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Your utilities are half of what the average Texan spends. So, yeah, you are doing something abnormal.
Whatever. My house has foam insulation (no reason for any new home not to in my opinion). I rarely water the grass. That's the extent of my "abnormality." Did I mention, though, that I have no kids?
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Originally Posted by Randomdude
Keller, TX is 40 minutes away from downtown Dallas, Forth Worth, and Arlington. It is a far reaching Forth Worth suburb, that absolutely requires a vehicle.
Did I say it didn't require a vehicle? It doesn't require a two and a half ton vehicle though. Wtf does "far reaching" mean? It's under 16 miles for me to reach the center of downtown Fort Worth. I'm only a mile or so from the highway, and can make the 16 miles in under 15 minutes on a Saturday afternoon. Maybe you should check Google Maps again!!
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Originally Posted by Randomdude
C. Life is nasty and brutish if you don't have reasonable living income.
Okay, I have to ask: what is your real point? You've gone on and on about how awful $41K/year is. And?? Some people say it's adequate, or even plenty. You insist it's debilitating and that the "average" person on $41K is going to be inconsolably miserable.
So, do you have a proposal? Or something you wish would happen? Let's say I'm average Joe and instead of the decently comfortable and satisfying life I had at the same pay range, I find myself munted and miserable on $41K. So what now?!? Keep being miserable? Forever? Suicide? Revolution? Or try to make things better: get debt under control, develop savings, make good choices. Maybe move. Maybe pair up. Learn to live comfortably on $41K. Or learn to accept a $41K lifestyle and lot in life. Or (novel idea) work on increasing one's income. Or is it absolutely hopeless to even try and anyone at $41K or below is doomed to a life of dejection and those who claim otherwise are just extremists or rare outliers?
That doesnt matter. Average Joe USA should not be aspiring to be average Joe Haiti. It doesnt matter if he is actually doing better at the end of the day, its how he is doing in relation to his peers.
Poverty IS relative. If you, your neighbor and his neighbor are all starving, you are doing better in your economy then someone who has one can of beans, while his neighbor, and his neighbor have steak.
This globalist notion that we should be happy to be abused by our employer because we should be grateful that we arent enjoying the average life style of a Haitian is ridiculous.
Okay, where the hell did I say average Joe USA should aspire to be Average Joe Haiti? I believe I said your idea that someone in the US who can't go to Disney World is worse off than someone in Haiti who is starving and has nothing to his name is stupid. And, that IS a stupid view. You can scream subjective if you want, but it really strips you of any credibility to say that.
Also, where did I say anything about a globalist agenda? Where did I say anything about being grateful to not be abused by my employer? What kind of mind-gymnastics do you have to pull to even pull that out of your ass from what I said?
Poverty is LACKING THE MEANS TO PRODUCE/TRADE FOR WHAT YOU NEED. That isn't debatable. The guy in America who is well-fed, has cable, a cell phone, but God-forbid can only afford Six Flags and not a Disney World vacation is better off than someone starving. I don't care it you try to say "poverty is relative" to justify your position. Tell you what, go to Haiti and tell them how bad you have it here because you can't go to Disney World or you don't have the latest model iPhone. If I were that Haitian, I would slap you silly and have you committed to a school for retarded children, because that is how hilariously stupid your argument is. I saw a guy defecate in a magician's hat on the side of the road today, but the fact that you're actually trying to continue with your argument is more outlandish and is making me laugh much harder. I support sharing the wealth a little to improve everyone's existence in this country, but even I can see the outlandishness of your statement.
Nope, nice apartment.Whatever. My house has foam insulation (no reason for any new home not to in my opinion). I rarely water the grass. That's the extent of my "abnormality." Did I mention, though, that I have no kids?Did I say it didn't require a vehicle? It doesn't require a two and a half ton vehicle though. Wtf does "far reaching" mean? It's under 16 miles for me to reach the center of downtown Fort Worth. I'm only a mile or so from the highway, and can make the 16 miles in under 15 minutes on a Saturday afternoon. Maybe you should check Google Maps again!! Okay, I have to ask: what is your real point? You've gone on and on about how awful $41K/year is. And?? Some people say it's adequate, or even plenty. You insist it's debilitating and that the "average" person on $41K is going to be inconsolably miserable.
So, do you have a proposal? Or something you wish would happen? Let's say I'm average Joe and instead of the decently comfortable and satisfying life I had at the same pay range, I find myself munted and miserable on $41K. So what now?!? Keep being miserable? Forever? Suicide? Revolution? Or try to make things better: <get debt under control, develop savings, make good choices.> Maybe move. Maybe pair up. Learn to live comfortably on $41K. Or learn to accept a $41K lifestyle and lot in life. Or (novel idea) work on increasing one's income. Or is it absolutely hopeless to even try and anyone at $41K or below is doomed to a life of dejection and those who claim otherwise are just extremists or rare outliers?
<"get debt under control, develop savings, make good choices."> This is certainly the greatest desire of our day, getting these issues straightened out,
finding something to save, making good choices in the limited fashion that we may. Largely, much is out of our control. Government has long become a
runaway horse, more so an adversary than a compatriot as it grows to overburdening proportion. In our villages and hamlets they continue to govern and
tax us while in the full understanding that every measure of hardship that they place upon us, is one more measure of assurance that they will triumph.
By exclusive virtue of enacted (but archaic) law and other decree, there has been a class distinction made between those who have aligned themselves
with a "me first" ethic and those of us who continued in our naivety by allowing ourselves to be led into this pit of destruction that seeks to decimate a
class of once noble people, former wage earners and once productive citizens.
