There`s something about workers who are poor.

[democrank]

Imagine what it takes each and every day to show up and work like a dog for minimum wage or a few cents above. Imagine how much of the stuff out there in Consumerville is beyond the poorer worker`s grasp, how much of it is above the level of things they can even hope for. Imagine waking up every morning knowing you may not get to work unless you can squeeze another day out of your tired old vehicle, the one with four bald tires and a mile of electrical tape.

Imagine the pain of always saying "not today" to your child`s innocent request: a movie all his friends saw, a bike that fits his size, a winter coat right off a rack of brand new clothes. Imagine daydreaming about owning a set of matching sheets or stopping on the way to work for one of those fancy coffees you`ve heard about. Imagine standing in line at the food pantry, teetering between shame and need, do or die.

Imagine if your energy was sucked up every day with making do, getting by, hanging on. Imagine what tiny fortunes you`d learn to bless and how many overlooked miracles you`d suddenly find. There`s something about the working poor and their ability to keep on keeping on.

I salute these folks on Labor Day, take off my hat and bend in the middle. I honor them for their dignity, their perseverance. The six-days-a-week woman at the laundramat. The bagger at the grocery store. The guy who pumps my gas. The woman who weighs my tomatoes at the vegetable stand. These folks are frequently overlooked and their services taken for granted. Maybe today is a good day for me to think about what a difference a genuine "thank you" or a kind gesture could make. It would be a good start on that brilliant idea....all for one and one for all.

[patrice]

1. I don't have to imagine. My son falls into this category. No kids

thank goodness, but with the added burden of $40,000. in college debt. Nothing but contracts that last about a year at the most, no benefits. And NO prospect for improvement in sight.

Is it any wonder the younger generation doesn't buy into our bullshit?

[Bozita]

2. Good post any day, but even better on Labor Day!

[GrpCaptMandrake]

3. Damned fine words!

It's also worth remembering that folks like the ones you mentioned have resoundingly said they would like to have the protection and benefits of union membership, if only they could organize without losing their jobs.

Republicans and southern, conservative Democrats have categorically attacked these people with their "Right To Work" laws.

When you think of the working poor, think about how important it will be for a Democratic Congress to pass the "Employee Free Choice Act" that will allow folks to better their lot by joining unions.

Happy Labor Day!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. I bow back to you...

because you care. Thanks. :hug:

[Deja Q]

5. My coworker, a Democrat, would disagree with you.

She has her own little line as to what defines a job and what doesn't.

She even dissed my job, to my face. (I responded and she 'corrected' herself. Uh-huh.)

Funny thing is, she does less than I do.

Politics is only as veracious as the person who holds the ideals to their heart. She's no Dem. Or much of a human either.

[Wiley50]

6. I don't have to imagine. I live it.

I worked laying carpet for 30 years, paid subcontract, no benefits, on a Workman's Comp waiver.
I have Degenerative Disk disease ( 10 disks) with Chronic progressive nerve damage
That's all I have to show for it.

After a 3 1/2 year legal fight, I now live on SSI Disability

$603 a month
no food stamps

I float $300 in checks a month to a Check Cashing place
and pay $50 a month interest on the principal
that I don't know how I'll ever repay

I live on a 28 ft sailboat I bought when my SSI came through
slowly rebuilding it on a trailer on my friend's farm

If I had to pay rent I'd be in real trouble

Many people in this country are hurting like me
or Worse

But the top tenth of one percent have it all
and don't care

I'm ready for a Revolution
Things have got to change

[OzarkDem]

9. People on disability have it very hard

I work with cancer patients who are disabled due to progression of the disease. Its hard for them to keep hope alive and keep going through constant treatment year after year when they often don't have enough food to eat or money to pay the utility bills.

Our country treats sick people terribly.

[focusfan]

16. I agree with you totally

people on ssi don't draw that much to live on.

