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Author Topic: Economic Inequality  (Read 130945 times)

sidd

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #450 on: November 19, 2019, 07:33:59 AM »
Guess what: inflation hits the poor in the USA more than the rich

"prices have risen more quickly for people at the bottom of the income distribution than for those at the top"

"3.2 million more people are classified as living in poverty in 2018, and that real household income for the bottom 20 percent of the income distribution actually declined by nearly 7 percent since 2004."

"the annual inflation rate is 0.44 percentage points higher for the bottom income quintile compared with the top income quintile, on average."

https://groundworkcollaborative.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/The-Costs-of-Being-Poor-Groundwork-Collaborative.pdf

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Klondike Kat

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #451 on: November 19, 2019, 06:46:05 PM »
Guess what: inflation hits the poor in the USA more than the rich

"prices have risen more quickly for people at the bottom of the income distribution than for those at the top"

"3.2 million more people are classified as living in poverty in 2018, and that real household income for the bottom 20 percent of the income distribution actually declined by nearly 7 percent since 2004."

"the annual inflation rate is 0.44 percentage points higher for the bottom income quintile compared with the top income quintile, on average."

https://groundworkcollaborative.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/The-Costs-of-Being-Poor-Groundwork-Collaborative.pdf

sidd

An yet the poverty rate continues to decline.

sidd

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #452 on: November 19, 2019, 10:11:19 PM »
Re: " the poverty rate continues to decline"

cite ?

It is quite easy to have declining poverty rates, for example by redefining poverty. Or by not counting the homeless. Or the undocumented. Or as in the previous article i quoted, by miscalculating effects of inflation.

As Stalin is rumoured to have said, "I don't care who votes, just who counts the votes."

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #453 on: November 19, 2019, 11:22:14 PM »
Re: " the poverty rate continues to decline"

cite ?

It is quite easy to have declining poverty rates, for example by redefining poverty. Or by not counting the homeless. Or the undocumented. Or as in the previous article i quoted, by miscalculating effects of inflation.


It was in the article cited previously.  The official poverty rate was declining, and even their inflation-adjusted poverty rate was declining.

sidd

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #454 on: November 20, 2019, 05:21:00 AM »
The rate as a percentage in the article increased from 12.4 in 2006 thru the crisis to a peak of 15.1 in 2010 and then dropped to 12.8% by 2018,  modulo my caveats about how the count is done. The actual number though is steadily increasing from 37M in 2005 to 41M in 2018. (appendix table 2)

but as i said, the estimates leave a bunch out.

sidd

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #455 on: November 20, 2019, 05:51:56 PM »
The rate as a percentage in the article increased from 12.4 in 2006 thru the crisis to a peak of 15.1 in 2010 and then dropped to 12.8% by 2018,  modulo my caveats about how the count is done. The actual number though is steadily increasing from 37M in 2005 to 41M in 2018. (appendix table 2)

but as i said, the estimates leave a bunch out.

sidd

Actually, they have been steadilty increasing (even by their methods).  It peaked in 2012 (by all measures presented), and has been steadily decreasing since.

TerryM

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #456 on: November 21, 2019, 05:31:28 AM »
When San Francisco, arguably one of the richest, most progressive cities in the world won't provide toilet facilities for those that can't afford the costs of housing, the shit deposited on her streets seems like a fitting presentation to the burgers, voters, officials & politicians who make her their home.


Terry

nanning

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #457 on: November 23, 2019, 05:07:23 PM »
   Children as young as five make up most of Madagascar’s mica mining workforce

Investigation finds thousands of children are scavenging in deadly conditions for mineral widely used by car and electronics firms

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/nov/21/children-as-young-as-five-make-up-most-of-madagascars-mica-mining-workforce
  by Kate Hodal


Excerpts:

Children as young as five make up more than half the number of miners scavenging for mica in Madagascar, according to a leading child rights group.

A year-long investigation by Terre des Hommes Netherlands found that at least 11,000 children between the ages of five and 17 are employed in quarrying and processing the shimmery, heat-resistant mineral, which is used in everything from makeup to car paint and hugely prevalent in the automotive and electronics industry.

