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The grandparent's POV is a pretty common one. Just about anybody can get a job making minimum wage, which will bring home at least (7.25 × 40) × 4 = $1,160 each

The grandparent's POV is a pretty common one. Just about anybody can get a job making minimum wage, which will bring home at least (7.25 × 40) × 4 = $1,160 each month (more in some places). That is enough money in most places to rent a basic apartment and buy plenty of food to eat. Plenty of people in that bracket also have cable TV and a car and a smart phone. It's not easy and it's not all that much fun, but you're not going to starve or freeze to death and the Wheel of Fortune you watch every night is the same Wheel of Fortune that Bill Gates watches. That's the definition of "solved" that's in play here.

Jtsummers 10y ago
Which isn't actually a solution, we still need to connect people to those jobs somehow. Many people live in areas where those jobs simply aren't available. I drive through those towns all the time. There's insufficient money invested in the area in other businesses to offer a middle class that can support a lower class making minimum wage. These people need to move, which is a non-trivial cost. There's no guarantee they'll get a job when they go to, say, Atlanta. And they'll be paying more in rent or living in even worse living conditions (crammed into small apartments with more people). They'd be giving up their connections to family and friends and a community that they've been a part of. The problem of poverty will only be solved when no one is in poverty for any reason but choice. Calling it solved because technically there may be enough minimum wage jobs for everyone is the same as saying hunger is solved because technically there's enough food for everyone.
drabiega 10y ago
> Just about anybody can get a job making minimum wage It can be hard to see because the problem is so unevenly distributed through the social fabric, but this is just objectively not true.
- dionidium 10y ago
  You should read "anybody" here in the same way as if I'd said, "Just about anybody can walk across a room." That's also just objectively not true, but when we're talking about the population as a whole, then it's an OK proxy for the complete truth.
  - drabiega 10y ago
    I agree in general, I just don't think it's a good enough proxy in this case.

Jtsummers 10y ago

Which isn't actually a solution, we still need to connect people to those jobs somehow. Many people live in areas where those jobs simply aren't available. I drive through those towns all the time. There's insufficient money invested in the area in other businesses to offer a middle class that can support a lower class making minimum wage. These people need to move, which is a non-trivial cost. There's no guarantee they'll get a job when they go to, say, Atlanta. And they'll be paying more in rent or living in even worse living conditions (crammed into small apartments with more people). They'd be giving up their connections to family and friends and a community that they've been a part of. The problem of poverty will only be solved when no one is in poverty for any reason but choice. Calling it solved because technically there may be enough minimum wage jobs for everyone is the same as saying hunger is solved because technically there's enough food for everyone.

drabiega 10y ago

> Just about anybody can get a job making minimum wage It can be hard to see because the problem is so unevenly distributed through the social fabric, but this is just objectively not true.

dionidium 10y ago
You should read "anybody" here in the same way as if I'd said, "Just about anybody can walk across a room." That's also just objectively not true, but when we're talking about the population as a whole, then it's an OK proxy for the complete truth.
- drabiega 10y ago
  I agree in general, I just don't think it's a good enough proxy in this case.