Inequality Rages as Dwindling Wages Lock Millions in Poverty

[JReed]

The official unemployment rate in the US may be slowly ticking down, but the rank of those who classify as 'the working poor' has continued to skyrocket, according to a new report.
Along with overall income inequality growth in the US, a new report by Working Poor Families Project says that over 200,000 families fell into poverty in 2011 even with both parents working.

National job growth saw a recovery from the worst days following the 2008 housing crash and subsequent financial crisis, but even as the recession ebbed in some areas or for some groups, many middle class or lower-middle class workers who returned to employment did so with much reduced wages.

As lead author of the report, Brandon Roberts, points out in an op-ed at Reuters on Tuesday:

These are not just the unemployed. Rather they are families that, despite having a working adult in the home, earn less than twice the federal poverty income threshold – a widely recognized measure of family self-sufficiency. They are working, but making too little to build economically secure lives. And their number has grown steadily over the past five years.


...

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/01/15-2

They are cashiers and clerks, nursing assistants and lab technicians, truck drivers and waiters. Either they are unable to find good, full-time jobs, or their incomes are inadequate and their prospects for advancement are poor.

[leftstreet]

1. DURec

[Phlem]

3. I rec'd it

and the sad thing is I just got off a thread with everyone all fired about one word. The waste of energy, I think there 172 replies, was grand.

This is the news and it's only gotten 10 rec's. I wonder where our priorities lie.

Thanks for the post JReed.

-p

[hay rick]

9. Laughed when I saw your thread in Meta.

DU has a lot more energy to expend on gender issues than economic issues these days. Pathetic.

[Phlem]

10. Thanks buddy

It does get real silly around here and I was hoping that we could refocus on "real issues" other than an f'ing "word". Then when I tried to humanize it with my personal issue's, which are daily encumbrance to me, I got twice the crap. It's like the north and south pole flipped or something.



Take care man.

-p

[6502]

12. The real problem is the damn LOLCATS...

... and "look at the mean Repubs" theads...
... and all those wasteful meme GIFs...
... and other distractions.

But I don't even see gender stories make it to the front since last year.

But gender is a real issue that is part of the mix.
We all have to work together.

We rise together or die apart.

I only come by now to look for the gems that have been allowed to sink to the bottom of the lake and show them to people elsewhere who actually give a damn.

Sadly, I feel DU cannot be rescued from this madness.

[Phlem]

15. agreed

the word I used is used in all types of context and the immediate tone was not meant as a gender slam. But I must look out for the thinner skinned among us. I have no gender issues but was made out to have one. That's when I really must disagree.

Damn LOLCATS.

-p

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

2. Kick

[Agony]

4. Milton Friedman is cheering from his grave.

slimy frigging jerk.

Warren Buffett is in the same class of despicables only worse as he pretends to be a philanthropist.

[VPStoltz]

5. And the SOBs at the top of the heap are sitting on gajillions.

Let's call it what it is - GREED - plain and simple.
I guess because they couldn't find the word "compassion" in the constitution, it's a non-starter.

[Phlem]

14. +1

"Greed" one the most horrible words in the English language.

-p

[Wellstone ruled]

6. Welcome to Ronald Reagan's Amurica.

Watch our younger folks struggle to make ends meet in a Right to Work For less State,One full time job buck or two above minimum wage and at least one part time job at what every. These kids just make enough to just qualify for Food Stamps,free Medicare,free or reduced School lunches,they are trapped in this cycle. Irony as it is,they hate our President and all those Liberals that caused all this. Yah right,so much just plain Ignorance of what a real life should or could be. Irony of all irony,these same people reelect goofs like Hatch,Lee,Bishop,Chavese and of course AG Swallow the six hundred thousand man.

When you remind them that it was all of us Lefties that brought about the Social Safety Net and these family saving programs,oh boy,get ready for the shit fight of your life. Living the altra leftwing life in a Red State is such a damn hoot. Fantastic!!!!!

[Wellstone ruled]

7. Welcome to Ronald Reagan's Amurica.

Watch our younger folks struggle to make ends meet in a Right to Work For less State,One full time job buck or two above minimum wage and at least one part time job at what every. These kids just make enough to just qualify for Food Stamps,free Medicare,free or reduced School lunches,they are trapped in this cycle. Irony as it is,they hate our President and all those Liberals that caused all this. Yah right,so much just plain Ignorance of what a real life should or could be.

[JReed]

11. Actually

inequality is non-partisan which is to say it is bi-partisan. The facts bear this out.

Studies have found income grew more unequal almost continuously except during the economic recessions in 1990-91, 2001 (Dot-com bubble), and 2007 sub-prime bust.[38][39]
The Great Divergence differs in some ways from the pre-Depression era inequality. Before 1937 a larger share of top earners income came from capital (interest, dividends, income from rent, capital gains). Post 1970, income of high-income taxpayers comes predominantly from "labor", i.e. employment compensation.[40]

Until 2011, the Great Divergence had not been a major political issue in America, though stagnation of middle class income was. In 2009 the Barack Obama administration White House Middle Class Working Families Task Force convened to focus on economic issues specifically affecting middle-income Americans. In 2011, the Occupy movement drew considerable attention to income inequality in the country.

[edit]Most recent statistics
From 1992 to 2007 the top 400 earners in the U.S. saw their income increase 392% and their average tax rate reduced by 37%.[41] The share of total income in America going to the top 1% of American households (also after federal taxes and income transfers) increased from 11.3% in 1979 to 20.9% in 2007.[42] During the Great Recession of 2007-2009, inequality declined, with total income going to the bottom 99 percent of Americans declining by 11.6%, but falling faster (36.3%) for the top 1%.[43][44] However disparity in income increased again during the 2009-2010 recovery, with the top 1% of income earners capturing 11.6% of income and capital gains, and the income of the other 99% remained flat, growing by only 0.2%.[45][46]

...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_United_States

[Phlem]

17. I looked at my IRA

and in the past 3 months I made .03 cents. The middle class is the issue because it is the backbone of America.

I don't know what else to do. I worked in tech which was off shored around 2008. I paid for my own education and was reaping the rewards until the rug was pulled out from under me. I'm still employed as a contractor but the pay is 1/3 less than what i was making and it's difficult to find a job that I'm qualified for that let's me have a life outside of work. It's either work and die or starve and live.

personally fucked.

It would be o.k. if I didn't have dependents but I've got a wife and child.

The kind of country we're slipping into is what we used to see else where in the media.

no cola forever and welcome to Murica.

-p

[Phlem]

18. PS

I always tip well on purpose.

-p

[JReed]

19. Sorry to hear all that

Truly.

To my mind the thing is that you and yours shouldn't have to work so much to survive. Lower food costs, cheaper rent/mortgage, lower property taxes and of course free health care.

Education should be free as well.

[Phlem]

20. amen brotha

-p

[moondust]

13. "Millions" are spending their retirement money

to pay off credit cards and meet expenses. Withdrawing from 401Ks, etc.

According to NBC Nightly News on Tuesday.

[reformist2]

16. Never mind cashiers, I'm seeing accounting jobs going for $10 an hour.

[Zorra]

21. K&R nt