4 In 5 Adult Americans Struggle With Joblessness, Near-Poverty Or Reliance On Welfare - Polidicks

[QUOTE=codemaster85;41628954]slightly better? ha, our min wage is still fucking $7.25 with the standard of living still rising every fucking day.[/QUOTE] In the city of Vancouver, 85%+ of your annual income goes to paying the bills on your house. This percentage remains almost the same until you go east of Quebec but at which point the houses are cheap because nobody wants to live in a place where there are no jobs or incentives to stay.

[QUOTE=Emperorconor;41629315]But we are. Rising GDP, improving share prices, increase in comsumption, (which is happening now) is better than the opposite.[/QUOTE] So how do these things affect me? These are things that affect economists and bankers, not the average person.

Honestly, this number seems too big. Somethings up..

Let's take joblessness alone as a stat - I'm more surprised to find that 1 out of 5 Americans manages to find a job right out of school - Or find a new one when laid off or fired so quickly that it's not even a concern.

Relevant. [Media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a21n_VzHI_o[/Media]

[QUOTE=laserguided;41629348]I think he is taking a jab at republicans anti-immigration policy.[/QUOTE] Seems like a jab at poor white people who vote for Republicans thinking its in their interests.

[QUOTE=archangel125;41629536]Let's take joblessness alone as a stat - I'm more surprised to find that 1 out of 5 Americans manages to find a job right out of school - Or find a new one when laid off or fired so quickly that it's not even a concern.[/QUOTE] The stat would be higher but they didn't see the applicants as experienced enough.

[QUOTE=Zeke129;41628945]We have the same economic problems as the United States[/QUOTE] but you can fix everything just hire some guys running into other guys in the street and take their apology donuts, then ship them to the USA and sell them for 2 dollars each.

The UK is worse off than america. Fewer jobs, no real industrial industry and housing prices well above affordable rates. Wanna buy a house for $350,000? For a box standard, house with 2 -3 bedrooms and a small back plot of land that we call a garden.

I honestly wonder if raising the minimum wage will help or not.

[QUOTE=Xystus234;41630434]I honestly wonder if raising the minimum wage will help or not.[/QUOTE] Workers get payed more but less workers are hired is how it goes apparently. I've never been sure about that since higher CEO's manage to make millions in a month but I guess we shouldn't forget about the struggling small businesses.

[QUOTE=Xystus234;41630434]I honestly wonder if raising the minimum wage will help or not.[/QUOTE] it won't. raising the minimum wage would just increase the cost of living. it would help with the wealth gap but in all honesty a wealth gap doesn't mean anything

[QUOTE=Rangergxi;41630455]Workers get payed more but less workers are hired is how it goes apparently. I've never been sure about that since higher CEO's manage to make millions in a month but I guess we shouldn't forget about the struggling small businesses.[/QUOTE] Our minimum wages are higher and our unemployment is less than America's?

Australia is doing pretty well in comparison.

[QUOTE=laserguided;41630502]Our minimum wages are higher and our unemployment is less than America's?[/QUOTE] The general cost of living is much higher in Canada so the minimum wage must be higher as well. The US gets a raise when all the costs do as well.

[QUOTE=Zeb Brown;41630608]Australia is doing pretty well in comparison.[/QUOTE] Yes we are generally going better and we just barely missed being pulled into the global financial crisis, but pretty well in comparison can still be pretty shit. I'm 18 and I've moved out of my parents house. My work at a supermarket just barely covers all my expenses such as rent, food, petrol etc. Having four shifts a week instead of three for me is the difference between having enough so I can spend time with friends or having to run at a loss that week. When I found work Centrelink was fucking dumb and wanted me to apply for any work they gave me [b]yet I had already found work[/b] and so I couldn't remain on job seeker allowance. I was very fortunate that I studied at university so I went back to full time so I could still receive benefits and not risk running at a loss every few weeks. I don't blame my work for the low pay I get because I'm on probation at the moment I guess, but because some people abuse the benefits system they've made it a pain in the ass for well meaning people to get the bits of assistance they need. Unless you applied for it yourself, you would not understand how hard it was to apply for youth allowance.

its going to take another depression to get the US population to stop hating on anything even remotely socialist, then you guys might get out of this mess... maybe.

[QUOTE=Antdawg;41630845]Yes we are generally going better and we just barely missed being pulled into the global financial crisis, but pretty well in comparison can still be pretty shit. I'm 18 and I've moved out of my parents house. My work at a supermarket just barely covers all my expenses such as rent, food, petrol etc. Having four shifts a week instead of three for me is the difference between having enough so I can spend time with friends or having to run at a loss that week. When I found work Centrelink was fucking dumb and wanted me to apply for any work they gave me [b]yet I had already found work[/b] and so I couldn't remain on job seeker allowance. I was very fortunate that I studied at university so I went back to full time so I could still receive benefits and not risk running at a loss every few weeks. I don't blame my work for the low pay I get because I'm on probation at the moment I guess, but because some people abuse the benefits system they've made it a pain in the ass for well meaning people to get the bits of assistance they need. Unless you applied for it yourself, you would not understand how hard it was to apply for youth allowance.[/QUOTE] They pay you less for probation?

