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Not everyone has the time to develop those skills when they're working 70 hours a week just to keep eviction notices off their door.
The time to have started was back in middle school and high school when you have the advantage of a free public education. If you wait until you are an adult to start developing a valuable skill set, you have waited too long.
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Then one day, after years of that, their job is outsourced. What now? How will they pay the bills during the time it takes them to get skilled?
And what if they were in a career that was in demand at the time, but now isn't any more so? Do you expect everyone to be able to predict what will be in demand, years in advance of the fact?
Outsourcing and obsolescence is nothing new, it has been going on for a very long time. One is foolish if they believe that it will never happen to them. Updating your skills should be a constant process. If you wait until you've been laid off, it is too late.
Why does type of person that you describe not have an emergency fund? The have an in-demand career, but they haven't put money away for when things are tight? Very foolish indeed.
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What if they had no choice but to take time off work due to illness or emergency in immediate family, and they missed the training and the employer doesn't want them?
One always has a choice. But more importantly, and you will start to see a consistent theme here, if they haven't properly prepared for these situations, they will have a tough time. And again, they have only themselves to blame.
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There are plenty of no-fault hardship cases. If you don't admit this, you are refusing to be plausible, realistic, and reasonable with your assumptions - in which case, the discussion is pointless.
I have never denied the existence of "no-fault hardship cases." I am firmly in the "stuff happens" camp. However, whether the situation is truly no-fault or not, a lifetime of good decision making and proper planning and preparation will mitigate much of the "whoa-is-me" scenarios being described.
If you come down with lung cancer after never having smoked, it's pretty likely that it is a no-fault event. However, if you haven't properly prepared for such an unforeseen event, you have only yourself to blame if you face financial ruin as a result.
Where I live you can buy pretty decent houses for the 100-125k range and rent 2 bedroom apartments for 5-600 a month. 2 people making 10/hr is about 42k/yr in household income. While you are not living the high life you can definitely raise a kid or two on that income in most parts of the midwest and south.
I just think it's funny that people from the northeast and california talk about how it is impossible to live off of that wage yet they don't know much about the rest of the US. I am completely for cities or counties establishing their own min. wages based on cost of living indices, I just think it doesn't make sense to decide on a nationwide min. wage based off of the highest cost of living areas in the US. There are many decently sized towns and small cities in the south and midwest where the median household income is under 35k/yr.
$500-$600 for a 2-bedroom apartment? You'd be hard-pressed to find that here in Nashville.
I have never denied the existence of "no-fault hardship cases."
However, whether the situation is truly no-fault or not...
...no-fault or not their on the ground reality is pretty much the same.
As is their effect on the rest of us.
Minimal if any meaningful job skills or education...
in a work world with a reduced and daily declining pool of low/no skill jobs...
in a work world where having better skills won't really benefit anyone involved.
The larger problem is that we aren't talking about any one individual here or there.
We're talking about MILLION's. Probably 20 or 30 MILLION in all.
Almost all of whom are "surplus" to need.
I've made this basic point before and will continue to stand by it:
The problem is less about not having enough jobs for all who might need or want one
than it is about having far too many people available for the jobs that actually need doing.
Surplus humanity.
So long as these people continue to clutter up the works they will continue to devalue labor.
The supply:demand market value of labor needs to increase and start from the bottom.
The VALUE of that labor... not just the wage rate paid.
Once it does happen then their value to an employer increases immediately.
And so will the value of everyone else working .
That will never happen until we can do something about the surplus.
And that needs to start with policies that don't encourage creating even more of them.
Where on earth can you find a $500 a month apartment that's not in the middle of a crack and gang infested neighborhood? I'm genuinely curious...
Here you go this one even has amenities like a fitness center, pool, and clubhouse. $485 for a 1 bedroom and $585 for a 2 bedroom. Definitely not a gang infested neighborhood. Around here $6-700 puts you in the nice apartments and $800+ puts you in the luxury apartments. My good buddy rents a 3 bedroom house in a good neighborhood for $900 a month.
I lived in a gated resort style community in Orlando, FL in a 2 bedroom for $870 a month. You guys just seem to live in your own little bubble of affluence.
The time to have started was back in middle school and high school when you have the advantage of a free public education. If you wait until you are an adult to start developing a valuable skill set, you have waited too long.
