US Poverty Level

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No that's just flat out racist. Just like saying if it didn't include Hispanic and oriental people too, 'MERICA would be a thriving land of wealth and happiness. Not true.

For the most part, the OP is right. If a person made themselves available to all types of work, would still be able to net minimum wage. But because this is an average, unfortunately it's not all 100% able to happen this way. Some areas of the country may have a surplus of people looking for work, and others may desperately need workers. This requires a change of location. And unless you have at the very least first+last rent saved up for a new place, it's very hard to move cities, let alone across the country. So availability and willing to work is an awesome plus, sometimes it's just not enough. And I'm just an outsider, looking at your country from the outside

Shut up, Canada!

:ph34r:
 
Haha :( just my $0.02

nobody wants your $0.02, we're too pissed that your 2 cents are now worth about the same as our 2 cents.


but, on the lighter side, you still have to pay more for stuff than we do.
$6.99/US
$8.99/CANADA

:D
 
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my opinion is that anyone can get a job that truly applies themselves. i also believe that the handouts should be cut off to all the slackers. the area where i work is adjacent to a very poor black neighborhood. these slack assholes sit around in their front yards at 9am on a tuesday morning drinking and smoking blunts, and im supposed to have pity on them, or better yet... give them money (through welfare, etc.)? if i was up to me, i would completely cut them off. if they starve thats fine, the world is over populated as it is. if their little crack babys starve, thats even better, maybe the next generation wont be so full of lazy assholes that think they are entitled to everything.
 
I'm so tired of all the people that are on welfare. I'm tired of having to work 40 hours (I know, not as many as some of you, but I am going to school at the same time so fuck you) a week, especially knowing that there are people that more than likely make more than me for sitting on their ass and shitting out kids.
 
A few things:

1. You can still be above the poverty line and still be impoverished. Ever tried living on 12G's/year after taxes anywhere other than a rural place with low cost of living? You would be poor, really poor.

2. Your implied thesis is that, so long as we have enough minimum wage jobs to go around everything should be fine, assuming you don't mind the work... I'm just going to let that speak for itself.

3. What this country needs is not minimum wage jobs, but family wage jobs. We have a credit based economy, 12K/yr will not leave room for buying a house, a car, taking a vacation, or all of those many things that make our economy go round.

In thinking about minimum wage jobs vs. family wage jobs we should Consider Gov. Perry's record in Texas. It's both remarkable and shocking. In the last two year Texas has created 40% of all jobs in America, that's amazing growth in relation to other states. But, Texas has also created more minimum wage jobs than any other state in the union. As a result, even with their amazing job growth Texas is the 6th poorest state in the nation and is actually OUTPACING the national average for poverty.

Poverty grows in Rick Perry's Texas - Sep. 18, 2011

Not all jobs are created equal.

60-70 years ago our country realized that continued prosperity demanded new infrastructure. The massive highway system that followed predicated ALL economic growth from then until now. America led to way in infrastructure after WWII and it is no surprise we lea the global economy as a result. We were the masters of 20th century development and we reaped the rewards.

Knowing this, it is shocking to know that in the fields of shipping rail, light rail, solar production, wind farm technology, and industrial production we are either behind, or losing ground to the rest of the world. Oil prices will continue to increase while we definitely remain locked into a highway shipping system that was past its golden years the second oil hit $100/barrel. Rather than build this infrastructure, like we did 60 years ago with the aforementioned result, those who claim to be job creators would have you believe that with yet another tax cut jobs will come roaring back.

I simply fail to see a tax rate which will bring back Borders, or Tower Records, any of the hundreds of store fronts which are no more due to the technological revolution. Supply side economics only works in production based economies with wide distribution chains. When you cuts taxes in this economy, one where large wherehouses and dot.coms have replaced store fronts and eliminated the actual need for jobs, you don't create jobs, you merely transfer wealth to the wealthy. And you do it with a population which isn't making money, which means your national wealth eventually bleeds out (Ross Perot sucking sound V2.0).

Don't believe me? We had a full on economy recovery until a few months ago when the record run of foreclosures and debt worries caught up with us. The dow was flirting with 13K, it was amazing. But we still had massive unemployment and it is because companys simply no longer need as many employees to do business. Technology has eliminated the need for many store fronts. In a new and different economy, trying the same old solutions will not lead to the sale old results...

If you want unemployment and welfare to stop breaking records the only solution, in my mind, is a 21st century infrastructure project, one which is paid for on the front end so it does not increase debt. The only way you can do that is to go back to the Clinton tax rate while making heavy cuts in spending and rethinking our broad (and expensive) military policy.
 
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I have first hand watched people turn down jobs because the government is givinvg them to much money. I hire 10 to 15 seasonal employees each summer to help with our higher workload. They get to work 9 months then they have to take 3 months off then they can come back again. They start out at about $15/hr and top out somewere around $21/hr if you stick around for a few years. Anyway point is ive had people flat out tell me they make just as much from unemployment so they turn down jobs. We arent leaving these people hungry enough. I had a good friens that was laid off for 8 months and with his unemployment checks alone he paid off 2 credit cards and his boat all the while maintaining his lifestyle! The line needs to be drawn
 
I've always wondered, who actually pays for unemployment? Is it the company that you are laid off from paying in some form. Does it come from tax dollars that you have earned and paid into in one way or another or is it just a government hand out?
 
I know employers pay unemployment insurance and i know the government cuts the check but thats as much as i know
 
Isnt some of the money taken out of your check put into your unemployment fund?

I know when I applied for it, your given the amount of money you have, divided up into equal checks over a year. So, the longer you work, the more you build up, the bigger the weekly check.
 
See, if that's true, I don't know why people get so upset about people on unemployment. If it is truly something that you paid into then you are entitled to it. It makes no sense to take a lower paying job if it means cutting off your higher paying unemployment. If you can't find an equal paying job though you definitely need to be using that unemployment money in a way so that you can cut down on your living expenses and downsize to what the market currently offers in jobs so that you can afford to live on a lesser paying job when your unemployment runs out.
 
One thing thats a sore subject is people on extensions. Theyve been on unemployment for more than one year, and used all their money, but they continue getting checks for the same amount. I dont know where that additional money comes from.
 
newb said:
One thing thats a sore subject is people on extensions. Theyve been on unemployment for more than one year, and used all their money, but they continue getting checks for the same amount. I dont know where that additional money comes from.

Thats what im talkin about
 
Well, theres a difference between someone turning jobs down because theyre using funds theyve provided for themselves, and someone sittin on their ass with no drive to go get a job because theyre on their 3rd extension.

If I wouldnt have been offered a job by a friend, I would used all my unemployment before somethin came along. I papered every shop in my area with resumes and apps, and it was a little over a year before I heard from any of em.
 
i dont trust the census.

its not filled out by every person in america.

im willing to bet that they selected the poorest demographics and targeted those areas for the census filing.

its all statistics, and you can get statistics to go which ever way you want when you decide which portion gets to fill out the form.

when they do a full census, for every person to fill out. then i may give it some credibility.

Two words:

Selection

Bias
 
One thing thats a sore subject is people on extensions. Theyve been on unemployment for more than one year, and used all their money, but they continue getting checks for the same amount. I dont know where that additional money comes from.

It comes from a fairy tale land where the laws of basic mathematics no longer exist. The entire world is chaos...
 
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