UNITED WAY says almost half of U.S.households can't afford the basics

On today's MSN main news page there is a featured news item from the United Ways ALICE project.ALICE stands for ASSET LIMITED INCOME CONSTRAINED EMPLOYED.The news item says that 43% of U.S.households cannot afford the basic necessities for a worry free life.The main cause of the problem, too many working at substandard wages of less than $20 per hour.People are working full time jobs but they are not earning enough to keep their heads above water.

 

80% of all wealth created in 2017 went to the 1%, we are creating jobs alright, crappy jobs and wealth is becoming increasingly more concentrated while the average person becomes less relevant economically. We are well on the way to creating a useless class in this country.

 

We're in a severe crisis in this country.

Affordable housing and medical care in particular are beyond the reach of tens of millions.

House of cards waiting to collapse.

 

We just seem to go from bad to worse.

 

The working class has been on an ending downward trajectory since 1980.The introduction of the 401K and the termination of private company pension plans spelled the end of the middle class.

 

Lot of people "working" at full time jobs aren't working- they are passing time, doing only as much as it take to keep from getting fired. As the labor shortage gets worse, more of the deadwood will be hanging around longer, price to produce goods will go higher, and they will find it even harder to afford the necessities for a "worry-free life".

All you have to do to make money is to be worth money- be an asset that can help the company. When $100 bills go on sale for $50, everybody wants to buy- and when a guy who can bring good profit to a company does it, he is in demand and well paid. The cheap, indifferent worker with no ambition is the worst value by far- and the easiest to find.

It's just like nature- if you don't hunt, you don't eat. Well... almost like nature. We aren't smart enough to realize how we weaken people by subsidizing the lack of motivation, making them dependent, so we have taught a lot of our children to think they are entitled to live well without earning it.

 

The reign of global Neo Liberalism, banking is the savior of all, and exploitation of the global masses for the enrichment of the ultra rich in order to ensure a top heavy economy with little regulations so risk taking was taken to new heights. Including new financial tools to supposedly give out riskless debt to the poor to buy homes and in the process create apolitical capital in the form of CDOs and synthetic CDOs in order to massively enrich the ridiculously wealthy and to give banks the liquidity to lend out even more risky loans. The next recession willbe a big wake up call, that this system of constantly putting ourselves into death spirals and extreme risk taking runs out of people to exploit at the bottom and those impacts reverberate upward through society, and a general lowering of expectations sets in and then human studity takes over.

Meanwhile we are arguing over stupid side shows concerning Trump's incompetence while he props up misleading evidence that the economic good times are here to stay or really here for the majority of Americans. $1 trillion in consumer credit card debt, $1.5 trillion in student loans. This banking is the answer to everything has created $247 trillion debt, with likely over a quadrillion in derivatives hanging over the market like an octopus on the face of society, waiting to cash in on the crash.

My guess is China will have a sovereign debt crisis and currency crisis, and banking crisis, which could trigger the same in the EU and US. It will likely grow out of emerging markets, the most exploited and gravitate outwards like a contagion. Its already happening, but the US Stock and Bond bubble is propping things up a bit longer thanks to the tax cuts, which helped the Republicans have more time to get power.

 

And like not be sick, but yes give us some more of your Social Darwinist BS.

 

Thanks obama.

 

Trump has had TWO YEARS to fix it - has he???

 

Well, plus outsourcing, uncontrolled immigration, endless war, dwindling natural resources, exploding human populations, the continuing worldwide subjugation of women as incubators, climate change, etc.

 

And really, you're being optimistic.

 

obama had 8 years to screw it up. Trump has improved things quite alot.

 

I shall resist coming into this. MAGA, my arse.

 

Yet they all have televisions and computers? Someone's priorities are askew. Maybe these people need to make better decisions...

 

The "poor" have cars, computers, cell phones, x-boxes, air conditioning, and $40,000+ per year in government benefits available per year for food, housing, etc.

No one is suffering. If you want to go to the next step and give them vacation homes on the beach or in the mountains, you're going to have a hard time finding support.

I was looking for an apartment last year and found a luxury apartment in Dallas with 1,200 square feet, 2 bedrooms and 2 baths for $600 per month. I contacted their management and was told it would be $2,000+ for me. The $600 monthly rent was only for people with low incomes. What gives them the right to enjoy the same quality of life as I do? I worked my ass off and obtained a graduate degree and I've been working for 35 years. Meanwhile, they dropped out of high school and have been fired from every job they've ever had .... but in the end, due to socialism, we end up in the same place. What a joke.

 

And just what are these necessities?

 

Yep, US consumer debt is almost $4 trillion. Like GWB's expansion, Trump's too is entirely fueled by debt. Debt by both the public through deferred taxes (err tax cuts), and the private sector in form of credit card debt, auto loans etc. The only aspect that hasn't picked up yet is housing, people are still gun shy from 2007. Just wait a bit, they'll come around.

Of course, we all know how debt-based expansions end.....

 

Oh yes, we would all be so much better off if, like animals in the wild, children would starve if their parents can't afford to buy food.

Look animals in nature have a 30% lower life expectancy than those in captivity, and that is after they make it past childhood. Humans are more like animals in captivity, who are cared for, in terms of life expectancy. Anyone who advocates for social Darwinism with the "you don't work you don't eat" nonsense has to realize what their policies would give us, if implemented.

 

So you want to be a house cat?

Maybe if you can find somebody willing to empty the cat box in a timely manner and feed you twice a day, I have no problem with that.

Good luck!

 

Exactly. I feed 5 kids and my wife and myself on a total of $115 a week. The bill goes up a few bucks when I buy non-food items, but it still stays under $150. That's usually $500 a month for a necessity. My house is $650, another necessity. Clothes per season can be around $50 a month per kid, while the youngest gets hand-me-downs, so $200. Electricity is $100. Water is $60. That's all the necessities for about $1510 a month. Now I chose to have the 5 kids AFTER I was making good money. The cost for "necessities" is less than half of my paycheck after taxes. I have 15 years of experience in a job that only requires a high school diploma. Anything else is a luxury.

 

Many employees (some estimates state 1 in 3) at many large and successful corps (Walmart, Amazon and McDonalds included) receive food stamps. The companies and owners/shareholders are doing exceedingly well, but their employees are underpaid.

 

Getting rid of food stamps will incentivize those people to change their life styles. Forcibly raising their pay through government will probably get them fired. People would accept such meager wages if they weren't first subsidized. This is called market forces, and it will always be there like gravity.

 

This response was entirely predictable. Keep living in your illusion of free will. In reality, everyone is shackled by the constraints of the social network we live in. If you don't want to be, you can live the dream of freedom and individuality that Chris McCandless lived -- and paid a high price for.

 

You and I see things differently. You see the elimination of assistance, and I see the implementation of a minimum wage. We can go back and forth all day on this, and we will continue to see it differently.

When owners/executive are living like kings, they can afford to pay higher wages.