Children comprise as much as 62% of the overall mining workforce, researchers found, with miners descending deep into the ground to cut the mica by hand.

The work is dangerous, with children complaining of aching muscles, open sores and respiratory problems, according to the report, published this week by Terre des Hommes and the Dutch Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations.

Researchers found that even if the young children scavenging for mica worked a full day, their salary was never enough for them to afford more than one meal.

“Sadly this kind of appalling abuse is all too common in mineral supply chains,” said Eniko Horvath of the international corporate watchdog Business and Human Rights Resource Centre.
"It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly" - Bertrand Russell
"It is preoccupation with what other people from your groups think of you, that prevents you from living freely and nobly" - Nanning
Why do you keep accumulating stuff?

nanning

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #458 on: November 23, 2019, 05:13:45 PM »
  Vauxhall and BMW among car firms linked to child labour over glittery mica paint

(article from 3 years ago)
Paint used by car makers including Vauxhall, BMW, Volkswagen and Audi linked to illegal mines in India reliant on child labour and debt bondage



https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/jul/28/vauxhall-bmw-car-firms-linked-child-labour-mica
  by Peter Bengtsen in Jharkhand and Bihar, and Annie Kelly

excerpts:
Many of these children work in mines alongside their parents and siblings, for whom the mine is the only source of income. Many families are bonded to the mines by large debts owed to local moneylenders or mine owners who charge up to 200% annual interest.

She says she has worked at mines, carved out of the mountainous hillside, for as long as she can remember and has never gone to school.
"It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly" - Bertrand Russell
"It is preoccupation with what other people from your groups think of you, that prevents you from living freely and nobly" - Nanning
Why do you keep accumulating stuff?

Tom_Mazanec

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #459 on: November 23, 2019, 11:44:15 PM »
On the tricentennial (2076)  I imagine twenty trillionaires will have as much money as the 99%, or the rest of the 1%.

Tom_Mazanec

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #460 on: November 26, 2019, 06:41:44 PM »
The more I read this, the more I realize the old cyberpunk writers were getting it right all those decades ago.

TerryM

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #461 on: November 26, 2019, 09:11:29 PM »
There is a vast deposit of mica just beneath ground level level south of Rubidoux California. The ground is covered with high end homes and a golf course, but if they were removed there's a sizable deposit readily available.
It might cost a bit to remove the overburden, labor in California can be expensive, and regulations might appear onerous - but that might be preferable to the child labor they're now exploiting.


Is it rarity that leads to these abuses, or simply the drive to whittle away at every expense?
When will Bolivia's lithium be exploited? Was a coup the only way to gain access - or was it simply the cheapest way?
Terry

Rodius

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #462 on: November 30, 2019, 11:33:06 AM »
On the tricentennial (2076)  I imagine twenty trillionaires will have as much money as the 99%, or the rest of the 1%.

If that happens, I imagine all of the trillionaires would be headless.

Tom_Mazanec

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #463 on: November 30, 2019, 03:20:59 PM »
On the tricentennial (2076)  I imagine twenty trillionaires will have as much money as the 99%, or the rest of the 1%.

If that happens, I imagine all of the trillionaires would be headless.

If you had described the America of 2019 to me in 1969 (I was 11, but already well read and interested in society) I would have expected a revolution by then.

vox_mundi

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #464 on: December 03, 2019, 05:01:24 PM »
England: Atlas of Inequality Challenges Assumptions of Rich and Poor Areas
https://phys.org/news/2019-12-atlas-inequality-assumptions-rich-poor.html

The English Atlas of Inequality, developed by Professor Alasdair Rae and Dr. Elvis Nyanzu from the University of Sheffield's Department of Urban Studies and Planning, maps 149 commuting zones—known as Travel To Work Areas (TTWAs)—across England, showing levels of inequality within the areas.