Outsourcing and obsolescence is nothing new, it has been going on for a very long time. One is foolish if they believe that it will never happen to them. Updating your skills should be a constant process. If you wait until you've been laid off, it is too late.
Why does type of person that you describe not have an emergency fund? The have an in-demand career, but they haven't put money away for when things are tight? Very foolish indeed.
One always has a choice. But more importantly, and you will start to see a consistent theme here, if they haven't properly prepared for these situations, they will have a tough time. And again, they have only themselves to blame.
I have never denied the existence of "no-fault hardship cases." I am firmly in the "stuff happens" camp. However, whether the situation is truly no-fault or not, a lifetime of good decision making and proper planning and preparation will mitigate much of the "whoa-is-me" scenarios being described.
If you come down with lung cancer after never having smoked, it's pretty likely that it is a no-fault event. However, if you haven't properly prepared for such an unforeseen event, you have only yourself to blame if you face financial ruin as a result.
Wow. It's unbelievable how Puritanical some people on these threads are. "If you're poor, it's your own fault." "You get sick, too bad, so sad." "Lost your job? Sorry, your problem." "No health insurance and you've been diagnosed with cancer AND you lost your job? Well, didn't you think about saving (hundreds of thousands of dollars+) for your own health insurance/treatment? How irresponsible!"
Incredible. Particularly considering that some of the people with these attitudes probably consider themselves to be "Christians."
I'm starting to see more parallels between the attitudes of many on CD and those in a country like India with its caste system. It seems some people on this thread consider the poor in America to be our society's "untouchables."
The only difference is that the higher castes in India value education and tend to be highly educated. Here in America, many who disdain the poor are, ironically, not particularly well-educated themselves.
Where I live you can buy pretty decent houses for the 100-125k range and rent 2 bedroom apartments for 5-600 a month. 2 people making 10/hr is about 42k/yr in household income. While you are not living the high life you can definitely raise a kid or two on that income in most parts of the midwest and south.
I just think it's funny that people from the northeast and california talk about how it is impossible to live off of that wage yet they don't know much about the rest of the US. I am completely for cities or counties establishing their own min. wages based on cost of living indices, I just think it doesn't make sense to decide on a nationwide min. wage based off of the highest cost of living areas in the US. There are many decently sized towns and small cities in the south and midwest where the median household income is under 35k/yr.
Well let me put it to you this way:
My girlfriend owns a townhouse that is worth about 125k. The night before last, we went over her budget. She is upside down by a very large margin and she makes around 42k/yr. She does have 1 daughter who is no longer in daycare (with daycare, the number are even worse). Stuff in the budget was simply necessities-
food, insurance, utilities, mortgage, taxes, etc.
There is no way that she can afford that condo on her salary and it's not even close.
My girlfriend owns a townhouse that is worth about 125k. The night before last, we went over her budget. She is upside down by a very large margin and she makes around 42k/yr. She does have 1 daughter who is no longer in daycare (with daycare, the number are even worse). Stuff in the budget was simply necessities-
food, insurance, utilities, mortgage, taxes, etc.
There is no way that she can afford that condo on her salary and it's not even close.
Interesting. I'm assuming an adult with 1 dependent has a take home of about $34k or about $650 a week. A 125k mortgage should be around $600 a month so when you add in insurance and property taxes (assuming they aren't outrageous) you should be coming in around $800 a month which falls well within the recommended amount of 35% of income being spent on housing.
Wow. It's unbelievable how Puritanical some people on these threads are. "If you're poor, it's your own fault." "You get sick, too bad, so sad." "Lost your job? Sorry, your problem." "No health insurance and you've been diagnosed with cancer AND you lost your job? Well, didn't you think about saving (hundreds of thousands of dollars+) for your own health insurance/treatment? How irresponsible!"
I know, right? Must be nice for some people to be so perfect Wages are stagnant, food prices are outrageous and the cost of living is rising dramatically, but it's totally poor people's fault they're poor. If they just wanted it more, they could make a better life for themselves...
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Wages are stagnant, food prices are outrageous and the cost of living is rising dramatically, but it's totally poor people's fault they're poor. If they just wanted it more, they could make a better life for themselves...