Where are those choices that you are alluding to? Could it be the choice between throwing up one's hands and laying the burden on society or to see the
continuing erosion of the American dream while espousing a message of hope? The die has been cast and the hour of our victory has been removed. We can
speculate about recovery but cannot affect that recovery. It is as futile to endorse change as it is to thwart change while spin-doctors and political devils
attend to an agenda that is so contrary to the American way. We've allowed a monster to breed in our closet and because we have neglected to maintain
the doorknob and the hinges, this monster is now upon us, biting at our heels and as hungry as ever. Like once sung by Ruby and the Romantics, "our day has come".
What twaddle. Should we all also make the same salary?
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Originally Posted by Randomdude
If you, your neighbor and his neighbor are all starving, you are doing better in your economy then someone who has one can of beans, while his neighbor, and his neighbor have steak.
This is the same argument that put the US at 37th for health care. If everyone in country A has dreadful health care, huge waits, denials, substandard technology, etc., while in country B some of the people have mediocre health care, some have pretty decent health care, and some have excellent health care, guess which one will rate substantially higher. Country A.
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Originally Posted by Randomdude
...notion that we should be happy to be abused by our employer...
According to the article, we no longer are the "Land of Opportunity" but the "Land of low wages"!!!
the early eighties and Reagan and Thatcher and the introduction of "trickle down" economics. Unless you own the store.
The city lawn mowers we have here in Canada are not even going to feel this recession but the private sector here after a hot twenty years is now "what have you done for me lately!"
Dunno, I have a relative that has worked for Wal Mart for nearly 20 years and they love it. Good benefits, pay increases and she took advantage of their company stock program and has built up quite a bit of money in that.
Good benefits? Yeah, if you can afford them. Walmart brags that they offer health coverage to all of their employees, but the average worker makes something like $11 an hour.
Good benefits? Yeah, if you can afford them. Walmart brags that they offer health coverage to all of their employees, but the average worker makes something like $11 an hour.
Pretty good for an entry-level job that requires no education.
Okay, where the hell did I say average Joe USA should aspire to be Average Joe Haiti? I believe I said your idea that someone in the US who can't go to Disney World is worse off than someone in Haiti who is starving and has nothing to his name is stupid. And, that IS a stupid view. You can scream subjective if you want, but it really strips you of any credibility to say that.
No its not stupid. Its perfectly legit. If I am producing 100k of goods, and getting paid 20k, I am doing worse then someone producing 10k and getting 3k. Its relative. I dont give a flying crap if some fly infested kid is bloated in Africa, I am not competing with him, and I do not judge myself lucky because I have more then him. He is Ethiopias problem, not mine or the United States. Ethiopia has significantly less wealth, and therefore, their poverty is at a much lower relative level then the US. In places like Ethiopia, middle class is having a one room mud hut.
By the way, nobody said anything about "subjective".
The only "stupid" view is the globalist position you and the average capitalist pig espouses.
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Originally Posted by runningncircles1
Also, where did I say anything about a globalist agenda? Where did I say anything about being grateful to not be abused by my employer? What kind of mind-gymnastics do you have to pull to even pull that out of your ass from what I said?
There is no mind gymnastics to be done. You believe that we in the US, no matter what fraction of a percent of our labor value we receive, should be happy that we have a generally higher standard of living then a third world country.
Since you cant figure out for yourself what you are saying, let me help.
You are suggesting that poverty is not based on a relative position within a COUNTRY but a measurement of absolute poverty on a GLOBAL stage. You believe we should be comparing the US poor to the Haitian poor, and coming away with the conclusion that the US poor should be happy they arent the Haitian poor.
I believe that the poor populations of many countries are better off within the borders of their country, then our poor are, and the GINI index can help support that.
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Originally Posted by runningncircles1
Poverty is LACKING THE MEANS TO PRODUCE/TRADE FOR WHAT YOU NEED. That isn't debatable.
Yeah actually it is. That is your definition of poverty, and its the literal definition of absolute poverty. However, almost every nation on earth has an internal definition of poverty, which is relative to their own unique situations within their borders.
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Originally Posted by runningncircles1
The guy in America who is well-fed, has cable, a cell phone, but God-forbid can only afford Six Flags and not a Disney World vacation is better off than someone starving.
If measured on a globalist absolute poverty scale. You should be pretty happy about our jobs being shipped overseas, after all, we all should be aiming for a global underclass, rather then relative underclasses.
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Originally Posted by runningncircles1
I don't care it you try to say "poverty is relative" to justify your position. Tell you what, go to Haiti and tell them how bad you have it here because you can't go to Disney World or you don't have the latest model iPhone.
That would be a globalist argument. My argument would be this "what does the average person in your town have, can you afford that?" Or "how many people do you know with X, do you have one?"
If their country is distributing the wealth well, a citizen would be happy within their own country. While the lack of basic living neccessities may make their lives harder, they will not be disgruntled by the existance of those things two blocks over, and they simply cant afford it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by runningncircles1
If I were that Haitian, I would slap you silly and have you committed to a school for retarded children, because that is how hilariously stupid your argument is.
If you were a Haitian, maybe you would have a better ability to understand complex arguments, I dont know.
Quote:
Originally Posted by runningncircles1
I saw a guy defecate in a magician's hat on the side of the road today, but the fact that you're actually trying to continue with your argument is more outlandish and is making me laugh much harder. I support sharing the wealth a little to improve everyone's existence in this country, but even I can see the outlandishness of your statement.
Pretty good for an entry-level job that requires no education.
That is the average, not the entry level pay rate. I applied at Walmart a few years back for a second job (before they jacked up minimum), they didnt even have a box to check for an expected wage over $8.25 an hour.
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My house has foam insulation (no reason for any new home not to in my opinion). I rarely water the grass. That's the extent of my "abnormality." Did I mention, though, that I have no kids?
the private sector hasn't been the place to be since..