Researchers used the most commonly used inequality measure, the "Gini coefficient," which looks at income distribution, alongside the "20:20 Index," a measure of economic imbalance within areas and also "Moran's I' which measures geographic clustering of different income groups.

The results of their work highlight the risks of using one single measure to understand the issue of inequality in England. So to complete the atlas, the researchers also measured inequality within all local authority districts and parliamentary constituencies.

Professor Alasdair Rae, said: "When we look at the income distribution in Sheffield, the city is less unequal than some other major English cities, such as London or Cambridge. However, when we look at Sheffield's neighborhoods, 81 feature as being among the least deprived 20 percent in England on income, whereas 116 neighborhoods feature among England's most deprived 20 percent.

When using the Gini coefficient to measure inequality, researchers found that some of England's most deprived coastal communities such as Skegness, Sunderland and Bridlington wouldn't be seen as a priority; as despite being among the poorest local economies, they are some of the most equal within their own boundaries.

Professor Alasdair Rae, said: "Our atlas highlights the fact that no one measure of inequality paints the full picture and that methodological diversity is needed before we start to think of solutions to inequality at a local, sub-national and national level.

http://ajrae.staff.shef.ac.uk/atlasofinequality/
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nanning

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #465 on: December 08, 2019, 09:27:22 AM »
Nearly 700,000 Americans to lose food stamps under new Trump policy
Move will limit states from exempting work-eligible adults from having to maintain steady employment to receive benefits

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/04/food-stamps-snap-trump-sonny-perdue
  by Associated Press


The final rule will go into effect in April.

Congressional Democrats and advocates for the poor were quick to condemn the administration’s actions.

Senator Debbie Stabenow said the plan will only serve to punish workers whose jobs are seasonal or unreliable.

James D Weill, the president of the Food Research and Action Center, said the plan is “deeply flawed and ill-conceived“ and would lead to higher rates of hunger and poverty.

“The final rule would cause serious harm to individuals, communities and the nation while doing nothing to improve the health and employment of those impacted by the rule,” he said.

Denying them basic food and nutrition is not the route that a fair and compassionate administration of either party should take,” he said in a statement.



This is an important part of neo-liberalist dogma: "Make the poor suffer"
"It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly" - Bertrand Russell
"It is preoccupation with what other people from your groups think of you, that prevents you from living freely and nobly" - Nanning
Why do you keep accumulating stuff?

nanning

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #466 on: December 09, 2019, 06:37:49 PM »
Coats for homeless removed from Dublin's Ha'penny Bridge

Action by city authority for ‘public safety’ reasons provokes social media outcry


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/09/coats-for-homeless-removed-from-dublin-hapenny-bridge
  by Rory Carroll


 First paragraphs:

The idea was simple: ask Dubliners to hang warm coats on the Ha’penny footbridge for the city’s burgeoning homeless population.

Shortly after #warmforwinter notices appeared on lampposts near the popular landmark last week, an array of anoraks, parkas and fleeces started to line the railings.

Organisers considered it a practical and symbolic display of solidarity with homeless people over Christmas. However, Dublin city council disagreed and workers removed the coats over the weekend.

"It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly" - Bertrand Russell
"It is preoccupation with what other people from your groups think of you, that prevents you from living freely and nobly" - Nanning
Why do you keep accumulating stuff?

sidd

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #467 on: December 11, 2019, 06:03:46 AM »
Saez and Zucman on how the rich take it all:

"Among the bottom 50 percent of earners, average real annual income even after taxes and transfers has edged up a meager $8,000 since 1970, rising from just over $19,000 to just over $27,000 in 2018.

By contrast, among the top 1 percent of earners, average income even after taxes and transfers has tripled since 1970, rising by more than $800,000, from just over $300,000 to over $1 million in 2018.

