8 reasons for poverty

Stories that will change the way you think about poverty.

Where are the origins of poverty? What is the likelihood that it is inherent in ourselves? Business coach and popular lecturer Natalya Grace tried to answer these questions in one of her books. She is sure that there is a Law of Genetic Poverty - the reason why people program themselves to be poor. It turns out that only 4 factors influence this. These reasons are easily recognizable as our Russian and post-Soviet realities.

Thinks only about money

A poor person constantly thinks only about money. He no longer knows where to get this or that product cheaper. His purchases at the store are planned down to the last penny.

Such people do not see the bright colors of the world and cannot fully enjoy their leisure time, since their thoughts are occupied only by material means. You need to be able to relax and rest, turning off these thoughts, at least for a while.

Mentality

As a child, at a classmate’s house, we often jumped on the sofa until adults saw. We were very pleased with the springs, which in some places came very close to the surface; I was delighted by the dust that flew from the sofa in clouds from our jumps. When twenty years later I went to see my childhood friend, I was horrified to see in the corner the same sofa on which we had once jumped. It had not changed much, as far as I could remember, but now I was shocked by the poverty and squalor of the situation. I mentally calculated how much it could cost to buy a new sofa, replace greasy chairs, and a mirror that was broken and sealed with chocolate wrapper. While we were talking, in my imagination I was whitewashing the ceiling and changing the wallpaper. I wanted to wash the windows covered with flies, throw out the sticks and cardboard sticking out from under the sofa, the broken flower pot tied with a stocking. “What if money is bad?” — I thought... But my brain resisted and suggested that I buy at least an inexpensive adhesive film in the color of wood and cover the table with it. Everywhere I looked, my gaze came across some kind of damage, dirt, stains and debris. My brain suddenly said to me: “Why do you think there is always dirt next to poverty?” Now I ask you the same question. Even if you replace the word “always” with “almost always” or “often”, it doesn’t make it any easier. Dirt is not a manifestation of lack of money, but of mentality. Think about it: dirt is a manifestation of the corresponding mentality. And since dirt and poverty are neighbors, poverty is a kind of mentality.

Poverty under capitalism is ineradicable

One of the pillars of poverty, the poverty of individuals or the poverty of entire nations, is eating away your own future. A poor person (or poor people) wants to “eat” right now, and therefore he easily sells his own future in exchange for some momentary pleasures.

In a normal capitalist country, the word “eat” should be understood in a figurative sense - a poor person from a normal capitalist country has enough for potatoes and lard, but not enough for beads with a mirror, which he needs to look no worse than the Sidorovs.

I quote a typical “success” story:

42-year-old Svetlana, mother of eleventh-grader Lera, did not want to take out a microloan; her daughter forced her.

“I lost my job during the pandemic,” Svetlana shares. – I’m raising Lera alone. Now I’m spinning around as best I can on the small savings that, fortunately, I managed to accumulate. And here Lerka demands a new raincoat, sneakers, bag and smartphone for school. At the same time, I chose these expensive ones! I offered to buy something simpler for her, and I should also pay for her tutors and give her pocket money. But she bursts into tears - they say they will laugh at school...

— Does it seem normal to you that your mother goes into debt for the sake of your outfits, accessories and hairstyles?

- It’s okay, mom will be patient for another year, and I’ll finish school, find a part-time job and buy her new clothes myself!

At first glance, we are seeing here an ordinary spoiled teenager, to whom his parents were unable to instill minimal ideas of morality. There is nothing new here, it can be worse: as, for example, in that story about the grandson who persuaded his grandmother to sell the apartment and move into a dorm. The young man made friends with the children of wealthy people , and in his company it was customary to drive a new Audi.

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The money from the sale of my grandmother's apartment was just enough to buy a new car.

At the same time, specifically in the case of the schoolgirl minimal empathy is present. The girl promises to help her mother when she finishes school, and will probably keep her promise. The girl's problem is not that she is indifferent to her mother's difficulties, but that she sets her priorities like a poor person. And here “poor man” is not used as a curse word or a reproach, but as a medical fact: some decisions lead to poverty. This particular family, a mother and a girl, made two downward decisions at once.

Firstly , they took out a microloan, thereby selling their own future for the sake of some pleasures in the present.

Secondly , they slammed an unaffordable amount for status consumption ...

The desire to be “no worse” than the Sidorovs and the desire to receive everything “right now” support each other, thereby creating a vicious circle. But you cannot get out of poverty by imitating the rich, not in their earnings, but in their spending. The more the unfortunate person tries to seem like a wealthy person, the further he will plunge into the abyss of financial adversity.

