Close the gap between Rich and Poor Americans.

[editec]

The government does not have the gravitas to close the gap.

It never did.

Study the history of unionism in America.

There you will find the solution to this massive wealth inequity we have.

Government dowa NOT work for those without power.

Never has, never will,

Change always comes from the bottom up.

 

[Wildman]

Conservative Anti-Union, Anti-Environment, Anti-Labor, Anti-Regulation policies cause misery, yet they have the gaul to blame Liberals. And the impoverished.

Just amazing.

yes just absolutely fucking amazing that you prove your stupidity in every post you make or respond to. did you ever get thru 4th grade ?


Gaul (Latin: Gallia) was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium

i will guess you meant GALL ..........., ... ... ...

 

[ScienceRocks]

To boil it down to gravy: poor people are poor because they behave differently than wealthier people. Change the behavior, and you change your financial situation. It really is just that simple.

True and many people still come here with nothing and do pretty well while their poor neighbor born and raised here never moves out of the trailer.

Blaming the rich is a diversion for furthering socialism, the opposite of what the real answer is. A thriving economy is better for everyone (even the socialists that preach against capitalism), more opportunity, more pay, better living.

The malcontents and progressives make the loudest noises and too many people have listened to their message. Confiscating ALL the wealth from all the wealthy won't run this government but for short while (days?).

The government is too big, spends too much, borrows too much and many Americans follow the same principle. It won't work.

Do you know the difference between government control of the production and a hybrid economy? Name a civilization that has worked with your corporation running wild model. I love corporations as they give us a lot of innovation...So don't get me wrong.

 

[Edgetho]

Conservative Anti-Union, Anti-Environment, Anti-Labor, Anti-Regulation policies cause misery, yet they have the gaul to blame Liberals. And the impoverished.

Just amazing.

yes just absolutely fucking amazing that you prove your stupidity in every post you make or respond to. did you ever get thru 4th grade ?


Gaul (Latin: Gallia) was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium

i will guess you meant GALL ..........., ... ... ...

I hate it when somebody else beats me to the chance to point up the stupidity of dimocraps.

 

[Sallow]

Conservative Anti-Union, Anti-Environment, Anti-Labor, Anti-Regulation policies cause misery, yet they have the gaul to blame Liberals. And the impoverished.

Just amazing.

yes just absolutely fucking amazing that you prove your stupidity in every post you make or respond to. did you ever get thru 4th grade ?


Gaul (Latin: Gallia) was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium

i will guess you meant GALL ..........., ... ... ...

Good catch professor.

Pretty sure I'll return the favor pretty soon.

And you seemed to jump, much like Evel Knievel over the points in the post.

But then again, you aren't very effective at any meaningful debate.

 

[Sallow]

Conservative Anti-Union, Anti-Environment, Anti-Labor, Anti-Regulation policies cause misery, yet they have the gaul to blame Liberals. And the impoverished.

Just amazing.

yes just absolutely fucking amazing that you prove your stupidity in every post you make or respond to. did you ever get thru 4th grade ?


Gaul (Latin: Gallia) was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium

i will guess you meant GALL ..........., ... ... ...

I hate it when somebody else beats me to the chance to point up the stupidity of dimocraps.

You do alot of pointing "up"?

Like to the sky or something?

 

[The Rabbi]

Throwing half of the country out of being able to get education = loser
Killing storm warnings from nws, noaa, nhc, etc.
Killing science grants
Killing nsf
Killing federal infrastructure funding

Sounds like many losers...

Some things within society shouldn't be about profit. We need a strong private sector, slicing our throats isn't the way to go.

Which half of the country cannot get an education? There is no one in this country who cannot get an education. There are plenty who dont want one. But that's different.

 

[Edgetho]

yes just absolutely fucking amazing that you prove your stupidity in every post you make or respond to. did you ever get thru 4th grade ?


Gaul (Latin: Gallia) was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium

i will guess you meant GALL ..........., ... ... ...

I hate it when somebody else beats me to the chance to point up the stupidity of dimocraps.

You do alot of pointing "up"?

Like to the sky or something?

You never miss a chance to point up your stupidity. Comforting.....

point up - Idioms - by the Free Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

point up something also point something up
to show something or make something clearer The report points up the need for better public transportation. There are a lot of problems in society, and the trial is going to point that up.

 

[Edgetho]

Here's another 'first' for the scumbag-in-chief....

The New Face Of Food Stamps: Working-Age Americans

Just in time for the State of the Union Speech.

Via SLTRIB

In a first, working-age people now make up the majority in U.S. households that rely on food stamps — a switch from a few years ago, when children and the elderly were the main recipients.