Among the top 0.1 percent, average after-tax-and-transfer income has increased fivefold, from just over $1 million in 1970 to over $5 million in 2018. And among the top .01 percent, it has increased nearly sevenfold, from just over $3.5 million to over $24 million."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/12/09/massive-triumph-rich-illustrated-by-stunning-new-data/

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/12/09/staggering-new-data-shows-income-top-1-has-grown-100-times-faster-bottom-50-1970

sidd

sidd

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #468 on: December 18, 2019, 02:34:13 AM »
Haique: societies too poor to afford public goods

"As they become poorer, people begin to distrust each other — and then hate each other."

https://eand.co/this-is-how-a-society-dies-35bdc3c0b854

I don't fully agree with Haique, but read the whole thing. He elides the fact that the poverty of society is due to the rich eating all the surplus.

sidd

sidd

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #469 on: December 18, 2019, 02:37:23 AM »
Killing the poor: Dorling on mortality rise in UK

"the vast majority of the extra deaths that have occurred were almost certainly the result of austerity."

"Nowhere else in Europe is life expectancy falling. Nowhere else in Europe has rising infant mortality. "

https://thecorrespondent.com/177/the-biggest-story-in-the-uk-is-not-brexit-its-life-expectancy/197470651092-d2e0df85

sidd

nanning

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #470 on: December 18, 2019, 08:43:57 AM »
This is hurting economic growth but that's a secondary goal apparently. 1. make the poor suffer 2. economic growth (i.e. rich people richer)
Interesting arcticles on the war on the poor:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/04/jobcentre-adviser-play-benefit-sanctions-angela-neville

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/oct/07/fitness-for-work-tests-national-catastrophe-suicides-vulnerable-people

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/mar/28/prisons-watchdog-condemns-lack-of-action-on-rising-female-suicides

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/sep/21/benefits-assessor-sanctioned-for-mocking-disabled-claimant

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/31/benefits-claimants-fear-supermarkets-spy-poor-disabled

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/10/inflicting-suffering-heart-benefits-system-unemployed-disabled

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/15/prison-suicides-tory-crime

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/oct/21/prisons-uk-chief-hardwick-suicide-prisoners-safety

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/oct/17/-sp-inmate-suicide-figures-reveal-human-toll-prison-crisis

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/21/fit-for-work-assessment-was-trigger-for-suicide-coroner-says

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/26/benefit-assessor-more-afraid-state-poverty

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/06/benefits-corporate-welfare-research-public-money-businesses

https://voxpoliticalonline.com/2015/09/13/the-increasing-death-toll-due-to-the-loss-of-benefits/

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/29/hospital-food-banks-benefits-survival

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/03/paul-donnachie-benefits-suspended-months-later-killed-himself

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/nov/06/brutal-reality-lower-benefit-cap-hits-home-struggling-families

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/26/benefits-cheats-employers-milk-system-in-work-benefit
"It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly" - Bertrand Russell
"It is preoccupation with what other people from your groups think of you, that prevents you from living freely and nobly" - Nanning
Why do you keep accumulating stuff?

nanning

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #471 on: December 19, 2019, 08:44:57 PM »
A very good and very important video.
I post this here because of malnutrition being tied to economic inequality. There is much important information here.

Do the first 1000 days determine the rest of your life?

(17m33)
"It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly" - Bertrand Russell
"It is preoccupation with what other people from your groups think of you, that prevents you from living freely and nobly" - Nanning
Why do you keep accumulating stuff?

sidd

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #472 on: December 23, 2019, 12:34:47 AM »
Corporations bribing corrupt unions: leadership of UAW is a criminal conspiracy

https://theintercept.com/2019/12/20/united-auto-workers-union-corruption-fire-arson/

sidd

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #473 on: December 23, 2019, 11:20:39 PM »
Proceeding as planned: Killing off the economically useless

Hill at the guardian on slow starvation of the elderly in the UK:

"The number of older people diagnosed with malnutrition has more than trebled to almost 500,000 in the past decade"

"More than 1 million people aged 60 and over – one in 10 – are either malnourished or at risk of malnutrition"

"over 360,000 people aged 50-64 and over 29,000 of 65-74 year-olds admit having to cut or skip meals because they didn’t have enough money."