It is absolutely impossible to solve the problem of a poor family. Russia is a free country, and therefore no one can give the mother in this story two obvious orders:

1. Don’t take loans, invest in the future.

2. Don’t spend more on status consumption than you can afford.

Our state can be as rich as we want, our social programs can be as generous as we like: nothing will help most of the poor, since their problem lies in thinking, not in access to money . Humanity is quite wild by nature, so at least 80% of the population in any country participates in the race of status consumption . Since you can't cheat math, this means that of the 80% of people in the race, 40% will be richer than average, and 40% will be poorer than average . With these 40%, who are poorer than average, the state is absolutely unable to do anything...

To solve the problem of poverty at the state level, it is necessary to establish some unprecedented level of despotism in society. Ordinary socialism will not work: the ban on private property and forced labor will only shift the poverty level towards poverty, but will not abolish the competition of consumption itself.

In order to knock people out of the habit of exchanging their lives for a peacock’s tail, we will have to take draconian measures from the works of misanthropic science fiction writers. Obviously, such a “medicine” will be much more dangerous and harmful than the disease.

Thus, alas, the problem of poverty should for now be considered ineradicable. It’s funny, including for the reason that the vast majority of the population of our country does not understand the reasons why poverty is so widespread .

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Poverty under capitalism is ineradicable

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Philistinism

At school I had an amazing literature teacher, Tamara Grigorievna, of extraordinary intelligence, a very insightful woman. She once dropped a phrase that I remembered for the rest of my life. Someone asked her what philistinism means, and she answered: “Philistinism means drinking from an old shabby mug when a new one is in the sideboard.” This is how it is done in many Russian homes: money is put aside for a rainy day, a new cup stands in the sideboard for a rainy day, only a white day rarely comes, and the whole life is filled with black ones. For those who live in anticipation of the future, it never comes. And then I realized this: it’s a shame to be a beggar; It's a shame to be dirty. It’s a shame to have devastation in your head, which inevitably affects both the home and the mentality of children.

How to distinguish a rich person from a poor one. 30 differences between the poor and the rich

There are several differences between the poor and the rich that may lead to interesting conclusions. Maybe they will help you become richer...

They say that money does not buy happiness, but, nevertheless, we all want to have as much money as possible. Some of us know how to earn enough to live a pleasant life, while others have no idea where to get money for lunch.

We can say that all rich people are thieves and swindlers, and the poor are extremely honest and noble people. Perhaps purity of soul and natural simplicity are precisely the qualities that prevent poor people from acquiring the required amount of money. But, according to smart psychologists, not everything is so simple.

So what are the main differences between rich people and poor people in terms of their attitude towards money? Here are 30 differences that may lead us to interesting conclusions. Maybe they will help us become richer...

The rich save money and time.
The poor spend everything they earn; the rich invest what they earn.
The poor give generous tips, while the rich are restrained in this.
The poor buy for the price that is offered to him, the rich demand a discount everywhere.
The poor always pay twice - he pays for his stinginess.
A rich person never has extra money, a poor person always has it.
A rich person cannot afford to make sudden purchases.
The rule of a wealthy person is “we are not rich enough to buy cheap things.”
The rich man lives within his means, and the poor pretends to be a Persian sheikh.
The poor earn money as best they can, but the rich look for how to make money on everything.
The poor help the poor, the rich help the rich.
The rich invest in what will bring income, the poor invest in what will provide expenses.
Give a rich man a ruble and he will earn a million, give a poor man a million and he will lose it.
The rich control their spending; the poor never know where their money went.
The poor man thinks and talks about money, but the rich man is silent about it.
Money for the poor is the goal of life, money for the rich is opportunity.
The rich are ruled by money, and the poor are ruled by money.
The poor live on credit.
A rich person thinks in specific tasks and numbers.
The poor are always in need.
“Neither money nor power can hinder a spiritual person.”
A poor person is poor in everything.
Give the poor man wealth and all his weaknesses will be revealed.
A truly rich person, having lost everything, does not change.
The poor hate the rich, the rich do not react to the poor.
The rich listens to the poor, but the poor does not listen to the rich.
For the poor, everyone is to blame except himself; the rich look for reasons in himself.
There is a rich hidden in every poor person.
The poor are characterized by haste and lack of patience.
Not everyone who is rich is truly rich.

From the book “Business Advisor”Andrey Makritsa and Alexander GoldenbergPhoto - Lee Jeffries

published onnovostiifakty.ruaccording to the materialscluber.com.ua

Entry 30 differences between the poor and the rich taken from the site News and Facts.

Cinderella complex

I know one woman who saved money for more than twenty years to buy a dacha. She raised two daughters alone. The girls lived from hand to mouth, on nothing but porridge, and the eldest of them told me how ashamed she was to go out into the yard in old corduroy trousers with patched knees. The girl grew up, and every year her pants magically grew. The fabric folded underneath unfolded, centimeter by centimeter. It was not as faded as the rest of the trouser leg, and this betrayed the beggar's cunning. Apparently, this is where the expression comes from: “The need for invention is cunning.” It’s not worth telling that the system in the state does not allow you to earn enough. I don’t criticize the system, but the rot in the brain. With the same money you can look decent or beggarly. When the mother finally bought a dacha, both grown-up daughters did not have the slightest interest in this dacha, but endlessly reproached their mother for not teaching them what it meant to be a woman. The girls have developed a Cinderella complex. They, accustomed to seeing worn-out chairs and old dishes, shabby towels and coats from seven years ago, later, as adults, were afraid to spend money on themselves. Every time they bought something, their mood deteriorated: they seemed to feel unworthy of new good things. This, my friends, is called in two words: genetic poverty. She is already in consciousness, in cells, in blood, in bones.