[kineneb]

12. We live it, also.

Hubby is in dialysis, and gets $1199/month from SSDI. We both live on that sum. He has Medicare and Medi-Cal. But because I am too young, I can't get Medi-Cal and have to get coverage from the state program CMSP. It "allows" a couple to earn (from any source) only $934/month. Anything above that is called "share-of-cost" and must be paid out before they will cover medical treatments.

So my share-of-cost is now $250/month. That $250 takes all our food and gasoline budget. I can't stop seeing the docs because I am in treatment for depression and would not be able to get my medication. I spent the entire morning crying when I found out about the share-of-cost. This is our future, until Hubby dies, and it is so exhausting. (We had also just received the letter stating Hubby cannot get a kidney transplant, on top of everything else.):cry:

The good news is I may be getting a church music gig which will pay in cash only. That, and the private music lessons I teach (cash, again) will have to make up the difference. I hate cheating, but the system is designed to destroy the poor.

[Wiley50]

15. Yes, it is designed to kill us off

I was still eligable for SSDI when I first filed
but they say the date was illegible
and they screwed me out of it
So all I get is SSI

I was getting $140 in food stamps
before my SSI went through
but then they cut it to $20
so I don't even bother filing for it
It's not worth my trouble

[ninkasi]

19. There is something so wrong about your plight

I've seen how hard it is to lay carpet, and can tell how your many years of doing the job led to the disability you have today. Nobody who has worked, and paid taxes, should ever be reduced to the kind of life you're living. I know others like you, and have seen how hard it is to keep themselves going.

That's why I have felt such outrage when the wealthy's taxes are cut, and then cut again. I feel outrage that when our fellow citizens are faced with the challenges you do, conservatives care more about keeping gays from marrying, than they do at people being treated like so much trash. This is wrong, wrong, wrong.

The save ones who claim to be pro-life, and object to stem cell research because they would rather the cells be discarded than have them help someone, are the same ones who turn a cold shoulder to people like you who have always played by the rules. The rules need to be changed.

I agree with you, things have got to change. I feel so bad for you, it must be discouraging to have to beg for every scrap that you need to survive. There are, as you point out, others who are hurting, and this shouldn't be happening, not in the richest country in the world. The problem is that most of the wealth is concentrated in just a few hands, and even now conservatives want to squeeze every last cent you have, so that it can pay for illegal wars, and reward the rich even more.

I hope so much that you will be ok, and that we can change policies that penalize people for being poverty stricken. I know words can't ease your life, but I wish they could. I feel so bad for you.

[midnight]

22. Wiley50 hats off to you on labor day.

I have very little to offer as far as wisdom, or a solution, but I do want to share with you a book I read. It is titled the Celestine Profit. I read it about eleven years ago. Last night I saw the movie. It reminded me about the point of the book-the insights. Basically, the energy, that sustains us and everything around us. Believe me if you could get your hands on that book, that revolution is a coming. I will send you much good energy this day.

[Breeze54]

7. A huge thank you

to the people making minimum wage and the working poor!

It isn't 'just' minimum wage earners anymore!! :evilfrown:

http://www.livingwagecampaign.org/index.php?id=1954

Prepared by ACORN Living Wage Resource Center

www.acorn.org

617-740-9500

Some questions to consider:

• How should your figure compare to the average wage of the greatest segment of low wages potentially affected by the proposal?

• What "definition" of a living wage is rhetorically most defensible/useful?

• Cost of living in area (see below)

• What makes sense given the constituency of your coalition organizations (members of community orgs, unions)

• Can you also win indexing of the wage? (if not, argue to set it higher)

• What's winnable?

Some numbers to consider:

1."Poverty Line" figures

Hourly wages based on the "2003 Poverty Guidelines" provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
for a family of four = $18,400 and $15,260 for a family of three.
(Campaigns have calculated their living wage using different family sizes here too,
as well as different percentages of the poverty level).

