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US income inequality at record high

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With every possible respect I doubt anyone with a free cell is looking to get a job. Why? What incents them to get a job?

I suspect anyone who gets a free cell phone it's more for social services to stay in contact with them. Cell phones and air time are really cheap when special contracts are drawn up between providers and social service agencies, I'd think. I dunno. I've never known anyone to get a free phone.

;)
 
When my son and I applied for food stamps, one of the requirements was for my son to attend a job seminar. He's the one I mentioned earlier. In case you missed it, he's been diagnosed with Asbergers/Autism/SED but doesn't qualify for SS.

At the job fair, he had an anxiety attack (that have turned into seizures in the past) and the people running the seminar called an ambulance. They waived the job fair requirement. He still can't get SS.

I'd like to know how people slide into receiving disability or other assistance so easily. It's the same BS as voter fraud. 3 cases out of 250,000 and it's a rampant problem that needs to be rolled back.

Oops.;)
 
As for the second part, I don't buy it. In the "living wage" thread I pointed out where Wal-Mart has over 300,000 employees. If they were to raise salaries by the amount requested by the protesters, the corporation would literally be spending millions more per HOUR. Are you really going to sit there and try to convince me that shelling out millions of dollars PER HOUR is going to affect the price of bread a NICKEL?

Depends on how many loaves of bread - and other products - you sell per hour. Walmart is all about volume.
 
I swear, some folks would rather turn the clock back to the days when if a child was born with a defect, it was placed on the hill in the sun to expire.
[completely OT]Well, realistically medical technology is creating a weaker species by side-stepping survival of the fittest, placing an ever-increasing burden on society. And socially every disability (why bother calling it that) is now to be tolerated as if it is of absolutely no burden to others. My 32 yr. old special needs child IS a burden to others - I accept and understand that. I pray he doesn't procreate. I hope you can get some assistance so you can take care of your son in a respectful fashion.[/OT]
 
Maybe it would be best to outlaw abortion under any circumstance in exchange for legalized suicide booths. In time, suicide would become morally acceptable and the ilk some of you guys seem to loath will stumble into one easier.
Not sure suicide is morally unacceptable but generally religiously unacceptable. And even that is open to many interpretive differences. I personally like the suicide booth idea but it would have to be a monitored system where it isn't just a snap decision. I've known at least 6 young people who took their lives over something most of us would consider trivial and they probably would have too if they had lived another few days,weeks or months.:( Snap!
 
[completely OT]Well, realistically medical technology is creating a weaker species by side-stepping survival of the fittest, placing an ever-increasing burden on society. And socially every disability (why bother calling it that) is now to be tolerated as if it is of absolutely no burden to others. My 32 yr. old special needs child IS a burden to others - I accept and understand that. I pray he doesn't procreate. I hope you can get some assistance so you can take care of your son in a respectful fashion.[/OT]

Thanks for that.

My biggest fear is that I can't get him the assistance (or "handouts" if you prefer) he will need if I suddenly croak. But to those of you who fear they'll be handing out even more in that event, not to worry, because I'm sure he'll either kill himself or be homeless if that happens.

Back to the topic; By any chance have policies regarding outsourcing combined with advancements in automation had an effect on finding a living wage job?

A friend of mine in the early '80s worked in a plastic injection factory that made hair products and earned enough for his family (wife, two kids) to get by on with the wife working part-time. He had insurance through the company. The factory moved overseas as soon as tarrif laws changed and he found a job for less. We both noticed that the price of combs never dropped after the factory moved.

Remember, producing products overseas is the only way to keep things affordable.

;)
 
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When my son and I applied for food stamps, one of the requirements was for my son to attend a job seminar. He's the one I mentioned earlier. In case you missed it, he's been diagnosed with Asbergers/Autism/SED but doesn't qualify for SS.

At the job fair, he had an anxiety attack (that have turned into seizures in the past) and the people running the seminar called an ambulance. They waived the job fair requirement. He still can't get SS.

I'd like to know how people slide into receiving disability or other assistance so easily. It's the same BS as voter fraud. 3 cases out of 250,000 and it's a rampant problem that needs to be rolled back.

Oops.;)

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I think you'll find that disability fraud, just in terms of the SS involves tens of thousands of people and over a billion dollars.

Thanks for the chance to clear this up.
 
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I think you'll find that disability fraud, just in terms of the SS involves tens of thousands of people and over a billion dollars.