Some of the change is due to demographics, such as the trend toward having fewer children. But a slow economic recovery with high unemployment, stagnant wages and an increasing gulf between low-wage and high-skill jobs also plays a big role. It suggests that government spending on the $80 billion-a-year food stamp program — twice what it cost five years ago — may not subside significantly anytime soon.

Food stamp participation since 1980 has grown the fastest among workers with some college training, a sign that the safety net has stretched further to cover America’s former middle class, according to an analysis of government data for The Associated Press by economists at the University of Kentucky. Formally called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance, or SNAP, the program now covers 1 in 7 Americans.

The findings coincide with the latest economic data showing workers’ wages and salaries growing at the lowest rate relative to corporate profits in U.S. history.

President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday night is expected to focus in part on reducing income inequality, such as by raising the federal minimum wage. Congress, meanwhile, is debating cuts to food stamps, with Republicans including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., wanting a $4 billion-a-year reduction to an anti-poverty program that they say promotes dependency and abuse.

Economists say having a job may no longer be enough for self-sufficiency in today’s economy.

“A low-wage job supplemented with food stamps is becoming more common for the working poor,” said Timothy Smeeding, an economics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who specializes in income inequality. “Many of the U.S. jobs now being created are low- or minimum-wage — part-time or in areas such as retail or fast food — which means food stamp use will stay high for some time, even after unemployment improves.”

The newer food stamp recipients include Maggie Barcellano, 25, of Austin, Texas. A high school graduate, she enrolled in college but didn’t complete her nursing degree after she could no longer afford the tuition.

Hoping to boost her credentials, she went through emergency medical technician training with the Army National Guard last year but was unable to find work as a paramedic because of the additional certification and fees required. Barcellano, now the mother of a 3-year-old daughter, finally took a job as a home health aide, working six days a week at $10 an hour. Struggling with the low income, she recently applied for food stamps with the help of the nonprofit Any Baby Can, to help save up for paramedic training.

“It’s devastating,” Barcellano said. “When I left for the Army I was so motivated, thinking I was creating a situation where I could give my daughter what I know she deserves. But when I came back and basically found myself in the same situation, it was like it was all for naught.”

You gotta be a special kind of stupid to vote dimocrap

 

[RandomVariable]

I'm posting this as Public Service.

I doubt it will do any good, but here goes--

Ace of Spades HQ

Articles like this make me wonder if the bien pensant journalist-and-pundit class knows any actual poor people. I was born poor, grew up poor, and spent a good chunk of my 20's poor. Not genteel poor, either -- I mean hard, stony-bottom, empty-pocket poor. I come from poor people.

Poor people don't think about money in the same way that more well-off people do. When you're poor, money -- and the lack thereof -- informs your every moment, waking and sleeping. You know exactly, at any given moment, how much money you have, down to the penny. How much in the bank, how much in your jeans, how much in the coffee can on the counter at home. Every purchase is a choice -- if I buy this six-pack now, that means hot dogs instead of hamburger for dinner tomorrow; if I pay my cable bill, that means that instead of dinner and a movie my best girl and I get to spend a night at home watching the TV. You triage your bills -- rent comes first, then heat. Then...you decide: cable or cellphone? Who can you put off the longest? How long can you float things?

You start with the credit cards because you figure you have the right to treat yourself once in a while. If you have to sit at home instead of going out, what's wrong with having a nice flat-screen TV to watch? And then the car went south, and that blew a $500 dollar hole in your budget, so you had put your groceries and gas on the credit card that week just to make ends meet. The kids needed new clothes and shoes and supplies for school. You've got to pay the minimums on the card just to keep things going, and the balance just creeps higher and higher until you're butting up against the limit. Then you get another card, and maybe the old lady gets one too. And pretty soon...well. You wake up at night in a cold sweat because you know that bankruptcy and ruin are only a breath away. It's not just a question of if you lose your job or get sick and can't work; it's a question of losing the overtime hours you've become accustomed to, or if the wife goes back to part-time instead of full time. You realize you're barely treading water as it is; it would only take a small wave to drown you.

The thing is...when you're poor, credit isn't a way to live a life beyond your means. Your day-to-day doesn't change much. Yes, some people splurge on stupid shit like vacations and electronics and clothes. But lots of poor people just get accustomed to living just slightly beyond their means. It's stupid because it's perfectly possible to live reasonably comfortably on even a fairly low wage, but it takes one critical thing that many poor people lack -- the ability to think ahead. To plan not just a week or two ahead, but months or years ahead. Poor people don't think about the future much because honestly they feel that it doesn't hold much for them (and they're often right). The future is the end of the week; it's having enough money to make the rent and have enough left over to go to the clubs on the weekend. Credit buys little pleasures, not big ones: new shoes, a dinner out with the wife, a small gadget or some DVD's. Something to bring some pleasure into an otherwise pretty drab life.

