Poverty in America...Living Wage Calculator

I think its about time americans started to realize they live in the same world as everyone else!
Your castigating somebody for posting a world calculator is egregious!
Your fat asses have been subsidised for decades by ripping off the rest of the world while playing bully to every smaller country youve done business with.
The utter selfishness of your greedy and rapacious corporate and goverment activities of the last decades is comming home to roost.
Good on ye!
Far as im concerned no disaster ot too small for you!
The facts show that america is sucking back its Karmic debt
and its good to see you starve like the rest
The little people in this world have been paying for as long as industrialisation has been a global phenomenon.
Its plain you dont give two sh&ts for the rest of us.
So why should we not get a kick out of watching you suffer from the same ills amerika has inflicted upon the world!
You people dont even know how sicko you are!

reply to post by stirling


Off topic. Not to mention misleading (it was not a world cost of living versus wage calculator, as I covered before) and very presumptuous. But thank you for your comments.



[edit on 22-6-2010 by ~Lucidity]

reply to post by stirling


I might take some offense to this statement if it wasn't so chock full of blind hatred for an entire nation. To write off every citizen of a place in the way you have is extremely narrow-minded and shows a lack of maturity. If what you say you truly believe, that America is going to bite the big one due to a Karmic boomerang, then you also must believe that all impoverished nations in the world were once wealthy and are experiencing the pains of Karma as well. No one deserves to not have what they need to keep their families alive and healthy. Unfortunately, this isn't possible all the time everywhere. I don't believe it is Karma. I do believe it is the rise and fall of nations. There are very charitable people in this nation, just like every other nation. There are very greedy people in this nation, just like any other. The wealth of poverty of a nation does not control the spirit and character of an individual.

reply to post by MotherofBlessings


Well done and thank you for choosing to stay at home with your children and thus making the world a better place. Your sacrifice is appreciated.
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Too many Americans ( any westerner really) consider "cost of living" to have to include things that are NOT a cost of living. How many women work full time because they "can't afford not to". That's just rubbish.

Do you know why our parents could afford to do what is better for society as a whole? They didn't think that Ipads, and two weeks at the Disney parks, and boob jobs were part of the cost of living.

We work hard for the corporations that make the stuff that we think we need in order to be fulfilled thus making them richer, and us more tired and poor.

To what end?

Our children disrepect us, our youth are drunken and slovenly, our pensioners are ignored, and you and I are are running around trying to fulfill the "American" dream.

Stop working so hard to be able to buy more crap. Look where it has brought us all?

reply to post by mblahnikluver


Was she unemployed when she got pregnant?

If so, its their fault for being irresponsible.

reply to post by Merigold


I tend to agree with the definition of cost of living being vast and varied. That's a big part of the reason I thought the discussion would more interesting around a baseline such as the calculator provided in the OP.

We might view one side benefit to all this economic unrest and turmoil as being the refocusing of priorities and changing this definition...for ourselves if for no one else.

Though it would be nice too if the government would realize that those who do need assistance are probably larger in numbers than they can imagine and take steps to remedy this somehow, either with more jobs or cost offsets or tax breaks or something?

reply to post by brainwrek


Sometimes babies come when babies come. Not mine to judge. It's also very sad if people who want and welcome babies rely solely on their financial status to not have them.

reply to post by brainwrek


I agree and don't agree with this statement. How do you like that for a paradoxical statement?! Babies aren't always planned, in fact often, they are not. They are always a blessing though, no matter what the circumstance. To try to have a child while unemployed may be very irresponsible, but no form of birth control is 100%. I had my tubes tied after my last child and even that is not a guarantee.

Also, children are as expensive as you allow them to be. Do you need brand new gear, name brand clothes, and fancy trips? Or are you ok with hand-me-downs and craigslist purchases, and day trips to parks? Kids eat what you make for dinner if they are hungry. They don't need special clothes, special food or special anything ... they just need to know that they ARE special through love and consistency.

reply to post by ~Lucidity


I think it's quite responsible to take financial status into account before having a child.

