I read the article, and I don't have much sympathy for these people - I recognize that there are people "down on their luck", and that some of those people, if given the chance, can and do rise above it, and become better people for it.

These people in this trailer park do not seem to be of that caliber. They were given the oppurtunity of thousands of dollars for relocation, and free rent for six months. Now, the woman who got laid off "last May" has some kind of claim, but her husband, who broke his wrist not too long ago, could have saved that 6 months of rent that was given - so could all of those other people. But where did it go, and why?

They knew they were being evicted - but they didn't plan and save. Many of these slobs (heck - most Americans - this is a generalization, and isn't in any way true with every poor person) don't know shiat about budgeting money, as well as having a REAL savings account - which, with a proper budget can gain you a lot of money in a short amount of time - it takes work, and dedication (ie - going without a few luxuries and "wants") - but if they could simply save 50 cents a day (which you could *find* on the ground, or collect cans, or something) - thats 15 dollars a month - in six months that is almost another $100.00. One dollar a day - $200.00! Five dollars a day (ie, cut back on the cigs and beer and other shiat - cut back, that is all!) - almost $1000.00!

I think about other things these asshats could do - round up that garbage (ie, the propane tanks, etc that are litter and whatnot) and sell them for money - or refurbish them and sell them? Hell, figure out how to bottle the methane bubbling up (ie, dig a big ass hole in the ground, collect the methane under a tarp held down by rocks and dirt at the edges, then pump the methane off using an old refrigerator compressor from the dump into the tanks - sell tanks of FREE FUEL!!!) - damn, this is simple stuff!

They are living next to a goldmine (one man's trash is another's treasure - more true than you know), but are too ignorant to do anything about it! The real stupid part is the ignorance could be easily cured by taking a couple of trips to the library (though I wonder if they are literate enough to read - and if they aren't, why did we as a society allow them to get as far as they did?!).

I find it funny when poor people complain about not being able to afford computers - when people and businesses are litterally throwing them away because no one will buy them, whatnot! Wake up, assholes - I learned how to program using a computer with less than 1/1000 the speed of today's machines - when I was 10 YEARS OLD! Go to the library, get a farking book, a throw-away computer and find a copy of a cheesy BASIC or gcc and learn some skills - or learn how to repair/work on computers! You would think this would be a simple thing to do - but for some reason, it isn't.

There are a ton of other things that could be done with the trash thrown away, if these people would just think - build and sell portable welders using old microwave oven transformers (how many microwaves are thrown away every day)? Scavenge rare-earth magnets from hard drives and sell them on eBay. Build wind generators from old car altenators and old washing machine motors. Hell, collect beer cans and smelt them into aluminium ingots using a vacuum cleaner, a brake drum, some charcoal, and some pipe - all of it JUNK! Need to weld it together? Build a simple welder from a couple of car batteries and jumper cables, or from a car altenator (AC Delco is your friend here) and an old lawn mower engine. Granted, this kind of stuff requires a bit of knowledge, but all it would really take is for these people to get together, think on it for a bit, go to the library, ask a few friends, and they will figure it out (I find it hard to believe the guy who operates heavy equipment wouldn't know at least a little homebrew shop stuff).

These people don't seem to want to get out of where they are at - they are lazy beyond reproach. They were given *yet another* chance to change their lives (something most of us hardly ever get) - and they blew. Why is a story even being written about these worthless drags on society?

Lastly, I realize that they might have been in some kind of grandfathered-in, rent-controlled situation, etc - where the rent is really cheap and whatnot - but they WERE given the chance for nearly $10,000 (plus whatever they could scrape up themselves, which as I noted above, could have been at least another $100-1000 dollars) - who says they had to stay in Philly? shiat, pick a cheaper place, assholes. Want cheap on a stick? How about Mohave, California? Plenty of trailer parks, several junk yards (plus aircraft junk yards), and it has to be cheap to live there (if you have ever been through, you know the airport and nearby edwards AFB are the only good things about the area - maybe the wind farms and tehachapi too). I am sure there are other cheap areas as well, on the edges of other cities and towns. They had more than enough relocate money available, and more than enough to start again ($1000 to relocate, and I am being real generous, $1000 for another place to live, drop the other $7-8000 in the bank in a money market or CD to earn interest, etc).

No pity...