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How many people did Catapillar lay off? How many other companies reduced their workforce? How many times have unemployment benefits been extended? How many of the things we use every day were made here in the USA fifty years ago, that are now being imported from outside our boarders? How many jobs does that account for? We've gone from a world leader in manufacturing and innovation to a country of consumers. The good jobs with benefits have left our shores and all that's left is part-time, at minimum wage, with few to no benefits. Still wonder why they're poor?
I am so sick of reading statements like this, takes a rocket scientist to understand as labor costs went up in America due to unions the manufacturing jobs would move elsewhere where their product will be made with no interruptions (strikes)...
As has been said in other posts here America's definition of poor compared to the rest of the world's definition of poor is like comparing apples to oranges...
I'm sure the mother of two living in Africa in a mud hut with no electricity and a hole in the ground for a bathroom working for $0.25 cents a week thinks the "poor" in America live a life of luxury...
I wonder how many people in other countries felt the way you do about loosing their jobs to Americans 50 years ago.....
The number of near-poor in America is exploding, too, as shown by the same census data that placed so many more people below the poverty level:
When the Census Bureau this month released a new measure of poverty, meant to better count disposable income, it began altering the portrait of national need. Perhaps the most startling differences between the old measure and the new involves data the government has not yet published, showing 51 million people with incomes less than 50 percent above the poverty line. That number of Americans is 76 percent higher than the official account, published in September. All told, that places 100 million people — one in three Americans — either in poverty or in the fretful zone just above it.
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this equation is only brought on by excessive goverment and its nanny state mentality of using goverment to solve problems that are only able to be solved in the public sector.
I am so sick of reading statements like this, takes a rocket scientist to understand as labor costs went up in America due to unions the manufacturing jobs would move elsewhere where their product will be made with no interruptions (strikes)...
As has been said in other posts here America's definition of poor compared to the rest of the world's definition of poor is like comparing apples to oranges...
Yet, some First World countries seem to manage to keep manufacturing going with wages and unionisation rates that would be eyewatering in America.
They don't try to compete on wages. The only way to compete with the Third World on wages is to be third world.
As for the American condition of poverty being fine if you compare it to poverty in African countries...sure. If you think a "Looking ok compared to Africa" is what the USA should aspire to.
The number of near-poor in America is exploding, too, as shown by the same census data that placed so many more people below the poverty level:
When the Census Bureau this month released a new measure of poverty, meant to better count disposable income, it began altering the portrait of national need. Perhaps the most startling differences between the old measure and the new involves data the government has not yet published, showing 51 million people with incomes less than 50 percent above the poverty line. That number of Americans is 76 percent higher than the official account, published in September. All told, that places 100 million people — one in three Americans — either in poverty or in the fretful zone just above it.
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So this kid is mad because he went into debt somebody didn't hand him a job?
Go to any inner city school and take a good look at those "poor" kids in designer shoes with every gadget imaginable and tell me again about the poor in America.
I live in one of the so-called poor parts of the country -- at least one in five are on food stamps, over a third on Medicaid but the reports show that the malls and stores are jammed full of people today. People camped out all night at stores, the stores are packed full of mobs -- these very same "poor" people who will buy their iPads with cash but need foodstamps for their meals.
Until I see Pernell Roberts or Sally Struthers making fundraising pitches to communities here in the United States then we don't have a poverty issue.
You are not in poverty if you have shoes on your feet, a roof over your head, food in your belly at least once a day, and access to an emergency room.
That would be quite a feat since Pernell Roberts died a couple years ago.
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