Anonymous wrote:https://www.brookings.edu/articles/three-simple-rules-poor-teens-should-follow-to-join-the-middle-class/

3 rules to avoid poverty:

1. Finish High School
2. Have a full-time job
3. Don't marry or have kids before age 21.

Just doing these three things gives you a 98% change of not living in poverty. Come on people.

Oh, wow, people who get more money have more money?
Please explain this amazing economic theory in greater detail.

$15/hr was a minimum living wage target 15 years ago. Even at alleged 2% inflation/year, that's over $20/hr now.

But to the main point, of course it's true that rich people will be less rich if they stop stealing value created by poor people.

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/three-simple-rules-poor-teens-should-follow-to-join-the-middle-class/

3 rules to avoid poverty:

1. Finish High School
2. Have a full-time job
3. Don't marry or have kids before age 21.

Just doing these three things gives you a 98% change of not living in poverty. Come on people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If true, we need universal basic income and very robust social services so that people in jobs that do not pay a living wage have access to housing, healthcare, and other basic necessities of life. Otherwise we deal with all the externalities of having a large, desperate underclass -- crime, homelessness, substance abuse, civil unrest, etc.

Pick your poison.

"Access to housing" does not mean no roommates and a bedroom for every child.

Who said it did? My kids attend a school that is pretty diverse socioeconomically, and plenty of their classmates live in apartments AND share a room with a sibling, and it's still a challenge for the family to afford a non-decrepit apartment. And there are many neighborhoods in this area where multiple families are sharing a house- my guess is you don't live somewhere like that so maybe you didn't know?

I was replying to someone, who was replying to the OP which DID say no roommates.

I think high school should do a better job of teaching finances to all, simple rules of demand and supply, manage your career while still being somewhat passionate about your job. I would recommend anyone working minimum wage jobs to look carefully and learn skills to more high paying jobs. It doesn't have to be college educated, but nanny, baby sitter, truck driver, trade school jobs (plumber, electrician etc ) pay a LOT more and there is definite shortage for those skills and certainly add much more value to the society than serving McDonalds.. but hell easier said than done, and I recognize that people may have different circumstances. I just wish all high schoolers were taught that money is important and minimum wage jobs won't cut it.. sure they are stop gap job, but not a career for most

The CEO of General Motors makes more PER HOUR than I make in a year, and I'm a college professor! It's sad that there are people who will never believe that their compensation is enough and who will always desire more.
I'm sure that the CEO thinks her compensation is just and fair and probably doesn't lose any sleep at night worrying about her employees who put off services like having a mammogram because the copay on their insurance is too high, and risk leaving their kids motherless as a result.
I have had some excruciating dental issues recently and it's made me think about all the poeple in the US, including children, who can't afford dental care and who don't have dental insurance. It seems really inhumane that in such a wealthy country we have people in pain from medical and dental conditions, and we have essentially two tiers when it comes to medical care. In a very real sense, we have created a system where the wealthy live to be 90 something, and the poor die when they are sixty. It's hard to believe that we cannot do better.
No one should be homeless in the US. We can afford to do better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If true, we need universal basic income and very robust social services so that people in jobs that do not pay a living wage have access to housing, healthcare, and other basic necessities of life. Otherwise we deal with all the externalities of having a large, desperate underclass -- crime, homelessness, substance abuse, civil unrest, etc.

Pick your poison.

"Access to housing" does not mean no roommates and a bedroom for every child.

Requiring roommates is inane. That introduces so much instability and if you have kids, some rando is living with your family.

We have TONS of land in this country. Make small homes with sufficient bedrooms, duplex’s or triplexes so some yard spafe

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people should be able to live in safe housing and eat without any job at all, so I guess I disagree with you.

Why??? Who is going to do all the work if all animals are equal. Why would anyone work at all?

The only free lunch in life is the one you get from your parents.

They are doing ALL the work. The question is why shouldn't they get a larger share of the value they generate? Because you can't afford to buy a vacation house in Florida or eat out more?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If true, we need universal basic income and very robust social services so that people in jobs that do not pay a living wage have access to housing, healthcare, and other basic necessities of life. Otherwise we deal with all the externalities of having a large, desperate underclass -- crime, homelessness, substance abuse, civil unrest, etc.

Pick your poison.

"Access to housing" does not mean no roommates and a bedroom for every child.

