American poverty figure edges up to 46.5 million

[gavinfielder]

The number of Americans in poverty rose slightly last year to 46.5 million, according to US Census data, despite a stock market recovery.

BBC News - American poverty figure edges up to 46.5 million

 

[Fisher]

Why would stock market improvements affect poverty rates when poor people generally don't own stocks?

 

[gavinfielder]

Why would stock market improvements affect poverty rates when poor people generally don't own stocks?

They wouldn't. Which begs the question: why the hell is a rising stock market considered an indicator of economic "recovery"?

 

[Fisher]

They wouldn't. Which begs the question: why the hell is a rising stock market considered an indicator of economic "recovery"?

A lot of folks like to murkily imply that if the market does better, the big corporations will create more jobs and increase consumer confidence, therefore we must focus only on doing what is good for the stock markets. People always mock me for it, but I still maintain that the biggest driver of trade policy in the US has been what is good for auto sales, and it has been that way since the 80's when those evil Japs at Toyota started eating into Detroit's profits big time with their more economical and fuel efficient vehicles in the late 70's and 80's.

 

[specklebang]

They wouldn't. Which begs the question: why the hell is a rising stock market considered an indicator of economic "recovery"?

Maybe the stock market indicates a rising economy for some people and not for others. More money is being made overall, sales are up etc. Just because more money is made doesn't mean that everybody gets a piece of that money. So 264 million people are not living in poverty.

I hate to sound like a scratched record but automation, communication and outsourcing have created a gap in employment. There is no more work for the strong back, weak mind sector. We don't have sweatshops and assembly lines. So this is the new reality. I'm unable to visualize what our Fearless Leaders can do about this. Sure, the government can "create obs" but that's just bandaging unless the government becomes an employer and makes sweaters or something. Transistor radios perhaps?

In short - things ARE getting better, just not for everybody.

 

[gavinfielder]

In short - things ARE getting better, just not for everybody.

Well that's pretty much all our problems right there.

 

[specklebang]

Well that's pretty much all our problems right there.

Yes, and it isn't fixable (according to the Specklebang Think Tank). So there's no point in being mad at Congress or mad at Obama or mad at (__________fill in political party) because the is not **** all they can do about this. Well, maybe that's not true - we could just let them starve - but that's not a likely solution. This is a different era, thats what happens when times pass. We've been through massive changes before. The end of the agriculture age, the industrial revolution and more recently the computer age being followed by the robot era. Every shift of this magnitude displaces some people.

 

[Fisher]

Maybe the stock market indicates a rising economy for some people and not for others. More money is being made overall, sales are up etc. Just because more money is made doesn't mean that everybody gets a piece of that money. So 264 million people are not living in poverty.

I hate to sound like a scratched record but automation, communication and outsourcing have created a gap in employment. There is no more work for the strong back, weak mind sector. We don't have sweatshops and assembly lines. So this is the new reality. I'm unable to visualize what our Fearless Leaders can do about this. Sure, the government can "create obs" but that's just bandaging unless the government becomes an employer and makes sweaters or something. Transistor radios perhaps?

In short - things ARE getting better, just not for everybody.

The most important thing is to stop doing crap to send more jobs overseas (yes I am talking about Mr. Obama and is Pacific Trade crap he is working on).

Communities need to stop looking to Washington for the answers because they are incapable of targeting problems. My city suffered for years under NAFTA and GATT, and tried its hardest to recruit big companies to replace the loss of big companies with not much success. Eventually all the "experts" who did stupid things like spend a half million bucks for a marketing firm to come up with a city slogan that my 6 year old could have created, those folks were kicked out the door. The next step was to do it ourselves--get anybody who had jobs here. 200 new jobs was as good as 2,000 and we have slowly inched our way back down to better economic numbers. It is complex. We take any money available and do what we can. For instance pairing historic redevelopment money with economic development money with infrastructure money with state money with local money to put together most any deal we can. It is working, just over a much longer time frame. A lot of our new companies are, interesting enough, foreign owned looking to put facilities here in the US.

 

[specklebang]

The most important thing is to stop doing crap to send more jobs overseas (yes I am talking about Mr. Obama and is Pacific Trade crap he is working on).

Communities need to stop looking to Washington for the answers because they are incapable of targeting problems. My city suffered for years under NAFTA and GATT, and tried its hardest to recruit big companies to replace the loss of big companies with not much success. Eventually all the "experts" who did stupid things like spend a half million bucks for a marketing firm to come up with a city slogan that my 6 year old could have created, those folks were kicked out the door. The next step was to do it ourselves--get anybody who had jobs here. 200 new jobs was as good as 2,000 and we have slowly inched our way back down to better economic numbers. It is complex. We take any money available and do what we can. For instance pairing historic redevelopment money with economic development money with infrastructure money with state money with local money to put together most any deal we can. It is working, just over a much longer time frame. A lot of our new companies are, interesting enough, foreign owned looking to put facilities here in the US.

Well, good for your city, wherever it may be. Even we Las Vegans have recovered somewhat. I'm sure lots of foreign companies buy into America, but what do they buy? Labor intensive businesses or distributors of foreign products?

So there are new jobs opening up for people with skills. Salespeople, HR people, programmers, food buyers etc. etc. but there aren't many jobs for Joe Five Pack who used to assemble pens. I do't understand the whole trade agreement thing that every batch of politicians seems to come up with. Maybe there's a purpose or maybe it's sheer corruption. I don't know.

Times the have a changed.

 

[RDS]

The most important thing is to stop doing crap to send more jobs overseas (yes I am talking about Mr. Obama and is Pacific Trade crap he is working on).

Communities need to stop looking to Washington for the answers because they are incapable of targeting problems. My city suffered for years under NAFTA and GATT, and tried its hardest to recruit big companies to replace the loss of big companies with not much success. Eventually all the "experts" who did stupid things like spend a half million bucks for a marketing firm to come up with a city slogan that my 6 year old could have created, those folks were kicked out the door. The next step was to do it ourselves--get anybody who had jobs here. 200 new jobs was as good as 2,000 and we have slowly inched our way back down to better economic numbers. It is complex. We take any money available and do what we can. For instance pairing historic redevelopment money with economic development money with infrastructure money with state money with local money to put together most any deal we can. It is working, just over a much longer time frame. A lot of our new companies are, interesting enough, foreign owned looking to put facilities here in the US.

Why are you so afraid to compete in the open market? Many jobs left us and we are not complaining. If you are good enough then compete with the peanut wages.

 

[RDS]

Related to the topic is the plight of this veteran and read the comments.

I'm a 35-Year-Old Veteran On Food Stamps | Jason Kirell

 

[JC Callender]

This is good news for Obama's legacy. Look at what horrible poverty rates did for FDR's legacy!

 

[imagep]

Yes, and it isn't fixable (according to the Specklebang Think Tank). So there's no point in being mad at Congress or mad at Obama or mad at (__________fill in political party) because the is not **** all they can do about this. Well, maybe that's not true - we could just let them starve - but that's not a likely solution. This is a different era, thats what happens when times pass. We've been through massive changes before. The end of the agriculture age, the industrial revolution and more recently the computer age being followed by the robot era. Every shift of this magnitude displaces some people.

Maybe it's the beginning of the income redistribution age.

 

[specklebang]

Maybe it's the beginning of the income redistribution age.

Can you be a bit more specific? What do you mean by that?