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1 in 4 Americans are jobless or earning poverty-level wages, new study finds

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Re: 1 in 4 Americans are jobless or earning poverty-level wages, new study finds

#21

Post by toomuchtodo »

jrobn wrote: post #17
toomuchtodo wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having spoken with someone today, at length, that thinks any improvement in the current situation is “socialism”, I think common ground won’t be found with some folks (and that’s okay, as long as you can get a majority onboard). You have to do the right thing regardless (go to the mat for overwhelming fiscal policy stimulus firepower short term, and driving towards improved policy long term, increasing the minimum wa…

“Some folks” is approaching near 50/50 split of the population of the US who have been led to believe “socialism” is worse than death. I know so, because my friend goes to church and they are now talking about this in their sermons...God is a Republican apparently.

Yeah, it’s really unfortunate the situation has become almost cult like. I have no explanation for these incoherent belief systems. No one said staying ahead of the ignorant and malicious was going to be easy, but it’s necessary for a democracy to function. The most conservative folks are the oldest cohorts, so they will age out eventually. [1] Millenials are also leaving behind religious affiliations due to perceived intolerances [2]: “A majority (57 percent) of millennials agree that religious people are generally less tolerant of others, compared to only 37 percent of Baby Boomers.”

“Apathy is the glove into which evil slips it’s hand.” Stay involved. This isn’t a call to a particular party, but to compassion and empathy, regardless of whom champions it.

[1] https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/03/20/a-wider-par... (first graphic)

[2] https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/millennials-are-leaving...

Re: 1 in 4 Americans are jobless or earning poverty-level wages, new study finds

#22

Post by arcticbull »

chokeartist wrote: post #3
_ktx2 wrote: post #2

[flagged]

Seriously? Grow up man.

American news is really bad, across the board — and doubly so for coverage of issues around and within America. If you want to find out what’s happening I recommend some combination of NPR, some Canadian news (I like the Globe and Mail) and probably Al Jazeera English.

Re: 1 in 4 Americans are jobless or earning poverty-level wages, new study finds

#23

Post by claydavisss »

nickthemagicman wrote: post #11

What is that almost a 100 million people? Seems like a lot. I wonder how many have families and kids. Such a bummer. At least Granny is safe!

Let's not forget Uncle Joe, weighing in at 326 lbs, who never missed a donut or Big Gulp in his life.

At some point we are going to have to have the painfully honest conversation regarding the obligations healthy people have to the morbidly obese.

Its too late to have this conversation in 2020, but with global obesity rates set to mirror US rates (40%+) by 2040, we're sure to have an opportunity again in the next ten-fifteen years, when people will be even more obese than they are today.

Re: 1 in 4 Americans are jobless or earning poverty-level wages, new study finds

#24

Post by Der_Einzige »

troughway wrote: post #7
mcbutterbunz wrote: post #4

If you’re a capitalist or a socialist or somewhere in between, I think we should try to find common ground that this isn’t a good position for society or the future.

Nope, the middle class is living now better than kings have lived in the past. Let that thought wash over you and don't think twice about the jobless statistics whatsoever.

You're being downvoted because people on HN don't like being reminded about how good they have it. Sorry, you don't deserve this.

Re: 1 in 4 Americans are jobless or earning poverty-level wages, new study finds

#25

Post by nradov »

_qulr wrote: post #12

"By comparison, the October jobless rate stood at 6.9%, down from 14.7% in April as workers regained jobs or gave up searching for work." I love how the hopeless are not counted as jobless.

They are counted in U-4 and other measures. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm

Re: 1 in 4 Americans are jobless or earning poverty-level wages, new study finds

#26

Post by wirthjason »

_qulr wrote: post #12

"By comparison, the October jobless rate stood at 6.9%, down from 14.7% in April as workers regained jobs or gave up searching for work." I love how the hopeless are not counted as jobless.

These statistics are hard to calculate. Defining “actively searching for work” is one way. You have to draw a line in the sand somewhere. For example, say I’m the primary breadwinner and my wife works part time at a restaurant and cares for our daughter in the remaining time. Work goes slow and she gets laid off. She could actively try to find another job but decides to spend full time with our daughter instead. I don’t know that she’s “hopeless” but rather made a different choice. Certainly there are hopeless people. It’s hard to find a perfect measure.

Re: 1 in 4 Americans are jobless or earning poverty-level wages, new study finds

#27

Post by omgwtfbyobbq »

_qulr wrote: post #12

"By comparison, the October jobless rate stood at 6.9%, down from 14.7% in April as workers regained jobs or gave up searching for work." I love how the hopeless are not counted as jobless.

The BLS should be using U-6, but I don't an administration would do that because it will make things look worse.

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm

Re: 1 in 4 Americans are jobless or earning poverty-level wages, new study finds

#28

Post by II2II »

troughway wrote: post #7
mcbutterbunz wrote: post #4

If you’re a capitalist or a socialist or somewhere in between, I think we should try to find common ground that this isn’t a good position for society or the future.

Nope, the middle class is living now better than kings have lived in the past. Let that thought wash over you and don't think twice about the jobless statistics whatsoever.

This isn't about the middle class and there really is no legitimate basis for comparison when it comes to being in poverty.

Those kings lacked modern luxuries, to be sure. They even lacked most modern comforts. Those kings of the past did not have to worry about being homeless and were unlikely to worry about putting food on the table. When it comes to the essentials, their needs were met and (for the most part) they did not have to concern themselves with losing it due to their economic position. While they may be concerned with losing those essentials due to the politics of the era, that is something entirely different.

Edit: for clarity.

Re: 1 in 4 Americans are jobless or earning poverty-level wages, new study finds

#29

Post by Guthur »

bleepblorp wrote: post #20
throwaways885 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't the poorest in society naturally always going to be the bottom 25% or so? The poorest American is still in the top 10% of the world.

Relative economic standing != absolute economic standing. Statistical measures of poverty are set in terms of being able to afford the basic necessities of life, such as food, housing, medical care, transport, education and communications. Relative standing is irrelevant. Further, having 10 times more income (or wealth) than subsistence farmer in sub-Saharan Africa is meaningless if your cost of living is 1000 times…

People don't have access to food? Sounds like that would be a self correcting problem if remotely true.

The problem with asking the government to fix this in some way is that you'll most likely ensure the absolute floor of the pricing with be set higher.

It's all those beautiful first world regulations we set out subsiding the price paid that ensure pricing is high, not capitalism. I'm not saying remove them but if we can not recognise the the true source of the problems it's hard to improve it meaningfully.

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