I Don't Believe This At All!

woodsrunner

A news release by the Associated Press earlier today:

Four out of five U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on welfare! I'm sorry, but I don't believe this at all. Pull the news release up and read it and tell me if I'm wrong to not believe it! Times have been bad since the crash in about 2006, but it was never this bad! Even in the Depression of the 1930's I don't think unemployment exceeded about 25% or so, did it?

Is there something sinister going on with crap like this being broadcast as news? Or am I being too suspicious? Or am I totally wrong and out of touch with reality?

Teach

Dummycraps are lousy at math, unless they're figuring out how to kick back money to their campaign contributors with under the table bribes. The news media is dedicated to spreading the latest lies the administration dreams up, shouting them from the rooftops. I believe we've gotten to the point that nothing can be done peacefully to stop the politicians' systematic looting of the country, and it really doesn't matter which party has their fingers in the cookie jar.
Jerry

Lerchess

woodsrunner wrote: »

Even in the Depression of the 1930's I don't think unemployment exceeded about 25% or so, did it?

I believe unemployment was right around 25% and another 25% were under-employed in the 30's. I know my grandpa worked 3rd shift 7 days a week for awhile and didn't take any days off just to have a job.

I would say that AP's number is a bit high today, but folks are struggling. And there are a LOT of people getting mailbox money.

Gene L

Here's the article: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/28/americans-poverty-no-work/2594203/

Teach

Gene L wrote: »

Here's the article

Total horse manure! Even during the depression, people with the incentive to make things happen for themselves had work. My grandparents started with an insurance settlement my grandmother received for a job-related illness, and parlayed it into ownership of a coal yard, an ice plant, and a trucking business. They kept most of their neighborhood employed through all of the 1930's, built and sold several houses, and owned several other businesses including a used car lot.

Even back then, there were people too lazy to work- - - - -carloads of coal sat waiting to be unloaded because a lot of the local "laborers" chose to work for WPA for half what my grandfather was offering to pay for shoveling coal. Of course, leaning on a shovel and doing nothing for $2.00 a day was better than getting paid $4.00 to unload a carload of coal, I guess!

Jerry

Michakav

Lerchess wrote: »

I believe unemployment was right around 25% and another 25% were under-employed in the 30's. I know my grandpa worked 3rd shift 7 days a week for awhile and didn't take any days off just to have a job.

I would say that AP's number is a bit high today, but folks are struggling. And there are a LOT of people getting mailbox money.

Heck, i've been struggling to get a day off the last 2 months. Been working 7 days a week. I have had 6 days off since June 17th, 4 of those were for the 4th and 2 this weekend (finally). There are jobs out there if your willing to ACTUALLY work. My company is searching for several more people to fill positions. But, they want people that are actually WILLING to work, no matter what. In my area U.S. Steel is practically begging for people to fill positions. But, it's HARD work and they have trouble finding people to stick around.

I do not mean this post to be pro obamalama, but, there are jobs out there IF you have put your time in to have SOMEWHAT of a skill. I lost my job at Solar Power Industries 2 years ago. Thankfully, I qualified for TRA benefits due to the fact it was a Chinese company. I was able to get free schooling and collect a whopping $220 a week in unemployment. I went to a local (over the hill) tech school for electrical maintenance. While doing that I cleaned the school and cut/weedwhacked the grounds for extra $. I also worked at a local restaurant 4 nights a week for minimum wage. It sure as hell was not easy, but I made it through.

I unfortunately could not land a job in the electrical field right away. Every company wanted 3-5 yrs experiance. So, I applied for a job that wanted my mechanical background and CDL. I landed it no problem.

There ARE jobs out there, no thanks to Obama, but you have to be willing to work your butt off and make yourself known. Nothing comes easy nowadays.

agewon

WASHINGTON (AP) — Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream.

This paragraph alone proves the merit of the stats are impossible. "For at least parts of their lives"?
And what is the Obama administration doing playing this to the media? Isn't this against everything he's been saying? Hasn't he been the savior to our economy?

Gene L

I don't see this as being flattering at all to Obama. I don't think it's true in the larger sense, although it may be true "at least parts of their lives." I know I've been out of work at times. And lived from paycheck to paycheck for a while as well.

But four out of five CURRENTLY? I don't think so. That would mean 20% of us were paying all the taxes, and while that's not so far off, it's not math, either. I don't remember any sources cited in the article.

ghostsniper1

According to my dad, his grandparents and dad didnt even know there was a depression because they were all farmers and lived off the land.

breamfisher

ghostsniper1 wrote: »

According to my dad, his grandparents and dad didnt even know there was a depression because they were all farmers and lived off the land.

I don't find that hard to believe at all. A lot of more rural folks weren't really hit by the Depression due to how much less connected their communities were, and how many more small farms there were. They stayed largely in the same economic class before, during, and after the Depression. They still scrimped and saved, but not because they "lived" through the Great Depression. It's more because that was just the way of life. I know that was the case for my grandparents.