Thanks for the chance to clear this up.

And I place blame on the people receiving the assistance as well as those who let it slide by. Corruption is a cancer that govt agencies have always had to deal with. That and ineptness. I believe it happens given the sources you've provided and the fact that I've never been checked up on once since I started receiving SSD. No need to check up on me though; I could be the SSD poster child.

You're welcome.;)
 
That may be true in some cases, but it's not the norm. I speak from experience. I worked my whole life, paid into SSI, paid taxes, etc.. I've been on disability for the last two years because of a work related accident and I get $1405 a month from SSD. I have an adult special needs son who I've been trying to get help for, and its been declined twice. We get $125 a month in food assistance.

The stories we've all heard about people getting a grand a month in food stamps and buying king crab legs with it are absolute BS. If you care to check, find a DHS website and worksheet and fill it in. In order to get $1000 a month, you'd have to have 14 people in your household.



The word "handouts" may be true in some cases, but it's not the majority. In my case, I find it offensive. Social Security is insurance. I paid into it for 36 years before I got injured, and now I receive it. It not a handout.

I swear, some folks would rather turn the clock back to the days when if a child was born with a defect, it was placed on the hill in the sun to expire.

Sorry. I read this thread and watched Soylent Green simultaneously last night and it left a scar.

I don't recall anyone mentioning that we should leave children out in the sun to expire.

In fact SS is a program that hands out over a hundred billion dollars a year.

That's just one small part of the Safety Net we provide. Total cost to taxpayers for this Safety Net is into the trillions.

That's real money. Real support for those in need.

You might want to read the book, Make Room Make Room which Soylent Green was based on. The movie wasn't the best and that's too bad because as I recall it was Eward G Robinson's last film.
 
I think you'll find that disability fraud, just in terms of the SS involves tens of thousands of people and over a billion dollars.
Thanks for the chance to clear this up.
I would totally agree that there is rampant abuse of the "disability" label. Seems that people who are truly disabled can't work their way through the system while those a little more able can. My oldest brother is a good example - he has always had a bad attitude,never kept a job for more than 2 months. So when he was about 30 (now 58) he got the idea he would go "Klinger" and convince the doctors he was mentally unable to work - and he did, has been living off the government teet ever since. He's a just a lowlife, get's his hands on some spare money and runs off to buy a rock of crack or a bag of weed. It's sad. Part of me thinks at this time he IS mentally unwell and deserves his minimalist government sponsored "life". Personally I would rather work for minimum wage - our family was working class poor-ish so I have always busted my hump to not become a government nursed statistic.

I don't worry so much about peeps at the top of the income scale other than the fact they make policy and don't, imo, take very good care of those in the working class and below. Indentured servants used to be taken relatively good care of.
 
Thanks for that.



Remember, producing products overseas is the only way to keep things affordable.

;)

It's my opinion this isn't true. Realistic compensations packages, like those provided by Toyota for their US employees would be a good place to start.

Next we need to address education. One of the top reasons jobs go off shore is due to a lack of and educated work force.

It's my understanding that the US spends close to trillion a year on education. It's not a matter of money being spent it how it's spent.
 
With the first part you are STILL stuck on PERCENTAGES. But without getting into a biblical debate, I still maintain that donating $312 million to build a hospital is more generous than giving a bum $5, even if the $5 is 1% of your total worth. The porr guy bought a bum some beer. The $312 million will potentially saved hundreds for decades. And it IS, after all, $312 million dollars.
If every rich person donated a $312 million dollar hospital wing, you'd have a more convincing argument instead of an anecdote.

The rich give a lower percentage of their income to charity. While it may only be a few dollars, giving one of your very, very limited few dollars is still a much more generous gesture. If you'd like for them to give more, feel free to raise the minimum wage.
As for the second part, I don't buy it. In the "living wage" thread I pointed out where Wal-Mart has over 300,000 employees. If they were to raise salaries by the amount requested by the protesters, the corporation would literally be spending millions more per HOUR. Are you really going to sit there and try to convince me that shelling out millions of dollars PER HOUR is going to affect the price of bread a NICKEL? Grow up. That simply isn't true. I don't care how many PHDs the author of an article or the guy in a social justice video has. It simply is not true. If Wal-Mart did it, dozens of other companies would have to follow suit. And if the top ten employers in America were suddenly spending about a billion dollars PER HOUR more (just a figure of speech but I bet it would LITERALLY be hundreds of millions per day), you would have to be an idiot to think that the price of goods and services would not go up by a LOT.

