4 out of 5 Americans are poor, or will be poor.
07-29-2013, 06:12 PM
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4 out of 5 Americans are poor, or will be poor.
WASHINGTON (AP) Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream.
Survey data exclusive to The Associated Press points to an increasingly globalized U.S. economy, the widening gap between rich and poor and loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs as reasons for the trend.
While racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to live in poverty, race disparities in the poverty rate have narrowed substantially since the 1970s, census data show. Economic insecurity among whites also is more pervasive than is shown in government data, engulfing more than 76 percent of white adults by the time they turn 60, according to a new economic gauge being published next year by the Oxford University Press.
The gauge defines "economic insecurity" as experiencing unemployment at some point in their working lives, or a year or more of reliance on government aid such as food stamps or income below 150 percent of the poverty line. Measured across all races, the risk of economic insecurity rises to 79 percent.
"It's time that America comes to understand that many of the nation's biggest disparities, from education and life expectancy to poverty, are increasingly due to economic class position," said William Julius Wilson, a Harvard professor who specializes in race and poverty.
He noted that despite continuing economic difficulties, minorities have more optimism about the future after Obama's election, while struggling whites do not.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/exclu...erty-no-work-0
This is precisely why the whole welfare for all model won't work. Far to many people to sustain on welfare alone. The government should rather focus on creating new industries and jobs that can put people back to work so welfare becomes unnecessary for them.
Survey data exclusive to The Associated Press points to an increasingly globalized U.S. economy, the widening gap between rich and poor and loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs as reasons for the trend.
While racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to live in poverty, race disparities in the poverty rate have narrowed substantially since the 1970s, census data show. Economic insecurity among whites also is more pervasive than is shown in government data, engulfing more than 76 percent of white adults by the time they turn 60, according to a new economic gauge being published next year by the Oxford University Press.
The gauge defines "economic insecurity" as experiencing unemployment at some point in their working lives, or a year or more of reliance on government aid such as food stamps or income below 150 percent of the poverty line. Measured across all races, the risk of economic insecurity rises to 79 percent.
"It's time that America comes to understand that many of the nation's biggest disparities, from education and life expectancy to poverty, are increasingly due to economic class position," said William Julius Wilson, a Harvard professor who specializes in race and poverty.
He noted that despite continuing economic difficulties, minorities have more optimism about the future after Obama's election, while struggling whites do not.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/exclu...erty-no-work-0
This is precisely why the whole welfare for all model won't work. Far to many people to sustain on welfare alone. The government should rather focus on creating new industries and jobs that can put people back to work so welfare becomes unnecessary for them.
07-29-2013, 10:18 PM
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The average legally-defined "poor" person in the USA has a higher standard of living than the average European. One guy I heard talking about why he came here from BFE said he always wanted to live in a country where the poor people could be fat. This topic is for people who take what they get from government-led media at face value. Peel back even one layer and the onion doesn't look the same.
07-30-2013, 01:27 PM
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"Poor" people that can pay for cable and internet are not "poor." 
Lets stop handing out that term. I've been "poor," was technically homeless but still had a car (luckily.) Cleaned up, found a job, started a business on the side, worked 18 hour days at times, and more often than not 7 days a week 10+ hours and on-call 24/7. There are places to bathe, things to eat, ways to get what you need. These "poor" people I see with iphones and 10+Mb internet piss me off to the ends of the earth.
I may not make a hansom living, but I'm going back to school and making it work. The "poor" people most refer to are social leeches. I did it without government handouts and unemployment. America, get off your ass. This used to be proud, industrious country. Today it's a sty, and most Americans fit that bill. I'm not the picture of perfect heath, but I fit into a 32" (waist) pair of jeans. Can you? Get off your fat ass! Get a job! And most of all shut the f*ck up!!
Lets stop handing out that term. I've been "poor," was technically homeless but still had a car (luckily.) Cleaned up, found a job, started a business on the side, worked 18 hour days at times, and more often than not 7 days a week 10+ hours and on-call 24/7. There are places to bathe, things to eat, ways to get what you need. These "poor" people I see with iphones and 10+Mb internet piss me off to the ends of the earth.
I may not make a hansom living, but I'm going back to school and making it work. The "poor" people most refer to are social leeches. I did it without government handouts and unemployment. America, get off your ass. This used to be proud, industrious country. Today it's a sty, and most Americans fit that bill. I'm not the picture of perfect heath, but I fit into a 32" (waist) pair of jeans. Can you? Get off your fat ass! Get a job! And most of all shut the f*ck up!!