The surging ranks of America's ultrapoor

[JSCh]

Selling plasma to survive: how over a million American families live on $2 per day - Vox

 

[VCheng]

It's okay. They can eat the new Virginia Class submarines.

Yes, they can do that, or get off their rear ends, and study and work hard to improve themselves. It is their choice, after all.

 

[Donatello]

Yes, they can do that, or get off their rear ends, and study and work hard to improve themselves. It is their choice, after all.

Study is no sure shot way out of poverty....i saw that happen in USA......

 

[VCheng]

Study is no sure shot way out of poverty....i saw that happen in USA......

Nothing is a sure shot, here, or anywhere else in the world. Gotta keep trying.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

What's the racial composition of these 'ultrapoor'? What is the role of open door illegal immigration and amnesty for the illegals?

When an amnesty occurs for illegals i'm sure there is a spike in the "poor" index as a percentage can now jump on the dole and be officially recognized.

 

[Donatello]

Nothing is a sure shot, here, or anywhere else in the world. Gotta keep trying.

I think one way this could work is if government notes down the number of these people and their families. Corroborate the facts and determine what kind of jobs would be good for them.

A person with a job at, say, McDonalds takeaway also has a job....but he makes too little to be of any benefit to him or his family. Government can then put them through technical colleges, skills based where they can go and learn new skills and earn more. There are plenty of community colleges that allow mature students and allow people to educate themselves....and some can then transfer to a full university. My university had a quota each year that they would definitely admit people from community college regardless of their age/skills.
But then again, the problem is the steep tuition fee.

When i was in the UK, i had a 42 year old person studying engineering with us 20 somethings. He worked in the Royal Navy as a mechanic for 20 years, family issues and you know the usual hard life. He barely saved enough from his job. But when he retired he took up engineering at a university. Since he had not done a degree before, he was eligible for fees grant by the UK government. The UK government pays for your first degree and you don't pay the money back unless you are earning a certain amount per year and that too without interest. Anyway, he graduated first class and got a job with Siemens.
At least his life accorded him a second chance. In that age he could've done some menial minimum wage job and claimed food stamps and council housing, but he did not.

 

[VCheng]

I think one way this could work is if government notes down the number of these people and their families. Corroborate the facts and determine what kind of jobs would be good for them.

A person with a job at, say, McDonalds takeaway also has a job....but he makes too little to be of any benefit to him or his family. Government can then put them through technical colleges, skills based where they can go and learn new skills and earn more. There are plenty of community colleges that allow mature students and allow people to educate themselves....and some can then transfer to a full university. My university had a quota each year that they would definitely admit people from community college regardless of their age/skills.
But then again, the problem is the steep tuition fee.

When i was in the UK, i had a 42 year old person studying engineering with us 20 somethings. He worked in the Royal Navy as a mechanic for 20 years, family issues and you know the usual hard life. He barely saved enough from his job. But when he retired he took up engineering at a university. Since he had not done a degree before, he was eligible for fees grant by the UK government. The UK government pays for your first degree and you don't pay the money back unless you are earning a certain amount per year and that too without interest. Anyway, he graduated first class and got a job with Siemens.
At least his life accorded him a second chance. In that age he could've done some menial minimum wage job and claimed food stamps and council housing, but he did not.

There are many such programs, and you would be surprised how affordable it all can be, particularly community colleges. For those who wish to better themselves, there is plenty of opportunity.

 

[TaiShang]

Of course US riggs unemployment and poverty numbers. Even presidential candidates state this.

 

[VCheng]

Of course US riggs unemployment and poverty numbers. Even presidential candidates state this.

Of course!

That is why we see such long lines of people desperate to escape USA.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Are you absolutely sure that there're no American poor who live on gabage dumps, Peter?

Maybe in small rural dumps you will find a person here or there looking for some metal or deposit bottles to salvage. But it would be impossible to live or scavenge in a large one without being evicted for trespassing.

You are more likely to see people scavenge the streetside plastic/glass/paper recycle bins for special soda bottles/cans (eg you can get $0.05 for a typical coke can in some states) than going to a dump to scavenge metal or something. Most people don't cash in their bottles so its easy to find them.

