My column Friday took note of the eight Nebraska meatpackers who have become instant multimillionaires by winning a $365 million lottery. More powerball to them.
But while the nation indulges in fantasies about being awarded unimaginable wealth for doing nothing, millions of low-income Americans who work hard and play by the rules continue to fall further behind.
Many of the Wichitans standing in line at the Lord’s Diner have jobs. They just can’t make ends meet. This country’s moral failure to raise the $5.15-an-hour federal minimum wage or — better — provide a living wage is grossly unfair, because the minimum wage at its present level is really a poverty wage.
No one who works hard should be unable to make ends meet. Too bad so few politicians of either party are talking about this problem.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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39 Comments
Unfortunately it is. I don’t know how it is in Wichita but here in Seattle all the workers at McDonalds are Mexicans. Don’t get me wrong – I like them – they work hard and are a huge step up from the sullen teenagers that I was used to seeing, and my hat is off to them for coming up from Mexico and carving out a new life.
But nonetheless the porous borders are a huge problem for the American middle class. The American vision of success is to get out on your own and raise a family – can’t do that on 5.15 an hour.
The porous borders and cheap labor are eating the American middle class and I’d rather pay a dime more for whatever that substance I’m eating at McDonalds rather than maintaining a non subsistance wage floor.
And no crap about the Americans need to learn to complete either. Two Americans for 50k a year are always going to lose to six Chinese at 30k/year with a 20k bonus to the upper level manager who cut the deal.
I watch Mad Money with Jim Cramer and do alright for a low-income middle class American.
What upsets me also is that Rep. Tiahrt is going to get YET ANOTHER RAISE if the current funding bill becomes law. It will raise his salary not including benefits to $160k. His salary as well as other Congress members of course, have skyrocketed over the same period since the last minimum wage increase – and I suppose only Congress really works hard enough to deserve a raise . . .
As a friend once said, “The lottery is a tax on people who are mathematically challenged.” When you think of it that is about the extent of it. Your odds of winning are several orders of magnitude less than getting killed in a car accident.
Are you married with kids, Joe? It’s a heck of a lot harder to make ends meet when you’re raising a family on an average blue collar wage. I don’t know of any family in that income bracket that can afford for the mom or dad to stay home with the kids while the other works, it takes two incomes (and more) to bring home the bacon when you have more than 2 mouths to feed in this day and age. Kids add a lot of expense to the household.
The fat cats just get fatter. Some day, enough hard-working underpaid folks like me are going to use our numbers to change things. Yes, people, VOTE for representatives who support YOU and your future, not corporations. What’s the Matter With Kansas? and Alabama and Georgia and Mississippi and…On a personal note:The great folks who I work with made it so that the Corporation had an amazing year and the best quarter in its history. We all got a modest bonus. The executives, who do little more than watch us work, voted themselves bonuses that exceeded their salaries!
The lottery is entertainment just like bingo or blackjack. Just dont bet your food money.
It is a great fastasy for a dollar!
Every now and then I will spend 1 dollar on powerball. That is it.
Ok, maybe 2… LOL.
However, what is sad is that I go to the quicktrip on 13th and Oliver sometimes to do this.
I see people who are pretty obviously not well off dropping 40-80 dollars on tickets!
Your statistical chances of winning on spending just a dollar vs 80 dollars is so small it is beyond reason why you would think that spending 80 dollars is really going to increase your odds that much.
It is almost like an exponential curve you are fighting against.
You could drop 1000 dollars vs a dollar and your odds would still be about the same…
Sigh.
Kelly – good point. Maybe they should index the minimum wage – to Congressional wages!
Nathan, like the workers in nebraska, lots of people pool their money. If you see one person dropping lots of cash, they may indeed be doing it for themselves, but I bet it is more likely they were the “designated buyer” for a pool.
Sadly, ksfg, nathan is probably right. A lot of people drop a lot of money on these things. Add to that the Lottery’s instant Keno games in bars and a lot of people who can afford it the least are blowing a lot of their paychecks.
That, in my opinion, really underscores our hypocrisy about gambling. Office NCAA pools are illegal; Saturday night penny-ante poker games are illegal; but the Lottery is State-sponsored.
