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The Unexotic Underclass

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Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#91

Post by eli_gottlieb »

jcalvinowens wrote: post #10
x0x0 wrote: post #5

fta: But there’s only so much Washington can do to help out, what with government penniless and gridlocked, and its elected officials occupying a caste of selfishness, cowardice and spite, heretofore unseen in American politics. This is pure both-sides-do-it bullshit. In reality, one side recently passed an amazing transformation of health care to attempt to pull the united states -- still the world's richest large c…

> the ever declining (real) minimum wage The last 30 years of minimum wage adjusted for inflation: http://i.imgur.com/7kRykeS.png I'm not saying it shouldn't be higher, but it's actually currently higher than it was for most of the last 25 years.

That's because it was just raised recently.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#92

Post by arh68 »

I'd just like to point out the simple fact that veterans do get one certain type of benefit coming home, and it's that they get automatic preference for any federal job placement they apply for. The preference doesn't expire on placement, but exists for promotions too. Plus they can get ~0% down mortgages, no problem. So it's not all doom & gloom.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#93

Post by aianus »

aianus wrote: post #40
3pt14159 wrote: post #17

Let's take a look at the real problems facing America and the rest of the developed world: 1. Mismanaged IT in critical infrastructure. 2. Misallocated funds in programs helping the destitute. 3. Cyclical loops of depression-lack of opportunity-lack of skill building. 4. Health disorders on a massive scale, like metabolic disorder, that can be solved with very simple things like diet and exercise. These places are no…

> Show me the path to get people off of sugar diets. http://www.soylent.me/ I think we'll start seeing a difference when the economics improve making it a lot cheaper than fast food.

Are you guys for real? They've solved this exact problem and are backordered for months and that's still not good enough for you?

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#94

Post by rmc »

narrator wrote: post #83
julian_t wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The most common issue - no email address. Second most common - has email, but has to take the bus to the library to check it. Absolutely. We have come to know a couple of guys, one ex-homeless, who have real troubles here. We lent one an old iPad and that, together will free wifi in coffee shops and malls, has enabled him to talk to government agencies and job centers.

These days you can buy no-name android tablets from Walmart for $44. For example: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Ematic-7-Tablet-with-4GB-Memory-an... That's cheap enough that there's no reason for a poor person NOT to have one.

For some $44 is a lot.

Jack Monroe was poor and a blogger. She wrote a powerful piece about it once: ( http://agirlcalledjack.com/2012/07/30/hunger-hurts/ ):

> This morning, small boy had one of the last Weetabix, mashed with water, with a glass of tap water to wash it down with. ‘Where’s Mummys breakfast?’ he asks, big blue eyes and two year old concern. I tell him I’m not hungry, but the rumblings of my stomach call me a liar. But these are the things that we do.

> ...

> Then you start to take lightbulbs out. If they aren’t there, you can’t turn them on.

> ...

> Poverty is the sinking feeling when your small boy finishes his one weetabix and says ‘more mummy, bread and jam please mummy’ as you’re wondering whether to take the TV or the guitar to the pawn shop first, and how to tell him that there is no bread or jam.

These are the people who can't afford $44.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#95

Post by DanBC »

aianus wrote: post #93
aianus wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Show me the path to get people off of sugar diets. http://www.soylent.me/ I think we'll start seeing a difference when the economics improve making it a lot cheaper than fast food.

Are you guys for real? They've solved this exact problem and are backordered for months and that's still not good enough for you?

Soylent is fucking expensive and it is ridiculous to suggest that people eating kfc / mcdonalds / etc and drinking liters of soda a day will convert to Soylent.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#96

Post by prawn »

callmeed wrote: post #62

To those who commented on the financial or regulatory hurdles in serving these people: Maybe another way to look at this is: instead of creating a startup to serve veterans or single mothers–why not create a startup that can employ veterans AND single mothers ? One of the biggest problems facing single mothers is the high cost of childcare. In many instances, it makes going to work almost pointless because it eats 50…

A task that can be performed on a phone would suit mothers at home.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#97

Post by aianus »

DanBC wrote: post #95
aianus wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you guys for real? They've solved this exact problem and are backordered for months and that's still not good enough for you?

Soylent is fucking expensive and it is ridiculous to suggest that people eating kfc / mcdonalds / etc and drinking liters of soda a day will convert to Soylent.

$3/meal is more expensive than kfc / mcdonalds? Maybe if you live in the US and only eat a couple of items off the dollar menu every time. In Canada a meal at McDonald's is $10...

And I am one of those people that used to live on McDonald's and Burger King all day every day.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#98

Post by rmc »

3pt14159 wrote: post #17

Let's take a look at the real problems facing America and the rest of the developed world: 1. Mismanaged IT in critical infrastructure. 2. Misallocated funds in programs helping the destitute. 3. Cyclical loops of depression-lack of opportunity-lack of skill building. 4. Health disorders on a massive scale, like metabolic disorder, that can be solved with very simple things like diet and exercise. These places are no…

that can be solved with very simple things like diet and exercise.

Not everyone can afford to buy low fat organic produce at a boutique farmer's market that's open when they're at work, or requires a car to visit, and charges a fortune in terms of price-per-meal.

Not everyone has the time, money or knowledge to make a home cooked vegetable-rich meal.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#99

Post by rmc »

ibrahima wrote: post #45
aianus wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Show me the path to get people off of sugar diets. http://www.soylent.me/ I think we'll start seeing a difference when the economics improve making it a lot cheaper than fast food.

Sometimes it's hard to tell if someone on this site is parodying an out of touch techie or actually is one. It's a lot easier and cheaper to just eat fresh, healthy foods than it is to try to invent a new food alternative.

It's a lot easier and cheaper to just eat fresh, healthy foods

"fresh foods": So now you need to have enough space in a working freezer to store all the fresh vegetables/etc that you buy at a much higer price then junk food. Or you need to have enough time off to go to the boutique farmer's market that obvioulsy isn't in a poor-person area like where you live in.

Re: The Unexotic Underclass

#100

Post by julian_t »

narrator wrote: post #83
julian_t wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The most common issue - no email address. Second most common - has email, but has to take the bus to the library to check it. Absolutely. We have come to know a couple of guys, one ex-homeless, who have real troubles here. We lent one an old iPad and that, together will free wifi in coffee shops and malls, has enabled him to talk to government agencies and job centers.

These days you can buy no-name android tablets from Walmart for $44. For example: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Ematic-7-Tablet-with-4GB-Memory-an... That's cheap enough that there's no reason for a poor person NOT to have one.

Cheap is one reason, but also...

When you're functionally illiterate and have spent a few years living on the streets, are not good with money, and have a generally chaotic lifestyle, then you may well not think about going to your local supermarket to buy a cheap tablet (even if you know what a tablet is)

For some folks, their lack of ability to cope with (and fit into) modern life is truly incapacitating.

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