‘Intense backlash’ proves the truth of Ben Carson: poverty ‘a state of mind’
A vast poverty industry employs and distributes wealth to a huge political constituency dependent on massive federal appropriations. Any suggestion that money is not the solution to the persistence of poverty is anathema and must be harshly ostracized by them.
They immediately recognized the danger when Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson told the truth during a Sirius-XM interview with Armstrong Williams. The New York Times summarizes the remarks that generated what it calls an “intense backlash.”
“I think poverty to a large extent is also a state of mind,” he said, according to a transcript of the interview that was released on Wednesday. “You take somebody that has the right mind-set, you can take everything from them and put them on the street, and I guarantee in a little while they’ll be right back up there.”
He added that helping people may not better their lives.
“You take somebody with the wrong mind-set, you can give them everything in the world — they’ll work their way right back down to the bottom,” he said.
The responses are so predictable that it is almost tedious to note them. The Times is happy to list them here. Incisive stuff, such as George Takei calling this world-famous professor of medicine emeritus a “blithering idiot.”
Dr. Carson receives The medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. (He received news of it during a seven-hour operation.)
What concerns me is the obvious truth of Carson’s point.
I experienced the difference between poverty and lack of money and stuff when I first went to Japan in 1967 as a student of 19 years’ experience of life. Fifty years ago, Japan was not yet a rich country. The average Japanese middle class family, such as the one I lived with for a year, had much less stuff than most Americans below the poverty level did. Fewer middle class Japanese had cars than poverty level Americans did. The same went for living space and most appliances.
But the Japanese were on a roll, growing 10% a year or more, and most everyone’s life was getting better and better each year. Middle class Japanese people had less money and fewer goods than Americans below the poverty level, but making the case that this lack of money and stuff made them “poor” or “impoverished” was impossible for me. I was raised in a very liberal family, so this basic truth came as a revelation to me. It was one of my first steps in becoming a conservative.
Following graduation, I spent several years at or below the poverty line as a graduate student. But I knew how to make good food on the cheap, and I had a plan.
Okay, I realize this is not an inspiring story of overcoming great odds. It can be read as a confession of white privilege, or educated privilege, or maybe even liberal privilege. But it is also proof good enough for me to conclude that lack of money and stuff does not on its own cause poverty.
Dr. Carson’s own experience of overcoming lack of stuff with a positive mindset is far more persuasive than mine, of course. But both illustrate the truth of his comments.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/05/intense_backlash_proves_the_truth_of_ben_carson_poverty_a_state_of_mind.html#ixzz4iC0k1R2D
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They immediately recognized the danger when Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson told the truth during a Sirius-XM interview with Armstrong Williams. The New York Times summarizes the remarks that generated what it calls an “intense backlash.”
“I think poverty to a large extent is also a state of mind,” he said, according to a transcript of the interview that was released on Wednesday. “You take somebody that has the right mind-set, you can take everything from them and put them on the street, and I guarantee in a little while they’ll be right back up there.”
He added that helping people may not better their lives.
“You take somebody with the wrong mind-set, you can give them everything in the world — they’ll work their way right back down to the bottom,” he said.
The responses are so predictable that it is almost tedious to note them. The Times is happy to list them here. Incisive stuff, such as George Takei calling this world-famous professor of medicine emeritus a “blithering idiot.”
Dr. Carson receives The medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. (He received news of it during a seven-hour operation.)
What concerns me is the obvious truth of Carson’s point.
I experienced the difference between poverty and lack of money and stuff when I first went to Japan in 1967 as a student of 19 years’ experience of life. Fifty years ago, Japan was not yet a rich country. The average Japanese middle class family, such as the one I lived with for a year, had much less stuff than most Americans below the poverty level did. Fewer middle class Japanese had cars than poverty level Americans did. The same went for living space and most appliances.
But the Japanese were on a roll, growing 10% a year or more, and most everyone’s life was getting better and better each year. Middle class Japanese people had less money and fewer goods than Americans below the poverty level, but making the case that this lack of money and stuff made them “poor” or “impoverished” was impossible for me. I was raised in a very liberal family, so this basic truth came as a revelation to me. It was one of my first steps in becoming a conservative.
Following graduation, I spent several years at or below the poverty line as a graduate student. But I knew how to make good food on the cheap, and I had a plan.
Okay, I realize this is not an inspiring story of overcoming great odds. It can be read as a confession of white privilege, or educated privilege, or maybe even liberal privilege. But it is also proof good enough for me to conclude that lack of money and stuff does not on its own cause poverty.