Good points Ben. Since I farm I have no need to gamble :) and dont claim to be an expert. You may very well be right. And nathan is right about the odds.
My father, Hank, always told me:
“The lottery is a tax on poor people who can’t do math.”
Nathan.
I say it is the only way to tax the poor, since they don’t pay taxes on anything else.
It’s a great system.
There he goes again–Joe thinks the only tax on people is income tax.
Of course, there’s sales tax, the ultimate regressive tax, people paying taxes on their baby’s milk. Then there’s car tags. Not even the poor can live without a car in this state. If they have a phone (and who can live without a phone) they’re paying federal, state and local taxes on that.
Everybody has to have a place to live, right? If the poor have saved up enough for a down payment on a house, they get to pay property taxes. If they’re renting, they still pay property taxes as part of their rent.
The fact is that people who work for a living pay MORE in taxes than the people who live off their investments.
That’s the way George Bush wants it, and that’s they way it is . . .
I was truly glad to see who won this thing. Those poor bastards who work in meat packing plants deserve to have something good happen for them.
Hopefully, they will use that money to put their kids through college so they don’t make the same poor choices that landed them there in the first place.
Uh, Todd, when you split something like 200 million dollars (after taxes) eight ways, you don’t have to worry about whether your kids go to college or not.
Also, “the same poor choices that landed them there . . .” is a wicked example of blaming the victim.
Winning the lottery may be a dream against impossible odds. But a least it affords SOME hope.
And what other hope do folks have? They can play the lottery game or they can play the “Survivor” game.
There used to be something called the “American Dream” It said that if worked hard you could make good for you and yours. Well that dreamis long dead, and working folks can be forgiven ( and as ever forever exploited) to dare to cling to the dream that they too might have a chance. A chance not born on their ability to skillfully bend and kneel such as is Joe and Hankathan. But a chance simply just because.
That was what used to be the American dream. It’s shadow is all that some have left.
J R
Does the American Dream mean having Manions and driving Lamborghinis? Does the American dream mean 90% taxation on the wealthy of this country? Does the American Dream mean the forced re-distribution of wealth? Does the American dream mean that people work their entire lives working for one company?
What is the American Dream to you? It is just making money? Having millions? That is convoluted way of thinking. The American Dream is Freedom, Liberty, Life, and the pursuit of Happiness. If you think money takes you there, you are fooling yourself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dream
May I present to you, the American Dream. (=_=)
Joe, don’t downplay the importance of money when it comes to being happy. For me, being happy knows that I can provide for my family and that when the car breaks down I can still buy groceries. When I’m not stressed about how to pay my heating bill, it’s just easier to enjoy life. The idea that money can’t buy happiness is a myth.
Damoon–
Amen, my friend. I been rich and I been poor. Rich is better.
“Money can’t buy happiness” is the lie that the rich feed the poor so they (the poor) don’t demand their share of the wealth they earn for the rich . . .
“Money can’t buy happiness”
No, but it sure helps on the downpayment.
“Poverty doesn’t buy anything”.
Can’t say as I’ve ever been rich per the financial aspect. I’ve been poor a couple of times, but mostly, I’ve lead a comfortable life. I know a lot of poor people, mostly single women with kids. What does that say about our society?
The lottery is favored by those who are bad at math.
The minimum wage is favored by those who are bad at economics.
I’ve not read the wikpedia link that was posted.
No Joe I do not equate the American dream with money.
The American dream by JR
You work at something you love. You feel like you make a difference. If that means you work for someone else, (and that is now just about unavoidable) that employer treats you not as a “human resource” but with the respect that is born of knowing thatwithout you, the employer is nothing.
You are secure that all your basic needs will be met by the efforts of your labor. You live not extravagantly, but comfortably, with a few extravagances.
You have a realistic expectation that your kids will have it better than you.And that the self respect you taught them will not negate that.
And finally? Not to be forced to depend on government to survive but to be able to make and do well for ones self and loved ones. This promoted by government working to protect and defend those who do work from those who do the employing. Since expecting those who make their living off of others to pay and play fair seems an unrealistic “wish”.
Kinda like the lottery.