[QUOTE=laserguided;41630927]They pay you less for probation?[/QUOTE] Well it makes sense I guess, I'm still learning how to do every aspect of the job properly so until then I'm not as productive as the other employees who have been there for months or years.

[QUOTE=Antdawg;41630987]Well it makes sense I guess, I'm still learning how to do every aspect of the job properly so until then I'm not as productive as the other employees who have been there for months or years.[/QUOTE] It doesn't though. We had a training wage here then they got rid of it because it was bullcrap.

[QUOTE=laserguided;41631023]It doesn't though. We had a training wage here then they got rid of it because it was bullcrap.[/QUOTE] I really don't care that I'm being paid less at the moment, because in a few weeks time I will be getting the full rate. Honestly it doesn't bother me in the slightest. Maybe if the job was like my last one which had a very high turnover then yes I would have a problem with lower pay for probation because I didn't even get a dozen shifts from that place. But no this work has been giving me constant work and I reckon everything will work out good for me.

[QUOTE=Lost Hybrid;41628887]America fucking sucks.[/QUOTE] I think you just summed up the entire political and ideological dogma of most posters in Sensationalist Headlines.

This is a callback to the first page's discussion of the American Dream. This is slightly off-topic, since it's more about the meaning of words, but please forgive me. "America" is actually a noun that means an idealized land where everyone can get what they want. The promised land, as it were. This means that "the United States of America" could be rewritten (with no offense intended to Americans) as "the Allied Territories of Nice Things." It also means that anyone can have the American dream, without having to live in or move to America. Back on topic, a really cynical, black-humour joke could be, this is America losing its American dream. :v: Sorry, that's dark. I'm living close to the poverty line myself, although I'm lucky enough to not have kids or anything, so I'm doing okay.

Canada is doing a lot worse than the US in a few things though. We'll probably crash even harder down the line since our entire economy is dependent on the US Dollar.

[QUOTE=Xystus234;41630434]I honestly wonder if raising the minimum wage will help or not.[/QUOTE] lol no that would axe a lot of jobs or cut hours by a lot so corporations and businesses can save money. raising minimum wage doesn't magically help the economy

Canada's quickly sliding into an anti-science petroconservative version of America. Harper's government is muzzling government climate and environmental scientists because they create bad PR for the oil sands and fracking, and Canada is betting its economy heavily on petrochem. The Conservative Party of Canada has been found to have committed shenanigans in both of the last two federal elections (in which they won a majority), and Harper abused parliamentary procedure to avoid a vote to bring down his government. It's like the Bush era never ended, it just moved north after getting the housing meltdown and economic collapse started at home. At the [B]very least[/B], I will give Harper credit for squashing attempts by the Tea Party-equivalent back-bench wingnut division of the CPC to revive the abortion debate (so they can ban it). I have to acknowledge this, even if he's a slimy asshole in nearly every other aspect of existence.

[QUOTE=Xystus234;41630434]I honestly wonder if raising the minimum wage will help or not.[/QUOTE] It really wouldn't help that much. Many workers in the United States aren't even getting paid minimum wage, the majority are above. About only 3% of the workers in the US are at or below federal minimum wage level in 2012. Raising the minimum wage would just make it harder for people to get jobs. Anybody who takes a basic economics course can understand this.

[QUOTE=Aphtonites;41629320]What does skin color have to do with this?[/QUOTE] Working class white people are the demographic backbone of the Republican party, and out of all the voting demographics in the country they vote the most against their own interests. Poor people voting for the very people that will enact policies that will keep them poor. It doesn't have to be this way, there are examples all over the world of how to fix our problems and make people's lives better, but we keep electing people who think corporations are BETTER than people, and their right to profit outweighs our right to healthy and fulfilling lives.

I make $12 USD an hour, that's enough for a single adult to live in relative comfort so long as they're working full time. This is assuming that they don't have a car payment, student loans, medical, dental, and work 40 hours a week. They also live in a small apartment or have roommates. Problem is I don't work 40 a week. Due to school I work 30, which is almost too much to be working when going to school full time (and expecting to get decent grades). I picked the roommate route, have a car payment, and am paying off student loans. The only reason I can remotely afford to do this is because of my disability checks from the Marines, and the housing checks they give me though my GI bill. Same goes for my healthcare. Of course once I'm done with school those checks won't be coming in anymore. Hopefully by then I will find a job that would allow me to move out on my own. If I hadn't joined the military and got all fucked up like I am, I would be screwed.

[quote] Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on welfare [b]for at least parts of their lives[/b]...[/quote] That is very, very different from what the title means. That being said, while a lot of figures are improving (market indexes, GDP, consumption, etc) I've seen articles on what I hope is this batshit crazy report on how America is going to "bottom out" by the time Obama is out of office, leading to an event "worse than the great depression" and other tragic things. It's probably just sensationalism and lies but the mere chance of it is kind of scary.