Let me say this and to put a little perspective of where I'm coming from...there is a difference between poor and I can't afford it.
In short, if you can afford to have Internet and post on Daily Kos on a pretty consistent basis. You're not really poor. You may be in a situation that is not desirable, uncomfortable or not to your liking....but you're far from poor. The Internet in a poor persons world is a luxury not a basic need.
In the aforementioned diary, the diarist complained about being uneasy about not being able to afford gifts so they wouldn't be attending Christmas parties...I say grow up....thats not what Christmas is supposed to be about in the first place. And if these people are shunning you or making you feel uncomfortable because you lack gifts, they need to be removed from your social calendar.
A commenter suggest, that the diarist was not really African American. I have no proof whether they are or not. But I see their point...my African American family stopped doing the family wide gift thing late 70's early 80's. Not because we were specifically poor. But most couldn't afford to do it any longer.
I used to buy for my nieces, nephews brother and sisters. But it became untenable once families started to grow, over ten years ago. When I told them I was no longer going to participate...the uniform agreement and the swiftness that it came was almost startling.
The diarist also commented on the tax cuts and policies were going to most impact the poor...again I disagree...the truly poor could care less. If you don't have any income and are truly poor...do the policies really matter, probably not.
So let's not confuse poor with I can't afford it and it's screwing with my mental state. I would put forward, you need to focus more on your mental state then the plight of the poor in your argument.
Some in the comments suggest focusing on economics. I agree, one of the more interesting aspects of this discussion was the perpetual degree chase and the moving of the carrot in this chase. I tend to agree with that. Friend/Family member has been told time and time again, to retrain get more education only to be laid off time and time again. It's bogus and people should quit falling for it. Because unless it's something specialized, highly specialized. Most jobs in these major conglomerates can be accomplished by trained monkeys. The Reagan induce service economy was bad juju for most Americans. And the sooner people shake out of that ether the better.
Which leads me to this. Want to help the help poor and the I can't afford it's...start directing them to back away from the cliff that the white, privileged rich elite are currently throwing themselves over right now...quit being lemmings and fodder for destruction.
How so...? In the last political campaign, 2 billion dollars was contributed to the Presidential Election a billion to Hillary and a Billion to Obama...a lot of it was small donor contributions...let's say half was small donor which gives you a billion dollars. How many jobs could have been created with that money, how many poor/unemployed could have been put back to work with that money...
I think it's time in this country that folks stop looking at the top for answers, they are not providing them and have no incentive to do it.
America needs to be rebuilt and it needs to be rebuilt from the bottom up. As much as it will chasten some to hear it. Americans / us need to take care of home first. It's the only way we will survive the coming economic tsunami.
If housing needs to be built, why not focus on establishing collectives to build them in communities, that need them, like in areas of Detroit where lots are going for 500.00...building things that are sustainable like this.
Maybe not this extravagant, but something sustainable, that disconnects people from the utilities grid, where they don't have to worry about freezing to death if they can't pay a utility bill.
The supplies to build these homes can be purchased from other community owed collectives across the nation, that have been established to restart factories in communities that have long been abandoned by spreadsheet loving major conglomerates.
Establish collectives that buy from the small farmers and that are currently being squeezed out and sell their products to small collective owned Farmer Markets that are currently being squeezed out by big box chains....
In essence reclaiming infrastructure by communities that have long been abandoned by greedy elites....
We as a nation can no longer afford to sit by the wayside and be steered down the path of destruction by Wall Street...main street has to take back ownership and control, it won't happen from the top to the bottom...the bottom has to eat away until it kills off the top. Anything else equals demise in my opinion.
Ownership has to be taken away from lobbyist and mostly foreign and greedy investor owned major conglomerates...
In my mind that's the only way the poor would stand any chance of gaining equal footing...
America needs to regain it's sense of community, and this time around it has to be all inclusive, non-Wall Street owned....every able shoulder needs to get behind the rock of corruption and push it off the cliff....