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Originally Posted by redpoint5
Poor people aren't incapable of adaptive creativity.
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Good point. I've often thought about what I would do if prices were to increase much higher than my income or if I were to lose much of my income. (Not that I'm not generally improving my economic situation or have fear of the future.) We are close enough to schools, stores, clinics, places to work, family, friends and the like that not all would be lost even if we had to go afoot, which would eliminate the expense of commuting. Long distance transportation would be a bit more difficult or impossible perhaps if we had no car. Camping, site seeing, trips to zoos, museums and such would just have to be reduced or eliminated.
Or we could do like a few I've known who have taken to the woods. It's a little hard to do in the winters here, especially when it's as cold as -40°F (-40°C). But some do it and get by. As long as you move 10 miles every two weeks you're not breaking any camping laws.
Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5
Most of the poor in the US do have access to public transportation because most of the poor live in cities and surrounding suburbs.
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One thing I've read is that in many areas the poorer people are generally pushed farther away from their jobs and
end up having less or no access to public transportation.
That's the way it is here where I live. The next town 30 miles north of here is a ski town, which is very expensive to live in but is where the great majority of work can be found. Renting a place there like where I live now would be about 75% to 100% of my income. There is, however, a
free bus service between here and there. Here, in the town where I live, prices are cheaper with the average family/person paying a little over 32% of their income on housing with a some pay over 50%, according to a recent investigation, albeit with prices still increasing. Another interesting fact is that most of the hotels and motels here are all full of permanent residents that can't afford to live anywhere else, which is said to be having an adverse affect on the tourism that this town and the next live off of. Now you can live farther away where it costs less to rent or buy a home, but public transportation stops here in my town making personal transportation an absolute necessity if you want cheaper rent.
Now the question is if fuel tax were increased little by little if in those areas public transportation, or some other means of affordable and accessible transportation, would become available or viable. The alternative, which I've seen far too often,
is you get apartments designed for a couple or small family with 10 to 20 people in them that share the rent. Now that is one way poor people can adapt. It's not a legal nor healthy solution though.