Here's The Painful Truth About What It Means To Be 'Working Poor' In America

two different issues. corporate welfare didn't knock that girl up in highschool forcing the individual to drop out of college and settle for a manufacturing job in detroit.

the least wealthy chose the path they followed.... whether directly or indirectly, they chose it. Noone is doomed to poverty, you may be born in it, but this isn't pakistan, you are not doomed to be stuck in it.

 

it absolutely should.

The problem comes with job jumping from min wage job to min wage job.

While working Wendy's, it sucked... I felt like I was worth more than I was getting.... like everyone.... I wanted more money.


Others just like me, would quit Wendy's, go to McD's, or BK, or some other fast food.... for min wage again

meanwhile, I got a 5 cent raise for being there a while and becoming more valuable. Then the first person would leave their McD's job, and come back to Wendy's for min wage again.

So what happened was, working the same amount of time in the industry... I was already making more per hour.


I'm thinking, if you are at mcd's making min wage at 35, it's because your resume has over 50 different jobs with the longest tenure being no more than a year at any one job.


Not enough time at one place, and employers won't promote you to management if you have a bunch of leaving prior jobs over being fired or quitting for conflicts at the job. I just loathe hearing min wagers post on fb "oh, I keep it real, my boss tried me today and make me clean poop off the bathroom floor and I told him no, and he had to do it himself.... " or something along those lines of not doing something their job needed because it was "beneath them". And there you have it, and you wonder why you haven't gotten a raise in over a year.... maybe it's because you have a crappy attitude or cause drama at work, etc.

 

A "poor life choice" is still a "poor life choice", except, some persons can get bailed out and keep their multimillion dollar bonuses.

It is Institutional due to a lack of faith in executing our own laws regarding employment at will. You are right, the US is a more developed economy.

 

As I said on PF before....

I was born in California in '88, mother ran out when I was 2, we lived in homeless shelters until my dad worked up enough money to get us an apartment with a mattress and a mini-stove to make soup. He became a police officer, retired, and works as a Marshal at the federal court house in Houston. I joined the Marine Corps right out of high school (even missed my graduation day to head to PI), got out, and now work as a Loss Prevention Supervisor at a 600,000 sq ft distribution center and go to school full time at 25.

I dont accept that people cant change their situation. Sorry if that makes me seem heartless, but Im living proof that you being born poor doesnt mean you will stay poor the rest of your life.

 

You are arguing a straw man few and far between scenario. And to be honest, its contractual obligations that get them paid. Poorly executed contracts are more to blame.

But contract law will trump emotion and common sense every time.

 

Get that degree!!!! any degree and with your military experience, O&G will pave your life's way.

Quite frankly, your military background alone, you could me making more in O&G. Their are companies that hire "military only"

Its hard work, but you would never want for anything

 

absolutely, its a poor economic decision.... but I also never claimed I support corporate bailouts...

bad business plans screwed manufacturing at GM. If you were a GM factory worker, you got screwed.... I get that. but if you get laid off, you have some choices to make... pack up and move to where jobs are.... which sucks, granted...., or you stay where you are, where 800 others are also looking for jobs along with you and then complain when the only place that hires you is only paying 8$/hour flipping burgers.


if a manufacturing job that paid $30/hour came to my hometown today, I would quit teaching and take it. But, just like other mass employment jobs have shown in my area (Sallie Mae, and most recently, the Obamacare hotline service center), they are only semi-permanent jobs and are apt to pull up roots at a moment's notice and leave 800 people jobless. So while I could easily be laid off from that great $30/hour job, I still have an education and can get a job in education again as my fallback.

Too often, like with Sallie mae in my area.... 18-25 y.o. stopped going to college when they got that great Sallie Mae job back in 95. They were making what I make now, teaching, back in 95 when others there age, like me, were flipping burgers and going to college. Then, 2008, rules got changed, and Sallie Mae pulled out and laid off 800 people, many with no degree, now, all competing for a limited number of available jobs. many resorted to flipping burgers, at 30-40 y.o.

Failure to prepare for the worst case scenario is still on the individual, not the GM execs who ran a business into the ground.... not Obama who changed policy rules, making Sallie Mae close it's doors in my town.....

I'm sure all the people laid off from Sallie Mae blamed the POTUS for their lack of marketability

 

I live with my girlfriend who is really close to her family, so we are restricted to a 3 hour driving radius from Louisville, KY.

I make about 38k now, she makes about 50k. We dont have kids and we dont have debt (both of our cars are paid off).