Please explain how it is possible for that NOT to be true.
Another estimate suggests the price of a Big Mac would jump 5 cents, or 1 percent, if the minimum wage was raised to $10.50, according to a letter signed by 100 economists in favor of raising the U.S. minimum wage.

“McDonald’s could cover fully half of the cost increase by raising the price of a Big Mac, on average, from $4 to $4.05,” the letter said. “The remaining half of the adjustment could come through small productivity gains or a slightly more equal distribution of companies’ total revenues.”

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/busines...uld-rise-by-68-cents-if-minimum-wage-doubles/

Ultimately, raising the cost of labor is going to cause a few things:

1) It will likely decrease costly turnover

2) It will cause a reevaluation of all levels of pay and profit and force streamlining of revenues to have less disparity

3) It will probably increase automation to a degree

4) While there may be a desire to raise prices, your friendly, rational market will work to ensure that they stay competitive.
 
I swear, some folks would rather turn the clock back to the days when if a child was born with a defect, it was placed on the hill in the sun to expire.
Part of the reason for that was for most of history there was not much in the way of social programs to help those - families were expected to pick up all of the slack. And therefore it was accepted or understood that some would choose to not feed a mouth they figured would never be productive. Of course that is just harsh as all but life in times past was incredibly harsh. Tens of thousands of senior citizens would probably use the suicide booths you suggested (I understand you were ranting out of frustration) so they wouldn't have to be a burden on their families. After very productive lives no less.

I think socialistic programs are a valid part of this thread since the tax bill for them largely falls on the working class but mainly gets utilized by the poor. I intentionally didn't mention the rich or middle class - neither the tax bill or programs effect them much.
 
When my son and I applied for food stamps, one of the requirements was for my son to attend a job seminar. He's the one I mentioned earlier. In case you missed it, he's been diagnosed with Asbergers/Autism/SED but doesn't qualify for SS.

At the job fair, he had an anxiety attack (that have turned into seizures in the past) and the people running the seminar called an ambulance. They waived the job fair requirement. He still can't get SS.

I'd like to know how people slide into receiving disability or other assistance so easily. It's the same BS as voter fraud. 3 cases out of 250,000 and it's a rampant problem that needs to be rolled back.

Oops.;)

The US as a whole doesn't do nearly enough to help the mentally handicapped.

Thanks for that.

My biggest fear is that I can't get him the assistance (or "handouts" if you prefer) he will need if I suddenly croak. But to those of you who fear they'll be handing out even more in that event, not to worry, because I'm sure he'll either kill himself or be homeless if that happens.

Back to the topic; By any chance have policies regarding outsourcing combined with advancements in automation had an effect on finding a living wage job?

A friend of mine in the early '80s worked in a plastic injection factory that made hair products and earned enough for his family (wife, two kids) to get by on with the wife working part-time. He had insurance through the company. The factory moved overseas as soon as tarrif laws changed and he found a job for less. We both noticed that the price of combs never dropped after the factory moved.

Remember, producing products overseas is the only way to keep things affordable.

;)

The consumer would rather buy the cheaper products. Should we note that a Squier could instead be made by an American instead?
 
The consumer would rather buy the cheaper products. Should we note that a Squier could instead be made by an American instead?

Cheaper product? With all possible respect I suggest you check the basses for sale section of talk bass.

On a regular basis multi K instruments are listed. I sold my Alembic because my cash flow wasn't what it should be. I now play a cheaper bass. But hardly a junker.

The Squier you mention is a perfectly adequate instrument. Yet Fender sells many American Standard basses every year.

I find as a consumer I rarely buy the cheaper product and instead look for value. My recently purchased Ibanez plays great and sounds good. It did cost less than I got for the Alembic.
 
Cheaper product? With all possible respect I suggest you check the basses for sale section of talk bass.

On a regular basis multi K instruments are listed. I sold my Alembic because my cash flow wasn't what it should be. I now play a cheaper bass. But hardly a junker.

The Squier you mention is a perfectly adequate instrument. Yet Fender sells many American Standard basses every year.

I find as a consumer I rarely buy the cheaper product and instead look for value. My recently purchased Ibanez plays great and sounds good. It did cost less than I got for the Alembic.

Squiers are adequate for sure. That doesn't quite help jobs here.
 
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