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

[Robert Jan]

Yet sweden and norway have much lower unemployment and a higher per capita income than the USA

 

[Becoming]

The only poor I fell sorry for are the children. The adults need to shape up or they just continue their circle of poverty. They are poor because of mistakes they make over and over again. People need to stop looking at the government and help them selves. If you are sane have two arms and two legs and an IQ over 80 you have no excuses.

Maybe also those in poverty should stop having kids...

 

[MattTheSkywalker]

The only poor I fell sorry for are the children. The adults need to shape up or they just continue their circle of poverty. They are poor because of mistakes they make over and over again. People need to stop looking at the government and help them selves. If you are sane have two arms and two legs and an IQ over 80 you have no excuses.

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.

 

[ChefWide]

Where is the word "legal" in that article?

so the 800,000 mexicans who bust their asses every day cleaning toilets, and serving food and mowing lawns in my city, only to live in "poverty" -- don't get added??

What about the chinese family members who work in the family biz and make $35/day? They're not added??

If it's some stupid thinly-veiled attempt to discredit Bush -- the article should say so. As much I detest Bush -- i will stand up against stupid illogical biased attempts to attack him in the liberal media.

No. Illegals are not counted, nor for the most part are unregistered homeless.

 

[MattTheSkywalker]

Yet sweden and norway have much lower unemployment and a higher per capita income than the USA

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).

 

[2BIG4URMOM]

Those numbers are skewed.

Every year close to 1 million people come to this country legally and illegally.

Most of them w/no education, skills and thus start working cleaning toilets and fast food. Hence, all these "new" people right off the bat are living in the "poverty" level.

However, if you read the tone of the article --- it implies that we, the citizens of this country, are getting poorer. Not necessarily.

It's because of the increase in population from 2nd and 3rd world countries. There's a big portion of your 1.3 million right there. Lovely how people can bend statistics as much as they want to make a point. Math is fun.

Definately bro...

Anyone who has had any real education knows that you can manipulate demographics and statistics. Most studies can be used to benifit who ever is doing the research by leaving out variables.

 

[Spartacus]

"feeding the poor,only increases their numbers"
suppose we put a check box on your 1040
would you like to donate 10% or somesuch to efforts to help the poverty "stricken"
essentially Kerry didn't
yep mister half a billion took his tax rebate,when in Mass,he had the opportunity to decline

 

[Spartacus]

Yet sweden and norway have much lower unemployment and a higher per capita income than the USA

don't let me get started on sweden
ammo up,you're gonna need it Trotsky

 

[Testosterone boy]

Interventionist legislation is the root cause of poverty in the US.

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.

 

[Spartacus]

check into your bedmate Heinz
scholar,with all that free time you have
perhaps you should be aggressively looking for a job
hire someone to write an embellished resume