Social security is paid for by payroll taxes (making it closer to insurance than a handout). And those cars are old and not worth much. You could buy one after a few weeks of donating blood. Sewers and water are usually paid for by a fee or taxes.
I could go and dispel more misconceptions for you, but I think you've read enough to know that you have a few things wrong and will wisely avoid judging the entirety of a nation's poor based on a single photograph.
ETA: Most poor people have cars because most poor neighborhoods don't have any reasonably priced grocery store. It's cheaper to own a car (with all the potential it brings) than to shop locally.
I don't know much about America, but if you could afford a car by doing as simple a thing you mentioned than my friend you are in heaven. You have no clue how bad this part of the world is.
Just come to Mumbai or any urban metro in India and see for yourself how people travel. Majority of them are herded like sheep in busy trains and buses.
That is why I said, it might be just a cultural thing. Here too, we need to pay for water and sewers.
But I understand that your barrier for entry when it comes to measuring poverty is very different than ours. By your definition 95% of whole India may fall into poverty.
It's best not to assume people have no clue, even if it seems like they don't. Because I do have a clue. Many of them. I am laden with clues. I don't know the transportation situation in most poor places here, but I doubt it's good if people are choosing a car over a bus or train. I know the poorest places in this suburban town are a mile or more from the grocery store across dangerous roads, and the nearest mass transit option is 20 miles away.
I know the poorest places in this suburban town are a mile or more from the grocery store across dangerous roads, and the nearest mass transit option is 20 miles away.
That doesn't even begin to describe poor according to my definitions of poor.
But I agree, we have different yard sticks to measuring what exactly poor is.
I could go and dispel more misconceptions for you, but I think you've read enough to know that you have a few things wrong and will wisely avoid judging the entirety of a nation's poor based on a single photograph.
ETA: Most poor people have cars because most poor neighborhoods don't have any reasonably priced grocery store. It's cheaper to own a car (with all the potential it brings) than to shop locally.