Jayhawker

ghostsniper1 wrote: »

According to my dad, his grandparents and dad didnt even know there was a depression because they were all farmers and lived off the land.

Yep....when asked about the Depression a lot of folks living on ranches out west said "What depression?" "We may have missed a few paychecks, but we had a roof over our heads and full bellies.....if we needed meat, we went hunting"

Razorbacker

alphasigmookie wrote: »

This is a pretty dumb article/argument. From one version I found:







Given that 150% of the poverty line basically means working a low wage job for at least a year, just about everyone has done that at least for a year or two, even if they were in college or living with their parents or whatever.

"We tried our plan and it worked!" Sorry alpha but there is no amount of lipstick that will pretty up this pig. these are real people suffering real problems.
Why don't you move back in with your parents or work a low wage job for a year and get back with me.

coolgunguy

Razorbacker wrote: »

"We tried our plan and it worked!" Sorry alpha but there is no amount of lipstick that will pretty up this pig. these are real people suffering real problems.
Why don't you move back in with your parents or work a low wage job for a year and get back with me.

I don't know, I took Alpha's statement to mean that he found the article to be misleading, which is what I feel as well. The article is worded so that it sounds like 80% of Americans are either out of work or at least struggling. I think 80% is outrageously inflated. As Alpha pointed out, with the wording used, those descriptions could apply to just about anybody if data is taken over a wide enough time frame. Frankly, I (and my family) could be considered 'near poverty'. It all depends on how 'near' your criteria is to an arbitrary line designated by some bureaucratic functionary who neither knows anything about me, nor cares. It doesn't matter that we have enough cash saved to sit out a year without any income, what the bureaucrat thinks is all that matters.

Vic's Viewpoint

What Coolgunguy said. I'm baffled by your response to Alpha's post, Razorbacker. Alpha spent YEARS pursuing higher education just so that he wouldn't have to live with his parents or work a low wage job. That doesn't mean that at no time ever in his
life did he take advantage of enemployment insurance, nor does it mean that he has no idea what working a low wage job is like.

woodsrunner

I was under federal assistance once myself! Had food rations and assistance with housing, and drew $88.00 a month on a federal dole program! All I had to do in return was chip rust, paint and puke my guts out way out yonder in the North Atlantic Ocean :roll2: Mike, I know, and I think a few others were under that same federal program!

jbp-ohio

woodsrunner wrote: »

I was under federal assistance once myself! Had food rations and assistance with housing, and drew $88.00 a month on a federal dole program! All I had to do in return was chip rust, paint and puke my guts out way out yonder in the North Atlantic Ocean :roll2: Mike, I know, and I think a few others were under that same federal program!

Same as today. Any Private in the Army with a wife and a couple kids can get food stamps.....

tennmike

woodsrunner wrote: »

I was under federal assistance once myself! Had food rations and assistance with housing, and drew $88.00 a month on a federal dole program! All I had to do in return was chip rust, paint and puke my guts out way out yonder in the North Atlantic Ocean :roll2: Mike, I know, and I think a few others were under that same federal program!

Yep. Only I got $333.00 a month for a standard average 16-20 hour days work. Y'all ain't lived yet if you haven't painted the side of the hull while underway sitting in a bosun's chair! Or painting the radar mast sitting in same in 10 foot seas. Chippin' and paintin' was every enlisted man's secondary MOS.

It wasn't all bad, though. The ship took us to all kinds of places where the people loved our money and hated our guts! :rotflmao:

breamfisher

Depends on where you live and how many people are in the household. For a family of 4 in the continental U.S. it's $23,550.

http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/13poverty.cfm

Pelagic Kayaker

You have to remember that the leftist media is comparing "poverty" with OC Housewives!

ghostsniper1

A little off subject, but my dad told a story about when he was a kid and grew up in Kentucky and spent alot of time on his grandparents farm. He told us that he had a pet pig that they were fattening up. He didnt know any better and went about his way until the pig was served up for dinner. He said he refused to eat it. Pissed his old man off something fierce lol. But he wasn't steered away from pork either way.

Gene L

My mother and dad were adults during the depression. They lived on a small farm. They said there was enough food, but no money. My dad worked for less than a dollar a day. Considerably less, IIRC. Some things like shoes and clothing required money. They also told about people passing through their area who were basically starving and desperate for food.

I remember my mother crying when we slaughtered hogs. But she got over it and we ate the meat. First eaten was tenderloin, since we had no way of preserving it. It sure was good.

Teach

"If it moves, salute it- - - - -if it don't move, paint it!" I don't remember what the base pay for a married USAF Airman 1st. Class was in 1969, but I do remember buying a box of saltine crackers and eating the whole thing to feel "full" once when the rent was due and the bank account was empty. Barracks rooms and no-cost food at the chow hall were only for bachelor troops. "If Uncle Sam wanted you to have a wife, he would have issued you one!"
Jerry