If you dont mind burlap sacks and feeding the child dandelions and breast milk until it's old enough to eat squirrel meat then go ahead and have a kid when you cant afford it.

People take into account (at least they should) finances past present and future when considering expenses as large as a home and as frivolous as cable television and weigh accordingly the risks and long-term variables before making or not making a purchase.

A human child should take at least as much time to consider as an appliance does.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere

I'm not disagreeing with you. I probably meant if that's your sole decision factor or point, it's sad. That plus the definition of financially ready and capable varies a lot, doesn't it?

Originally posted by ~Lucidity


Though it would be nice too if the government would realize that those who do need assistance are probably larger in numbers than they can imagine and take steps to remedy this somehow, either with more jobs or cost offsets or tax breaks or something?

It isnt the duty of government to provide or create jobs, nor is it the duty of government to take care of the individual through unconstitutional social assistance programs such as welfare.

Originally posted by ~Lucidity
reply to post by brainwrek

 

Sometimes babies come when babies come. Not mine to judge. It's also very sad if people who want and welcome babies rely solely on their financial status to not have them.

They damn well better rely on their financial status when choosing to have a baby.

Relying on taxpayers to subsidize their personal choices defines irresponsibility.

reply to post by brainwrek


Who said anything about relying on taxpayers? I guess some people do do that, but many more people in this country don't take a penny from the government and still manage to love and feed their babies.

[edit on 22-6-2010 by ~Lucidity]

reply to post by ~Lucidity


The original post I replied to asking if the woman was unemployed when she got pregnant stated that she had applied for foodstamps.

That would be relying on the taxpayer.

reply to post by brainwrek


Ah...gotcha. Things can change in a flash these days too though. It's hard to try to stay positive and even harder to become so desperate that you find yourself in that situation.

Originally posted by ~Lucidity
reply to post by mblahnikluver

 

Yeah, that's why I decided to post it...if anything they err on the side of being more than reasonable and still the numbers aren't great, are they?

I feel for your friend. It's amazing how many people are in that boat. And yet it doesn't appear that nary anyone in Congress cares. It's not as if they don't know, is it?

Yup agreed. My friend is upset because she doesn't know what to do. All she can do is wait and reapply in August. It's insane here in FL, the cost of living is crazy and there are no jobs, yet they love to make it seem like FL is so great and everything is hunky dory here. It's not. I live by the Space Center and when the shuttle program ends, it's going to make this area like a ghost town.

People in Congress don't care. They have what they need to survive, they see those of us who don't have fat salaries like that as beneath them. Telling them does no good, although I have tried.

Originally posted by brainwrek
reply to post by mblahnikluver

 

Was she unemployed when she got pregnant?

If so, its their fault for being irresponsible.

No she wasn't and even if she was who are you to tell someone what's irresponsible to another? Huh? You aren't in their shoes. If you must know she was on the pill!

reply to post by mblahnikluver


Oh wow! I used to live in Cape Canaveral in the 80s. On Fillmore Drive. It was pretty much a ghost town then...but I'm assuming it thrived during the Clinton years? I can't imagine how it is today.

Originally posted by brainwrek
reply to post by mblahnikluver

 

Was she unemployed when she got pregnant?

If so, its their fault for being irresponsible.

No she wasn't and even if she was who are you to tell someone what's irresponsible to another? Huh? You aren't in their shoes. If you must know she was on the pill!

Originally posted by ~Lucidity
reply to post by mblahnikluver

 

Oh wow! I used to live in Cape Canaveral in the 80s. On Fillmore Drive. It was pretty much a ghost town then...but I'm assuming it thrived during the Clinton years? I can't imagine how it is today.

Ha wow! I live in Merritt Island actually, I work in Cape Canaveral. My friend lives on Fillmore! Ha!

Yeah back in the day it was great in this area, even two years ago but over time it's gone to crap. Everything here is pretty much tied to the Space Center so when it comes to an end later this year it's going to get really bad here. We have already lost a lot of people who work out there and a new group just got laid off. It's nuts.