4 ms·

To those who say "someone can do two jobs and make more" and such... These stats are compiled on SSN basis by the Social Security Administration. Thus, I thin

by rmah 15y ago

To those who say "someone can do two jobs and make more" and such... These stats are compiled on SSN basis by the Social Security Administration. Thus, I think they include any number of jobs a person may hold at any time over the course of the year. Further, this data does not include dividends, capital gains or interest. Should be fairly obvious which end of the curve gets the lion's share of that.

dextorious 15y ago
Actually most middle class Americans, and basically all Americans in IT jobs commenting on the web, have no frigging idea of how the "other half lives"...
- dextorious 15y ago
  Besides checking being poor by yourself (which will come easy for a lot of people in the current economy), and/or hanging around poor neighborhoods and making friends, I recommend "Nickel and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_and_Dimed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_and_Dimed A small road trip in South Dakota, Mississippi, Alabama et al would also be insightful.
BrandonM 15y ago
> Further, this data does not include dividends, capital gains or interest. Should be fairly obvious which end of the curve gets the lion's share of that. But it also doesn't include unreported income, public grants, welfare, food assistance programs, Medicare, Medicaid, retirement funds, pensions, Social Security, receipt of charity, etc. It also fails to realize that some of those low-income workers are homemakers who only work a few hours a week to get out of the house, teenagers and young adults just working for spending money, and retired elderly who are looking to stay active and supplement their fixed income without working too hard. I'm not against social assistance by any means, but trumpeting misinformation only serves to muddy the waters and harm productive discussion.

4 ms·

To those who say "someone can do two jobs and make more" and such... These stats are compiled on SSN basis by the Social Security Administration. Thus, I thin

by rmah 15y ago

dextorious 15y ago
Actually most middle class Americans, and basically all Americans in IT jobs commenting on the web, have no frigging idea of how the "other half lives"...
- dextorious 15y ago
  Besides checking being poor by yourself (which will come easy for a lot of people in the current economy), and/or hanging around poor neighborhoods and making friends, I recommend "Nickel and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_and_Dimed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_and_Dimed A small road trip in South Dakota, Mississippi, Alabama et al would also be insightful.
BrandonM 15y ago
> Further, this data does not include dividends, capital gains or interest. Should be fairly obvious which end of the curve gets the lion's share of that. But it also doesn't include unreported income, public grants, welfare, food assistance programs, Medicare, Medicaid, retirement funds, pensions, Social Security, receipt of charity, etc. It also fails to realize that some of those low-income workers are homemakers who only work a few hours a week to get out of the house, teenagers and young adults just working for spending money, and retired elderly who are looking to stay active and supplement their fixed income without working too hard. I'm not against social assistance by any means, but trumpeting misinformation only serves to muddy the waters and harm productive discussion.