"but poor people are often more poor, because they like to smoke and drink"
Watso you left out pokies that without doubt have a huge impact on poorer people - trying to win their dream ?
But again with pokies I fail to see where the attraction is once you apply a few pretty simple factors. The maximum win on a pokie machine is something like $10,000 from memory but i'm sure it is many fractions of 1% that would even come close. Even people that win one day are more likely machine junkies so even if they one $1,000 it's probably only returning what they had spent over the past few weeks. Putting money in the bank would be far wiser for these people.
Finally while I agree that food can be acquired very cheaply for those that put some thought into and don't actually think it is food that is driving there poverty. Look at the rates of government assistance for these people and those reliant on this for whatever reason would still be living it tough against the costs of very high rent, electricity, water prices. It is tough for many. I remember reading an article by I think a SMH journalist a few months ago and he set himself the task of living on welfare equivalent for a fortnight (the centerlink cycle). He had a very tough time even whilst he had attempted to live extremely frugally and from memory he was in coins a week before and completely dry before his "next payment" was due.
