Thats not 'the truth'. Thats SOME of those people not all and certainly not the majority.
As for those minors that arent working because people have made minimum wage jobs careers...thats also contributing to the poverty...all those underemployed people really pissed off they cant make a 'living wage' flipping burgers doing the job that 16 year old kid used to do for date money.
Sorry, I can't let your callous compassionless conservatism go unanswered.
You previously posted unsubstantiated figures claiming that 37% of the 16+ year old workforce has dropped out. I highly doubt the accuracy of that figure -- but presuming that this previous uncited figure is a fact, claim that high school students can't get those jobs because "people have made minimum wage jobs careers" is also conjecture. First, we don't even know that it's true at all. Second, presuming it is true, you blame people for making minimum wage jobs a career -- as if they are choosing those jobs and forgoing more advanced and better paying work. No, if grown adults are accepting minimum wage positions, it's because better work isn't available to them. There is a myriad of reasons why that could be -- outshoring of labor, lack of educational opportunities, mismatch of skills, etc.
Instead of blaming those who can't get better work and further blame the social safety net for the problem, we should look at policies that create this problem and correct them. The problem is not the social safety net that conservatives think makes the poor's lives too easy. Other nations, such as Sweden, have a far more extensive safety net and they don't have this problem. I look at policies that make it easy (and encourage) companies to outsource labor in foreign lands and policies that do not punish countries for foreign exchange currency manipulation, that make their products cheaper. The cost of higher education is also a factor in locking out a portion of the population. Of course, the minimum wage has not kept up with the cost of living and is a culprit in this problem.
Let's remember, the social safety net was a solution to problems that existed before. So, blaming it for the problem doesn't make sense. It was a response to a problem. Social Security was formed because many to most seniors ended up living in poverty. Today, a majority of Americans over 65 get more than half their income from Social Security, and more than a quarter are almost completely reliant on those monthly checks. That isn't a failing of Social Security. Those people would be homeless and starving had it not been for Social Security. We should be grateful to FDR for coming up with the idea. Instead, conservatives shriek "dependency, dependency!" and ridicule politicians who are making their constituents lives livable, as if they were doing something unseemly.
But what I seem to object to in most of your posts is this your goal in itself is to punish the poor. This view does not rest solely upon you. Unfortunately, it is rampant in State houses, where conservative state politicians refuse Medicaid expansion, that would certainly help their poor constituents, even when the federal government is picking up the bill.
