Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Poverty in America: Greater Than Statistics Indicate

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–216 of 216 posts

Re: Poverty in America: Greater Than Statistics Indicate

#211

Post by skh »

humanrebar wrote: post #196
skh wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is interesting to me is that it is a Biblical principle to have jubilee years and in my experience some of the most ardent opponents of debt forgiveness are right wing Christians. The fact is that we all subsidize each other. Poor people in major cities tend to use public transportation more than others and thus their taxes subsidize road building. I don't have children and subsidize k-12 education for those tha…

> ...it is a Biblical principle to have jubilee years... That part of the Bible also establishes a government funded priesthood consisting of only men that routinely perform ritual animal sacrifice. Point being, the jubilee year stuff was specific instructions on how to govern a particular people in a particular place at a particular time in history. Now, I would consider guaranteed loan forgiveness after, say, seven…

I’m an atheist and don’t necessarily care much for Biblical principles. However, right wing Christians I know quote par6s of the Old Testament as evidence for some of their moral beliefs. They do tend to ignore those portions that contradict their preconceived ideas.

Re: Poverty in America: Greater Than Statistics Indicate

#212

Post by sershe »

esotericn wrote: post #61
kibwen wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This attitude seems alien to me. If there's a job that nobody wants to do, the employer should offer more compensation. If that raises the price of the service such that the venture is no longer profitable, then that indicates a fundamental lack of demand for that service relative to its cost. No poor person should be expected to subsidize the comfort of the higher classes via their desperation.

It's not an attitude - I agree wholeheartedly with what you're saying. It's what I see when I look out of my window. That is to say, how I think the economy actually works. Basically no-one with a meaningful amount of capital takes low end jobs, because they don't have to. They can sit, read, wait, research, calmly consider, study, and find a way out. They have negotiating power (which is more than just telling a pro…

I think this is the other way around. With any reasonable safety net, eventually these people would need to take some jobs. And people with no rare/hard-to-acquire skills have to take jobs that do not require rare/hard-to-acquire skills... meaning most people can do them. High supply lowers the price, of labor in this case. Sure, desperation due to low wages forms sort of a vicious cycle that may helps drive wages even lower, but I don't think it's the main reason for the poverty.

With one year no questions asked unemployment benefit, a laid-off delivery person would still be back on the market in a year for the same crappy job (and the same would apply to any skillset - e.g. if there were way more software developers than needed, the same would be true in tech industry)

Re: Poverty in America: Greater Than Statistics Indicate

#213

Post by scarface74 »

androidgirl wrote: post #202
scarface74 wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For $70 a month from T-mobile all fees included you get unlimited talk, text, data and 3G tethering. The price goes down to $60 a month for two adults - yes both adults need cell phones, how else are they going to be reachable for jobs and if one is at work and the other is at home? I know my older son doesn’t have cable or home internet and he uses his phone for everything including entertainment, internet connectiv…

And my prepaid plan is all unlimited at $30 a month on my phone I bought all cash for $200. It's much cheaper!

Actually, we are paying $40 a month for each phone on a family plan but I was making an apples to apples comparison so I said $70.

How long will your $200 phone get updates? How long will it be fast enough to run the latest apps?

If you bought a 32GB 5s in 2015 for $499, you would still be getting updates and it is still as fast as most midrange Android phones. I bought a 64GB iPhone 6s in 2015 for $749 and just recently gave it to my son. It is still going strong, and if history is any guide, it should still get updates for at least another 2 years. It’s also faster in single core performance than any but the highest end Android phones.

https://bgr.com/2015/09/10/iphone-6s-iphone-6-iphone-5s-pric...

Re: Poverty in America: Greater Than Statistics Indicate

#214

Post by humanrebar »

skh wrote: post #211
humanrebar wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ...it is a Biblical principle to have jubilee years... That part of the Bible also establishes a government funded priesthood consisting of only men that routinely perform ritual animal sacrifice. Point being, the jubilee year stuff was specific instructions on how to govern a particular people in a particular place at a particular time in history. Now, I would consider guaranteed loan forgiveness after, say, seven…

I’m an atheist and don’t necessarily care much for Biblical principles. However, right wing Christians I know quote par6s of the Old Testament as evidence for some of their moral beliefs. They do tend to ignore those portions that contradict their preconceived ideas.

That's a pretty broad brush to paint with. The Old Testament is a collection of books of different genres. Some parts are a legal framework for governing. Others are moral instructions. Most are historical record.

The commandment against murder clearly doesn't have the same context as the instructions for how to dress temple priests. It's not selective reading to consider the text in context. It doesn't require a deist belief either.

Re: Poverty in America: Greater Than Statistics Indicate

#215

Post by loco5niner »

reidjs wrote: post #119
loco5niner wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Being able to send the same emojis to communicate effectively and having blue bubbles is a lot more valuable than you might think That's pretty hard to believe.

I thought so too for a long time, but I have met a woman who confused in me that she will not date men if they have an Android phone. I doubt she’s the only one.

Ah, so pretty much the same thing as spending money on a car you can't afford, but on a lower scale.

Seems pretty not-valuable to me.

Re: Poverty in America: Greater Than Statistics Indicate

#216

Post by loco5niner »

gniv wrote: post #186
loco5niner wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Being able to send the same emojis to communicate effectively and having blue bubbles is a lot more valuable than you might think That's pretty hard to believe.

Oh, it's a thing. Random article about it: https://gizmodo.com/im-buying-an-iphone-because-im-ashamed-o...

Doesn't mean it brings value.
Post reply on HN