Poor people, in short, are not stupid. They just don't see their options as being particularly varied, and they have very short time-preferences. They spend their money where they figure it will do them the most good in the short term. They don't actually use their credit differently than other people -- they use it at need, for critical out-of-budget stuff (car or home repairs, medical bills) or to purchase entertainment items (electronics, movies, etc.). The problem is that poor people can't pay down that debt. Most poor people don't go extravagantly nuts with credit cards, but the burden creeps and creeps and creeps because they can only ever pay the minimums.

I always push Dave Ramsey's course on people, and you can get some of it free through churches and civic groups. I don't agree with everything he says, but he's one of the only financial planners I know who focuses on lower-middle-class and poor folks with financial advice. Rich people don't need financial advice -- poor people do. Poor people, in general, are not victims. They are not poor because they were cheated, or because they were hampered in their careers by someone else. Mostly, they are poor because they are unskilled and made bad life choices. But even then, it is not only possible but not all that difficult to live a moderately comfortable life with a small income -- all you need is to follow some simple rules. The first of which is: avoid debt like the plague. If it's a question of buy it with cash or do without, then learn to do without.

To boil it down to gravy: poor people are poor because they behave differently than wealthier people. Change the behavior, and you change your financial situation. It really is just that simple.

I can't remember a single post you have ever made that I agree with, possibly even liked, but any time someone really, deeply shares what they know I have to give pos rep. In such cases where someone, who presumably knows the situation so much better than I, has a [point of view I completely disagree with it makes me wonder about the nature of personal opinion. Great post, that one anyway.

 

[RandomVariable]

WHY ??????? is it that whiny, slobbering, runny nosed leftwing nuts hate "RICH" people and want their wealth redistributed to the "POOR", the rich are rich because they put in an effort to become rich, the por are poor because most of them were born into poor families who have been on welfare since LBJ gave them their first welfare check..., BUT !! with a little effort and a will to succeed, a person born into poverty can do what these 18 people done.......,
18 people who went from being poor to mega rich - Rediff.com Business

so get off your lazy asses poor folk who are on the .gov dole and put in a little EFFORT to get out of your ditch.

The sad part is, you, like so many americans believe this fantasy. The rich are rich cause they work harder. Usually, it's inherited wealth also. Sure, out of millions, the odds are, 18 people can become wealthy. Doesn't mean millions can.

no, millions can not, but any INDIVIDUAL could, even that dumbshit Shallow could if he had the intelligence and motivation, but his expertise is lying, spamming and fear.

Just because some people can do it in spite of the system does not mean the system is not broken.

 

[alan1]

One thing I will note, is that the rich expect to be paid well for their work; however, they have all kinds of excuses why the average worker isn't entitled to being rewarded better for the work such perform for the wealthy. I do believe that without the workers and patronage, the wealthy would not be such. And it would be wiser, if a rich person would invest more in their workers than in say a bigger house, fancier car, or another luxury yacht.

I suppose there are a couple ways to look at this.

If a rich person does buy a bigger house, fancier car, or luxury yacht, isn't a worker getting paid to build those things?

On the other hand, a person can get richer by not spending money, but rather by saving and investing it. There are so many ways to invest.

 

[froggy]

Reduce all politicians pay by20% and cut out mandatory raises.

 

[Staidhup]

There will always be those that are rich and those poor, those that work hard, those that do not, those that comprehend at a higher level, those that do not, those that save and are thrifty, those that do not, those that accept personal responsibility and those that blame others for their failings, its a fact of the very essence of life from the beginning of time. Now we have progressive systems of governments that demand total control, blind obedience, equipped with the mantra of financial equality at any expense, or in short, compensating those without ability and common sense, ruled by a self ordained group that desires ultimate power. To accomplish this objective requires replacing and punishing those that are accomplished. Financial equality is a myth, dream, ideal objective, that within the laws of nature can not exist for at some point those that are capable will prevail.

 

[dcraelin]

However you feel on the topic, I think all can agree the government needs to get out of the business of dolling out corporate welfare. All the "economic development" which is really just an excuse for graft. Stadium subsidies for millionaire owners. the tax-exemption for municipal bonds.

 

[SwimExpert]

However you feel on the topic, I think all can agree the government needs to get out of the business of dolling out corporate welfare.

Sadly, we can't all agree on that.