Part time jobs are easy to get, multiple part time jobs and full time jobs are hard to get and keep. Most places do not want to hire full time employees because they don’t want to pay benefits. Companies like Kroger and Wal-Mart have very sophisticated software systems that make sure that employees are scheduled in ways that they will never make full time.

If you fill in for a sick co-work a few weeks in a row, you may find your hours cut for the next few weeks to make sure you don’t hit “full time”. So much for working hard and stepping forward to pitch in. Companies like Kroger and Wal-Mart also make it impossible to plan ahead. One week you may work 30 hours all during the day and the next week you may be only working 15 hours all at night.

Trying to keep anything job or raising a family with random swing work schedules becomes very difficult. I worked at Kroger for a number of years and when I wanted to get another part time night job, Kroger told me “no, I had to be available all the time and I could not restrict my schedule of nights and weekends to work another job.

It’s quite a trap.

If you really want accurate information since that report uses information from 2002, you might want to read the actual material from the Federal Government, a report was released in August on Poverty in America. Or any of the other several documents the government has out there that gives the full picture, the good, the bad and the confusing…

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http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/bg1713.cfm

The following are facts about persons defined as “poor” by the Census Bureau, taken from various government reports:

* Forty-six percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.

* Seventy-six percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, 30 years ago, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.

* Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded. More than two-thirds have more than two rooms per person.

* The average poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)

* Nearly three-quarters of poor households own a car; 30 percent own two or more cars.

* Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.

* Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.

* Seventy-three percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and a third have an automatic dishwasher.

As a group, America’s poor are far from being chronically undernourished. The average consumption of protein, vitamins, and minerals is virtually the same for poor and middle-class children and, in most cases, is well above recommended norms. Poor children actually consume more meat than do higher-income children and have average protein intakes 100 percent above recommended levels. Most poor children today are, in fact, supernourished and grow up to be, on average, one inch taller and 10 pounds heavier that the GIs who stormed the beaches of Normandy in World War II.

While the poor are generally well-nourished, some poor families do experience hunger, meaning a temporary discomfort due to food shortages. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 13 percent of poor families and 2.6 percent of poor children experience hunger at some point during the year. In most cases, their hunger is short-term. Eighty-nine percent of the poor report their families have “enough” food to eat, while only 2 percent say they “often” do not have enough to eat.

Overall, the typical American defined as poor by the government has a car, air conditioning, a refrigerator, a stove, a clothes washer and dryer, and a microwave. He has two color televisions, cable or satellite TV reception, a VCR or DVD player, and a stereo. He is able to obtain medical care. His home is in good repair and is not overcrowded. By his own report, his family is not hungry and he had sufficient funds in the past year to meet his family’s essential needs. While this individual’s life is not opulent, it is equally far from the popular images of dire poverty conveyed by the press, liberal activists, and politicians.

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Sorry Liz, but it’s all about choices. Obviously things like microwaves, cell phones, cars and cable television are more important to some people. These same people think government should make sure they have enough to eat. I can see a few ways those very few people who might have to live on $21/week of taxpayer help could easily find more money for what is truly important.

Let’s give all our extra money to Dick Cheney and Halliburton and begrudge a few poor folks their food stamps. Money spent on unnecessary military spending in never as bad as money spent on social programs. (sarcasm intended)

Or better yet, let’s rebuild our country’s infrastructure to enhance our quality of life. No, to the Limbaugh conservatives that would be a waste of taxpayer dollars.

That being said, reading about the commissioners trying to get by on $21 per person for food for a week is nauseating. Anything to get a little publicity.

Married, white republican/libertarian male – Guilty.

I said I “have neither judged nor disparaged anyone” meaning IN MY BLOG COMMENTS. Of course we all make judgments daily.

Great banter and debate everyone. I look forward to more, but now I need to hit the dollar menu on my way home.

The A-Hole.

theassholelawyer.blogspot.com