Dr. Carson’s own experience of overcoming lack of stuff with a positive mindset is far more persuasive than mine, of course. But both illustrate the truth of his comments.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/05/intense_backlash_proves_the_truth_of_ben_carson_poverty_a_state_of_mind.html#ixzz4iC0k1R2D
Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook
Dr. Carson receives The medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. (He received news of it during a seven-hour operation.)
Read more:
Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook
Hey, XX! You have made progress! You now know how to post an image from the article you're seeding. Not IN the seed, of course... but hey...
Oh, and... You probably should learn how to reproduce quoted text, different from ordinary text.
Oh, and... Remove any image caption if the image is absent.
Did you at least read this one? It's argument is particularly silly, even for one of your sources.
Most dumbass and cynical article of the day , maybe the week.
Conservatives such as the writer would like to cut poverty programs, so their taxes could be cut and they can have more. So he emphasizes the moral failings of the poor and extolls the virtues of being proud of how little you may have as long as you want to "improve'. All nice , in a sense, but not what the reality of poverty is about. There WILL be poor, in a capitalist economy, no matter what anybody does, unless the poor are uplifted by assistance.
The article holds up Japanese society as a paragon. Here is the truth about poverty in Japan
" Japan , despite being the world's third largest economy, has a rising problem of poverty . Poverty figures are very hard to find in Japan. Because of its reputation as a developed country , it is generally assumed that the levels of poverty are relatively low. However several media reports contrast this.
....In October 2009, Japan's Labor Ministry released a report which stated that almost one in six Japanese, which would be 20 million people, lived in poverty, in 2007. This revelation was met with shock and surprise among the Japanese people. [5]
2013
In 2013, the Japanese government recorded relative poverty rates of 16% which was defined as the share of the population living on less than half the national median income. This was the highest on record. [6]
Demographics
Another study showed that 1 out of 3 Japanese women in the age group of 20-64, and those who live alone, were living in poverty. [7""
Singapore is sometimes held up as the perfect example of a successful modern capitalist economy.
You would think that if capitalism is so strong there , there wouldn't be any poverty in Singapore
-
"There are two general definitions about poverty that the rest of the world takes. They are “absolute poverty” and “relative poverty”.
Absolute poverty is defined as the minimum requirements necessary for living in Singapore. This will include how much is needed for food, shelter, clothing and other basic necessities to survive in the country.
Relative poverty is the standard more commonly adopted in developed nations or cities such as Hong Kong and Singapore, should we have one. Relative poverty refers to how much is required for a certain household to afford the basic necessities to survive in life and also avoid “social exclusion”.
For example, while you can physically survive without the need to have a computer, handphone or Internet connection, you would be socially excluded without these items, and hence, unable to move up the career ladder.
Hard Truths About Poverty
1. 110,000 – 140,000 household falls under the basic living expenditure of $1250
The department of statistics measured the amount needed for basic living expenses to be at $1250 per month, per household. According to data published in 2011, 10 – 12% of household fall under this level.
$1250, or about $312 per person, is not a high amount and we doubt anyone will disagree on that.
More tellingly, what the statistics revealed is that about 440,000 to 560,000 (based on each household having 4 family members) are actually living within or below that amount.
With our busy and cushy day jobs and equally packed itinerary on weekends, it is entirely possible that these people living below the absolute poverty line are invisible to us.
But there is no running away from the statistics. There’s about 5 hundred thousand of them in our country."
Carson has become one of the great black leaders of the 21st century. He knows what it takes to break the cycle of generational poverty the liberals try to create for their own political gain. The promise of free crap in exchange for your vote only leads one to a life of poverty and feelings of guilt because deep down they know it is wrong to live off the backs of others. Carson is delivering the tough love the black community needs to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and make something positive out of their lives. We could use more Carson's and less Jesse Jackson's.
We could use more Carson's and less Jesse Jackson's.
Not "we" could, you could.
"Not "we" could, you could."
Got that right. Geez Dean don't you know there are a lot of people that are more than happy to surrender their vote in exchange for continuing empty promises of free stuff? They call themselves "Democrats".
‘Intense Backlash’ Proves The Truth Of Ben Carson: Poverty ‘A State Of Mind’
WTF? That's so obviously false!
Why?
Because if that was true-- how could someone who so obviously mentally retarded as Carson be so wealthy?