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Ben Afflek to follow in Sage's footsteps


The Poojer

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i have no problem with Affleck making this symbolic move, he seems like a fairly down to earth guy and if he causes a few people to realize that that is exactly how people live 365/year maybe it will cause some action from the rank and file of the world. And you are right, a dozen eggs, couple bags of rice and dried beans/legumes and some veggies...hell i have eaten like that by choice because i love rice and beans...but like Sage found out...it gets old after a while...

 

Tea, eggs, pasta are pretty cheap too. Maybe grab a veggie or two. Nice concept, especially considering he'd blow the entire five day allowance on a Venti mocha-chinno latte with a shot of hazelnut syrup on day #6.

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I'd really like to know who lives in $1.50 a day? I think it's safe to say that no one, at least in this country, lives in that little money and if they do they're clueless. The person living under a bridge can collect a hell of a lot more than that just standing in a corner with a cup.

 

I'd rather see him get his hands dirty and spend a year in Africa building homes, planting, growing and harvesting food. But that would require him coming out if his ivory tower.

 

$1.50 a day....oy. How much is your mortgage Ben? Oh, have I mentioned recently how much I despise actors?

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I'd really like to know who lives in $1.50 a day? I think it's safe to say that no one, at least in this country, lives in that little money and if they do they're clueless. The person living under a bridge can collect a hell of a lot more than that just standing in a corner with a cup.

 

I'd rather see him get his hands dirty and spend a year in Africa building homes, planting, growing and harvesting food. But that would require him coming out if his ivory tower.

 

$1.50 a day....oy. How much is your mortgage Ben? Oh, have I mentioned recently how much I despise actors?

I challenge you to stand with your cup on a SF street and see what you collect.

 

PTR

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I knew it would catch on. Just had to give it some time.

 

It's a nice gesture, but 5 days is nothing. Buy a loaf of bread, jar of peanut butter, 5 bananas and a carton of eggs for $7 total and you're set.

hell, a giant pack of Ramen Noodles will do it too. In fact it sounds very much like college.

 

 

I challenge you to stand with your cup on a SF street and see what you collect.

 

PTR

when I lived in Vegas I remember a guy that was always on the exit ramp from the highway into the strip right near Mandalay Bay and New York New York. The news did a special on him and came to the conclusion that he earned over $80k a year begging for change on the exit ramp of the highway.
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hell, a giant pack of Ramen Noodles will do it too. In fact it sounds very much like college.

 

when I lived in Vegas I remember a guy that was always on the exit ramp from the highway into the strip right near Mandalay Bay and New York New York. The news did a special on him and came to the conclusion that he earned over $80k a year begging for change on the exit ramp of the highway.

 

The average $50-60k in this area.

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I'd really like to know who lives in $1.50 a day? I think it's safe to say that no one, at least in this country, lives in that little money and if they do they're clueless. The person living under a bridge can collect a hell of a lot more than that just standing in a corner with a cup.

 

I'd rather see him get his hands dirty and spend a year in Africa building homes, planting, growing and harvesting food. But that would require him coming out if his ivory tower.

 

$1.50 a day....oy. How much is your mortgage Ben? Oh, have I mentioned recently how much I despise actors?

 

Not to mention that it's based on a false equivalence - $1.50 a day in a consumer economy like the US is vastly different from $1.50 a day in a subsistence economy. Even more so when you consider that countries with per capita income that low tend to have serious structural problems as well. Living on $1.50 a day ANYWHERE for a week in the US is completely different from living on $1.50 a day in Mozambique for a year.

 

Is there evidence of this or is it just an anecdote people tell each other so we don't feel guilty? Somehow I doubt panhandlers are making more than 60% of working Americans.

 

There've been studies in the papers here. And it's not tough to to a back-of-the-envelope calculation to demonstrate it, either: at one light I pass through to get to work, there's a woman panhandling. Every time I'm at that light, at least one driver gives here money. That light changes about 45 times an hour...figure she averages $0.50 per donation, that means she's pulling in $22.50 an hour, easily. And that's a pretty conservative calculation, really.

 

I don't tell myself that to avoid guilt...I stopped giving spare change to beggars when I did that math and realized I was basically being taken advantage of.

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Is there evidence of this or is it just an anecdote people tell each other so we don't feel guilty? Somehow I doubt panhandlers are making more than 60% of working Americans.

 

Why do you think they do it? Many do it because they make a shitload more than working.

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There's also the fact that Affleck suffers no delusion that $1.50 is now the nature of his life. It's like a vacation from wealth, if he even follows through on some of the most important aspects.

 

Hunger is mental/emotional anguish too.

 

It's a publicity stunt. What's he trying to prove? "Hey look at me, I feel your pain. Well at least for a week anyway." Hey ben, go to Haiti and eat dirt pies for a year and come back to us.

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Not to mention that it's based on a false equivalence - $1.50 a day in a consumer economy like the US is vastly different from $1.50 a day in a subsistence economy. Even more so when you consider that countries with per capita income that low tend to have serious structural problems as well. Living on $1.50 a day ANYWHERE for a week in the US is completely different from living on $1.50 a day in Mozambique for a year.

I had the same initial reaction, and then looked into it a tad further. Looks like they attempted to set global poverty standards and then converted to US standards. The $1.50 mark represents extreme poverty as witnessed in the 20 poorest nations.

 

https://www.livebelowtheline.com/us-why-150

 

http://www.globalpovertyproject.com/blog/view/347

 

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DEC/Resources/Poverty-Brief-in-English.pdf

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Is there anything more annoying than some rich LAMP celebrity annoucing that he's going to play 'poor' for a little while?

 

Is there evidence of this or is it just an anecdote people tell each other so we don't feel guilty? Somehow I doubt panhandlers are making more than 60% of working Americans.

You'd be surprised what the bums on 42d St can pull in from the tourists. And why would we feel guilty about beggers?

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