1.3 Million Americans slid into poverty last year....

[WalkingBeast]

Please!! Dont shoot!! Im unarmed!!

Aside from this!!

BACK THE FUCK OFF!! FUCKALOO!!

Dont turn your back on me!! Ill eat your FUCKIN skin N innards!!

 

[Spartacus]

him not starving
got more schrapnel than Kerry
in the face too
not the ass
imagine that
Americans intentionally schrapnelling themselves
when so many before them died so that they wouldn't

 

[Spartacus]

my karma column is longer than my dick
no mean feat

 

[Spartacus]

you know I think I misspelled "shrapelling" themselves
perhaps because its so outlandish that there is no recording of the word
maybe "incredibly stupid and attention seeking personal ornamentation"

 

[Spartacus]

one wonders why there's poor in 2004

 

[Robert Jan]

Norway has oil wealth and actually has managed it well. Sweden has 25% of its population on public assistance and one of the world's most stagnant economies.

The US income numbers are skewed by its immigrant population: America has more people immigrate annually than every other nation in the world combined. These people come with zeroes, and lower the average. It's a statistical aberration, not an indicator of economic vibrancy (or absence of).

relatively Holland gets a lot more immigrants, but norway and sweden dont really let anyone in unless they really need em

 

[MattTheSkywalker]

I will agree here when the legislation (Bush backed of course) calls for giving companies financial incentive to replace American jobs with Asian jobs.

But as I recall.......you did that (oursourcing) yourself.

We outsource in the sense that we take jobs from a client and hire people to do them ourselves. Every single one of our jobs is filled by an American . Becuase we are smaller and narrowly focused, we are able to capture efficiencies that our clients cannot.

Our jobs are very high skill set jobs that can only be done by people with significant education and experience.

Outsiude of clerical staff, we have four people excluding me under 30 in the office, and one under 25. We don't even hire many younger people. Except for me, everyone under 30 is an entry level Associate.

So we're not going offshore. It's not that we don't want to, we just can't.

 

[spongebob]

Poverty rate for children highest level in 10 years....

On the brighter side...Oil companies,Halliburton, and Defense contractors are having a banner year....

http://money.cnn.com/2004/08/26/news/economy/poverty_survey/index.htm?cnn=yes

Survey: More Americans in poverty
Census Bureau report says 1.3 million slipped below benchmark; health care coverage also declines.
August 26, 2004: 11:04 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The number of Americans living in poverty jumped by 1.3 million last year as household incomes held steady, the Census Bureau said Wednesday.

The percentage of the U.S. population living in poverty rose to 12.5 percent from 12.1 percent -- as the poverty rate among children jumped to its highest level in 10 years. The rate for adults 18-to-64 and 65 and older remained steady.

The bureau also said that the share of aggregate income for the lowest 20 percent of Americans fell to 3.4 percent from 3.5 percent.

The report indicated that children and blacks were worse off than most, Reuters reported, noting the report would almost certainly fuel Democratic criticism of President Bush.

The number of poor rose to 35.9 million, up 1.3 million from 2002.

Health care coverage also dropped last year and incomes were essentially stagnant, the Census Bureau said in its annual poverty report, seen by some as the most important score card on the nation's economy and Bush's first term in office.

The number of uninsured people rose to 45 million from 43.6 million in 2002, the bureau said.

According to the data, more people were covered by Medicare and Medicaid in 2003 than in 2002, while the percentage and number of people covered by their employers fell from 61.3 percent -- 175.3 million people -- to 60.4 percent -- 174 million people.

Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for the poor, saw an increase in people covered to 35.6 million from 33.2 million while those covered by Medicare, the federal health program for the elderly, rose to 39.5 million from 38.4 million people.

the only solution i can think of is to lower the age limit for working. its just not enough nowdays for just mom amd dad to be working, the whole family needs to work.

 

[2BIG4URMOM]

This is the typical "blame the poor" ignorance that perpetuates well-intended but economically harmful and ineffective social programs.

It is very difficult for the poor to get out of poverty. The principal reason for this is not stupidity or laziness. Government intervention and rules for labor and employers is what preserves the impoverished class.

Government intervention via social programs disincentivizes work. We all know that.

However, the existence of labor regulations makes it hard for poorer people to find work or to sell the skills they do have, which usually means physical labor. In a free market, there is no (or very very little) unemployment. Supply will find demand.

here is an example: I need several people to service properties. I need landscapers, painters, cleaners, for several residences. If I went to a poorer part of town and offered a hundred dollars for people to come work for ten hours, they would do it. I would get clean property, they would get money.

I can't do this now, unless I want to put them all on a payroll, pay taxes, get work comp insurance, etc. I would need to hire several other people to do this. In other words, it gets more expensive to reate jobs, then the cost of getting the work done.

These kinds of disincentives are what make it difficult for people like me, who have excess capital, to hire people who really need the money. Instead I hire some dude with a truck and a small business to do the landscaping, a cleaning lady, etc. And I pay more than the cost of the labor itself would be.

This inefficiency is brought to you by the US government, and, on a grand scale, depresses the economy and keeps the poor, poor.

My foster dad owns 3 small businesses(roofing co., gutter co., and a lawn care service/snow removal) and he did try an experiment once on this.

He went to a poor part of town at a railroad yard where a lot of the homeless hang out. He offered to pay these homeless people under the table to work for him. He gave them his business card and 2 quarters each to call him in the morning. The next day came and not one single person called him.

I think, yes the govt. makes it hard to hire employees for all businesses, but there are those who also choose not to work or educate themselves and to be poor.

 

[CFZB]

Poverty rate for children highest level in 10 years....

On the brighter side...Oil companies,Halliburton, and Defense contractors are having a banner year....

http://money.cnn.com/2004/08/26/news/economy/poverty_survey/index.htm?cnn=yes

Survey: More Americans in poverty
Census Bureau report says 1.3 million slipped below benchmark; health care coverage also declines.
August 26, 2004: 11:04 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The number of Americans living in poverty jumped by 1.3 million last year as household incomes held steady, the Census Bureau said Wednesday.

The percentage of the U.S. population living in poverty rose to 12.5 percent from 12.1 percent -- as the poverty rate among children jumped to its highest level in 10 years. The rate for adults 18-to-64 and 65 and older remained steady.

The bureau also said that the share of aggregate income for the lowest 20 percent of Americans fell to 3.4 percent from 3.5 percent.

The report indicated that children and blacks were worse off than most, Reuters reported, noting the report would almost certainly fuel Democratic criticism of President Bush.

The number of poor rose to 35.9 million, up 1.3 million from 2002.

Health care coverage also dropped last year and incomes were essentially stagnant, the Census Bureau said in its annual poverty report, seen by some as the most important score card on the nation's economy and Bush's first term in office.

The number of uninsured people rose to 45 million from 43.6 million in 2002, the bureau said.

According to the data, more people were covered by Medicare and Medicaid in 2003 than in 2002, while the percentage and number of people covered by their employers fell from 61.3 percent -- 175.3 million people -- to 60.4 percent -- 174 million people.

Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for the poor, saw an increase in people covered to 35.6 million from 33.2 million while those covered by Medicare, the federal health program for the elderly, rose to 39.5 million from 38.4 million people.

yeah but were doing great things in iraq and stuff....