What is poor in America? (1 Viewer)

Thanks for the reply, but you don’t know anything about my altruism and philanthropy. If you would like to come work at Our Daily Bread, I will happily get you an apron and a hair net if you so desire.
He's not questioning your philanthropy, he's questioning your use of limited observation to dismiss well-documented phenomena derived from American socio-economic forces.

Also not sure why you are framing this as an either/or situation?

It can both be true that running a soup kitchen can be helpful to a poorer community, and more people should do it, but those people being served still need to see doctors, get medicine filled, have accessible jobs that provide a living wage, and have their children educated in quality schools to ensure we have ladders out of hereditary poverty. And downward pressures on those safety nets increase the rungs on those economic ladders one needs to climb to get out of poverty, not decrease them. And as nice as soup kitchens and donation drives are, they aren't a perfect replacement for those sorts of services and never have been.

I may have the terminology wrong, but slowing growth is not budget cuts.

Example, your budget is $10,000. Normally you get a 5% increase, this year you only get a 4 % increase. I may be wrong, but I’m not. lol
It depends on what you are defining as growth. It's slowing the growth of government safety net expenses, sure, but it achieves that by putting more of the cost burden on the people benefitting from those programs you just cut in order to achieve those cost decreases for the government.
 
I applaud you and everybody else working to make a difference. And that's a lot of us, since our consumerist society of cheap goods allows us to pass along old clothes and other items, and make those quick donations as we check out at the register to whichever various philanthropic group is looking for assistance.

All of that adds up to an important contribution to helping the less fortunate, but also a very unreliable and inadequate cumulative approach on its own.

We can charitably put food in bellies and shoes on feet with relative ease because we live in a society where those exist in abundance (which shouldn't be confused with ease of accessibility, fwiw). My wife and I throw away food each week (I think, in part, because much of what we buy is oversized for our needs) but the average poor person doesn't have the same easy access to our unintended excesses.

I used to buy groceries once a week. And inevitably every week we threw away food. Now I pretty much shop daily. If we have left overs, I have found some people to give them to, but not always.
 
I may have the terminology wrong, but slowing growth is not budget cuts.

Example, your budget is $10,000. Normally you get a 5% increase, this year you only get a 4 % increase. I may be wrong, but I’m not. lol

When you look at the other side of the equation, it can be, effectively, when you measure population growth with other factors that contribute to demand.
 
I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "bickering about the fringes" but I have a lot of respect for your overall point in this post. It gets to the related concept of livable wages in this country; pay somebody enough to live on and they become less reliant on government assistance and charity.

As for fringes, I think the bigger problem is there are those people who too often categorize the single, hardworking moms as existing among the fringes.

It’s hard to mandate a wage. I can’t pay a non performer the same thing I do a performer. At least in our business.
 
When you look at the other side of the equation, it can be, effectively, when you measure population growth with other factors that contribute to demand.

True and we can do the math for each individual expenditure. However, it’s much easier to seem like you have a point when you scream budget cuts.
 
True and we can do the math for each individual expenditure. However, it’s much easier to seem like you have a point when you scream budget cuts.
Because you are unable to follow along. or refuse to, does not mean a point doesn't exist.

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It’s hard to mandate a wage. I can’t pay a non performer the same thing I do a performer. At least in our business.

Well, mandating minimums has been policy for decades - the fight is over increases. Regardless, a mandated wage doesn't preclude performance evaluations, or an incentive pay scale on top of basic wages.

But my point isn't so much to argue for mandated wages as to illustrate that to survive, people either need to make enough through wages, or receive assistance, or steal. That's just a basic acknowledgment of what it takes. So, if you want people to require less government assistance, they need to make enough through employment.
 
Well, mandating minimums has been policy for decades - the fight is over increases. Regardless, a mandated wage doesn't preclude performance evaluations, or an incentive pay scale on top of basic wages.

But my point isn't so much to argue for mandated wages as to illustrate that to survive, people either need to make enough through wages, or require assistance, or steal. That's just a basic acknowledgment of what it takes. So, if you want people to require less government assistance, they need to make enough through employment.

I don’t disagree with you. I just don’t think it is healthy to mandate a $15 or any other arbitrary nbr.

Earlier I said about the fringes. Instead of discussing these things above, the country gets fixated on starving babies and welfare whores.

Most people I know across the spectrum think there is abuse in the welfare system. Most people I know think the government is leaving many people behind. I have no problem with assistance, I have a problem with the implementation of the assistance. Our government has become so bloated that efficiency is a description of an ac unit.

We yell about “paying your fair share” and “evil corporations”, instead of holding public officials accountable for their jobs. That is both sides of the isle.
 
Inefficiencies and bloat are general concepts I think most people say they are concerned about. Some waste is inevitable no matter the system, so we try and minimize that (with plenty of room to disagree about how).

I really don't know how inefficient social welfare programs might be, or have been. Anecdotally, I can speak to a situation my mom is going through. After working to retirement, she faced a sudden onset of major health problems that have left her bedridden and in need of nursing home care in her early 70s. Her teacher retirement doesn't come close to covering the costs of this no-frills facility in Louisiana. If we had to absorb her expenses, it would seriously affect the ability of my sisters and I to plan for our own retirements. I don't know the extent of government waste as it relates to people in her condition, but I can tell you, from experiences like hers that I am familiar with, private costs for care facilities are extraordinarily high. I have no idea what we'd do if she didn't have access to Medicare.

While this gets personal for me, I think it's necessary to discuss real world examples of what people in the lower and middle classes are up against.

I spent years working in tech recruiting and I can tell you that people who think they have it made are often caught off guard by sudden unemployment - illness, firing, layoffs, merger reductions. Many land on their feet but a lot don't. It's expensive to live in America and it doesn't take much to get behind the 8 ball in a hurry. What should keep more people up at night is the reality that what separates them from the others is a moment of really bad news.
 
And maybe I am sheltered living in small town USA. But I do frequent, all major cities in La, Alabama, Tennessee, ms, and Florida. I see grocery stores everywhere.

I also see a lot of dollar stores. To Crosswatt point, I understand to an extent. But then that goes back to choices. I live in pumpkin center. We have 1 dollar store, 2 Convenience stores, a salvage food store and 2 stop signs. However, in both directions there is a grocery within 5 miles. Choices

So, grocery stores within 5 miles.

Do you walk to and from the grocery store? What if you don't have a car?

would you take the bus? How long would it take to get those perishable items home? Would they make it?

Walking is about a 15-20 minute/mile. So, 5 miles would take 75 - 100 minutes. Or, 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour and 40 minutes.
 
I used to buy groceries once a week. And inevitably every week we threw away food. Now I pretty much shop daily. If we have left overs, I have found some people to give them to, but not always.

so you drive to the grocery daily? shop for only what you need for that day, nothing more?

Exxon says thanks.

take those leftovers you cant find to give, start a composting pile. Once compost, plant a community garden.

you have kids?
 
so you drive to the grocery daily? shop for only what you need for that day, nothing more?

Exxon says thanks.

take those leftovers you cant find to give, start a composting pile. Once compost, plant a community garden.

Yes for the most part. I do buy a day or two of fruit if it is nice and Pnut butter, spices garbage bags etc. Not sure if your question.

I have a compost pile that the neighbors kids use for worms to fish in our pond. (That is just for fruits and veggies). Any leftover and scraps of seafood go in the pond for food. I’ve never been a fan of putting proteins and such in my compost. It attracts dogs, rats, raccoons etc

I travel daily, so always passing a store in my turbo charged gas guzzling German suv or my wife’s gas guzzling Tahoe. So yes the gas stations love us.
 

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