Inequality In U.S. Is Scarily High, Rising (INFOGRAPHIC)

I know it's the cool thing to do to claim that increasing the minimum wage (you seem to have a problem with the mere existence of a minimum wage and not necessarily the amount of the wage) does more harm than good but the economic research is inconclusive at best on that claim. I'm personally all in favor of other means to help out low wage workers but most of those other means involve government subsidies of one shape or another that Republicans oppose. Increasing government aid to low wage workers and families in poverty is basically a non-starter in the contemporary United States. So the minimum wage, while not necessarily optimal, is good because it does not require the government to pay anyone anything directly.

1) As I stated earlier, I think the minimum should be set by the states, not the fed. Too much variance in cost of living.
2) Your point is fair to a degree regarding the aid. It is a non starter in many cases, yet that could be due to the massive escalation in food stamps etc... that have been required in this economy. Which brings us back to what needs to be done to create jobs in the US. (not part of this thread, but back to where you and I usually end up)
 
Superfreak you are morally depraved, arguing semantics about children who are going hungry.


http://abcnews.go.com/US/hunger_at_home/t/index

These are all heart wrenching, the one about children especially so.

I don't know how you look at yourself at night.


It is not semantics Darla. It is realistic vs. emotional. You want to knee jerk react because I dared call her out on her lie. You then attempt to use the emotional response elicited from such stories and pretend the difference isn't there.
 
1) As I stated earlier, I think the minimum should be set by the states, not the fed. Too much variance in cost of living.

You think a state like Texas or Mississippi is going to put in place its own minimum wage? In practice, leaving it up to the states means no minimum wage in the states with high poverty levels.


2) Your point is fair to a degree regarding the aid. It is a non starter in many cases, yet that could be due to the massive escalation in food stamps etc... that have been required in this economy. Which brings us back to what needs to be done to create jobs in the US. (not part of this thread, but back to where you and I usually end up)

But you've said that the problem is that these people lack skills. I don't see how more low-paying jobs that require no skills is a solution to a poverty problem, unless, of course, you require higher wages through -- and I'm just stabbing wildly in the dark here -- a minimum wage or something.
 
It is not semantics Darla. It is realistic vs. emotional. You want to knee jerk react because I dared call her out on her lie. You then attempt to use the emotional response elicited from such stories and pretend the difference isn't there.

She didn't lie, give it a rest. You are such a spinner.
 
Because you are sexist and wish to inject gender into everything I say. Or are you suggesting that I cannot have a discussion with a woman on this topic because any disagreement must be due to gender?

For the record, it is not ok to pay a woman less for the same job as a man (assuming both are similar qualifications/tenure)

Glad to know


Yes and we have unemployment, medicare, medicaid etc... to combat those situations. It matters because minimum wage jobs are not designed for those looking to pay the bills etc... they are designed to give unskilled workers job experience (and ideally teach a skill... though too often that is not the case these days)

Too bad so many people depend on them to pay bills.



Yes, but most of them are in the service/restaurant industry.
Data?
.

No idea who the "she" was you thought was lying. I haven't noticed any females telling lies in this thread; I certainly haven't.
 
its and old con trick.

call someone a liar even when they have never lied.

the ole repeat until people think is must be true
 
Isn't it awesome to have Desh back, and Tekky joining the board?? There are five of us now! Five! Five liberal women,I love it. The men must be pissing their pants!
 
Isn't it awesome to have Desh back, and Tekky joining the board?? There are five of us now! Five! Five liberal women,I love it. The men must be pissing their pants!

images
 
how many have altered lives due to lack of nutrition?

It doesn't matter, at least they aren't starving to death, you aren't really bad off unless you have at least one child starve to death, then that is REAL poverty. The poverty experienced in the USA is not real poverty, it is just bad luck.
 
While I agree having children starve to death is worse, kids who are mal-nutritioned have trouble focusing on school; they can't learn as well; in the long run they have fewer opportunities. They also suffer health-wise, including obesity and diabetes. (I know, ironic that mal-nutritioned kids get obesity, but cheap food is often high calorie food)

And then there are kids who live in places that still have lead in the paint... there was an appalling study done at some point in the last 10 years - they did a study of kids in houses/apts where the lead had been removed vs those who stayed in lead-infested places; after just something like 6 months, they noticed differences in intelligence. The appalling part is they didn't tell the parents of the kids with lead poisoning that their kids had it; they kept checking up on the kids, but never told the parents so the parents could get their kids out of those places. The parents, since the doctors were checking the kids regularly, didn't know there was a problem since the doctors never mentioned it...
 
While I agree having children starve to death is worse, kids who are mal-nutritioned have trouble focusing on school; they can't learn as well; in the long run they have fewer opportunities. They also suffer health-wise, including obesity and diabetes. (I know, ironic that mal-nutritioned kids get obesity, but cheap food is often high calorie food)

And then there are kids who live in places that still have lead in the paint... there was an appalling study done at some point in the last 10 years - they did a study of kids in houses/apts where the lead had been removed vs those who stayed in lead-infested places; after just something like 6 months, they noticed differences in intelligence. The appalling part is they didn't tell the parents of the kids with lead poisoning that their kids had it; they kept checking up on the kids, but never told the parents so the parents could get their kids out of those places. The parents, since the doctors were checking the kids regularly, didn't know there was a problem since the doctors never mentioned it...

I agree with all of that, and they're also hungry. They're hungry. And they don't have enough food. They go to bed hungry. They wish they had food. THey think about food. They hurt. They suffer. This pains me, and it should pain any decent human being.
 
I agree with all of that, and they're also hungry. They're hungry. And they don't have enough food. They go to bed hungry. They wish they had food. THey think about food. They hurt. They suffer. This pains me, and it should pain any decent human being.

Too bad Dixie wasn't still here to point out that 'NO ONE GOES HUNGRY IN THE US."
 
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