Welcome to the Age of the Working Age Poor

[McCamy Taylor]

Buried in the US Census statistics yesterday was this alarming fact:

It shows a sharp increase in poverty since the US recession started in December 2007. Among the working-age population, poverty increased from 11.7 to 12.9 per cent, reaching the highest level since 1960s.

http://seerpress.com/one-in-seven-americans-lived-in-poverty-in-2009/7063/

Huh? Working poor? Isn’t that an oxymoron? Hard working citizens who finish high school and then go on to college are supposed to live the American dream. If you work hard in your youth, by middle age you should be a manager---or, at least, a senior employee---pulling down a good wage, with a nice retirement package waiting for you at age 65. You should have job security. You should own your own home. There should be plenty left over to send the kids to college, so that they can become the next generation of hard working Americans---

Should doesn’t mean shit anymore. Welcome to the Animal Farm where old work horses are sold to the glue factory when they stop turning a handsome profit for business.

What is wrong with middle aged workers (from the point of view of a corporate CEO)? Lots of things. They have more chronic health problems, so they drive up the cost of employer sponsored health insurance. They are closer to being vested in a retirement plan----which is nothing but a drain on company profits. They make higher wages than some 22 year old straight out of college. They make much higher wages than an employee in India.

That’s why the new mantra in the U.S. is First hired, first fired.

I work in a medical clinic for folks who have no health insurance but who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid. You know, the working poor. Everyday, I meet hard working Americans who have paid their own way for 20-30 years. They all tell variations of the same story. After their heart attack, they discovered they had no job to return to. Their jobs were moved overseas. They were this close to qualifying for a pension, before their employer suddenly eliminated their job---and replaced it with one that was mighty similar. They can no longer meet their mortgage payments on the salaries they earn as cashiers. They are living on their brother’s sofa. Every month, they get to choose---car payment or medication. They hate the fact that they have to rely upon publicly financed health care. They hate having to use food stamps and rent vouchers. They hate having to count the hours until they reach age 65 and can collect Social Security and qualify for Medicare. They hate their lives----

They come to see me for depression medication, insulin, high blood pressure drugs. But what they really need is a prescription for a decent job. Sometimes, I wish I was Congress. Maybe then I could fix what really ails them.

[uncommon]

1. Read more carefully -- "working AGE poor" -- meaning

those who are done with school but have not reached retirement age.

[butterfly77]

2. Kick,kick,kick &recommended!

:kick: :kick: :kick:

[Newest Reality]

3. And the travesty is

that there is no political will evident to do one damn useful or effective thing about this that I can see.

We seemed to have cross the Rubicon on this. The barrage of manufactured ideas and information, as well as the concentrations of power and wealth have closed-off legitimate means or efforts to underscore and emphasize that this is a tremendous, national crises with incredible consequences to every single one of us, regardless of our situation or circumstances.

So, we are left to our own devices. Many will remark. Some will curse a bit and feel rage. Few will do anything but feel more dis-empowered, confused and frightened. Others will find distraction in the plethora of news and information spewing from the tap of unlimited distractions. Meanwhile, Rome truly burns in that sense. Well, this is the remake, or maybe the sequel.

I am left to conjecture, yet it comes to me like some sort of intuitive result and I hesitate to relate it. Why? It sounds far to conspiratorial in this glowing blue world that plays like a theater of the absurd. I try to go out for some popcorn, but the thoughts linger on the way to the lobby. This show may very well be scripted and, it seems, the movie ends very, very badly for the extras -- a cast of millions. Yet, the show must go on.

[McCamy Taylor]

4. There is a will. Right now, the working poor feel guilty--as if it is their fault.

Therefore, they do not speak out (loudly).

Add a few more percentage points onto the statistic above, and suddenly, without warning, the working poor are going to be very loud as they realize that their plight is not their own fault, it is the fault of the system.

[Doctor_J]

5. I doubt it

Many of the working poor that I know are devout Hate Radio listeners, and are much more worried about African presidents and immigrants than the fact that the American Dream has been murdered.