It is obvious that you have no idea how people living on $17 or $20 dollars an hour live. They take public transit with multiple change overs and long commute to get to work, some may have 1 crappy old car to get to work. They rent, very small apartments in dirty and unsafe neighborhoods, apartments that have not been repaired in decades (hello 1980's crappy stove). They can't afford enough food, can't afford to go to the dentist or doctor. They have no money in the bank to cover a small emergency.

Why should the UMC and wealthy live luxurious lives when so many live without dignity?

Anonymous wrote:Change my mind, maybe I am wrong:
Everyone in every job cannot make a wage that allows them to not:
-seek education and/or training to advance into something that pays more
-live with roommates or family
-be in a position where they cannot raise kids on their one salary or with someone with an equivalent salary

https://wtop.com/local/2023/09/health-care-workers-in-dc-area-authorize-strike-against-kaiser-permanente-joining-thousands-across-the-nation/

https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/16l5zjp/why_we_are_striking_at_ford_motor_company/

the COVID-era low skilled worker wage raises seems to have created a sort wage-price spiral--$15 was the request, then $17, but it will never be enough if all low-wage workers make the same thing.

I'm convinced that all the sharp minimum wage hikes we did a few years ago has contributed to ongoing inflation (note- not the sole reason!). They all kicked in around +/- COVID so it was easy to blame that instead.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If true, we need universal basic income and very robust social services so that people in jobs that do not pay a living wage have access to housing, healthcare, and other basic necessities of life. Otherwise we deal with all the externalities of having a large, desperate underclass -- crime, homelessness, substance abuse, civil unrest, etc.

Pick your poison.

"Access to housing" does not mean no roommates and a bedroom for every child.

Who said it did? My kids attend a school that is pretty diverse socioeconomically, and plenty of their classmates live in apartments AND share a room with a sibling, and it's still a challenge for the family to afford a non-decrepit apartment. And there are many neighborhoods in this area where multiple families are sharing a house- my guess is you don't live somewhere like that so maybe you didn't know?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have too many negatives in one statement. Wish I could figure out what you are trying to say. I would love to discuss it all.
I have worked minimum wage jobs most of my life and even below minimum because of long hours and nobody forced the minimum wage or it didn't exist back then. At some point, my health simply gave up because of the long hours without a break.
I wish it was minimum wage always (I have made $20 for 10 hour shift many times) and then I simply live with friends, roommates, relative to claw out of it or get a better paying job or two. ( I have had 3 at once, but still minimum).
Several of us ended up in ER from work - that's how brutal it was even for 20-something people. One co-worker collapsed on the street and got a cab to ER. That day put her in negative $400 which was one weeks pay.
There are jobs that don't even pay minimum. I have $0 in my social security statement for two years I worked. The business owes me and IRS tens of thousands.
I have had two jobs that cost me more to go to work than to stay home. Neither paid minimum.
I would tell you how to climb out of DC minimum wage job, but it's much harder to climb out of below minimum that I was put through.

Ironically, given the topic she seems passionate about, she seems incapable of cobbling together something coherent.

Grammar means you had to do some work in school. And work is against OP's personal beliefs.

Anonymous wrote:You have too many negatives in one statement. Wish I could figure out what you are trying to say. I would love to discuss it all.
I have worked minimum wage jobs most of my life and even below minimum because of long hours and nobody forced the minimum wage or it didn't exist back then. At some point, my health simply gave up because of the long hours without a break.
I wish it was minimum wage always (I have made $20 for 10 hour shift many times) and then I simply live with friends, roommates, relative to claw out of it or get a better paying job or two. ( I have had 3 at once, but still minimum).
Several of us ended up in ER from work - that's how brutal it was even for 20-something people. One co-worker collapsed on the street and got a cab to ER. That day put her in negative $400 which was one weeks pay.
There are jobs that don't even pay minimum. I have $0 in my social security statement for two years I worked. The business owes me and IRS tens of thousands.
I have had two jobs that cost me more to go to work than to stay home. Neither paid minimum.
I would tell you how to climb out of DC minimum wage job, but it's much harder to climb out of below minimum that I was put through.

Ironically, given the topic she seems passionate about, she seems incapable of cobbling together something coherent.

Anonymous wrote:I think people should be able to live in safe housing and eat without any job at all, so I guess I disagree with you.

Why??? Who is going to do all the work if all animals are equal. Why would anyone work at all?

The only free lunch in life is the one you get from your parents.

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, you lost me in the double negative in the first part of your capitalist manifesto. What are you trying to say?

+1