The Poverty Line - Page 2

BillyBob · #11 (**permalink**) 04-22-2008, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by votetheoneyouhatetheleast

Depends if the stupid qualify as able bodied

How smart do you have to be to mow someone's lawn or flip burgers?

Tarheeler · #12 (**permalink**) 04-22-2008, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillyBob

How smart do you have to be to mow someone's lawn or flip burgers?

Yep, it dosen't take much thought to top tabacco, dig a ditch, sweep a floor, or many other of the hundreds of jobs that would allow someone to support themselves.

votetheoneyouhatetheleast · #13 (**permalink**) 04-22-2008, 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillyBob

How smart do you have to be to mow someone's lawn or flip burgers?

lol you have to know short from long, cooked from not. I can honestly see some people having problems with that.

Tarheeler · #14 (**permalink**) 04-22-2008, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by votetheoneyouhatetheleast

lol you have to know short from long, cooked from not. I can honestly see some people having problems with that.

That's why there's adult supervision.

Makedde · #15 (**permalink**) 04-22-2008, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillyBob

The only able bodied adult US citizens living in poverty do so by choice.

It's as simple as that.

I don't think it's as easy as that. It isn't as easy to find a job as you like to think. You have to take into account your skills and education sometimes, as employers often prefer those with experience in computer spreadsheets, customer service, etc, despite the fact that people may not have any experience in that area.

It took me over a year to find a job in McDonalds - I left it as a last resort, but I ended up there because they are virtually the only business who train their employees - most other business's expect you to know everything straight up.

sunnyside · #16 (**permalink**) 04-22-2008, 08:16 PM

It's easy to find jobs some places. I suppose inner cities probably have most unskilled jobs filled.

I wonder if criminal records plays into things? Will McDonalds hire you after you get busted for running a meth lab?

And I still think baby mamas are a big, if not the biggest, part of it. You get extra dependents and costs and you lose a worker taking care of them. If you have a couple kids and a wife at home even someone earning $10 an hour won't clear minimum wage. And again most of the time the father isn't home.

Alright lets see if I can Google something up quick

Apparently about 20% of single mothers are below the poverty line
http://www.cbpp.org/8-16-01wel-pr.htm

And also In 2006 the poverty rate for minors in the United States was 21.9% - highest child poverty rate in the developed world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty..._United_States

I'm pretty sure those two things are pretty well correlated. Again I'm guessing the reason why our poverty rate is so high is because of baby mamas.

The trick with this of course is that you can't simply wave them off as lazy, as even when working many wouldn't be able to clear the poverty threshold.

Now I don't think the answer to the problem is throwing piles of government money at these baby mamas. But ignoring the issue isn't going to help either. And you ARE going to be paying for them until hospital emergency rooms can just toss people out of the stretcher into a dumpster. So even for the coldest Libertarian it makes sense to address the issue.

Raharu Haruha · #17 (**permalink**) 04-22-2008, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Makedde

I don't think it's as easy as that. It isn't as easy to find a job as you like to think. You have to take into account your skills and education sometimes, as employers often prefer those with experience in computer spreadsheets, customer service, etc, despite the fact that people may not have any experience in that area.

It took me over a year to find a job in McDonalds - I left it as a last resort, but I ended up there because they are virtually the only business who train their employees - most other business's expect you to know everything straight up.

This is the closest thing to an answer that anyone has given so far, and I think it was posted by mistake.

Now for the second part: If it is hard to find a job, wouldn't it be more logical to give money to businesses (cut taxes) in order to create new jobs? But instead we give out checks and free healthcare? Am I on to something?

Makedde · #18 (**permalink**) 04-22-2008, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raharu Haruha

Now for the second part: If it is hard to find a job, wouldn't it be more logical to give money to businesses (cut taxes) in order to create new jobs? But instead we give out checks and free healthcare? Am I on to something?