Yeah it may be a sweet life, but Im pretty broken as it is, my deployments took a toll and Im done with general labor work. I still manage to play basketball twice a week and go to the gym everyday, but I have the body of an old man.

When I graduate, with a degree in supply chain management, I will be making enough to live off of without killing myself. If I was 20 with no job and no education, I'd hop on the O&G train in a heartbeat. Those guys make serious money, and anyone with a hard work ethic can do it. Most people are just too lazy though, and thus, we find the root of this "poor for life" issue.

 

all your concerns about your health are valid. The concern over your location restrictions due to family are noble, but not a concern. Luckily, you can afford to stay close to family.... but if your g/f didn't have a 50k job, and you couldn't make ends meet.... leaving family sucks, but you have to move to where the money is.... or you can't complain when the only work you can find is min wage burger flipping.

 

Supply chain careers in Houston are booming. I get updates daily from business looking for those very people. You can set your own wages. The jobs outnumber the QUALIFIED applicants.

 

in which case, whose fault is that?

if one has thirty years experience (progressive) in fast food... there's a case for increased wages.

if one has thirty years, of repeatedly leaving and restarting... what case is there for increased wages.

(not that min wage increases are without merit... but...)

 

Diversions are worse. It is Institutional due to a lack of faith in executing our own laws regarding employment at will. You are right, the US is a more developed economy.

 

not if they can't prove their value, or work ethic.


Being fired from 2 fast food jobs a year for 30 years is not quality 30 years of fast food experience.
Quitting 2 fast food jobs a year for 30 years is not quality 30 years of fast food experience.

 

The point is we could be solving our social dilemmas instead of just complaining about the least wealthy.

It is Institutional due to a lack of faith in executing our own laws regarding employment at will. You are right, the US is a more developed economy.

 

Wrong. It is no more a contract than a bible is to a religion. The "social contract" is nothing more than a theory and a political philosophy. The Constitution is nothing more than an agreement -- not a contract. It's hilarious how liberals scream about the constitution being the law of the land when in fact their very agenda is to discard it as written. Too funny.

Spoken like a true socialist. The Constitution is in fact the law of the land but no contract is a law. The law is what is used to enforce a contract.

What? Do you even know your left from your right? You certainly don't as far as the political spectrum is concerned. Congress is our legislative branch and it DOES NOT PROVIDE THE GENERAL WELFARE. Talk about speaking from ignorance.

 

Expand on this. I don't understand your argument

 

Again, the Constitution is NOT a contract. Do you know the difference between a contract and an agreement. Do you know the difference between a law and a contract? THINK! The term "social contract" is verbiage derived from socialism, just like "Capitalism". The constitution is more MOU than anything legally binding. If the Constitution was in fact a contract, then there would be no need to mention it in all political oaths of office.

 

It is a contract, in writing that can be enforced through the coercive use of force of a State and that form of bailout through socialism of capitalism.

It is a contract that is legally binding through the Social, coercive use of force of a State, not a private person.

Our federal Congress is only delegated the general powers, to pay the debts, and provide for the common defense and general welfare.

 

You're simply wrong -- still.

It's not a contract--period.

 

Im all for it. If you dont want to live where the jobs are, then dont and be poor. I have no sympathy for those who dont want to make sacrifices to be a success.

Stay poor and enjoy your insignificant life.

 

Everything is booming in Houston, it pained me to leave to move to Indy.

But once graduation rolls around, I don't think I'll have any trouble finding a job in Indy, Nashville, any of the Ohio cities, or heaven forbid moving back to Louisville.

The point is, those in this thread crying for those who have been their whole lives choose to ignore the decisions (or lack of) that they made. Don't want to be poor? Get a job and work your way through school. How many in the ghettos do you see joining the military? I received numerous awards, secret security clearance, and life lessons, and when I moved to Indy two weeks ago, I applied for a job and within an hour I was on the phone with the HR department scheduling an interview the next day. Within three days, I was hired.

Those who act like there are no jobs are just making excuses. Stop being lazy. Get a job, or be poor and be nothing and forgotten the day you die, I don't really care.

 

I fully agree.

The question I have for them is:

"want $20 an hour to work at Walmart?"

Then move to South Dakota

 

I can both hold accountable. all you are suggesting is we ignore the mistakes of the min wagers because the rich also made mistakes.

Both can be hold accountable

 

yes, it is and not only that, it is also in writing, like most contracts must.

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you seem to be missing the point about an Institutional failure to bear true witness to our own laws regarding the concept and legal Doctrine in American law regarding employment at will.

 

So is the bible. Is that a contract too?

And you say a law is a contract?. Your circle jerk is complete.