[TBF]

6. And why are we not giving them something to talk about?

Maybe they are falling for FAUX news propaganda, but that does not excuse the democrats from doing the job they were hired to do. If unemployment goes down and we were looking at a growing economy, the hate-mongers wouldn't have much to hang their hats on.

[Doctor_J]

7. Because Glenn Beck holds a lot more power than a few million citizens

Things have improved greatly since Jan 2009. that's why hate radio has turned its attention to birth certificates, immigrants, epithets, and the like. They don't need anything to hang their hats on.

They completely saturate the country with lies, diversions, hatred, and overblown peccadilloes. No amount of success is going to change that. Get used to it - until we make some very serious moves against Big Media, there will be no change

[TBF]

8. How have "things improved greatly"?

I wish I could see those improvements. I agree that it's nice to have a president who is articulate and attractive, after the last one I would've been thrilled with one smarter than my seven year old. But I'm not seeing these elusive "improvements".

[Hannah Bell]

9. no, because the democrats & other organized groups aren't talking it up.

you can't blame the right when the other side DOESN'T MAKE THE CASE.

[Doctor_J]

10. Talking it up where?

what platforms do they have to talk it up? No real Dems like Grayson are given any air time.

[Hannah Bell]

11. if that's the case (& i don't believe it is), then the party should lead on that issue,

using the money it has (considerable) to organise infomation-dissemination at the grassroots/local level.

the party has this capacity, as demonstrated with the obama effort.

it will not do it because it is compromised by the same big-money interests you say have taken over the media.

[cap]

13. facebook, twitter... look at Palin

she ignores MSM... but creates a buzz where they flock to her...we should do likewise.

We are getting beaten at our own game

[Doctor_J]

14. Oh, please

Come on. Grayson is smarter, more experienced, more accomplished, funnier, and more quotable than Palin. MSM ignores him because he's an experienced, accomplished, funny, quotable Democrat. If we had a Palin on our side - a stupid, practically illiterate, inexperienced, 5-college, white-trash female - she would be mocked and ridiculed instead of worshiped.

What do you mean by "getting beaten at our own game"?

[McCamy Taylor]

20. Obama can not be ignored. It is his job to get out there and spread the word that Dems

care and are trying to do something.

[txlibdem]

23. Good point. The wealthy control most of the media outlets

So use the FCC and anti-trust laws to break up those media monopolies. Outlaw foreign ownership of TV, radio, newspapers, and digital information sources targeting an American demographic.

90% of talk radio is psycho right wingers. Bust them up, close them down, hold them accountable for hate speech, etc. Why haven't the Democrats done anything like that? Your guess is as good as mine.

[obxhead]

24. If these improvements were so great they would speak for

themselves without any help from the politicians or media.

The fact is things really have not changed all that much.

Unemployment remains about the same though, foreclosures remain about the same, and the general wealth of the population is still falling.

[McCamy Taylor]

19. 50% of Americans have "no opinion" about Tea Party. 25% have negative opinion.

The majority of working poor are probably in that first group. If the Dems would speak directly to them, they would listen.

[lumberjack_jeff]

25. Some introspection is in order.

To the guys described by the OP the progressive message is filled with abstractions... and blame, in fact.

Economic populism is the light. But no one really wants to go there.

[Liberal_in_LA]

12. kick

[DesertFlower]

15. here in arizona

an individual income tax credit is available for contributions that provide assistance to the working poor.

[bergie321]

16. But unions are no longer necessary...

:sarcasm:

[jwirr]

17. I read that figure this morning but did not realize that it was just among

the working age group. That means that there are many that are not included. Wonder what it would be if age were included?

[McCamy Taylor]

21. Poverty is around 14-15%, one in seven. Children and the elderly always have a lot of

poverty in this country, even when times are good. Traditionally, people of working age do not.

[Dappleganger]

18. Giant K&R

[earcandle]

22. Thank you for your compassion, and communication skills. Peace and prosperity to you. and all.

Lets invent it if it doesn't yet exist! 

[avaistheone1]

26. k&r