Possibly. Obviously, if new jobs were created, this would mean more people are in work, rather than collecting their weekly welfare payments.
I see nothing wrong with welfare for those who do not yet have jobs, but people should also be encouraged to find work. Here, we have work for the dole schemes. People on the dole must work a certain number of hours a week in order to get their payments. This itself gives people much needed experience in order to give them a better chance at finding work.

I myself was made to do a jobsearch course with my job agency. I was on a type of welfare payment, while at the same time I had to look for work, or my payments would stop.
The good thing about the course was learning about what is required during an interview, such as what to say, what clothes to wear, etc.
The problem was, I already had a job, and the aim of the agency - and the Government, for that matter, was to force me to find full time work, which I was not interested in. I had currently been in my job at McDonalds for matetr of weeks, and, being my first job, was not keen on moving on until I had gained the necessary experience, such as customer service, cash handling skills, etc.
I walked away without a full time job, and despite my being the only person in the entire group with a job, I was made to feel bad for having a Casual job.

Welfare checks are fine, but people should be encouraged to take part in courses such as this, too boost their enthusiasim and provide them the motivation to search for work.

Health care is another matter. Over here, we have Heath Care Cards, which entitle a person to discounts on medications, doctor visits, and so on. The wage limit for this is an average earnings of around $408 per week. I am not eligible, as most weeks I earn around $450. However, when you take into account the costs of rent, bills, etc, the money doesn't last long, so I do think the cut off limit should be much higher.

Makedde · #19 (**permalink**) 04-22-2008, 09:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillyBob

How smart do you have to be to mow someone's lawn or flip burgers?

Not sure about mowing lawns, but what most people aren't aware of is the immense pressure placed on those working in fast food outlets. That's why it's called Fast Food - you are expected to work as fast as you can, and you often have customers yelling at you, Managers yelling at etc, to make everything. It's a lot harder than you think to flip burgers, believe me!

Raharu Haruha · #20 (**permalink**) 04-22-2008, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Makedde

Possibly. Obviously, if new jobs were created, this would mean more people are in work, rather than collecting their weekly welfare payments.
I see nothing wrong with welfare for those who do not yet have jobs, but people should also be encouraged to find work. Here, we have work for the dole schemes. People on the dole must work a certain number of hours a week in order to get their payments. This itself gives people much needed experience in order to give them a better chance at finding work.

I myself was made to do a jobsearch course with my job agency. I was on a type of welfare payment, while at the same time I had to look for work, or my payments would stop.
The good thing about the course was learning about what is required during an interview, such as what to say, what clothes to wear, etc.
The problem was, I already had a job, and the aim of the agency - and the Government, for that matter, was to force me to find full time work, which I was not interested in. I had currently been in my job at McDonalds for matetr of weeks, and, being my first job, was not keen on moving on until I had gained the necessary experience, such as customer service, cash handling skills, etc.
I walked away without a full time job, and despite my being the only person in the entire group with a job, I was made to feel bad for having a Casual job.

Welfare checks are fine, but people should be encouraged to take part in courses such as this, too boost their enthusiasim and provide them the motivation to search for work.

Health care is another matter. Over here, we have Heath Care Cards, which entitle a person to discounts on medications, doctor visits, and so on. The wage limit for this is an average earnings of around $408 per week. I am not eligible, as most weeks I earn around $450. However, when you take into account the costs of rent, bills, etc, the money doesn't last long, so I do think the cut off limit should be much higher.

Well, for one thing, you're Australian. That's a totally different world of which I know nothing about. Also, I was talking about the rebate checks that we got, no welfare.

However, in general, I believe that people who work full time (which is 40 hours in America) should able to make it above the poverty line. In America, thanks to minimum wage, you can do that. Yet, as I stated, the political book that my class assigned claims that America has the largest rates of poverty (1 in 5 children are impoverish). I'm saying that either the book is wrong, that people are just plain lazy, or that there are not enough jobs to go around. If the book is wrong, then there is no real problem. If people are just plain lazy, then they deserve it. And if there is a shortage of jobs, then it's the government's responsibility to focus on supply side economics, not demand side.

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