"The Working Poor"

[cosmicdot]

(rate the article '5')

THE WORKING POOR
Sun Apr 25, 9:40 AM ET Add Top Stories - Chicago Tribune to My Yahoo!


By Tim Jones Tribune national correspondent

The food line begins to form during the sunrise chill, more than two hours before the metal gates to the Care United Methodist Outreach pantry open.

Hundreds of people like Theresa Ware arrive early because they fear the boxes of food stacked in neat rows will be gone by the time they push their rusty grocery carts to the head of the hours-long line. Ware keeps an eye on her watch because she can't afford to be late for work, not even if the reason is to pick up food.

"This is a have-to case for us. It's humiliating," said Ware, 49, who makes $7.50 an hour working the afternoon shift at a nursing home. This recent visit was one of two food pantry stops she and her unemployed husband, Rocky, make every month.

"We shouldn't have to do this," she said.

Theresa and Rocky Ware toil in the ranks of the working poor, a growing category of millions of Americans who play by the rules of the working world and still can't make ends meet.

After tapping friends and family, maxing out their credit cards and sufficiently swallowing their pride, at least 23 million Americans stood in food lines last year--many of them the working poor, according to America's Second Harvest, the Chicago-based hunger relief organization. The surge in food demand is fueled by several forces--job losses, expired unemployment benefits, soaring health-care and housing costs, and the inability of many people to find jobs that match the income and benefits of the jobs they lost.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington think tank, reported recently that 43 million people are living in low-income working families with children. Other government data show the number of people living below the official poverty line grew by more than 3.5 million from 2000 to 2002, to 34.6 million. And the U.S. Department of Agriculture (news - web sites) reported that the number of Americans who don't know where their next meal will come from--categorized as "food insecure"--jumped from 31 million to 35 million between 1999 and 2002.

~snip~

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2027&e=1&u=/chitribts/theworkingpoor

http://makeashorterlink.com/?N40113F18

[Zeke]

1. I Read It...

Breaks my heart.

And I'm pleased the writer balanced out stating neither Bush, Kerry or even Edwards, visited that Ohio area hit most hard.

Kerry, are you listening?

Because Bush sure is Hell is not?

[rfkrocks]

2. must read-thanks

:kick:

[jhewitt]

3. the sad part

The sad part of the article is that, while they mention that LBJ's "War on Poverty" has failed, they don't even suggest that this would indicate that this kind of government intervention creates more problems than it solves.

This clearly indicates to me that the next US economic collapse will be blamed on a lack of government intervention, just like the Great Depression was. Then we can look forward to another FDR-inspired "New Deal".

Now would be an excellent time for young Democrats to familiarize themselves with the real effects of the New Deal, rather than the propaganda we were fed in public school. FDR's policies were a massive failure, as the US economy was at a standstill throughout his entire tenure.

The underemployment that we are complaining about now was a hallmark of the New Deal. FDR created jobs out of thin air and gave them out like candy to the desparate public. He simultaneously created money out of thin air and handed it out to failing businesses. It's not surprising that no economic growth emerged from this awful strategy - at least, not until WWII allowed us to capitalize on the tragedy that befell Europe and Asia.

[strategery blunder]

4. Would you rather return to the Gilded Age?

I would strongly suggest that you read How the Other Half Lives. It can be found online here. Warning: This is a full novel.

Ah, no workers' rights, class disparity beyond bu$h*'s wildest dreams, 'wage slavery,' how fun.

Not all of FDR's policies were successful. I will admit that. However, when this country had gone through previous depressions (the one in 1890 was nearly as bad as the Great Depression), the politicians just sat on their butts, letting the poor people eat cake. There was NO regulation. Regulating business and labor had literally never been tried before, I don't fault FDR for not getting it perfect on the first try.

Unemployment did actually decline through most of the Depression while FDR was in office, the exception being 1937-1938. However, it had a long way to drop, and FDR couldn't wave his hand to make it go away.

Some of FDR's policies DID create jobs. Why did we have an eight-hour workday for several decades (we don't anymore because the corporate whores have found creative ways to get around it)? Because someone realized that one 16-hour shift could be split into two 8-hour shifts, employing two people instead of just one.

Before the Great Depression, the country experienced periodical and exaggerated boom-and-bust cycles. The busts came down HARD; the sluggish economy now doesn't even remotely compete. While Depression-era regulation wasn't perfect, its lingering effects have helped to cushion the blow of economic downturns.

Would you mind elaborating on the 'real effects' of the New Deal? Unemployment declined from about 25% when FDR took office to around 15% right before war mobilization, IIRC. While 15% unemployment by no means constitutes a happy economic picture, it WAS an improvement.

[NJ Blue Collar]

8. I think part of the problem

is how corporations have underminded unions in the last 30 or so years. (Union corruption hasn't helped, either). The average "white collar" worker can be as much as a wage slave as anyone who worked on the line in 30s.

But don't get me started on Wal-Mart.

[mhr]

5. Republicans Worst Nightmare - People Like Myself

Unemployed 4 years!

Two College Degrees:
BSEE
MBA

Special Training:
FAA Certified Commercial Pilot

Military Service:
Officer United States Navy

Professional Work Experience:
Long and Varied

Slowly becoming impoverished!

Can't get low income jobs - too much experience, too many aliens
Can't find middle class white collar jobs - outsourced or already filled

So, jhewitt are you now going to say I and others did not work hard enough, or play by the rules well enough, or stay off drugs, or a whole host of other excuses that Republicans use to excuse the misfortune of others?

Your argument does not hold water and I and others are living proof of the lie!

[SpartacusSC]

6. Situation not quite as bad, but similar......

Here is my family of four for the past 4 years.

Ph.D. - employed - earnings slightly above the state median for a family of 4.

spouse - unemployed (now no longer officially counted as such d.t. elapsed time - over qualified for WalMart. ;) ).

We have not had a cost of living increase in the last 3 years (though I consider myself lucky, because 1/2 to 1/3 of my coworkers have been laid off). Our "real income" has steadily fallen:

15-25% per year increase in Health insurance;
75% increase in fuel/energy;
10-20% increase in education/tuition costs per year with a daughter entering college (and she has found it difficult to work and contribute to her own college fund, because traditional sources of employment for teenagers are being taken by adults desperate to support their families); and,
now other basic (relatively demand inelastic) commodities like milk/dairy products are rising.

This is indeed a fine economy.

[Only Me]

7. Rated article 5 n/t