Read and weep:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/dec/23/number-of-older-people-diagnosed-with-malnutrition-trebles-in-a-decade

sidd

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #474 on: December 24, 2019, 08:21:15 AM »
Need not to die from cold ? Best get busted.

"wanting to stay in the jail to get out of the cold ... deputies told the man that he couldn’t stay in the jail for liability ... began busting the windows ... then arrested and taken into custody ... "

https://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2019/12/19/man-seeks-shelter-in-jail-goes-on-window-breaking-spree-to-get-arrested/

"Temperatures were as low as 25 degrees [F]"

"Adams County, a small county of about 31,000 in southern Mississippi, lacks a homeless shelter. Yet nearly 30% of its residents live in poverty"

"state’s corrections system spends an average of $50 a day on every inmate ... the average one-bedroom apartment in Natchez costs $1,300 a month, or about $43 a day"

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/4agyzq/a-homeless-mississippi-man-got-himself-arrested-just-so-hed-have-a-warm-place-to-sleep

What a wonderful life, ain't it ?

sidd

nanning

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #475 on: December 24, 2019, 09:13:23 AM »
[sarc]
Yeah yeah yeah. But didn't you hear the news? There's a new electric Porsche out. And my Tesla will soon be delivered. And my powerwall is doing great. Exciting times eh?
[/sarc]

Some people think this is 'natural selection', I kid you not. Even a poster on this forum thinks that.
"It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly" - Bertrand Russell
"It is preoccupation with what other people from your groups think of you, that prevents you from living freely and nobly" - Nanning
Why do you keep accumulating stuff?

blumenkraft

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #476 on: December 24, 2019, 12:30:38 PM »
Some people think this is 'natural selection', I kid you not. Even a poster on this forum thinks that.

It's called Calvinism and is one of the most despicable of all the various idiotic religious ideas out there. It takes inherently arbitrary concepts like god, money and success, and stakes them on each other in a way that makes any humanity a sin, makes being kind a weakness. Absolutely insane!

We basically can blame Calvinism for this late-stage capitalism we are in.

sidd

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #477 on: December 25, 2019, 08:47:53 AM »
Went to a tiny lil church with a big organ for midnite mass, a dead friend of mine used to sing in the choir.  Saw a buncha old friends, still alive, that was nice.

Then some of us got to work. All day we had been cooking up a buncha  bison hamburger into chili. As to why we had a chunk of bison burger, well we happen to know someone. Load a propane burner and cauldrons of chili into the back of a pickup, drive out to homeless encampment under freeway exit, start distributing. Paper cups, plastic spoons, we'll come back tomm and do some trash pickup.

Sure enuf, about half an hour cop shows, tell us to move on. We tell him, dude we aint selling crack here, you know, whyntcha let us have another half an hour. Cop looks at us, dont say a word, pulls out, drives on. Some of them have a heart.

Merry Christmas.

sidd

nanning

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #478 on: December 25, 2019, 10:34:25 AM »
Beautiful sidd. Wow. That's a nice Christmas story. More of that please :)
I guess the homeless people were surprised and delighted? You must have a nice feeling about it as well. Thankful 'work' I think.
Do you have a photo?
I love you.
"It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly" - Bertrand Russell
"It is preoccupation with what other people from your groups think of you, that prevents you from living freely and nobly" - Nanning
Why do you keep accumulating stuff?

kassy

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #479 on: December 25, 2019, 09:43:59 PM »
Yeah some do.

Met a security guard like that in my real bad time. Basically i half fell asleep in some mall. He told me i had been warned before and that technically he should slap some fine on me but if i would just go it would be better. So i went.

Also people pretend you are invisible when you are in a bad state. Lots of room on the bench but they will sit down on the next one. Except this man who just went and sit and then said. Look i cannot eat all this would you like half my sandwich?

