Poverty up 12% under Bush administration

[unixronin]

Another report from Der Spiegel:

On the same day the levees broke, Charles Nelson of the US Census Bureau in Washington presented the most recent report on income and poverty in the United States.  The numbers and graphs he unveiled offered an appalling insight into the USA.

The number of those in America living in poverty climbed by 1.1 million to fully 37 million people - the fourth jump in a row.  While the official number of US poor dropped steadily during Bill Clinton's presidency, it has grown by 12 percent under George W. Bush.

But the economy is in great shape, and getting stronger every day.  The government keeps on telling us so.  I guess this is what happens when you rob Peter to pay Paul, especially when Peter never really had that much to start with.

Comments

[sierra-nevada.livejournal.com]

A friend who watches economic macrotrends put it this way: what happens when two very large countries with nearly two billion people enter the markets en masse? The price of labor (wages) gets depressed, because they all want jobs, and capital appreciates because they need capital to develop.

Everyone applauds competition (yay! lower prices!) until it's their ox being gored.

This is not a good time to be an unskilled or semi-skilled laborer, particularly in manufacturing.

This is a good time to have capital to invest.

The only jobs relatively immune from overseas competition are those delivering services that must be delivered in situ, the more highly skilled, the better (after all, education/certification requirements are a barrier to entry).

For reference, HHS 2005 Poverty Line calculations (http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/05poverty.shtml).

[olafthunderfoot.livejournal.com]

makes me glad i'm a mechanic!

[sierra-nevada.livejournal.com]

Just watch out for the FRU (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_Replaceable_Unit)s. They keep getting bigger.

[olafthunderfoot.livejournal.com]

~chuckles~ not as complex and crowded as most engine compartments are getting to be nowadays.

[sierra-nevada.livejournal.com]

Yes, but as the FRUs get larger, the skill required on the part of the mechanic goes down...

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

"Sir, your car is ready."
"But ... but ... this isn't my car! My car is candy metalflake blue, not battleship grey!"
"All the replacement parts come in grey, sir. We had to swap out the entire car."

[olafthunderfoot.livejournal.com]

ROFLMMFAO, you rock!

[olafthunderfoot.livejournal.com]

that's the nice part, most new cars don't really have FRUs.

i don't think the average joe shmoe would be able to get an engine out and back in without major problems and leftover parts. engine removal requires high dollar specialty tools like engine hoists and vehicle lifts.