Nearly 36 Million Americans Live in Poverty
Aug 26th, 2004 by Jason
The poverty line is set at an annual income of $9,573 or less for an individual, or $18,660 for a family of four with two children. Under that measure, a family would spend about a third of its income on food. [source]
If you earn minimum wage ($5.15/hr) and work 40 hours a week, your annual income would be $10,712. Not enough for Papa John’s nightly or to have every premium cable channel known to man, but it enough to not be considered “in poverty”. If you’re reliable and a hard worker, chances are you won’t be earning minimum wage for long. Show some initiative for improving the business that you work for and you definately won’t be earning minimum wage for long.
Or you could just move to OR, WA or CT — states with minimum wages over $7.00/hr. 
Anyways, the Census Bureau in “Jason Land” (I annexed some property in “John Land”) would release two stats when referring to poverty: “Those who chose to live in poverty” (consisting of people who could work full-time but chose not to {rant} because it not any fun, cuts in to their social time, and who needs to anyways with all of the local and federal aid available? {/rant}) and “Those who truly live in poverty” (the remaining 5%).
Guess which group of folks would get “Jason Land” financial assistance? 
in virginia maybe. if you were born in nyc and are lucky enough to find a minimum wage job, you still can’t afford to move. Particularly if you get a catastrophic medical problem (most minimum wage jobs in nyc are “temp-like” and don’t provide insurance). I’d agree with your rant *IF* there was universal health insurance, universal day care and if every 40 (and 35) hr/week job was forced to provide benefits.
Frankly, I think it’s an awful idea for businesses to be in the health insurance and day care arena. It’s really hurting our economy on the international stage. How much better would our workers do if their companies could actually compete with other countries where the government handles all of that (and cheaper… look at Canada!).
What the Tree pays for my insurance in the US is nowhere near the 3.22% of my wages that they’d have to pay for my share of socialized medicine were we in Canada. Oy!
IMO, day care is less of an issue than personal responsibility is. If you can’t afford to take care of a kid, then be responsible and DON’T HAVE ONE!
Don’t pop one out and then use “I don’t work because I can’t afford daycare” line when the reason is that you get by fairly comfortably (without working) with the welfare, food stamps, and other gazillion social programs setup to support the people who make choices like this.
My thought is make this style of life not as easy for folks and I can guarantee you that the next generation of kids aren’t going to go down that road.
i think stupid people are always going to have kids they can’t afford, and it’s something which drives me insane: it’s a cycle, and frankly I have no sound idea on how to fix it without spending vast amounts of money. But I don’t see how hurting the innocent kids solves the problem. Perhaps the real question is: can we help these kids born into poverty (rather than ignore them, which certainly perpetuates the problem) without letting them slip into the cycle of dependency?
And I see your point that in a government-controlled health care system, most normal people would actually pay more. My health insurance (or the one I’m getting in a few weeks) is 5k a year. Just for me. I’m getting it through JP’s health insurance (though I’m only getting a semester’s worth, to save on money). That’s what an entire family pays in Canada, ja? I swear you’re living in a different world being sallaried and benefitted by your company. While this may be the way of life in VA, it isn’t for most of the people I know in nyc.
Besides, if it meant that everyone would have health insurance, I’d gladly pay more than 5k a year in taxes, just for that express purpose. To me, some things are worth the money. And looking at the cost/benefit ration, you’re now in your thirties, so you’re pretty healthy, and everything’s fine. When you hit your 60s, and your “all-inclusive” health insurance doesn’t pay for prescription drugs or ups your annual fee by 2k after you have heart surgery, you may be singing a different tune. Then the 1500 a person a year in taxes doesn’t seem all that bad.
Also, since you didn’t site that lovely quote, I can’t fully rebut it. I can say that average 2 child family, by their definition, pays 2400 in taxes for health insurance, not 5k. Children don’t file taxes until they’re 18, right?