Those lucky poor people.

[Swede]

What a steaming pile of lies. I also tried to find the original article and could not.

snip

Tonight's stunning financial piece de resistance comes from Wyatt Emerich of The Cleveland Current. In what is sure to inspire some serious ire among all those who once believed Ronald Reagan that it was the USSR that was the "Evil Empire", Emmerich analyzes disposable income and economic benefits among several key income classes and comes to the stunning (and verifiable) conclusion that "a one-parent family of three making $14,500 a year (minimum wage) has more disposable income than a family making $60,000 a year."




http://www.zerohedge.com/article/entitlement-america-head-household-making-minimum-wage-has-more-disposable-income-family-mak

[ananda]

1. Words fail.

nt

[HillbillyBob]

2. sputter. I have been 'living' on less than that for about 15 ys

My partner had a good job, but now its a so so income.
We have no kids, but he helps his mom and we have 5 rescue dogs in good health fortunately, and no one else would take these critters. one was even put over our fence some were abused and or neglected, its beyond me how anyone can manage to raise kids.
We see our neighbors with children struggle, wtf is with these so called family values rpukes?

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

3. There's alot of categorically wealthy people with very little disposable income.

I make a decent salary and we live paycheck to paycheck. Our student loans cost more than our mortgage and I generally end up with about $100 for food/gas each week. If we eat-in alot, there's usually some left over to do something fun. So despite a good job I have very little disposable income. But we're in a good neighborhood and the kids will go to good schools and that's worth it to us.

The logical disconnect is assuming that those with disposable income have that disposable income because thier material wants/needs are being met and they have excess cash to spend. This is untrue. Many people live on much more frugal means but don't have the same amount of bills.

[HillbillyBob]

7. Your life tends to eat what you make.

When we were doing well we were saving etc and setting up to start a business.
But If you don't have enough to get by on ..you know like paying basic bills or being able to get major auto repairs or home repairs you are screwed. Our pick up we bought new in 98 and managed to hang on to it after partner was outsourced 2x in 6 months(he had been downsized 5x already) we only owed at 1000 on the truck, and almost lost it until i was able to get a small loan from a friend.
edit got distracted. My pickup has been sitting for over a year because I cannot scrape 2g for a new motor, the oil pump went and the original seized, so I have to borrow a car to do my dr trips and shopping, there isn't any mass transit where I live and I cannot afford to live in town where there is mass transit.
There is only so much you can do without. I LIKE living inside, I have lived outside 3x already. Then when you need new clothes because you can see through your old ones and you have to decide do I buy groceries or cover my nekid butt?

[HughBeaumont]

12. Some of us also have incredible amounts of bad luck - ALL at once.

Our washer and dryer both failed on us at the same time. That'll be 1600 bucks, same-as-cash.

Before that, the wife's starter, solenoid and all her fuses blew, thanks to some toothless wonder at Budget putting the wrong battery in her car. $600.

Before that, the wife's clutch blew. $1300.

Before that, the exhaust fell out of my 13-year-old car. Oh, and the right wheel bearing schlepped. $700. Doubt the car itself is even worth that much.

Before that, I had to shell out close to $270 for a new pair of glasses. Some "visual insurance" we got.

Yeah, and the new windows we got last spring have payments come due.

This all happened in a period of two months. We just got finished paying off a once-$14000 credit card debt, we just paid her car off last year, and we're right back to where we started in a matter of months.

Oh, and Christmas is coming up. Oh, and the wife will need new glasses also. And yeah, that 1997 Cavalier is entering it's 14th and likely second-to-last year in life. Oh, and this is on top of every other bill we have to pay on a regular basis. Utilities, insurance, mortgage, etc. Everything I mentioned, BTW, is a necessity. Both of us live 20-30 minutes away from our jobs, no public transportation on her side of the fence. I drive to either the bus or the train. I have to be able to see. Before the new windows, our house would have the thermostat turned up to 70 and it felt like it was 53 in there no matter how many times the windows were weatherproofed.

Every time business is even the least bit slow at my job, I really start to lose sleep. I'm always constantly, CONSTANTLY thinking "what the hell's going to happen to us if one or (Jesus Christ) BOTH of us lose our jobs? We're going to be financially fucked beyond repair." I need to get a plan going as to how the hell I'm going to pay all this crap off and cross every finger in hopes of warding off yet another 3-4 digit-costing disaster.

Any of you guys got money trees in the back to deal with this sort of nonsense or is the treadmill of debt pretty much put on auto-pilot for you also?

The Reagan/Bewsh economic nightmare is making me ANTSY and I'm likely not alone.

