What does it mean to be poor?
Folks,
My student loan debt is currently higher than my annual salary. My monthly payments are high enough right now that I am essentially leasing an imaginary Hummer. I am trying to aggressively pay off my debts so that I can have a net worth of zero dollars before I turn 35. When I hear about people being 'broke', I feel jealous. Oh, to have nothing!
Kristen and I visited friends in Rochester, New York this weekend, and got to see Kyle's photo exhibit there. Along our merry way, we stopped for lattes at Starbucks, and in Rochester, we went out for breakfast, had dinner at a nice little Mediterranean-style place, and saw a movie (Brokeback Mountain - very good, but so sad).
On the way back, we stopped at Ikea in Burlington and I picked up some nice wine glasses, a shelving unit for the bathroom, a matching set of towels, and some other fun stuff. We spent about $350 there.
This doesn't sound like the life of a poor man.
Here's an article from the Economist that compares two very different situations.
Read the article and see how you feel about your own situation.
posted by jay_morris @ 1:15 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Kyle, great photos...
Jay, that's a really interesting article. Amusingly, the thing that struck me the most was the researcher's quoting of the phrase "Lord willing and the creek don't rise." That's something my grandma (and mom, and myself) sometimes say. My grandma's family came from poor white folks in the Southeast. Not much is known about them -- geneology doesn't get you real far when your ancestors were impoverished whisky distillers... But I still like the expression, and will try to use it more to express my solidarity with the impoverished...
Harlan,
While the impoverished will appreciate your solidarity, I'm not sure you can use that expression in Manhattan! How about: "Lord willing and the transit workers don't strike."
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