Here's The Painful Truth About What It Means To Be 'Working Poor' In America

Real story a friend worked at McDonalds and apprenticed through a local program in Cooking and when done went from minimum wage plus a bit to a whopping $12 an hour as a cook at Steak and Shake, and his job prospects are modest since his skills are decent but modest. And he is more than a burger flipper.

 

You can be the greatest hamburger flipper in history.

But its still a dead end job strictly for losers.

 

The problem is that wages DO NOT keep up with inflation. Rent goes up....food prices go up....gas goes up....but wages remain stagnant. The reason wages remain stagnant is because the cost of doing business has gone up tremendously. Most (not all) if the time, this cost of doing business has increased because of Government regulations and/or Government taxation. Don't get me wrong, I believe some regulation and taxes should be in place most of the time, but those regulations and taxes MUST be weight against the harm that they might do within the industry.

The solution is not to raise the minimum wage. This will only cause more hardship of businesses, especially small businesses and will force many of them OUT of business...which in turn increases unemployment.....more people relying on Government assistance....which causes the need for higher taxes (do you see the perpetual loop?). The solution is the regulate inflation, especially medical costs. Instead of trying to focus on the medical insurance industry like the ACA did, the Government should have focused more on medical costs and what needs to be done to decrease them. However, the Medical Association has a very strong lobby in D.C. and our politicians (on both sides) are the best that money can buy.

 

Now, you've just hurt Spongebob's feelings.

 

The solution for entry level low skill jobs like fast food is to close the border with mexico and deport every illegal alien we can find.

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Oh no.

Now i've gone too far.

 

You are sadly out of touch.

 

He's doing good then. According to the Lefties, 10/hr is a LIVABLE wage!

 

Yes, people taking advantage of illegal workers is a problem (knowing they will accept lower wages), but it is only a small part of the problem. Without regulation to curb inflation, the discrepancy between inflation increases and wage increases will still exist and continue to expand.

 

Really?

Between the two of us i'm the only only one making any sense.

Now why don't you tell us what I'm out of touch about?

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Even if they all got amnesty as the quisling class wants, the invaders from mexico would still be contributing to the oversupply of labor that drives down wages for Americans.

 

We know, we know. If anyone is poor, it's because they haven't worked hard enough, right?

 

That is usually the cause. That or they are an addict of some sort.

 

55 and still flipping burgers after 30 years.

This guy is a loser with and endless number of excuses for his failure.

 

Why? Which job would you rather do?

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Love this thread. And we pretend we are a Christian nation!

 

$3,000 per year plus books for 30 credit hours at the local state college which has the SAME courses as the bigger state universities

education is affordable but it might not be at your "desired" school

 

I wonder if some people hate the working poor because they expose the flaws of capitalism.

There are people who don't give a crap about life or contributing to their country's economy, and just sit around playing Xbox while waiting for their check. Then there are people who are working as hard as they can and are no better off than the guy playing XBox all day. How much longer do you think that the working poor will tolerate the apathy from the right? How much incentive does the welfare recipient have to get a job when:

1. Their hard work doesn't pay off.
2. People will claim that they're still not working hard enough.

We keep looking at ways to give the rich more money and more incentive, but what about incentives for the poor? It's easy to blame them or even hate them, but this problem won't go away until solutions are offered.

 

I would help the working poor by deporting illegal aliens so that American citizens could have honest work instead of being welfare leeches and be paid more when they do go to work.

 

"Earlier this year, 55-year-old Glenn Johnson was making about $14,000 a year - or $7.93 an hour - at a Miami-area Burger King. He'd been in and out of the fast food industry for more than 30 years. Recently he watched as his employer reported a 37 percent increase in its quarterly profit, while continuing to resist a minimum wage increase that workers like Johnson have been fighting for."

30 years in and out of the same industry and he never earned raises or promotions?? Sorry something is missing from this story.

Grocery store stockers making $9-10 an hour to start depending on location. Why is he still working for $7.93 after 30 years?

Hell Preloaders at UPS start for that much part time and they get benefits. There are a ton of jobs that pay more then $7.93 an hour why is this slacker been doing the same (*)(*)(*)(*) for 30 years?

Not only that but 7.93 for a full time job is around 16,500 not 14k a year.... Typical Huffington post lies.

 

Good post
What you say is very true








t Republicans. They make it 'out' or UP and think they are genius and worked harder than everyone else and chose not to look back. Democrats make it 'out' or UP and are truly greatful, know that at least a little luck was involved, and don't forget where they came from! It is THE quantum difference between LIBERALS and CONSERVATIVES.

 

Uber Capitalistas will still find ways to punish the poor for all of America's woes. They're just not working hard enough, after all. If they have three jobs, they need to get a fourth.

There are societies that are more prosperous than the USA and treat their poor better. Coincidence? Are poor Americans not worthy of a decent living?

 

most of the damage was cause by corporate greed... they sold America out...

 

Since when has the American Dream been a guarantee for simply "trying"? And PLENTY of people with only a H.S. diploma go on to become entrepreneurs, millionaires, everything. People who go to college for a year and drop out also become successful business leaders. So whats thew point of this asinine article?

Could someone point out the exact time when some people living here became INSANE and expect to fulfill their "dreams" without having any skills or ability to do so??

You want the American Dream? Here's the American &$*#(# Dream!!! Just watched him speak last week in Boston. Grew up poor, Learning disorder(ADD), no college, no experience, no real help, alcoholic father, semi-screwed up family, ect, ect. But the guy is a fracking work horse, who scrapped, scraped, and never stopped trying and busting his a$$!! And now he's a millionaire, fulfilling his dreams. There was obviously something deep inside to drive him that not everyone has, but damn what a trooper.

http://www.johnnycupcakes.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Cupcakes

Learn it. LOVE it. Suck it LIBERALS!!! The American Dream is alive and well, but only for those who DESERVE IT!!!! I respect this guy immensely and should be a template for ANYONE who says the world is against me or I can't do it.

 

minimum wage is set by the state..so what liberal state do you live in?..here in calif it is higher than the federal min wage..

 

You are out of touch about the modern economy. You are using decades old arguments about an economy that is recovering from a crash caused by deregulating the financial sector. The economy has been further harmed by the lack of jobs created by the corporate world. The corporate world has been enjoying revenue from our tax money but hasn't reinvested in our economy. Instead of taking corporate welfare and turning that into jobs for hard working Americans, they are creating jobs for people in third world countries. The GOP argument is that those who are out of work have poor work ethics, completely ignoring the lack of jobs. That is why the GOP is quickly becoming a dinosaur. They are out of touch with the majority of Americans and people like you soak up their talking points and spew them out in forums like this one. The youth of today isn't facing an America full of opportunities for those who make all the right choices and work hard. The youth of America is facing high debt for making the right choice to go to college, only to find out the American dream has been shipped out of this country along with the jobs. People like Elizabeth Warren is speaking out for the majority of Americans and that will begin to be the downfall for any politician that tries to present an argument that is out dated.

 

Read your link
It was not his hard work but a break Given him by fox news

 

Fox came to him, because he was already successful....you trolling dood=)