I don't like paying for the welfare queens/kings in the projects (Chicago: transfer, minimum wage)

[RememberMee]

[nana053]

Originally Posted by Larry Siegel

This is hilarious, but behind most ridiculous decisions is some sort of government regulation. I bet there's one requiring library signs to be in international symbolic language, so that people who can't read can go to the library to...never mind.

Or perhaps so that people who don't read English can find the library? Some people are literate, but not in the language of the particular country they are currently in.

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by nana053

Or perhaps so that people who don't read English can find the library? Some people are literate, but not in the language of the particular country they are currently in.

C'mon, I think a foreigner in The United States looking for a library knows it's called a library, don't you?

[nana053]

Originally Posted by Irishtom29

C'mon, I think a foreigner in The United States looking for a library knows it's called a library, don't you?

図書館で会いましょう。

You can read this, of course?

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by nana053

図書館で会いましょう。

You can read this, of course?

No, but if I were looking for a library in whatever that country is I'd make it my business to recognize library in that language if need be. Wouldn't you?

You don't see the humor in this?

[RogueMom]

Originally Posted by Idon'tdateyou

Then they become employable. McDonalds pretty much hires anyone.

This is the old "McDonalds has plenty of burger flipping jobs available" line. Really? Not in my area. These days, for every opening they have, they get a ton of applications. They are not by any means desparately seeking workers.

Also, it's hard to make someone "employable" that is going on the third or fourth generation of a family that has NEVER worked anywhere. They have no role models, no one that has shown them what being responsible for yourself even looks like. It takes at least a minimal amount of social skills to be employable, many of these people just do not possess them, and unfortunately, probably never will.

[Jesse69]

Originally Posted by jwaiter

The other issue that goes virtually ignored is the massive number of ppl collecting disability. It's a system once you get on, there's no way off, you're on forever. People on disability don't get reported as unemployed, they don't get counted in any economic statistics, they're essentially invisible. Not all, but certainly many are abusing the system, and could work.

I get SSDI but I can get off of it. In fact, at my last job, I made too much money and worked too long - 10 months when the cutoff is 9 months. I had to pay SSDI $10,000 back and they took me off Medicaid and free prescriptions. Then over the next 6 months I gradually became fully paranoid and had a paranoid outbreak last 5 months. This got me back on SSDI in the Chicago Office; the Houston SS Office was tough and was trying to scam me out in not getting me back on SSDI.

Now SSDI is the main thing that helps me out in my 5+ year unemployment. Not many good Mech Eng, Mech Designer, CAD, and Tech Writer jobs here in Chicago to get me employed. When I applied for a Tech Writer job at Cummins Alison, I was among 10 people chosen out of 221 resumes to interview for the job; they didn't call me for a second interview becauSe they were TOO CHEAP TO PAY MY $48,000 / YEAR MINIMUM SALARY REQUIREMENT.

So professional are suffering a lot too because Chicago Mfg companies are getting CHEAP WITH SALARIES. A recruiter said Ingersol Rand was interested in me as an aerospace technical writer in Rockford. I said my minimum salary requirement was $54,000 a year and then they didn't call me for an interview.

[treemoni]

Originally Posted by nana053

Or perhaps so that people who don't read English can find the library? Some people are literate, but not in the language of the particular country they are currently in.

Thank you. My goodness...privilege is blinding.

[treemoni]

Originally Posted by Jesse69

I get SSDI but I can get off of it. In fact, at my last job, I made too much money and worked too long - 10 months when the cutoff is 9 months. I had to pay SSDI $10,000 back and they took me off Medicaid and free prescriptions. Then over the next 6 months I gradually became fully paranoid and had a paranoid outbreak last 5 months. This got me back on SSDI in the Chicago Office; the Houston SS Office was tough and was trying to scam me out in not getting me back on SSDI.

Now SSDI is the main thing that helps me out in my 5+ year unemployment. Not many good Mech Eng, Mech Designer, CAD, and Tech Writer jobs here in Chicago to get me employed. When I applied for a Tech Writer job at Cummins Alison, I was among 10 people chosen out of 221 resumes to interview for the job; they didn't call me for a second interview becauSe they were TOO CHEAP TO PAY MY $48,000 / YEAR MINIMUM SALARY REQUIREMENT.

So professional are suffering a lot too because Chicago Mfg companies are getting CHEAP WITH SALARIES. A recruiter said Ingersol Rand was interested in me as an aerospace technical writer in Rockford. I said my minimum salary requirement was $54,000 a year and then they didn't call me for an interview.

I'm glad you chimed in with your story. This country is in horrible shape. Programs like SSI HELP PEOPLE. There will always be abuse, but complaining about people abusing SSI is useless. There is a cap on the amount of money they get, and it's not what's bankrupting the country. Please do not for get that MOST PEOPLE ON SOCIAL SECURITY HAVE WORKED FOR IT. And it's not true that you're "on forever". You're not, but if staff is being overworked, they don't have time to follow-up on cases that need to be reviewed for medical improvement and things fall through the cracks. Social Security works, but if the wealthy can privatize the whole US budget (attacking social programs, keeping defense going, tapping into education money via charter schools, etc), they will. THOSE ARE THE PEOPLE YOU NEED TO GO AFTER. NOT SOMEONE WHO IS BEING SAVED FROM HOMELESSNESS VIA SOCIAL SECURITY.

Sometimes I really can't stand Americans.

[treemoni]

Originally Posted by EJ3791

Not really. The top 1% get about 17% of income in this country and pay about 23% of federal taxes. Their average effective federal rate is around 22% including income and payroll taxes, compared to around 12% for household in the middle. If you include corporate and estate taxes, the top 1%'s average effective rate is around 33%, while the middle's is around 14%.

14% of $30k hurts a lot more than $33% of 200k. You can't look at percentages alone.

No it doesn't. Maybe at some point, defense got 60% of discretionary spending, which doesn't count some big ticket items like Social Security and Medicare. If you look at the overall federal budget, defense get's around 19%.

According to the 2012 tax bill, defense is 25% of the budget. THAT IS HUGE. 60% discretionary is ridiculous (even if that's not what it is now). Again...SOCIAL SECURITY IS FUNDED BY WORKING PEOPLE. It is only a "handout" for the small percentage of people that collect SSI. with 25% of the budget, there is no way defense spending is less than education spending. NO WAY. I've looked at the number myself...not relied on biased news.

The culture issue isn't a matter of race or ethnicity. Inter-generational poverty is its own subculture. Attitudes, behavior and family structure hold people back more than a lack of money or employment opportunities. There might be black/white/latino and urban/rural variations, but they're all responding to many of the same pressures. That's not to say that more opportunity in employment wouldn't help, but the most promising ways to increase opportunity would be to raise tariffs (as least on imports from certain countries) and reduce the amount of low-skilled immigration we allow.

"Intergenerational provery" is just a euphemism for black people. Spare me. Nobody uses "intergenerational" when talking about the wealthy (and they perpetuate more intergenerational bullcrap than anyone). FYI, there are plenty of "new poor"--people who lost their good jobs and now have to rely on social services. And there has always been working poor.