The American Dream: A house with a garage, a lawn with a white picket fence, apple pie sitting next to an open window, a Cadillac parked in the driveway, a tire-swing suspended from a tree on the lawn. Dick and Jane enjoy lemonade on their front porch. Their kids, little Jack and little Diane play with their golden retriever Spot on the lawn. All of them are blonde, blue-eyed, red-blooded ‘Mericans and not a minority within 20 thousand miles to decrease the property value of their neighborhood.Aaaahhh! The American Dream of the Right!
“Also, “the same poor choices that landed them there . . .” is a wicked example of blaming the victim.”
PL – Who’s responsible for the fact they are probably uneducated and so are “forced” to work in a meat packing plant?
Oh, that’s right. It’s the republicans.
Exactly, Todd. The people who were GIVEN a free public education but deemed that not important, so they wind up in labor type jobs…yep, tis the fault of the Republicans.
People have choices..to work, to learn, to do something with their lives. There is more help, assistance, and opportunity beyond description. But…if people don’t use personal initiative and would rather have life handed to them.. yep, that is certainly the fault of the Republicans.
And…of course it is also the fault of the Republicans that the people who can least afford it spend a larger amount on the lottery. Yep..blame that one on the Republicans as well.
Just the other day, I saw members of the local GOP club forcing a poor man at gunpoint to buy lottery tickets instead of buying food. Yep…happens all the time.
Sing of the “American dream” to a Wal mart worker coerced to sing the Wal mart loyalty song.
Expound on the “American dream” to the factory worker whose job is sent overseas, so that the stockholders and CEO can get a fatter bonus.
Tell the kids the tale of the time when the “American dream” was something more than an empty dead slogan, and how those who still tell them it still exists are doing so only to keep it from ever coming back again. Thus changing it from a hope to a lie to keep them from fighting to make it real again.
Ah yes…sing of the American dream to people who walk out of free public education, expect free medical care, free housing, free food and free daycare. Then they whine about not having anything.
Who walked out of the school in the first place? Who made the conscious choice to not take advantage of the free public education offered? Who decided that it was too much trouble to get loans and get some kind of degree? Who is to blame for a worker having no skills?
Ahh…that is right..it is the Republicans again. The Republicans are keeping people out of school. The Republicans are hiding school loans from poor people. The Republicans are making sure that someone with no skills cannot ever get any type of training.
Savage beasts, those vile Republicans…after all, it is surely not the fault of the drop out, is it?
This is the way carnivorous capitalism works it–it gives one the illusion of choice when there is no real choice for most people.
Saying that because a few have educated themselves out of poverty, everyone can do it is like saying because a few people have won millions in Powerball, everyone can do it.
The new batch of Republicans are past masters of blaming the victim–BushCo breaks the law by spying on people without warrants and then says “if you’re not guilty of anything, you have nothing to fear.” We have been harmed, we are being harmed, and he puts the responsibility on us.
Whittington comes forward and says he’s sorry that a drunken sot of a Dick shoots him in the face.
Bush whips up fear against Arabs in the never-ending war on terror and then can’t understand why people don’t want to sell ports to the UAE.
Raptor……..apt name for a neo-con. a raptor being a bird of prey.
So everyone not “making it”is a drop out? Huh? Where’s your stats on that? Far from dropping out I personally was a national merit semifinalist!
College loans you say? Yeah bush has slashed the heck out of them.
Training you say? Just what do people train for sir? We are outsourcing everything from meat packing to engineering.
So what’s left? Asking you if you want fries with your burger? Some American dream.
Oh but I forgot! That is what republicans want! THat is their whole way of life. Namely how can I use or abuse someone else to make me money.
I know! I’ll tell them THEY can make it too! Just as long as they do what I say!
Uh….”raptor” should I be forced to serving you your burger? That strange tangy taste is my opinion of your American dream.
Eat hearty bud
You say the odds on winning the lottery are 150,000,000 to 1? That’s still the best shot the vast majority of us get at being filthy rich!
JR – Sorry to hear about how badly your life sucks.
You have to love the far left wackos on here. It’s always,
“You can’t! You can’t! You can’t!”
Is it any real surprise when
“They don’t! They don’t! They don’t!”
Maybe not the best shot, more like their only hope of sharing in the dream!
LOL. This is fuggin hilarious.