the have-nots

the have-nots

Those who are deprived of or lacking in material wealth; the lower class or the poor. Used especially in juxtaposition to "the haves," i.e., the wealthy. The politician ran on a platform of educating and empowering the have-nots across the country. I come from a long line of have-nots, so I vowed at a young age to do whatever it took to become successful and wealthy. In the corrupt country, there are only two types of people—the haves and the have-nots.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

the have-nots

n. the poor; those who have little or nothing. (Compare this with the haves.) The have-nots seem never to be able to get ahead.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • the haves
  • keepage
  • take (one's) eyes off (of) (someone or something)
  • take eyes off
  • not take (one's) eyes off (someone or something)
  • not take your eyes off somebody/something
  • class warfare
  • warfare
  • town and gown
  • town-and-gown
References in periodicals archive
The haves get more while the have-nots can go hang.
"Every action we take impacts on the lives of others around us, and giving does not necessarily mean being rich, it simply means sacrificing and sharing the little we have with the have-nots," Gitahi said.
"This is an especially disturbing time as the gap between the haves and the have-nots, truth and untruths has widened.
Indeed there are some organizations providing free legal representation to the have-nots but given the ratio of poverty in the country, much more interventions both from the government and other individuals are required in order to ensure there is no miscarriage of justice to the poor accused of a crime.
Imran Khan has won the election to eliminate such dirty politics which only benefits the politicians rather than the have-nots.
There are the haves and then there are the have-nots and the haves do not give a stuff about the have-nots as long as they are OK.
The relationship between poverty and responsibility is this: Both the haves and the have-nots have a role to play.
But the report said across Britain "the upward trend masks a widening gap between the haves and the have-nots."
One of the significant features of the holy month is that it encourages charity by creating empathy towards the have-nots.
The novel is well written and some interesting ideas which have resonance in today's world are explored: people seeming to be what they are not (Lord Abernathy); misconceptions--possible misconceptions--of one group by another, the haves of the have-nots, the have-nots of the haves.
The launch of SVOD services by Netflix and Lovefilm has created a divide between the haves and the have-nots among the U.K.'s indie distributors.
I think not, so why put that amount of money which only helps the haves, but not the have-nots? Mrs C Evans, Ely, Cardiff
In fact, the only way the Have-Nots would be able to buy such gifts would be by selling an arm or a leg or, at the very least, a kidney.
With the flurry of letters concerning local tradespeople - and I refer to the open letter written by Faisal Jawad - this current unrest reminds me of the situation in the UK, its discrimination between 'the haves and the have-nots'.