Liz Allen knows the shame of poverty. But it has taught her 'money is about luck, nothing else'
www.abc.net.au
For Pay Day, demographer and social researcher Dr Liz Allen shares the shame that comes with living in poverty, the secrets of survival, and how this experience "grants perspective that can never be bought".

This bit resonated.

It makes me so terribly sad that in a society such as ours the wealthy keep creating new means to harm the less lucky.

That aside, Alan Kholer has also opined in the past that our economics policy is based on disdain.

I know many will read my financial experiences and see failure. I haven’t failed; I succeeded when the odds were totally stacked against me. I made good what life threw at me. I survived … with my values intact.

I can only agree.

        • funkless_eck
          42·
          7 months ago

          I guarantee that every millionaire has more outgoing expenses without counting anything spent on their children than a large family does.

            • funkless_eck
              32·
              7 months ago

              You were scorning the mother for “wasting” money on having kids, but millionaires “waste” more money on their expenditure than having kids would do.

              Also, having 7 kids does not mean you can’t be a millionaire, as millionaires are statistically actually more likely to have more kids than average.

              Hatred of large families is largely manufactured by the media residue of hating on “Octomum” - a woman who had octuplets during the global recession of 2007-8 as a way of blaming the common folk for not having good sense (despite the fact it was a result of pure chance) and not because banks couldn’t stop themselves from doing multiple crimes every single day.

              Finally, Elon Musk has 11 kids.

                • funkless_eck
                  23·
                  7 months ago

                  Having a disability is absolutely “luck” as is potentially having kids. No birth control is 100% effective.

        • naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          1·
          7 months ago

          Sure whatever if you become a parasite but very, very, few people ever realistically get the choice to do so. Like long before you even have to decide between embracing evil and getting shares/property/whatever you need food, clothes, shelter, and medicine. It’s completely luck.

          If you get that chance early, or if you are an heir or whatever to fortune kids are easy. If not kids are hard.

          Having children is in no way related to the luckness of it.

                • naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
                  11·
                  7 months ago

                  Do we agree that choices are not free? That the set of choices available to someone is determined by precededing moments, a chain of which extends back well beyond anything a person could be held not merely responsible for but indeed capable of having any influence over at all?

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    1·
    7 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    For Pay Day, Dr Allen shares the secrets of survival, the shame that comes with living in poverty, and how “having no money grants the privilege of seeing the world differently”.

    I was so ashamed that I didn’t ask for help from anyone and was stuck at the library nearby the health centre for over eight hours until my pay came into my bank account, and I could afford the couple of dollars for a bus ride home.

    This makes us vulnerable to financial shocks, like the car breaking down, but because of my experience with poverty, having kids early, and with HECS debt, I’ve never had the opportunity to save.

    Poverty grants perspective that can never be bought … If a privileged person behaves like a jerk, trust your instincts and value yourself — they’re not worth your time.

    When the 2020 Canberra hailstorm resulted in thousands of cars destined for metal melting, I picked up a beautiful 2007 Tarago really cheap.

    Dr Liz Allen is an award-winning demographer at the Australian National University’s POLIS Centre for Social Policy Research.

    The original article contains 1,380 words, the summary contains 181 words. Saved 87%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • DavidDoesLemmy@aussie.zone
    21·
    7 months ago

    She seems to have a lot of negative stories she tells herself about money. Luck definitely plays a part in things, but it’s not everything. I think with her attitude things are unlikely to change for her, unfortunately.