Originally Posted by sunnyside

I think pretty much everyone here agrees that a healthy person with no children or other dependents and no serious drug problem or particularily bad criminal record can get over the poverty line if they want to.

Yes?

It's just that they make up quite the minority of people in poverty.

The talk about sending jobs to Asia isn't about the quantity of jobs, it's about the quality and pay of availible jobs. (And it seems like what's actually happened is we've switched from a manufacturing to a service economy)

At any rate the point is that lowering the minimum wage can only possibly help the poor when there are not already crap jobs for them to take. But there seem to be plenty of crap jobs around at least so long as you're willing to relocate or take a bus to work at this point in time, therefore lowing wages just means lower wages.