Americans hate poor people.

[nilesobek]

64. I crossed this country numerous times while

homeless for ten years. Your OP is a generalization, and like a stereotype, has many elements of truth in it. For me, in my experiences, attitudes about the poor are more regional and cultural than the whole country just, "hating the poor."

In Utah there is almost no social services but there seems to be a high level of concern for the poor by the general populace. They will get you a job and will send you to Mormon social services for food and clothing. In Maine, they start asking you in early August if you are," ready for winter?" We actually had a neighborhood guy making sure there was enough wood to burn and that people had oil for their furnaces. Maine was really nice.

On the flip side, Western states, with a couple notable exceptions, are terrible places to be poor. Northern California would be my top pick for hostility. They have homeless fatigue. The guy in the beamer is going to grimace at you, all dirty and beside the road with nowhere to go. You will not be able to panhandle the N. Cali beamer crowd.

My student loan debt had me buried by the time I was 22. I didn't pay off my student loans until I was 45, and that was after they started seizing my tax returns to pay for it.

And yes, I'm taking the the job at the oil company compound in Alaska next year. I put it off for a few months because things would not have been stable enough here for my disabled wife. I just want some good paychecks, I've never had a good paycheck in my life.

I don't think "America hates the poor." There are 60 million of us. Its a little more complicated than that. Americans are fatigued. We have been at war for 15 years straight with tax cuts for the rich. I don't know how they are paying for this war but I'm willing to give my fellow man a break and say, "its not your fault I'm poor."