war on poverty

Why a single mom is better off with a $29,000 job than a $69,000 job

"Let’s take the example of a single mom with two kids, 1 and 4. She has a $29,000 a year job, putting the kids in daycare during the day while she works. As the above chart – via Gary Alexander, Pennsylvania’s secretary of Public Welfare — shows, the single mom is better off earning gross income of $29,000 with $57,327 in net income and benefits than to earn gross income of $69,000 with net income & benefits of $57,045. It would sure be tempting for that mom to keep the status quo rather than take the new job, even though the new position might lead to further career advancement and a higher standard of living." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhy a single mom is better off with a $29,000 job than a $69,000 job

Fixing the fast-food strike

"If you are one of the concerned, caring, and vastly indignant activists behind this strike, I’m here to tell you that your social-justice problem has a simple solution. Take out a loan (or put together the money from your like-minded activist friends), buy a franchise from one of the chains, and hire workers at $15 an hour. There, that was simple, wasn’t it? You’ll make money hand over fist and demonstrate to all those eeevil corporations that they can too pay a 'just wage'; they just don’t want to because they’re greedy. The commercial landscape would be alive with virtuous workers’ collectives paying their members fat wages and thumbing their noses at top-hatted plutocrats. Why doesn’t this happen?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFixing the fast-food strike

The Empire’s Next Effort to Extract Your Wealth

"Since before the tech bust, we’ve been suggesting that while Americans 'think' they’re getting richer… they’re actually heading in the other direction. They’re getting poorer. This proposition has been easier for folks to entertain since housing busted and the financial crisis reversed the “wealth effect” in 2008. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the logic of the American Empire and what you can expect in the year(s) ahead." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Empire’s Next Effort to Extract Your Wealth

It Is Illegal To Feed The Homeless In Cities All Over The United States

"More than 50 large U.S. cities have adopted 'anti-camping' or 'anti-food sharing' laws in recent years, and police are strictly enforcing these laws. Sometimes the goal appears to be to get the homeless people to go away. Apparently heartless politicians believe that if the homeless can't get any more free food and if they keep getting thrown into prison for 'illegal camping' they will eventually decide to go somewhere else where they won't be hassled so much. This is yet another example of how heartless our society is becoming. The middle class is being absolutely shredded and poverty is absolutely exploding, but meanwhile the hearts of many Americans are growing very cold." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIt Is Illegal To Feed The Homeless In Cities All Over The United States

2.7 Million Children Under the Age of 18 Have a Parent in Prison or Jail

"Most prisoners are parents of children under 18 years of age. Two-thirds of incarcerated parents are nonviolent offenders, often locked up on minor drug-related charges. They make up the majority of parents in prison, and they and their children are the ones criminal justice reform will most affect. One in 28 kids in the United States (as of 2010) has a mother or father, or both, in lockup – a dramatic change from the one in 125 rate a quarter of a century ago. One in nine black children have an imprisoned parent, four times as many 25 years ago. 14,000 or more children of the imprisoned annually enter foster care, while an undetermined number enter juvenile detention and adult prisons." Continue reading →

Continue Reading2.7 Million Children Under the Age of 18 Have a Parent in Prison or Jail

Anti-gun cities, where the rich pay for protection while the poor pay with their lives

"The story in New York City is one often told. While about 8 million souls reside in the city only a scant proportion (.00375%) are allowed to carry a gun for their own protection. And with the steep, non-refundable application fee many people just cannot afford to even try for the likelihood of getting turned down and losing nearly $500. But the rich, famous, and connected have no issues footing that bill and getting a CCW issued to them. Yet for every Jon Lennon there are THOUSANDS of John Q Publics murdered because they have had their constitutional rights denied them, not to mention the tens of thousands raped, robbed or beaten." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAnti-gun cities, where the rich pay for protection while the poor pay with their lives

Feeding Homeless Apparently Illegal in Raleigh, NC

"This morning we showed up at Moore Square at 9:00 a.m., just like we have done virtually every Saturday and Sunday for the last six years. We provide, without cost or obligation, hot coffee and a breakfast sandwich to anyone who wants one. We keep this promise to our community in cooperation with five different large suburban churches that help us with manpower and funding. Today officers from Raleigh Police Department prevented us from doing our work, for the first time ever. An officer said, quite bluntly, that if we attempted to distribute food, we would be arrested." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFeeding Homeless Apparently Illegal in Raleigh, NC

Feeding Homeless Apparently Illegal in Raleigh, NC

"This morning we showed up at Moore Square at 9:00 a.m., just like we have done virtually every Saturday and Sunday for the last six years. We provide, without cost or obligation, hot coffee and a breakfast sandwich to anyone who wants one. We keep this promise to our community in cooperation with five different large suburban churches that help us with manpower and funding. Today officers from Raleigh Police Department prevented us from doing our work, for the first time ever. An officer said, quite bluntly, that if we attempted to distribute food, we would be arrested." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFeeding Homeless Apparently Illegal in Raleigh, NC

Feeding Homeless Apparently Illegal in Raleigh, NC

"This morning we showed up at Moore Square at 9:00 a.m., just like we have done virtually every Saturday and Sunday for the last six years. We provide, without cost or obligation, hot coffee and a breakfast sandwich to anyone who wants one. We keep this promise to our community in cooperation with five different large suburban churches that help us with manpower and funding. Today officers from Raleigh Police Department prevented us from doing our work, for the first time ever. An officer said, quite bluntly, that if we attempted to distribute food, we would be arrested." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFeeding Homeless Apparently Illegal in Raleigh, NC

Feeding Homeless Apparently Illegal in Raleigh, NC

"This morning we showed up at Moore Square at 9:00 a.m., just like we have done virtually every Saturday and Sunday for the last six years. We provide, without cost or obligation, hot coffee and a breakfast sandwich to anyone who wants one. We keep this promise to our community in cooperation with five different large suburban churches that help us with manpower and funding. Today officers from Raleigh Police Department prevented us from doing our work, for the first time ever. An officer said, quite bluntly, that if we attempted to distribute food, we would be arrested." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFeeding Homeless Apparently Illegal in Raleigh, NC