General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"For millions of Americans, poverty isn't caused by the inability to work ..."
Shandris
(3,447 posts)...who all work and work full-time for the opportunity to be paid next to nothing.
This pic is so very true, and that's in an area where CoL is low. It only gets worse the closer to a coast you get from me.
randys1
(16,286 posts)Otherwise increasing min wage would be something they would care about
We are going to ALL be in poverty very soon unless we do something VERY dramatic
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)Not to mention child labor laws!
smallcat88
(426 posts)I've been told numerous times what a good worker I am but a raise? Or full time? They don't have the payroll. Not my manager's fault. That decision comes from much higher up. From a guy worth billions. I looked it (him) up.
Skeeter Barnes
(994 posts)We have to stop relying on crooked, elitist politicians in both parties to do something for the working class. They do not care about us. We have got to organize.
Beartracks
(12,827 posts)A really interesting interview:
http://www.salon.com/2014/06/01/help_us_thomas_piketty_the_1s_sick_and_twisted_new_scheme/
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Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)I would like to belong to a party that makes this an election-year issue
csziggy
(34,139 posts)At least as many times as the House Republicans voted on repealing Obamacare!
Every single time the House Republicans block a vote or vote against increasing the minimum wage, that should be used as a campaign issue - against all Republicans and against every individual that votes against increasing the minimum wage.
Some day, I hope to see a true living wage in this country. Anyone who works full time should get paid above poverty level and receive full benefits, in my opinion.
Wounded Bear
(58,766 posts)Thanks!!
radhika
(1,008 posts)When desperate workers keep showing up to enrich major profitable firms - while they and their families can't meet basic needs without assistance or debt - we have a moral crisis.
IMHO, 21st century capitalism has become a completely malign bargain and a business model that a democratic society should not tolerate.
dotymed
(5,610 posts)replaced Democracy.
geretogo
(1,281 posts)Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)Tsiyu
(18,186 posts)using an EBT card, automatically assuming that person has no job or work ethic.
Most of the people I know on EBT also have jobs. It's just that you can work a 60 hour week and still only bring in 20 grand a year at the dismal rate companies are paying, and if you can find two crappy part time jobs to get you that many hours.
When you've got health issues, kids, medical debt, a mortgage, etc, 20 grand won't even cover the basics.
So yeah, this is the reality, in this poster
McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)also living in poverty, because if she didn't have the kids to support, she might be able to go back to school and get a degree.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)davidthegnome
(2,983 posts)At my place of work, there are several workers who have been there for over five years (one in particular has been working there for 17) and are still making minimum wage. I make eight an hour - and even that, my employer (a multi-millionaire) considers quite generous.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)De Leonist
(225 posts)That The Class War started in Earnest. Time that we all RADICALIZE, ORGANIZE, UNIONIZE!
fasttense
(17,301 posts)we all RADICALIZE, ORGANIZE, UNIONIZE!
I just don't think Americans have the guts to fight back.
Initech
(100,129 posts)It's not the jobs! It's the wages! And the Republicans are doing their best to take labor relations back to the stone age. Which is why the thought of a Rand Paul or Scott Walker as president with a super majority in the House scares the living shit out of me, and it should scare you too. They will reoeal Obamacare and expect even worse.
JayhawkSD
(3,163 posts)I apologize for shouting, but wake up people. Minimum wage is lousy pay, and even if you raise it, it will still be lousy pay. She's talking about well-paying jobs, jobs that pay enough that one person working one job can raise a family, and that's what we should all be talking about.
That's what this nation used to be about. People working at jobs that were careers that rewarded them.
Focusing on minimum wage and striving to make the minimum wage a "living wage" is turning this nation a "minimum wage nation." Do we want to be a nation where minimum wage is the goal? When I got out of the Navy I was immediately making more than ten times the minimum wage doing manual work in a factory. It doesn't matter what the minimum wage was then, the point is that it was not my goal to work for that amount.
Creating 200,000 new jobs does no good if they are all minimum wage jobs and it takes three of them to provide for a family of four.
We should be demanding that new jobs be created that pay $35, $40, $45 per hour doing meaningful work. I don't know how we do that, but I'm not being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to sit in Washing and talk through my ass, either. The people who are being paid with our tax dollars are being paid to come up with answers and we should be telling them the kind of answers we want, not simply accepting the bullshit answers they give us.
geretogo
(1,281 posts)steal a political office .