Pretty sure there's more than $2 worth in those bags.

 

[Faiez]

Census Bureau Data Sheds Light on America's Poor - US News

"Blacks are the most likely racial group to live in poverty. Twenty-seven percent of blacks live at or below the poverty line. Those of Hispanic origin are next most likely, at 23 percent. From there, the numbers drop off significantly. Just over 10 percent of Asians are poor, followed by whites."

Census: Americans in ‘Poverty’ Typically Have Cell Phones, Computers, TVs, VCRS, AC, Washers, Dryers and Microwaves

Americans who live in households whose income is below the federal “poverty” level typically have cell phones (as well as landline phones), computers, televisions, video recorders, air conditioning, refrigerators, gas or electric stoves, and washers and dryers and microwaves, according to a newly released report from the Census Bureau.
In fact, 80.9 percent of households below the poverty level have cell phones, and a healthy majority—58.2 percent—have computers.

Fully 96.1 percent of American households in “poverty” have a television to watch, and 83.2 percent of them have a video-recording device in case they cannot get home in time to watch the football game or their favorite television show and they want to record it for watching later.

Refrigerators (97.8 percent), gas or electric stoves (96.6 percent) and microwaves (93.2 percent) are standard equipment in the homes of Americans in "poverty."

More than 83 percent have air-conditioning.

Interestingly, the appliances surveyed by the Census Bureau that households in poverty are least likely to own are dish washers (44.9 percent) and food freezers (26.2 percent).

However, most Americans in “poverty” do not need to go to a laundromat. According to the Census Bureau, 68.7 percent of households in poverty have a clothes washer and 65.3 percent have a clothes dryer.

The estimates on the percentage of households in poverty that have these appliances were derived by the Census Bureau from its Survey of Income and Program Participation. The latest report on this survey, released this month, published data collected in 2011.

Here are the percentages of households below the poverty level that the Census Bureau estimates had the following appliances:

Clothes washer: 68.7%

Clothes dryer: 65.3%

Dish washer: 44.9%

Refrigerator: 97.8%

Food freezer: 26.2%

Stove: 96.6%

Microwave: 93.2%

Air conditioner: 83.4%

Television: 96.1%

Video recorder/DVD: 83.2%

Computer: 58.2%

Telephone (landline): 54.9%

Cell phone: 80.9%

The remainder who have none of the above are alcoholics/drug-addicts living in a box, destroying their lives themselves.

There's no such thing as poverty in USA. It's a country where even *11 million illegal immigrants are living decent lives. So you can't really say that the ones living legally don't have the opportunity to get out of their conditions by just a little bit of hard work.

*btw that democrat estimate of $400-600 billion being required to remove these 11 million illegals is really funny. That's roughly $36k-54k/head, so on average about $45,000/head. That means upto half a million for a 10 person family. I bet you can get legals, let alone illegals to immediately leave the country by paying them less than $10,000/head.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

The remainder who have none of the above are alcoholics/drug-addicts living in a box, destroying their lives themselves.

There's no such thing as poverty in USA. It's a country where even *11 million illegal immigrants are living decent lives. So you can't really say that the ones living legally don't have the opportunity to get out of their conditions by just a little bit of hard work.

*btw that democrat estimate of $400-600 billion being required to remove these 11 million illegals is really funny. That's roughly $36k-54k/head, so on average about $45,000/head. That means upto half a million for a 10 person family. I bet you can get legals, let alone illegals to immediately leave the country by paying them less than $10,000/head.

You really have to try to live poorly. In my state they put you in a free apartment (with stove and refrigerator) with free healthcare, water, heat, electricity, and a cell phone. A van comes around delivering a free meal each day. Plus a few hundred $ a month to live on.

...they get so addicted to the freebies they don't ever want to work again.

 

[Nicky G]

When an amnesty occurs for illegals i'm sure there is a spike in the "poor" index as a percentage can now jump on the dole and be officially recognized.

Yes, that's obvious however I was interested in the racial composition of these free-loaders even before the amnesty. People don't like to talk about such things due to a misguided sense of political correctness, but that's just stupid.