• skisnow@lemmy.ca
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    5 hours ago

    I’m reading this after coming from a thread in which people were mocking or handwringing over an article that suggested the official poverty line was unrealistically low.

    • mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 hours ago

      I mean yeah, the poverty line is unrealistically low. It’s tied to the average annual price of food, even though food is not a major expense in most impoverished households. Truly broke people are spending like five dollars a day on food, with beans, rice, lentils, bouillon, spices, and whatever else they happen to have available/find on sale in a 20 year old crockpot. Food is a negligible expense when you take the time to prep, and truly impoverished people don’t have a choice. They’re forced to prep, or else they’ll starve.

      The other costs, like rent, car payments, utilities, etc., have all massively ballooned in comparison to the price of food. Rent only used to account for ~20% of expenses, but now it often accounts for over 50%… But since the poverty line is tied directly to food, it hasn’t adjusted to maintain a realistic measure of expenses.

      • Lemminary@lemmy.world
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        3 hours ago

        Rent prices are approaching half my income in my country because rich foreigners keep coming in to escape their own hellhole. Isn’t this fun?

        • skisnow@lemmy.ca
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          2 hours ago

          You’ve been fed and are repeating racist bullshit. People buying houses for their own use aren’t what’s driving up prices, it’s people buying up houses they don’t live in. Being “local” or “foreign” is an irrelevant distraction designed to feed into mistrust of people who are different to you.

          • Lemminary@lemmy.world
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            4 minutes ago

            Bro, I think you should find out more by asking questions first before jumping into conclusions.

            We are currently suffering through a gentrification crisis here in Mexico. A lot of foreigners from the USA (some of whom are Latino as well) are moving in and are renting and buying land while working abroad and paying no taxes, effectively displacing the native population in states like Yucatán and paying outrageous rents for the most basic apartments that the rest of us can’t afford.

            How do I know this? I’ve met them and I’ve been to their apartments and I’ve asked how much they’re paying and they told me they weren’t paying taxes and were telling their friends to do the same. There have also been numerous news reports on this because people have been protesting in Mexico City but I don’t doubt we’ll be seeing some in other places like Guadalajara as well.

            It doesn’t make sense that rent keeps going up and up at disproportionate rates. I’m paying $1000 more than last year which is a 30% increase. My landlord effectively told me that if I didn’t like it I could find some other place. And guess what, I can’t afford any of the places I’ve looked into.

            So, no, it’s not racist to say that wealthy foreigners are causing problems because our problems are not being cause by race but by income inequality and people breaking the rules.

            Ironic, because when I was working in the States I paid all my taxes but these people come here and refuse to do the same.