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RE: Poor people with expensive cars - what are you doing?
When I was a teenager, nobody had new cars as they were astronomically expensive here then. Now everybody has a late model car. So in the capital city where we live, we hardly ever see old cars. But you could get something 5-10 years old for so much cheaper, and it would still look respectable. So I agree with what @paparodin said.
But I also think there's more to it than that. As well as those factors, in our modern society, we have become accustomed to a level of wealth that would have been unheard of in previous generations. So we now think of a new car, a smart phone, flat screen TVs, holidays and all manner of other things as necessities, not luxuries. I see people begging in our shopping centre but they have smart phones. WTF?
All the people that are apparently homeless around here carrying the signs live in nice apartment complexes with smartphones. It's just another job. It's true also that we're accustomed to wealth but most of these people aren't living the good life they're just spending all their money on stuff that they can't afford.
Yes, that's kind of what I meant. That they spend what money they have on things that they think they need, but don't really. Then they can't eat r feed their kids. And yes, I think some do it for a job, but in Wellington we do see some sleeping in the street, and I really do wonder how they came to that, when NZ is supposedly a welfare state.
We live in a remarkable world where our wealth relates directly to the quality of the peoples complaints.
So true!