(Wondering if your cop was also ´older´)
Þetta minnismerki er til vitnis um að við vitum hvað er að gerast og hvað þarf að gera. Aðeins þú veist hvort við gerðum eitthvað.

sidd

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #480 on: December 25, 2019, 10:13:04 PM »
Actually, the place looked deserted when we showed up, just a couple guys came up for the chili. I go, theres got to be more people around, we need to get their attention. After some ten minutes, one of us (a tall statuesque blonde, looks like the one on St. Pauli beer , a trained and talented singer) says, hell with this, climbs on top of the pickup cab and begins to belt out "Ave Maria"

The results were remarkable. Acoustics under the overpass made them more so. In minutes flat, dozens of people emerged from their shelters and crowded around. So that worked out.

The cop was older.

sidd

kassy

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #481 on: December 25, 2019, 10:19:38 PM »
Yeah when you older you can look back on many scenarios where you were being played or doing bs stuff.

Nice song to get stuff going.  :)
Þetta minnismerki er til vitnis um að við vitum hvað er að gerast og hvað þarf að gera. Aðeins þú veist hvort við gerðum eitthvað.

oren

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #482 on: December 26, 2019, 01:46:02 AM »
Thank you for your real-life stories sidd, both the bone-chilling ones and the heart-warming ones.

TerryM

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #483 on: December 26, 2019, 01:36:53 PM »
Wonderful sidd, and finding a cop with a heart in these times is an amazing anachronism.


Can you follow up on the neighbor who was about to lose her home due to her dead husband's medical bills? Is she about to join those 'under the freeway', or have clearer heads somehow prevailed?


I told her tale at a Christmas dinner in Ontario and the responses surprised me. Most blamed the barbarians we share a border with, feeling that any news from that region was indecipherable and that expecting logic, or compassion was foolish. Some replied with regional horror stories where insurance companies/agents were cast as the villians. One told us an account of a married gent who was beggared because of his young wife's hidden gambling addiction.



None seemed to note that the husband and wife, at least in my rendition, had never consented to any of the services that had kept him alive for a few miserable, pain filled weeks, but whose costs were now ruining any chance for the wife to live out the remainder of her life in reasonable comfort.
He'd broken no law, but was held against his will while bills for unwanted services piled up. They reasoned that they'd be paid whether they succeeded or failed & gave him no opportunity to decline.


Is there any difference between the actions of the first responders and the action of a highwayman who kidnaps a man, then uses the power of the court to extract ransome from the surviving spouse?
His death at their hands to my mind is secondary. Their motivation was gread, not compassion.


We read of increased suicide among America's elderly. Are these simply people unwilling to allow TPTB to engorge themselves on assets earmarked for loved relatives?


If confronted with a similar situation, how could anyone save his wife without taking his own life?


I'd very much appreciate your input, as well as any hopefully good news about her situation. This appears to be a case, that if brought before a jury of her peers could shine a much needed light on these procedures & might even allow this particular widow to end her days in relative comfort. Is finding a lawyer with a heart even more difficult than discovering a cop with one?


Thanks
Terry

Tom_Mazanec

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #484 on: December 26, 2019, 01:56:25 PM »
TerryM:
I'm glad I never had a wife or children.

sidd

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #485 on: December 26, 2019, 09:38:34 PM »
Re: neighbour

Found her a lawyer. Lets see where it goes.

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #486 on: December 26, 2019, 09:39:27 PM »

sidd

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #487 on: December 27, 2019, 08:17:04 AM »
Not just the USA: Japan sees some of the same

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/backstories/761/

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #488 on: December 27, 2019, 08:47:55 AM »
Beautiful sidd, thanks.

I feel strongly about the desperate situation of many poor people, so I post this because these people were elated, shedding tears from relieved stress (I know this feeling):

  Excerpts from that link:
From 2014 through 2018, Methodist sued more than 8,300 people for unpaid hospital bills, including many people who were low-income. The hospital, the city’s largest, garnished hundreds of workers’ paychecks, including those of its own employees.

“People fear medical debt more than they fear a medical crisis,” said Jenifer Bosco, a staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, a nonprofit focusing on consumer law for low-income and other disadvantaged people.

The psychological effects of debt, “including the fear of never being able to pay off debt and the stress of being contacted by collectors — lead to feelings of hopelessness, shame, and despair,” a review by the law center found. “Even the children of indebted adults show impaired socioemotional development.”


