Op-Ed: 80% of All Adults in U.S. Face Near-Poverty or Unemployment

Young_Chitlin
Young_Chitlin Members Posts: 23,852 ✭✭✭✭✭
By: MAX RIVLIN-NADLER

In a sign of our part-time recovery, four out of every five American adults face joblessness or poverty at some point during their lives.

The survey, released exclusively by the Associated Press, found that America's recession has widened the gap between the rich and poor and increased hardship among whites, who report their highest levels of pessimism about the future since 1987.

Disparity in income, which used to break starkly on racial lines, has narrowed between whites and minorities as more of the middle class has been pushed into the service industry or been forced to take part-time positions.

"It's time that America comes to understand that many of the nation's biggest disparities, from education and life expectancy to poverty, are increasingly due to economic class position," William Julius Wilson, the renowned Harvard professor who specializes on race and the economy, told the AP.

Over the past decade, the study found that the largest losses in wealth have been among working class whites. Prospects for minorities, as always, are not very good, either.
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Comments

  • taeboo
    taeboo Members Posts: 4,669 ✭✭✭✭✭
    This doesn't surprise me, hell Walmart and Kelly Services are the nation's 2 largest employers right now...
  • texas409
    texas409 Members Posts: 20,854 ✭✭✭✭✭
    i can believe this
  • ThaNubianGod
    ThaNubianGod Members Posts: 1,862 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I run my own business so i don't give a ? about you broke ? . If no one is giving you a job, go out and create one.

    I swear you guys can conspire and expose an internet poster's nudes like you're Ocean's Eleven, so use that same brain to create a venture.
  • Ajackson17
    Ajackson17 Members Posts: 22,501 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Truth, so can those dummies come and defend this reasoning. Oh, they must be lazy as hell. They must have had bad grades in school, durr durr dumm dumm durr.
  • lighthearted26
    lighthearted26 Members Posts: 1,362 ✭✭✭✭✭
    This is what i don't understand. Unemployment is so high yet every job has a 30 page assessment on the application. Why make it so hard for people to get menial jobs when you know they need it? And i use to think the assessments weren't that important but apparently they are. They can make or break u as far as getting the job. Walmart's is so stupid i can't even begin to tell u.
  • kzzl
    kzzl Members Posts: 7,548 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Faced both situations in the past, so article ain't surprising. Be like that sometimes.
  • bambu
    bambu Members Posts: 3,529 ✭✭✭✭✭
    This is what i don't understand. Unemployment is so high yet every job has a 30 page assessment on the application. Why make it so hard for people to get menial jobs when you know they need it? And i use to think the assessments weren't that important but apparently they are. They can make or break u as far as getting the job. Walmart's is so stupid i can't even begin to tell u.

    This ? is intentional.............

    They also say that people are not qualified for high-tech jobs, yet everyone has to be trained for their specific role, regardless of qualifications or background..................

    That MBTI ? is a joke.........

  • jono
    jono Members Posts: 30,280 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Most people are a paycheck away from poverty anyway. "Middle class" people found that out the hard way, skip a check or two and you'll likely be on unemployment, welfare and anything else the govt gives away.
  • Zigefresh
    Zigefresh Members Posts: 233 ✭✭
    Hopefully most of em are the damn baby boomers that have been keeping us youngins from getting our jobs. They been taking up space and working for too damn long. It's time for us to take over the workforce now.
  • kzzl
    kzzl Members Posts: 7,548 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 2013
    Another thing is how many of these corporations keep sending jobs over seas. Corporate greed and being able to dodge labor laws. With the population for bodies and plenty of land, it's baffling that America isn't more self sufficient. There's too much ? being made in china and other places that could be made here. Creating way more work opportunities.

  • Zigefresh
    Zigefresh Members Posts: 233 ✭✭
    jay83 wrote: »
    Go to college they said, get good grades they said, get good test scores they said...............

    Lol

    It's all about luck and a shitload of ass kissing nowadays to get the job you want.

  • jay83
    jay83 Members Posts: 5,490 ✭✭✭✭✭
    kzzl wrote: »
    Another thing is how many of these corporations keep sending jobs over seas. Corporate greed and being able to dodge labor laws. With the population for bodies and plenty of land, it's baffling that America isn't more self sufficient. There's too much ? being made in china and other places that could be made here. Creating way more work opportunities.

    I even read that china is making tons of money off of kimchi. Which is koreas food. But japan is buying kimchi from china cause its cheaper.
  • Chef_Taylor
    Chef_Taylor Members Posts: 26,584 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 2013
    80% is a high number...I wouldnt say im poor but what do they consider poor?
  • Chef_Taylor
    Chef_Taylor Members Posts: 26,584 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 2013
    jono wrote: »
    Most people are a paycheck away from poverty anyway. "Middle class" people found that out the hard way, skip a check or two and you'll likely be on unemployment, welfare and anything else the govt gives away.

    2 bd room apartment rent $1,125 after all bills paid prolly see anywhere from $6-700 left to spend/save... is that middle class?All this poor, middle class, rich classifications confused me..ill just say im making it because im damn sure not rich.
  • Zigefresh
    Zigefresh Members Posts: 233 ✭✭
    Doubletee wrote: »
    80% is a high number...I wouldnt say im poor but what do they consider poor?

    Below 30k.

  • Chef_Taylor
    Chef_Taylor Members Posts: 26,584 ✭✭✭✭✭
    So 80% of americans make right at or under 30k a year.
  • Chef_Taylor
    Chef_Taylor Members Posts: 26,584 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I run my own business so i don't give a ? about you broke ? . If no one is giving you a job, go out and create one.

    I swear you guys can conspire and expose an internet poster's nudes like you're Ocean's Eleven, so use that same brain to create a venture.

    since you have your own business you you should offer one of these unemployed ? a job instead of calling them broke ? .

    Cant ? stand people like that.
  • kzzl
    kzzl Members Posts: 7,548 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Doubletee wrote: »
    So 80% of americans make right at or under 30k a year.

    I don't think it's that simple. Cost of living might be a factor to consider. I reckon 30k a year is closer to poverty in NY, but closer to middle class range in the south. Some how, some way, they've got the system to wear it balances out. A person might need 60k for middle class one place, but still live no better than a person making 30k in another area.
  • Chef_Taylor
    Chef_Taylor Members Posts: 26,584 ✭✭✭✭✭
    kzzl wrote: »
    Doubletee wrote: »
    So 80% of americans make right at or under 30k a year.

    I don't think it's that simple. Cost of living might be a factor to consider. I reckon 30k a year is closer to poverty in NY, but closer to middle class range in the south. Some how, some way, they've got the system to wear it balances out. A person might need 60k for middle class one place, but still live no better than a person making 30k in another area.

    Gotcha