. Some of the richest people in history came to America dirt poor. Andrew Carnagie being one of the most notable. Both he and his father, Andrew Carnagie senior, came to this country with the same background, same amount of money, at the same time. One went on to write history, one became only a foot in his sons legend. One choose to fight and pull himself up from poverty, one accepted it, and waited for help.
Is it hard, yes, will some fail, yes. But the choice is stand back up and try again, or wallow in self pitty.
I think it’s a choice for some people, but not for all. I see his point about choosing to not to go to school or to get a divorce, and how those things often lead to poor financial status — yeah, that’s a choice. I also see plenty of people who spend their money on crap (fake fingernails, electronic toys, hair dye, to name a few) instead of necessities. That’s a choice, too. But sometimes life’s circumstances don’t give you a choice, and you end up financially screwed because of it — that’s not a choice.
he has a point, but that’s just one of the many complex factors contributing to poverty. there’s also circumstance and the lack of opportunities…
While one can choose to be poor when the alternative is in his hands, to say that people who are poor are that way because of choosing it is a horrible, thoughtless thing to say. You do what you do with the hand you are dealt with, and most of the time, what you do defines you. I haven’t read the article and will do so, but my impression is that a person who would talk like that about others (others who are NOT HIM) doesn’t so much overestimate others as he overestimates himself. He thinks he is where he is by his own power, when what he ought to be doing is being thankful for what he has been given, as well as whatever abilities he has been given.
like another commenter said, it depends on your values. no one has to be poor if their value system is not depending on money or THINGS. as far as cold cash, work hard and do your best. you might not get rich, but there is a middle ground and no, the world isn’t “you’re either rich or poor”.
@Nativesquaw78 - would have liked to read your comment but without paragraphs it is too hard.
@FallingSafely - It’s a shame your family doesn’t help you out. I am probably considered upper middle class and I have a sister who is living just barely above water, and I help her out as much as I can. I figure if I can give to charities (strangers) I can help out my own family.
I was wondering when he was going to put his dick … oops, I meant his foot in his mouth.
He must be hanging out with a lot of senators and bankers these days.
i thank ol ted for his comments. someone needs to stand up against the victim mentality held by so many americans. i didn’t grow up with very much money either. but instead of crying about it for the rest of my life, i signed up for financial aid, took out some loans, and got myself a college degree so i wouldn’t be stuck. i had to make my own way while i was in college. i didn’t have a savings bond to get me through. i was just like all of you people.
now, i know there are people who are dealt a really bad hand in life and have a much harder time keeping up with it. but, for the most part, if people would just push forward instead of crying about what they don’t just automatically have, they could make a lot more of themselves.
@merfolklore - right… because he just suddenly woke up one day with all his musical abilities and a multi-million dollar record contract taped to his bathroom mirror.
I think for a lot of people it is about choices and not making the best choices. But of course this isn’t the case for everyone!! So this was a little harsh, but.. i do feel like it is pretty accurate. :/ .
I am not un-sympathetic for people that struggle, because i do too still sometimes. But i try really hard to make good decisions. My number 1 choice is i DO NOT have credit cards. I paid cash for my car, and it is a great car.
And that saved me a monthly payment to put else where. The only debt i will soon have is a house. But everyone has to make their own decisions, and then live with the consequences. I am great at saving, but it takes discipline. And i have what i want, so i don’t need a credit card. If i deicide hey i want X Y and Z.. then i start saving and buy them one at a time. Instead of all at once on a credit card.
But that is just ME.
I choose to be rich.
Dangit, didn’t work.
To an extent, yeah, it is. I chose to be an art major, I could have been a business major, law, or whatever, but shit luck is also a factor. I can’t even get hired for a part time job right now, and god knows I’ve been trying. I’d like to see old Ted try to get through a week with only 5 bucks to his name and an empty pantry, I’ve been there more times than I can count.
More importantly, how is Ted Nugent even still relevant?
Nugent gives away a lot of his money that you all hate him for so much. How much of your money do you give away? You rip him for being rich, but you don’t rip him for his generosity. You hate on him for hunting, or shooting animals, as you stuff your face with that hamburger. What difference is it between hunting a deer or killing a cow? They are both just as dead.
You hate on him for being a rock star and living in a mansion. He has a passion for life and followed his dream, worked his ass off to do it. You think you can do better? Go do it.
Nugent is still relevant because he continues to speak out, to do good, to put forth what he thinks is right, and puts his money where his mouth is.
I hear a lot of armchair quarterback haters on here, most of you are liberal, young, idealistic, and broke, going to school on Daddy’s dime, driving a car you didn’t buy, using a charge card you don’t pay for, giving Mommy your cell phone bill. And who pays for all that? Oh, the old conservative white guys who actually know what it is to work for a living, to create a profit, hire employees, sell a product or service, create jobs. How many people do you employ? Yeah, about what I thought.
Re-read the article. His position is based on choices, not situations where the person has no choice, no chance. He isn’t talking about the masses in Uganda, where only 1 in 10 make it to their teenage years, he is talking about the snotty trailer trash wannabe’s who’s big goal in life is to get a “promotion” at the local McD’s… who can’t wait for their next check so they can get a designer purse, or buy more minutes for their cell phone. Bottom feeders.