Signs of poverty that are not immediately apparent. But if you take a closer look...

Sign of poverty number 1.

A man earns extra money as a private driver in an expensive car.

Lately, more and more often Yandex. Taxis arrive in business class cars.

This beauty came to me to take me home for 100 rubles. Photo by the author.

This is completely beyond my understanding. For 100 rubles, take me with bags from the market to an almost new Audi, with leather interior and other stuffing. I can imagine how much it costs to change the oil in such a car, how much gasoline it “eats” and how expensive it is to replace even a small part. What poverty line must a person fall below in order to receive a hundred rubles from me in this way?

Sign of poverty No. 2.

A man lives in an apartment next to a city highway.

The new road will be opened soon. Poor people whose houses are located next to this highway. Photo by the author.

Even if it is a “super-duper” elite house, the residents in it are poor people. They cannot afford fresh air in the apartment - next to the road, even on a high floor, they have to close the windows and use the air conditioner. Otherwise, exhaust fumes and round-the-clock noise will make living unbearable.

Sign of poverty No. 3.

An obese person is a poor person.

They usually recover from poor nutrition and lack of exercise (unless this is due to congenital problems). And this is a sign of poverty.

Sign of poverty No. 4.

If a person cannot afford to quit his job right now, it is due to poverty.

At first glance, a rich man. Photo by the author.

A person works in an office where he has a seemingly good salary, but a lot of loans, and the fear of not getting a job tomorrow (because, to be honest, you don’t know how to do anything). He forces himself to go to a job that is disgusting, to endure his boss - a tyrant, to humiliate himself in front of everyone who has anything to do with his career.

This is poverty, on the verge of poverty.

Have you seen a good plumber who is afraid to pay back the same day from a job where he was wronged? Me not. On the same day he will be in another place with better conditions (I mean a GOOD worker, does not drink, punctual, smart, knowledgeable, responsible). That's where the wealth is.

Sign of poverty No. 5

The man has no children.

This is an indicator of poverty. There was no woman who would trust him, who saw in him not a “rogue”, but a promising father of her child.

By the way, I am also a poor person - I have one of the listed symptoms.

And also about poverty.

A few years ago, I followed a young blogger on social networks. He traveled by bicycle and hitchhiking. Lived for six months in America. I remembered what conclusions he made while living in New York. He worked delivering food. And he reasoned that in a remote village in the Chinese outback he saw people who ate basically one bowl of rice a day (with vegetables and spices). And they looked happier, more successful and healthier than New Yorkers in concrete boxes, pale from lack of sunlight and eating plastic food.

He could not live in a stone metropolis.

Now he lives in the Krasnodar region, organizes tourist routes. A very rich man.

Take care of yourself!

Subconscious programming

Children who see shabby corners are unconsciously programmed for poverty. Already in adolescence they begin to realize its severity. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov noted that shabby walls and dirty corridors have a bad effect on a student’s ability to learn. Dirt and poverty suppress a person, the habitual appearance of a wretched environment programs him to be a loser. You could object to me that hatred of poverty stimulates some people to develop and earn money, but I will answer you that many more people break under the unbearable burden of poverty. The words “trouble” and “poverty” have the same root. Drive away trouble from yourself. Drive away poverty. I really like the phrase: “Wealth is a state of mind.” So, poverty is also a state of mind.

Denies himself everything

People with this type of thinking are capable of denying themselves everything. In terms of saving, it is considered normal to refuse to purchase the latest phone model for 100 thousand rubles if you can buy a cheap one for 15 thousand. But if almost all the legs of your stool have already fallen off, and you diligently continue to wrap them with tape, this is not saving, this is poverty.

Also, don’t deny yourself some rest - check out new places.

A poor person tries to put off repairs to his apartment until later. Everything you need is there – and that’s fine. And it doesn’t matter that the springs from the sofa have been showing off outside for a long time.

Unlike a poor person, a frugal person does not waste money on nonsense, but at the same time maintains a comfortable standard of living.

Grabs everything free

There is one phrase that draws this invisible line between a poor person and a thrifty person. It sounds like this - “but it’s free.”

The first type of people grabs any thing that is given for free, without even thinking whether it will be useful - after all, it’s for free. The second type of people will first think carefully about whether the thing being offered is needed. And, if it is really necessary or will come in handy in the near future, then he will take it.

Author: iarriba
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