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Ah....37. (No wonder you think it's so easy for 60-year-olds to "get a job".) You're clearly not in the computer field. There, you're considered a has-been at 40.
You're still young enough to let your idealism blind you to reality. I don't hold that against you. (I was young once too, you know.) Who I AM angry with are the 70-year-olds on the Democratic debate stage knowing full well that the bribes they are offering - free college! free health care! college debt, bye-bye! rent subsidies! reparations! housing down-payments for blacks! - will never see daylight.
I also blame the fools who believe them. Sheer stupidity. /smh
"New research by Pew's Economic Mobility Project finds 70 percent of those who are born in the bottom fifth never climb to even the middle of the economic ladder.
...Seventeen percent who were born in the bottom fifth of income make it up to the middle as adults. Nine percent make it up to the fourth highest fifth and a measly 4 percent climb to the top fifth of income in the United States."
Actually, it's because their birth rate, as a group, is 3 times higher (per the US Census Bureau) than those who aren't poor/low-income. Foolish, as it keeps 70% of them trapped into a poor/low-income subsistence for life.
There is no excuse for that whatsoever as there are 10,000+ taxpayer-funded FQHC Title X Family Planning Clinics located throughout the US (HHS publishes a 173 page directory of them) and that isn't even counting any Planned Parenthood clinics (which number less than 700, nationwide).
That's because they're not worried about another mouth to feed. They'll get more food stamps, and qualify for a larger subsidized apartment or townhouse.
I know a 23-year-old, not married, no HS diploma, who is pregnant with her third. When she told me, she was thrilled with the "good news!" Not a hint of concern about the fact she really can't afford another child. And that's because she knows the additional expenses will be covered - more food stamps, bigger place, Medicaid, etc. I suspect by the time her kids are in their late teens, they too will be mothers. And the cycle continues.
The middle class, however, earning $50k to $150k, "rations" the kids out. For the most part, everyone I know has one or two children because they can't afford anymore.
Further, if you really believe that, it contradicts a popular Rethuglican talking point that anybody can rise from the bottom to the top.
So which is it, tell me?
The two aren't mutually exclusive. The point is that anybody CAN move to at least the lower-middle class by virtue of hard work, discipline, motivation, and at least a modicum of intelligence. The fact that so many don't just speaks to their unwillingness to sacrifice, delay gratification,* and put in the work to get there.
*maybe delay a few minutes to use birth control, for starters!
If you understood the US Constitution, specifically Article I Section 9 Clause 4, you would know that:
No capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.
That's why you have a 16th Amendment.
You cannot levy a 10% VAT unless you apportion it population.
So, people living in California would pay 30%, Texas 28%, Florida 27%, New York 26.5%, Ohio 22%...Kentucky 15%...Vermont 2.5%, Wyoming 1% like that.
The 16th Amendment is expressly worded to avoid the problem of apportioning taxes based on population:
Amendment XVI The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration.
See the key clause? "...without apportionment among the several states..."
That's what that means.
But, note the other key clause: "...on incomes, from whatever source derived..."
You can only tax income, not wealth and you cannot tax goods.
The government could levy a de facto VAT by placing an excise tax on specific items, groups of items or classes of items in accordance with NAICS.
If you understood the US Constitution, specifically Article I Section 9 Clause 4, you would know that:
No capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.
That's why you have a 16th Amendment.
You cannot levy a 10% VAT unless you apportion it population.
So, people living in California would pay 30%, Texas 28%, Florida 27%, New York 26.5%, Ohio 22%...Kentucky 15%...Vermont 2.5%, Wyoming 1% like that.
The 16th Amendment is expressly worded to avoid the problem of apportioning taxes based on population:
Amendment XVI The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration.
See the key clause? "...without apportionment among the several states..."
That's what that means.
But, note the other key clause: "...on incomes, from whatever source derived..."
You can only tax income, not wealth and you cannot tax goods.
The government could levy a de facto VAT by placing an excise tax on specific items, groups of items or classes of items in accordance with NAICS.
If it is unconstitutional to tax wealth, why is the Harvard Law School professor proposing to do just that? I DARE a CNN anchor to ask her that during the next debate.
The two aren't mutually exclusive. The point is that anybody CAN move to at least the lower-middle class by virtue of hard work, discipline, motivation, and at least a modicum of intelligence. The fact that so many don't just speaks to their unwillingness to sacrifice, delay gratification,* and put in the work to get there.
*maybe delay a few minutes to use birth control, for starters!
Exactly. As Pew Research noted: 17% who were born in the bottom fifth of income make it up to the middle as adults. 9% make it up to the fourth highest fifth. 4% climb to the top fifth of income in the United States.
It's foolish for the poor to doom themselves and most of their kids (70%) to a lifetime of struggle and hardship when 10,000+ taxpayer-funded FQHC Title X Family Planning Clinics (HHS Directory) are available throughout the US. Why won't they use free birth control?
Turns out there's actually an interesting answer to that... Access to family planning info and birth control clearly ISN'T the problem, the REAL reason so many young and likely unwed women DON'T use contraception might surprise you...
Fully 1/3 of the respondents in this study believe that the government pushes free birth control as a means of deliberately limiting the size of minority populations. They view the government pushing birth control on them as racism:
Exactly. As Pew Research noted: 17% who were born in the bottom fifth of income make it up to the middle as adults. 9% make it up to the fourth highest fifth. 4% climb to the top fifth of income in the United States.
It's foolish for the poor to doom themselves and most of their kids (70%) to a lifetime of struggle and hardship when 10,000+ taxpayer-funded FQHC Title X Family Planning Clinics (HHS Directory) are available throughout the US. Why won't they use free birth control?
Turns out there's actually an interesting answer to that... Access to family planning info and birth control clearly ISN'T the problem, the REAL reason so many young and likely unwed women DON'T use contraception might surprise you...
Fully 1/3 of the respondents in this study believe that the government pushes free birth control as a means of deliberately limiting the size of minority populations. They view the government pushing birth control on them as racism:
Interestingly, note that it's exactly those same minorities who are disproportionately poor.
How sad. First, liberals insist that we pay for birth control for poor people, and then poor minorities refuse to use it because "it's racist."
Any idea what percent make it from abject poverty to the top decile?
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