You want to improve your life? Do it. Get educated. It’s free most places, and higher education is available at low to no cost for those impoverished. Work two jobs. Create your own job and learn how to hire others to make a profit. Design a widget, and market it. If a person can create a fortune selling “pet rocks”… practice being a singer, doesn’t cost anything. Practice your guitar instead of stuffing your fat face sitting in front of your computer. Go jogging, learn basketball then learn to be a coach and teach it to others, you might find a job teaching and being a high school basketball coach. Or get good enough that you find yourself on an NBA team…hundreds did, often coming from lower socio-economic groups and impoverished and ignorant family situations.
But you won’t. You’ll sit there and hate on someone successful because he has an opinion and isn’t afraid to express it…
I don’t like the guy, but I think he is at least half right. There are a great many who choose to remain poor because it’s easier to get welfare than to do menial work. There are many wealthy people who started out doing menial work for pitiful wages, or who started out pushing a cart around selling fruit. And ethnicity doesn’t matter; there are many from ethnic groups among the wealthy. And we’re being conditioned to hate those people.
And the poor needn’t strive to be wealthy, but just strive to get out of poverty. To live fairly comfortably you don’t need millions.
I wish it was…otherwise, I would have chosen very differently.
@TiredSoVeryTired - I agree.
That is a generalization….and it is wrong and to easy to generalize people like that. For some people it is a choice (for a variety of reasons ranging from religious viewpoints to deciding who to hang out with your friends and love)for others there is no choice because there is no way out….Most of us are not “Masters of Our Domain” we are affected by forces that are beyond our control. But we must never give up.
@Ork58 - Working two jobs is not always possible because some work in jobs where you need to get permission from your primary job a signifigant amount of them will not allow it for reasons of their own. I am a prime exmple of that.
@Hannah Lambert@facebook - I t depends on their circumstances. A friend of mine chose to stay on welfare because she decided to be a stay at home mom so that she could raise her son because she did not want him to become drug dealer or become a bum and his father is a deadbeat Dad. So in my opinion she made the right choice. And then she found a job and went back to work when her son became old enough to support himself and he had a job (which he later quit for a stupid reason) She ended up finding a job right before her welfare ran out and she chose to join the workforce. And this is a woman who has worked hard most of her life. She made the right choices (accept for she chose a lousy spouse….we all make mistakes) Another reason why she decided to go on welfare was so that she could raise her child by herself and limit the exposure to the bad influence which is his father. That is her reality and for the most she made all the right moves, did all the right things, made one mistake and she ended up poor and still is despite the fact she has worked hard most of her life and did play by the roles and tried her best. And has been a great mother and a good spouse but life was still not kind to her and she has not given up.
He is entitled to his opinion but he should be more specific in his criticisms.
@Tallman - Understood. When I was in that situation, I began a search for a new primary job that provided more money, better benefits, and allowed secondary work. I had to study and do some re-training to do it, but I wanted it bad enough I made the sacrifices and did the work necessary to obtain it…
@Ork58 - A lot of people can not afforsd to make that transition…they have children to consider or various other problems. The world is not perferct. Merry Christmas!
@Tallman - Do you have a family to support?
@Tallman - There is always a reason or an excuse why you can’t. When I was in that position, I was newly divorced, raising three kids in a two bedroom, 700 sq ft basement apartment. It was so tiny we didn’t have a kitchen table, they had to take turns eating at my desk…I was trying to crawl out from under divorce lawyers fees, child support, thousands in credit card debt, and working a $9 an hour job… which sucked. I had plenty of excuses or reasons to not strive or shoot higher. I chose not to do that. I chose to kick ass and take names. And because of my efforts, I am now self employed with a six figure salary, put two of the three through college, and am helping one buy a house already… you can see a crappy situation as the glass half empty and be a victim, or see the glass as half full and view it as opportunity.. your call…
Truisms get in the honest discussion. Kinda like how the rich don’t pay their fair share of taxes. Depending on who you ask, “everybody” KNOWS that truisms are accurate.
Ted Nugent dhould stick to talking about the guitar. And maybe turn down the volume some.
@Ork58 - okay…you did the right thing and did well. Congratulations and Merry Christmas, But there are still some people who can’t do it…the world is not perfect. A neighbor of mine was on welfare by choice because she had a young son to raise by herself (the father is a jackass) then she found a job and job off of welfare right before her benefits were going to come to an end. So I give people like you and her all the credit in the world but we must rest member that is not possible for everybody and some people have valid like disabilities etc and so forth…I have a friend named Will who has one hand and has been unemployed for quite sometime and he still is still trying to gett off of it asfter being on it for over a year but nothing has happened yet because of his disability but he is still trying and is working odds and ends jobs but he has not quit and never will but his physical is making it awful hard. May God Bless You and I wish you the best of luck.
I agree with aspects of his statement, but I can’t buy in 100%.
The “lifetime poor” often do not place a high value on education or entrepreneurship, and often have a very external locus of control. But this does not mean that they are not denied opportunities to explore the world around them, develop their ideas and knowledge/skill sets, and make meaningful social connections. Schools in “low rent jurisdictions” are fighting for funding to provide quality education. Public libraries are in the same position. And the “unskilled workforce” has lost many jobs to countries with much lower standards of living, and have left behind menial service jobs that provide a subsistence standard of living at best.
I’m not one to point fingers or throw solutions around without vetting them thoroughly, but a sea change is needed without question.
Personally, I agree more with the second quote about the mindless baby making machines.
You posting are wonderful and informative.
business loans