For more info see http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/poverty.htm

Family of four

• $8.85 -- 52 weeks at 40 hours (2080)

• $9.20 -- 50 weeks at 40 hours (given unpaid time off)

• $10.11 -- 52 weeks at 35 hours (given "full time" is often less than 40 hrs)

• $10.51 -- 50 weeks at 35 hours (given both possibilities)

Family of three

• $7.34 -- 52 weeks at 40 hours (2080)

• $7.63 -- 50 weeks at 40 hours

• $8.38 -- 52 weeks at 35 hours

• $8.72 -- 50 weeks at 35 hours

2. Food Stamp eligibility

In order to qualify for food stamps, the federal government sets two thresholds.

First, your gross income cannot exceed 130% of the poverty line.

Second, your net monthly income cannot exceed 100% of the poverty line.

Family of 4 (130% of $18,400 = $23,920) Family of 3 (130% of $ 15,260 = $19,838)

• $11.50 -- 52 weeks at 40 hours • $ 9.54 -- 52 wks at 40 hrs

• $11.96 -- 50 weeks at 40 hours • $ 9.92 -- 50 wks at 40 hrs

• $13.14 -- 52 weeks at 35 hours • $10.90 -- 52 wks at 35 hrs

• $13.67 -- 50 weeks at 35 hours • $11.34 -- 50 wks at 35 hrs

Cost of Living Studies

Family Budgets and Self Sufficiency Standards

There are now countless examples of solid study methodologies that take advantage of geographically specific data on expenditures (food, housing, health care, transportation, child care. misc.) to calculate a truer “living wage” for different family sizes in different cities and states. These figures are, obviously, higher than the poverty line numbers above -- ranging from around $8.00 an hour for a single person with a child to as much as $20+ an hour for two workers and two kids; higher in more expensive cities and depending on the methodology.

Some living wage campaigns have chosen to base their ordinance's living wage on these figures. Other campaigns are using these higher "real cost of living" figures to make a point about the insufficiency of lower wages, while at the same time making their ordinance's own (lower) "living wage" figure look modest in comparison.

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) in Washington, D.C. is the ultimate source on these Family Budgets. See their website at www.epinet.org and go to “poverty and family budgets”.

Their publication, How Much is Enough? Basic Family Budgets for Working Families (2000) reviews and describes methodologies to conduct cost of living studies. Their new study, Hardships in America: The Real Story of Working Families (2001), actually calculates Family Budgets (for six different family sizes) for 400 U.S. communities. It then calculates the numbers and percentages of all people in each state that fall below poverty and below the Family Budget standard. The study also presents impressive data on what hardships these families face and includes distributions by race and by region. You can use their online Family Budget Calculator to get numbers for your city or county. For more information, call Heather Boushay at EPI at 202-775-8810.

Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) has also developed a Self Sufficiency Standard that is being used in several cities, states, and by advocacy groups. For further information about the Standard, to obtain report copies, or to learn about the possibility of WOW develop the Standard for your community (Note: This is not free), contact WOW at 202-638-3143, 815 Fifteenth Street, NW, Suite 916, Washington, D.C. 20005. www.wowonline.org

Fuck bush and all his greedy cohorts in the house and senate!!!
Let's kick them all to the curb in November!!
Their war on the poor is going rather nicely! :sarcasm:


:kick: and Recommended

[gorbal]

14. Demonstration on Sept 5 for a "Universal Living Wage."

On September 5th, 2006, endorsing organizations (Nonprofits, Unions, Faith Based Entities and Businesses) will get on the bridges of America and call for a Universal Living Wage.

In our 1st Bridge the Economic Gap Day, we had a committment for 87 ACTIONS and had at least one ACTION in EVERY State in the Union including Washington DC and Puerto Rico. The banner we flew read:

“Bridge the ECONOMIC GAP with a www.UNIVERSALLIVINGWAGE.org

(snip)

more-

http://universallivingwage.org

thread-

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=230x1155

[gully]

8. I remember a time when my family didn't have food in the house.

We dug through all the cushions and found enough for milk. We were tickled.

