Re:How a call girl can earn far more by actually working far...
by _pius on Wednesday August 25, 2010 @11:33AM
(#1633107)
It fits.
The Heritage Foundation study assailed the Census Bureau's definition of poverty. My point made no comment about that; I was just debunking the idea that a family of four can live "easily" on a single minimum wage income, which is preposterous.
Re:How a call girl can earn far more by actually working far...
by count on Wednesday August 25, 2010 @01:08PM
(#1633428)
I agree - which is why MOST low-income families of four have a parent who works two minimum wage jobs, which pushes them just above the 'cant make it' threshold (hopefully).
Re:How a call girl can earn far more by actually working far...
by yummyfajitas on Wednesday August 25, 2010 @02:06PM
(#1633634)
These must be low income families above the poverty line. Below the poverty line, the typical household is supported by 800 hours of work/year (the 8 hour work week).
Re:How a call girl can earn far more by actually working far...
by zeteo on Wednesday August 25, 2010 @02:11PM
(#1633649)
" I was just debunking the idea that a family of four can live "easily" on a single minimum wage income, which is preposterous."
An idea that you made up yourself to fight with, and was never supported by anyone else. If karma points were made of straw, you'd be the undisputed champion.
Re:How a call girl can earn far more by actually working far...
by _pius on Wednesday August 25, 2010 @02:18PM
(#1633666)
It occurs to me that you may not know what a strawman is. It's not attacking a strawman if I'm rebutting a direct quotation from you.
Re:How a call girl can earn far more by actually working far...
by zeteo on Wednesday August 25, 2010 @02:27PM
(#1633689)
My quotation was "a single person on full-time minimum wage can easily feed and house a family of four". This you confirmed, and it says nothing about other desirable expenses, such as savings, nice clothing and health insurance. The straw man you made out of it is
"I was just debunking the idea that a family of four can live "easily" on a single minimum wage income".
That's BS, my friend.
As of 2001 (the most recent data I've seen), more than 2/3 of poor households had at least 2 rooms/person, and only 6% were overcrowded. Just under 3/4 owned a car.
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2004/01/understandi...
In the same year, 80% of the poor neither had nor were looking for a job, so bus fare is irrelevant to most of them. (This number hasn't changed much up to 2008, I haven't seen 2009 data.)
http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpswp2001.pdf
It would seem that even most of the poor do not suffer the problems you describe.
(I'd love more current numbers, anyone have them?)