Was Malthus ever poor?

[DGuller]

See 25 year debt thread for details.

[The Brain]

In spirit or regular?

[MadImmortalMan]

Yes in the developed world sense. No in a universal sense.

[Richard Hakluyt]

If we apply the universal sense is it actually possible for anyone in Canada to be poor?

[Neil]

I think it depends on how you define 'poor'.  Context is everything.

[Admiral Yi]

No really a pollable question.

[katmai]

No really?

[Josephus]

I'm poor. 

[grumbler]

No really a pollable question.

True, but malthus was being mean and using actual data and stuff.  DG has to get data that supports his position from somewhere, and this will become "polls show that most..." or "polls show that almost half..." data in a few hours.

[DGuller]

No really a pollable question.

True, but malthus was being mean and using actual data and stuff.  DG has to get data that supports his position from somewhere, and this will become "polls show that most..." or "polls show that almost half..." data in a few hours.

The standard definition of poverty is ill-suited for Malthus's case.  Comparing a poor person with young Malthus is like comparing someone who walks the tight rope 1000 feet up from the ground, and someone who does it 1 foot off the ground.  It's the same kind of exercise, but it's not really.  The different levels of anxiety about your future well-being makes the two experiences vastly different. 

This is precisely the kind of question that is best answered with judgment sprinkled in, rather than purely with numbers.  Given the poll results so far, my faith in the judgment of Languish posters has been well-justified. 

[Ideologue]

Good God, no.  It's part of his self-made man story, to which liberals are unfortunately not immune, though at least it usually doesn't ordinarily serve as the foundational justification for higher-order douchiness with folks like Mal.

[Ed Anger]

This thread frightens and confuses me.

[PDH]

You aren't poor until you have mixed all the ingredients in your apartment into a "creamed corn and Bisquick" casserole.

[The Larch]

Malthus' theme song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuTMWgOduFM

[derspiess]

No.  Jews in North America just aren't poor.  Not in any of our lifetimes, anyway.  Except maybe grumbler's.