Supporting "Bum" culture

Quote: petroglyph

Unicorns should poop skittles.

The wealthy should help the poor.

Quote: FrGamble

The wealthy should help the poor.

Maybe God should cut them a check and everyone can drive a BMW and have a pool?

Quote: Fleastiff

What is this world population nonsense? A living wage is determined by geography and is often most visible in upscale areas wherein the fast food workers and bank tellers must commute from outlying areas because rents are too high to support locals.

Many ski resorts fill this bill. We impose liability on a burger joint if they force their staff to work excessive hours while driving over curvy mountainous roads, but we do not impose on the burger joint an obligation to pay enough to allow their employees to live locally and resist corporate scheduling powers.

But the 'world population' ain't got nothing to do with it. A village in Africa may have a certain 'average annual income' but its of no relationship to the income of Aspen or San Francisco or anything else in America. The American dream does not embrace 'and if you can't get a well paying job you can move to Africa and eat grasshoppers.' Our TV sitcoms do not show penniless Bangladeshians as role models or career choices.

The joke is 'Another day gone by and I have not used algebra' NOT 'Another day gone by and I have not drunk from an open sewer and eaten a rat'.

You are referring to a "comparable standard of living" while I am speaking of a "living wage". A living wage is basic housing that provides protection from the elements, enough food to sustain you, and some basic clothing. A family that lived near me until recently had a three bedroom house that they rented. It was parents in one bedroom, their two sons and their wives in the other two bedrooms. The sons had a total of three kids. Five of the six adults worked, the other watched the babies. I really doubt that any of them made much more than minimum wage. They were definitely poor and they lived a very basic.life but seemed to be surviving just fine. For me that is all it takes for a living wage.

Quote: DRich

. A family that lived near me until recently had a three bedroom house that they rented. It was parents in one bedroom, their two sons and their wives in the other two bedrooms. The sons had a total of three kids. Five of the six adults worked, the other watched the babies. I really doubt that any of them made much more than minimum wage. They were definitely poor and they lived a very basic.life but seemed to be surviving just fine. For me that is all it takes for a living wage.

Multiply that household times a couple hundred in a community and what you get is a blighted area, no additional community resource funding as no one really has any money. I mean, that's the recipe for it. Just sayin'

Looks like Sweden is the place to go if you are going to beg. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-04-11/sweden-overwhelmed-gypsies-begging-has-become-occupation#comments

Sweden is paradise for panhandlers, which has free medical and dental.

Quote: petroglyph

Looks like Sweden is the place to go if you are going to beg. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-04-11/sweden-overwhelmed-gypsies-begging-has-become-occupation#comments

Still, you got a thousand pigeons shitting all over the place, it's basically the pigeon lady's fault.

Quote: FrGamble

I agree with Fleastiff. A living wage means that someone who is working for a living should be able to reasonable live and provide for his/her family. This could look different in different countries and even in different counties. It is a shame that in America you can work full time at many jobs and still find yourself unable to afford a roof, food, clothes, and other essentials.

The idea of a "living wage" is noble but flawed. In the USA we have this idea that every job is supposed to support a family of 4. But reality is many jobs are simply not supposed to do this. In fact it is pretty much impossible from an economics standpoint. Many jobs are not really even supposed to support one person.

Many jobs are "side jobs" or "entry level" jobs or both. And be thankful we do not require a so-called living wage. I have taken many the side/second job to pay something off, make ends meet, or simply get ahead with cash. Had there been a living wage requirement, those jobs might well not have existed for me.

Those fast-food jobs we hear people complain about give a source of income for millions of younger people. Said younger people either can then help support their families or get their own start in life. Seniors work them as well, some to make ends meet or some to buy things for their grandkids.

What is wrong with this?

I know there is the idea that some people have not the skills to get better work, but that is something people need to develop for themselves. The parable of the master who left three servants with various talents of gold is a lesson here.

Quote: AZDuffman

The parable of the master who left three servants with various talents of gold is a lesson here.

Master, a tax collector came and took the Talents from me, built roads, schools, bought schoolbusses, paid teachers a fortune, paid cops a fortune. I sent my sons and daughter to the school. They learned draftsmanship in a world of AutoCad, they learned 'sales' in a world of Convenience Stores, they learned the New Math in a world that requires the Old Math, They brought home diseases which wrecked their parents lives..... Now they live at home with no privacy for a wife and no money for one either, we have three clunkers but code enforcement tells us that is too many to park on our lot, we eat dinner together but they all fall asleep from long work hours.... so that is what happened to your Talents.

I suggest that everybody just drive for Uber and Lyft (except EvenBob). Basically self employed and work as many hours as you want. They even have programs where you can rent the car for the week if you don't have your own.

Work sucks, that's why they pay you to do it. If it was a great deal of fun, people would work for free.

I once talked with a commercial fisherman who said each of his 3 kids had their own places by the time they were 20. I asked him how that could be?

He replied, work them hard enough and they will leave.

" A job provides a lot more than just a paycheck" p/glyph.

Another thing I have noticed is that, many non working younger people [20's-30's] who can't seem to find steady employment, when taken aside, have stated openly that they are anxious to receive 'their' inheritance. They are consciously waiting for someone in the family to die and leave them some money as an economic plan .