Quote:
Originally Posted by AshleyO
Interestingly enough, Alan has a major major point that no one has seemed to actually acknowledge fully.
A LOT of poor people don't even know they're poor.
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Thats a very important point. It all comes down to the distribution of wealth in the society in which you live. Back in the 90's and earlier in Ireland it was like that. Ireland was nothing like it is today, we were a very poor country. Then the EU came in and pumped billions into projects and in a matter of years we went from having no highways to having every major city connected. We went from an old train system to a new top of the line system connecting everything and even small commuter services throughout Dublin and other major cities.
People never thought of themselves as poor because wealth distribution was so level, it never occurred to anyone.
These days Ireland has become like America in many ways. We now have all the major chains, brands, shops, etc. that we once only saw on telly in America. This has brought with it many problems. I remember when people were happy to get a shirt. Now if it is not a certain brand people are upset. It's sad actually.
My uncle tells me stories of when he was a child. You could tell the rich kids quite easily - they were the ones who could afford SHOES. Most of the kids in his school went barefoot.
Today they kill each other at Christmas time trying to buy the newest Timberlands.
Tis why I live away from Dublin in the country. That influence has affected us sure, but in many ways the town I live in is still the way it was in 1950.
I know people here who can't get a phone or electricity because they don't have lines that run to the area where their houses are, which are located down dirt roads in the middle of the county where no one would find them unless they really knew where to look.
Hell, many homes don't even have numbers, much less area codes. I have a friend, we will call him Steve. His address, and I am not making this up, is:
Stephen
Quilty
He is the only Stephen in that village so thats all you need to put on a letter for it to get to him.
But yeah, being impoverished is a standard which only becomes an issue when those directly around you have a disproportionate amount of wealth.
Thanks to the bankers who did the same here they did in America, in some aspects even worse, we now have a two class society much like the UK. The only reason no one is rioting here is we have many social protections which really help people. The day they cut those expect riots in the streets here.