After our investigation, Methodist Le Bonheur hospital system erased thousands of patients’ medical debt. Many will no longer have to choose between those bills and their children or themselves. We want you to meet four of them.

Then in October, the letter arrived. Robinson screamed so loud, her daughter came rushing from her bedroom to see what was wrong. She planned to frame it and hang it on her wall, as a reminder to hold on to hope even when the situation is bleak.

Nervously, she opened the letter. “As of August 1, 2019,” it said, “your total amount due is $0 for docket ROBINSON, and we have notified the court that this account has been paid in full.”

I had to read it a couple of times just to make sure,” Robinson said. “I couldn’t believe it. I went crying around the house.

Since July, the faith-based hospital system has erased at least $11.9 million in debts owed by Robinson and thousands of others like her
"It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly" - Bertrand Russell
"It is preoccupation with what other people from your groups think of you, that prevents you from living freely and nobly" - Nanning
Why do you keep accumulating stuff?

sidd

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #489 on: December 27, 2019, 10:31:33 PM »
Bust em, then bankrupt them: medical-penitentiary complex in sweet home alabama

" inmates have had medical bills sent to collections while they were still behind bars, damaging their credit and putting pressure on their family members to pay up to ensure the care continued."

“like charging them for their own food,”

"sheriffs across Alabama are avoiding financial responsibility for inmate medical care."

“They usually cannot afford even a $5 copay, so the idea that they could pay thousands of dollars for these services is laughable from a practical perspective and it’s downright evil on many different levels,”

https://www.propublica.org/article/how-some-sheriffs-force-their-inmates-into-medical-debt

sidd

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #490 on: December 28, 2019, 09:12:27 AM »

sidd

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #491 on: December 28, 2019, 09:15:48 AM »

TerryM

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #492 on: December 28, 2019, 06:55:49 PM »
^^
Damn shame that they don't have a local branch that I could boycott.


Skinheads with AUTHORITY should be avoided at all costs, their employers businesses also deserve a cold shoulder.
Terry

sidd

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #493 on: December 28, 2019, 10:58:09 PM »
Not just Alabama: Nevada tries to save on medication for prisoners

So do Texas, Maine,Massachusetts, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Minnesota. Just throw them in jail and bury em in a paupers grave when they die.

"she pleaded with medical staff and prison officials to provide her with hepatitis C medication ...each time, officials denied her requests "

"Prison officials generally cite the high costs"

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nevada-prisoners-denied-hepatitis-c-treatment-sue-state-n1107381

sidd


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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #494 on: December 31, 2019, 12:33:42 AM »
How much for that T-shirt ?

https://www.spiegel.de/international/globalsocieties/bangladeshi-textile-workers-parenting-for-11-days-a-year-a-1301537.html

"11 days off. For the entire year"

"strapped on her facemask to protect herself from the leers of men and the pollution of the city "

"Bangladesh is considered an economic success story among developing nations. Its per capita GDP has increased sevenfold in the last four decades, from $227 to $1,698. In 2000, half of Bangladesh's now 161 million inhabitants lived beneath the poverty line. Now only about a quarter do. "

"an agrarian region afflicted by starvation, cyclones and flooding."

"Macy's, Coats, Walmart. "

"Roughly a third of the country's factories now have fire alarms, sprinklers and fire extinguishers."

"Begum works in one of the company's smaller factories. But here, the manager says confidentially, nothing has changed. "

"Six days per week, nine hours per day, she says, she sews in the factory. She earns about 88 euros per month, or 8,400 taka."

"What are my options? I'm not educated"

"a small room, 4-by-4 meters, and a shared toilet. The main problem, she says, is that though the minimum wage has doubled, prices have gone up too."

"Cost of living has risen by 86 percent between 2013 and 2018"

"As soon as they get a raise, the landlords and store owners raise their prices too."

"My dream life was different"

" "I'm pregnant," she told him."

" "Get an abortion," he said."