I also remember a time (in the Reagan years) when my stepfather walked ten miles to and from work each day to do construction. He did this in weather that was so cold, our car wouldn't start, windchills in the well below zero range.

Salute to the working poor.

:patriot:

[TexasLady]

10. we know it too

but we don't 'feel' all that poor some days. All three of our cars need tags, as of today. The electric is past due, the house payment is waay past due, and there's a quarter tank of gas in my car. Doesn't matter since I don't get paid till Friday, and the paycheck will go for the tags, insurance and gas.

Somehow, someway though, we always make it. My husband repairs computers, but believe me, there's no big money in it. Thank goodness for word of mouth, because we can't afford any more ads in the phone book. At night, he moonlights in a garage fixing cars.

Actually, we don't usually get this far behind, but we spent several hundred dollars this summer getting our stepdaughter, and that kinda snowballed. Add the extra groceries of the other kids not eating at school over the summer, and BAM! It doesn't take long to get behind on the bills. Even though I know we'd probably qualify for assistance, I just don't want to do it.

Still, I am thrilled to have spent time with all our kids over the summer, and not once have we ever gone hungry. We have to have internet to work. Both our jobs require it. We gotta have phones too so he can talk to customers. And Insurance? Ha hahaha....I have a doctor that works with me on payments so I can get my high blood pressure meds. I have yet to buy my kids school supplies, and they started over 3 weeks ago.

I guess we do have it a lot better than some others out there. If there was an emergency I know I could go to my parents. However Ive only had to do that once in my adult life.

Sometimes it gets scary, but other times I tell myself that it'll work out. I got my oldest out and on his own, and my second one graduates this year. I look back and wonder how the hell we made it this far.

[TahitiNut]

11. That's why Wal*Mart is a success.

As long as there's a dime in their pocket, there'll be someone wanting to take it, giving them a nickel's worth of value for it.

[ArmchairMeme]

13. Wealthy have ONLY one resource - money

This topic saddens me so. That we all live in a country where it has been legislated that poor people cannot survive AND that people that are wealthy can show no compassion toward them.

Where is the concept about I am my brothers keeper, where if you are doing well you have an obligation to help others who are less fortunate.

I see people who are less fortunate helping others who are also less fortunate with whatever spare time they have. They have been there and understand how much it means.

I was raised in a family where my father was a public school teacher, there were seven children and there was never enough. Groceries were charged, we all wore hand me down clothes, my mother took clothes apart to remake them into maternity tops on a treadle sewing machine, no clothes dryer, no tv, food came from church from time to time. I didn't realize that I grew up poor until I became an adult.I also realized that I had developed many different types of resources.

[senseandsensibility]

17. Great Labor Day thread!

I agree with everything you wrote, and have experienced the same feelings. Just this past Saturday, I was walking my precinct for the Dem candidate for Congress (Jerry McNerney), and was knocking on doors in a trailer park. This was a real trailor park, the kind with no double wide mobile homes, no complex clubhouse, no complex pool, and many single wide trailors with no air conditioning. It was quite an experience. The people were friendly, willing to chat (if they spoke English) and seemed proud of their trailors. Some had amazing little gardens with intricate potted plants and displays eeked out of the tiny patch of earth their trailor was parked on. Others seemed overwhelmed, and had trash pilled high next to and behind their trailors. I couldn't help but feel for the workers who live there. They probably can barely afford the rent and space rent if they make minimum wage.

[Wiley50]

18. kick n/t

[ninkasi]

20. Thank you for your kind post

Yes, there are too many people who have to scratch out a living however they can, and get almost nothing in return. We owe more to those who have to labor, and labor for whatever the bosses think they can get away with. We need to have universal health coverage, and a living wage for every worker.

[JAbuchan08]

21. That's how I grew up.

Don't have to imagine.

[raccoon]

23. Great post.

Since being a member of DU, I have developed a lot of empathy for people who work crappy and/or low-paid jobs.

Are you a nun, by any chance? :silly: