31–40 of 131 posts
This seems like such an obvious factor to leave out of an article like this. I have trouble believing it's not one of, if not the most important changes the US has gone through.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indeed. That they are underfunded and thus need to support the spam mailers is another issue entirely. But as far as central non-digital services centers go, the USPS is top notch. It can be improved, sure, and it suffers from the same issues many government services handicapped by the misplaced, accumulated "starve the beast" policy cruft. Despite this, it remains a fantastic resource. I really wish certain politica…
Calling "starve the beast" a misplaced policy is a pretty heavy watering down of how insidious it truly is
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This thinking is a major cause. By blaming the impoverished one can justify doing nothing.
By blaming the system one can justify doing anything, often without having to prove the efficacy of anything.
There is a persuasive lecture given by Darren McGarvey that makes this point more eloquently: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001g2zf
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The usps is the only well functioning government organization left and Republicans are set on kneecapping it so they can privatize it
The USPS's unique financial burden is that they are forced by congress to pre-fund their pension obligations so they can't pull a Chicago, calculate things based on insane assumptions of returns and go "whoops we're bankrupt" at some unspecified date in the future as many a pension system has done. In literally any other context you would be cheering this on. Congress has done a lot of terrible things but the burden…
> The deregulation of the banking system in the 1980s heightened competition among banks. Many responded by raising fees and requiring customers to carry minimum balances. In 1977, over a third of banks offered accounts with no service charge. By the early 1990s, only 5 percent did. I would think that increased competition would improve conditions for customers?
It did improve conditions for customers! As an example I currently bank with Ally, free checking account, no ATM fees (on any ATM, in/out network doesn't matter) and pretty sure they have good overdraft protection though I've never checked. Compare that to a place like BoA that has ATM fees, minimum account balances and fees, and while they probably have better overdraft protection than in 2008, it's probably not as good as what Ally offers.
The reason Ally can compete like this is simple, BoA and most other traditional banks have a ton of physical locations they have to pay to keep the lights on in, Ally on the other hand is entirely online. And while it may be nice to have a physical location for "peace of mind", in practice I found that it's usually better when the company (like Ally) puts the money into customer service so the phone gets answered when you call.
Honestly the biggest problem with Ally is that they are still a bit of a "savvy bank", that is if you ask any old joe on the street if they have heard of Ally, they would probably say no. Same goes for the litany of other new banks that have roughly the same business model as Ally. They would all be a great deal for those that are low-income but they aren't in your face like BoA or WF with their physical locations so people usually end up going to the "traditional banks" which are IMO not designed for them.
Poverty persists because Americans have abandoned the notions of education and safety. Entire cities are destroyed by generational poverty but those are also the highest in crime. No one talks about the 20+ murders a weekend in South-side Chicago. No one. How do you expect children to get an education and lift themselves out of poverty when they are terrified of being gunned down every single day? The worst parts of…
Also, if I am correct, I think teachers and underpaid and schools are working at max capacity. This also creates a big inequality with people that can afford the best schools.
And better if we do not talk about the crime that is healthcare in the US...
Our military budget is substantially larger today than it was when we were actively engaged in both Iraq and Afghanistan just a few short years ago Our military budget will soon pass $1 trillion annually Our elected representatives now routinely provide the Pentagon with more money than it even requests Every NYTimes article on Ukraine is riddled with comments suggesting we provide a blank check for weaponry The Wash…
57% of people pay no income tax.[1] The carriers and planes are essentially only being paid for by the top 40% of earners.
[1]: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/25/57percent-of-us-households-p...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
well-functioning? 95% of the mail in my box goes directly to my recycling bin literally a no-op...junk mail is printed, USPS delivers it against my will, I put it in my recycle bin...another truck comes and empties that bin this is well-functioning?
[flagged]
Reducing the U.S. military budget by 20% and spending it on poverty relief programs could eliminate poverty to a large degree in the U.S. (not entirely, but that's unrealistic). It's not that the government doesn't have the money or that we're not paying enough in taxes. It's that we're spending it on the wrong things (if we want to have a generally prosperous and stable society).
Articles like this never address some fundamental questions that would be much more enlightening:
* Why does poverty persist in any country? Is there any country where there are no poor?
* It states that the percentage of the poor in the US stayed relatively constant over time. But is it the same people (and their descendants) who are staying poor, or are the poor of one generation (or their descendants) able to lift themselves out of poverty into a stable middle-class life?
Instead it chooses to frame most economic choices made by the poor as being "exploitative", and at the same breath blames payday loan companies for being predatory and yet posits that the poor need greater access to credit.
Our military budget is substantially larger today than it was when we were actively engaged in both Iraq and Afghanistan just a few short years ago Our military budget will soon pass $1 trillion annually Our elected representatives now routinely provide the Pentagon with more money than it even requests Every NYTimes article on Ukraine is riddled with comments suggesting we provide a blank check for weaponry The Wash…
People in poverty aren't paying any taxes to fund any of that though. As the article somewhat noted, people in poverty get an average of $12,400 from the government annually. (Excluding Medicaid, which is much more spending, but even poor people do pay a small amount into that.) 57% of people pay no income tax.[1] The carriers and planes are essentially only being paid for by the top 40% of earners. [1]: https://www.…