"Some parents don't bother to come home at all. "

"Two of their six children died. Their first son gambled away the family's money. And Tasnia got sick. She had a fever, cough and no appetite. The family says they had to borrow money to pay for Tasnia to go to the hospital. Eventually, their debt grew to over 3,000 euros -- around 300,000 taka. Tasnia Begum has managed to repay about a third to the lenders, or as she puts it, the "money sharks." "

"She sews to pay back the debts of her parents."

https://www.spiegel.de/international/globalsocieties/bangladeshi-textile-workers-parenting-for-11-days-a-year-a-1301537.html

sidd

TerryM

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #495 on: December 31, 2019, 06:28:04 AM »
^^
The Americanization of Healthcare?
Doubling the wages when inflation's running at 84% is great for those holding assets, not so great for those that work for a living.


Terry

sidd

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #496 on: December 31, 2019, 09:01:20 AM »
Not just USA: Canada kills its homeless too

" homeless people are forced to hide in wooded areas. The city does not tolerate tent encampments."

"zero tolerance policy toward tenting. The city removed an encampment this spring, displacing approximately 80 people who dispersed and are now living outside"

"conditions that resemble post-disaster scenarios. Deadly new disease outbreaks, such as Group A strep, have emerged in shelters. Meanwhile, bedbugs and lice have re-emerged with a vengeance."

"New efforts to protect lives, like a teepee in Winnipeg and an army tent on church property in London, have been met with backlash from neighbours."

"995 names on the Toronto Homeless Memorial."

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/12/30/canadas-brutal-decade-homelessness

sidd

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #497 on: December 31, 2019, 10:04:21 AM »
^^
Wow!
That's unexpected.
When I moved here they were just putting the finishing touches on a beautiful homeless shelter. A three story building built into a hill with a stunning view of the river. Designed by the local architectural college it lacked nothing except clients. We had to import homeless from other communities to get the building up to it's designed capacity. ???


Harper's minions must have done more damage to the country's economy than I was aware of, and now we've a Conservative government in Ontario.


I was homeless in Hamilton in the mid '60s and finding a crash was easy. Flophouses rented rooms for $2, the Sally Ann charged $.75/night, or a cot for 2 bits. If you took the dive Sally Ann would put you up for a month. Food was cheap - or the mission provided a sandwich and soup everyday at noon. The jails would allow you to sleep in a cell if it was cold.


Canada's always had strong safety nets to protect those in need. This news is upsetting. :(
Terry

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #498 on: January 01, 2020, 01:36:54 AM »
Rip the kids off: Kids no longer can roll over parents IRA

"children who could previously inherit their parent’s IRA and take the Required Minimum Distribution based on their own age – effectively giving them the ability to compound that inherited IRA over their own lifetime on a tax-sheltered basis – will now be required to reduce the account to zero (yes, ZERO!) over a period of ten years."

"Much of the money that is removed during that ten-year period from their inherited IRA could have compounded on a tax-sheltered basis in that account for another 30 to 40 years as they themselves entered retirement and took only the small mandatory distributions annually. We are potentially looking at Millennials losing trillions of dollars in stolen wealth. "

"so repugnant that even the typically pro-Wall Street Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal savaged the idea"

"the bill was shoved into the must-pass spending appropriations bill to keep the government running. President Donald Trump signed that into law on Friday, December 20."

"the average American is being sold out daily"

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2019/12/congress-just-passed-nightmare-legislation-that-strips-trillions-in-wealth-from-the-middle-class/

sidd

Aporia_filia

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Re: Economic Inequality
« Reply #499 on: January 01, 2020, 11:41:40 AM »
Economic inequality <= wild capitalism  (don't use the neo language; liberalism  :-X)
If you want to know a bit more than just about Anglo Saxon world, watch this doc made in Portugal. The very rich people is buying the embers of old bankrupted Countries pushing locals away and making them even poorer. The new gold idol to swindle people is tourism. A lolly pop you could see but not lick.

« Last Edit: January 01, 2020, 12:10:45 PM by Aporia_filia »