Being part of the lower or poor class, I know what it’s like to struggle paying bills and not being able to enjoy the many wants life has to offer. I have never denied the ignorance of my bad money management ways, but I at least too the first step in admitting it and am working on fixing it, thanks to a few great JU people with some great advice and websites.
Still, I come across people who I just have to question their choices when it comes to buying that which they can afford, in this case for a child. While searching for a new place to move, a friend pointed me to a classifieds website called Craigslist. It’s a pretty good site though it could use a better and easier format for finding stuff. Anyways, I browse around the many categories and found more than just apts and houses for sale and rent. Everything from electronics to furniture and just about anything anyone wants to sell even for $10. It’s like an enormous online garage sale. I even sold a USB wireless network card on there the other day. Not bad.
Well, I’ve been browsing looking at what people have to sell. I am considering getting furniture for the living room and brand new is not an option at the moment. I looked at the electronics section since I am a big electronics geek and came across this one published item that made me write this article. In it the person is asking anyone looking to sell an unwanted iPod to email them. The person claims to be in a tight financial situation and can not afford a new iPod that their 10 year old child asked for his birthday. This person is OK with a used one but is limited to just $60. This is where I begin to question those comments made by people like Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards who thinks we should be helping poor people. I mean, a brand new iPod Nano goes for about $150 and can hold enough music to keep anyone happy yet this person would rather get a $60 used one. But still Edwards want to give this person someone else’s money because she is “poor”.
So here we have on one side a person who wants to buy an unnecessary product they cannot afford and on the other side a politician who wants to give this person more money so they “can” afford this unnecessary product because he thinks they’re poor. Can anyone explain to me why anyone, who can’t afford it, would feel the need to buy an unnecessary product such as an iPod (used BTW) for a child when based on their request they should not be looking for that which they cannot afford in the first place and would seem to make the tight situation they are already in even tighter?
Poor people? Please, now a days poor is just like the words hot, bad and bitch (pardon my French) they have new meanings that differ or oppose the dictionary term.
Hey John, how much of our tax dollars you think we should give this person? Should taxes pay for a “New” iPod for this persons “10” year old son?