Working Poor - If it's not a campaign issue, it should be

[rucky]

It's one of our most important issues... and one that we should be much stronger than * on. So why aren't any of the candidates really using this as a message?

A quick search on google will tell you that it is an issue that's getting covered on a state/regional level, but it hasn't really become a national issue:

Here's a report from Texas:

http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/default.asp?ArID=92385

One out of six Texans live in poverty
Out of those, 80 percent work
Two out of five working poor parents work full-time
Most poor families are getting most of their income from work, not welfare

Data was taken from this institute:
http://www.cppp.org/policy/workforce/index.html

Talking about working poor is a winnable issue, and could be a very popular one.

- The numbers are big (actual state are argueable - but at LEAST 9 million)...and growing.
- Almost everyone - 94 percent of Americans, according to a 2000 poll conducted by Jobs for the Future, a Boston-based employment research firm - agrees that "people who work full-time should be able to earn enough to keep their families out of poverty."
- Talk of living wages fit hand in hand with talk about education (for advancement), healthcare, taxation & deficits (expanding our tax base), jobs & trade, of course. It's a central issue - if not the central domestic issue.

So why aren't we hearing any candidates REALLY talking about this issue?

[Racenut20]

1. They don't vote

[barbaraann]

4. Also, they don't donate to politicians.

n/t

[dave29]

2. working poor

under-employed
unemployed
everybody should be represented

no citizen left behind!

[RandomKoolzip]

3. I've always said that...

The second Clark or Dean mentions the phrase "LIVING WAGE" in a nationally televised speech, the election will be a LOCK for the Dems. There's far more poor people than middle class, and nobody seems willing to court them (except for Dennis....jeez, I love you Dennis!*sigh*)

[auburnblu]

6. Far more poor than middle class?

Where in India? What is your definition of middle class then. Yes there still remains a lot of poverty in the U.S., but a statement like "there are more poor people than middle class is insane"

[RandomKoolzip]

7. Okay, define middle class.

Okay, now...who's cooking their hamburgers?

[rucky]

8. If the trend continues

we will be more like India...

consider this:
http://www.fordfound.org/publications/ff_report/view_ff_report_detail.cfm?report_index=456

By 2010, Beth Shulman warns in The Betrayal of Work, an exhaustively researched, quietly passionate book, low-wage employees will comprise 30 percent of the U.S. work force. "The great secret of America," Shulman writes, "is that a vast new impoverished population has grown up in our midst. Yet these are not Americans who have been excluded from the world of work; in fact they make up the core of much of the new economy."

America's working poor, adults who earn $8.70 an hour or less for a full-time, 40-hour week, number an alarming 30 million people. In this group, the average family of four is still in poverty, according to the government's scale.

Shulman notes that the federal government continues to calculate poverty using food prices instead of skyrocketing housing costs. As a labor lawyer and former vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Shulman has a firm grasp of the issue. She cites a recent study showing that an average of $13.87 an hour is needed to rent a typical two-bedroom apartment, $14.66 for a home, in 60 of the nation's largest housing markets.

[DuctapeFatwa]

12. That's good news for the security industry!

If you're lucky enough to have money left over after your basic expenses are met, instead of putting a little something aside for your kid's education, you can spend that money on an armed guard for your house!

[DuctapeFatwa]

11. I disagree. I think it would kill their chances.

It would be called a socialist give-away program, and they would lose contributions.

Now if one of them suggested a more comprehensive plan to criminalize poverty, or developed some really fine sounding language that meant seizing poor people and having them work as slaves in exchange for a dorm bunk and a daily nutriloaf, that would sell.

[RandomKoolzip]

13. "Confinement Loaf," maybe?

I dunno. I'd bet, though, that the enormous poor population of this country would respond quite positively to such a plan, regardless of how Fox News wants them to think. Remember how the Amrican public responded to those Tax "Rebate" blackmail checks in summer 2001?

The revenue generated by the huge poor population having the few extra bucks in their pockets a living wage would provide to spend on consumer goods would quickly provide a boon to the producer class in the market, IMO.

No, the corporate state wouldn't like it.

Either way you cut it, the working class is getting reamed without lube everyday, and the right is continually making it harder for us to climb out of our holes via outsourcing, tax cuts for the rich, etc.

[DuctapeFatwa]

14. The enormous poor population tend not to vote

Voters in the US are generally the top 25% income tier.

The system is not designed to make voting accessible to poor people, and you will not hear any politician mounting an aggressive campaign to change it.

Having large numbers of poor people voting would not be in the best interests of politicians of either party, nor the business interests who help the politicians with their careers.

Although many poor people have less formal education, surprisingly, their faith traditions are less likely than their affluent cousins' to include a strong belief in the elections process.

[Paulie]

15. Yep, we love Dennis

http://www.kucinich.us/issues/minimum_wage.php :) :) :)

[cally]

5. Noone wants to admit that

there are working poor. Most who vote choose to ignore that folks who work are poor. It is much easier to pretend that those who work hard succeed and blame the poor for their woes. I don't think it's a winning issue but it is one that is critical. We need to discuss this. A livable wage and healthcare for all is the first step.

However, I find the recent Walmart commercials interesting. They are running commercials on how great Walmart is to their employees. :eyes: They must be feeling some heat if they are running these.

[Armstead]

9. Amen

Unfortunately, the Democratic Party gave the working class over to the GOP's lies by not telling the truth and dealing with it a long time ago.

[bread_and_roses]

10. Yes it should be!

And, like the growing concentration of wealth at the top, it gets WAY too little attention. This should be a core Democratic issue - and I believe would bring back many of the disaffected who have dropped out of the process altogether.

As someone who participates in community organizing around both social justice issues and political campaigns, my experience has been that this issue will bring people back to the voting booth.

[elsiesummers]

16. I think John Edwards is addressing this

but the thing you have to remember is that many working poor will self identify as middle class or lower middle class.

Edwards is talking about free college tuition for students who get in college but can't afford to attend.

Also his home buying initiative is about the government coming up with $5000 dollars for those who can't get together this much money to buy a home. This is the very definition of the working poor - people who work full time and can afford to pay rent on time (so could pay a mortgage) but can't save $5000 dollars to cover the loan origination fees and lawyer costs of puchasing a home.

But as someone who grew up in a working poor household - well I always knew my family was struggling, but we always self identified as middle class. I would say this was also true of many of my peers.

Recently saw a documentary on jobs ("NOW" I think) where a woman who was working for $7 an hour called herself middle class.

My husband said "she doesn't know she's poor."

I think a lot of the candidates speak to the working poor but they identify this group by what they call themselves - middle class.

[rucky]

17. Call them anything you want...

Americans will know who you're talking about if you drop the terminology & tell some STORIES!

People working their asses off & not making ends meet. Personal debt. Healthcare & energy costs eat your paycheck more than SS does.

It's not that hard to talk about. Everybody may think they're middle classe, but nobody thinks they're making enough money - even CEOs.