[JNelson6563]

13. No doubt, you've been through tough times

But you could make a couple of different choices, no offense. When I needed a washer/dryer I got a pretty new used pair for pair for $350. If I hadn't had the cash to do that at the time I probably would've bought new, as inexpensively as I could on my Sears charge. Also, the glasses, while not bad to the uninsured with insurance you paid a high rice. I recently got two pairs of glasses for $200 and the exam was $45. I wonder what that would've cost me with insurance. That was at Sears btw.

Hang in there.

Julie

[HughBeaumont]

14. Sears Optical is where we went, and that's what it cost total.

Eye exam + glasses + taxes = $270. Insurance, I guess, pays for half the glasses.

[shawn703]

4. Where's the column for the 6 figure and more earners?

The first thing I noticed was that they omitted the wealthiest earners who would have quite a bit more than 30-40k of disposable income a year.

The only thing this graph is showing me is that the people making 30 and 60k should be paying less taxes (offset by the "not shown" rich paying a lot MORE taxes), and healthcare should be provided by the government for all citizens.

[Waiting For Everyman]

5. What bull!

First of all, where's the disposable income that the poor family has? It's mostly non-cash credits on there. Disposable income won't be much, if anything at all. Second, the perks that $60K gets are not anywhere in the comparison... frequent flyer miles, retail discounts and freebies, mortgage deduction, etc.

Just for example on the stimulus programs that were enacted - the middle class got the cash for clunkers, home buyer program, and all the energy discounts on upgrading to all new appliances. But poor people couldn't do ANY of those things.

I think it's outrageous that lies like this get spread around. Yeah, it's such a GREAT deal being poor. I hope writers of this kind of trash get an involuntary opportunity real soon to try it themselves - through a big blowback of bad karma.

[hfojvt]

8. exactly, if SCHIP is considered to be "disposable" income

then you should also figure that the $60,000 a year person is getting health insurance from his employer worth about $900 a month. Just like I said. And how many eligible families actually get section 8 vouchers and Liheap.

[hfojvt]

6. yeah, I would like to see the details on that

They are probably thinking that the poor family gets subsidized day care. Which exists, except for the fact that there are huge waiting lists and it probably does not cover very many of the eligible families. Same thing with housing assistance and Liheap. They must be creating an imaginary family which could THEORETICALLY get tons of government benefits. When the fact is probably that only something like 30% of eligible families really get those benefits. They probably also figure that the $60,000 family is buying an expensive house and two new cars which sucks away at their "disposable" income.

Taxes, by the way, for that family at $60,000 are at record low levels, at least for families with children. Of course, the catfood commission wants to increase taxes on that family of $60,000 so they can keep taxes even lower for families making over $500,000.

[Warpy]

9. They wouldn't be lucky, they'd be downright enchanted to get all of that

Section 8 housing is particularly hard to get with waiting lists over 5 years in some places. Families in Section 8 housing can tell him a lot about how luxurious it is. You can forget about $6,000 represented by adults getting Medicaid, too, because the rules exclude the working poor in most states. Only the destitute can get it here, meaning old folks in nursing homes who have exhausted everything they saved for a lifetime and mothers on welfare who have been left with nothing but holding the bag (and the baby) after the man skedaddled off to find another woman whose body hadn't been damaged by childbirth.

I'd like to see this bozo do the rest of the research, especially the barriers to getting some of this largesse he cites.

People making minimum wage are crammed into overpriced, substandard housing, with access to extremely poor foodstuffs, with no medical or dental care for the working adult(s) in the family and minimal care for the kids. Access to reliable transportation is limited because of their wages making them ineligible for all but high risk, high interest used car loans--and I notice the difference in the cost of borrowing wasn't reflected in that chart. Mostly, living on minimum wage provides few choices in life, just the slog from day to day, hoping you don't get sick and nothing breaks because you can't afford a doctor or a repairman.

One would think the author of this article has found poverty such an attractive proposition that he'd ditch his high paid, high stress job creating ridiculous fairy tale charts in favor of a night clerk job at a gas kiosk so that he can cash in on all the benefits he thinks are out there.

That he hasn't is a cue that he's aware he's full of shit.

[hfojvt]

10. of course the other thing is

he seems to want to end all that government largesse, but then look at what his chart would say

14,500 - income
1,225 - payroll and federal taxes
9,600 - childcare costs (does this include rent?)
725 - Mississippi income tax
? - funny there does not seem to be an entry for sales taxes.

2950 - balance

now stripped of those unfair "entitlements" this writer would expect that family to pay for rent and food and medical care with just $245.83 per month.

Even I, myself, will admit that that is impossible. Even if rent is included in the $9600 a year (rent, utilities and daycare for three kids on $800 a month - good luck with that), (I guess shoes are optional), I think feeding a family of four on $246 a month is gonna be pretty tough.

[gratuitous]

11. Another installment of Tom the Dancing Bug's Lucky Ducky coming up!

Gotcha!