Afternoon Break Thoughts on Class Distinction, Poverty, and Income

I wrote this blog at work during my afternoon break. Since I can’t access my blog from work, I emailed it to myself and copied it here. Hopefully, nobody gets too offended at this. If anyone does, I’m sorry. That is not my intention. Without further ado, enjoy.

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I’m listening to NPR right now (again) and just heard some stuff that has me shaking my head. They’re talking about how Obama is losing ground among the African-American voters and that it is mostly because Obama isn’t paying special attention to joblessness amongst the African-American population, nor is he doing anything to promote African-Americans owning businesses.

K, this post may offend some people, but seriously, that just makes me wonder what on earth is wrong with these people. I’m not an Obama-fan in any way shape or form, but he’s done a little campaigning regarding the unemployment issue our country faces and he has been touting this whole thing about trying to strengthen small business owners and helping people be able to start their own businesses. So, my question is, why on earth do African-Americans think they need special attention in those areas? I mean, are we not all Americans? Are we not all facing a country-wide second recession as we attempt to pull out of the country-wide initial recession? Do the African Americans who are complaining think they are the only race in this country that has been affected by unforeseen layoffs, difficulties getting jobs, insurmountable obstacles in opening their own companies and being foreclosed on? Really? I’m not racist, I just think that people need to stop seeing things as white people vs. black people and work together to get this thing taken care of. We’re in a recession. This whole country has been affected. White people, black people, brown people, red people, green people and pink people. Anyone who says one certain race has not been affected is full of crap. The answer to the problem is not to focus on helping one particular race, it is to focus on helping the COUNTRY. We need to all work together, stop whining and complaining about racism and all that crap, and just do what needs to be done. There are so many jobs out there for people who want them. Nobody wants to work manual labor or fast food, but a job is a job.

I’ve been very blessed in my life that I’ve only had to work fast food once, though I’ve worked in two restaurants aside from the fast food place. I’ve spent most of my life working 2-3 jobs at a time, usually one full-time and one or two part-time, but that’s what I had to do to make ends meet. I’m a middle-class white female, but I’m lower-middle class, at least in regards to income. I like to think I’m full middle class when it comes to manners and work ethic. Lol.

I was feeling a little curious just barely and decided to look up the income ranges for the class levels. This is what I found:

Lower: $0 – $25000
Lower Middle: $25000 – $50000
Middle: $50000 – $75000
Upper Middle: $75000 – $100000

Based on these levels, I’m inside the Lower Middle Class range. I also looked up poverty income range and this is what I found from 2009 and 2011:

 

The figures that the Census Bureau uses are the poverty thresholds.

SOURCE:  Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 13, January 20, 2011, pp. 3637-3638

 

I’m glad they condensed their information into one table. Looks like they learned something. Lol.

The thing that shocks me about this is that the poverty line has only gone up $60 in the last two years. I may be dense, but hasn’t inflation gone up more than that? Here is what I found regarding inflation for the past 11 years.

InflationData.comCurrent Annual Inflation Rate

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Ave
2011	1.63%	2.11%	2.68%	3.16%	3.57%	3.56%	3.63%	3.77%	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
2010	2.63%	2.14%	2.31%	2.24%	2.02%	1.05%	1.24%	1.15%	1.14%	1.17%	1.14%	1.50%	1.64%
2009	0.03%	0.24%	-0.38%	-0.74%	-1.28%	-1.43%	-2.10%	-1.48%	-1.29%	-0.18%	1.84%	2.72%	-0.34%
2008	4.28%	4.03%	3.98%	3.94%	4.18%	5.02%	5.60%	5.37%	4.94%	3.66%	1.07%	0.09%	3.85%
2007	2.08%	2.42%	2.78%	2.57%	2.69%	2.69%	2.36%	1.97%	2.76%	3.54%	4.31%	4.08%	2.85%
2006	3.99%	3.60%	3.36%	3.55%	4.17%	4.32%	4.15%	3.82%	2.06%	1.31%	1.97%	2.54%	3.24%
2005	2.97%	3.01%	3.15%	3.51%	2.80%	2.53%	3.17%	3.64%	4.69%	4.35%	3.46%	3.42%	3.39%
2004	1.93%	1.69%	1.74%	2.29%	3.05%	3.27%	2.99%	2.65%	2.54%	3.19%	3.52%	3.26%	2.68%
2003	2.60%	2.98%	3.02%	2.22%	2.06%	2.11%	2.11%	2.16%	2.32%	2.04%	1.77%	1.88%	2.27%
2002	1.14%	1.14%	1.48%	1.64%	1.18%	1.07%	1.46%	1.80%	1.51%	2.03%	2.20%	2.38%	1.59%
2001	3.73%	3.53%	2.92%	3.27%	3.62%	3.25%	2.72%	2.72%	2.65%	2.13%	1.90%	1.55%	2.83%
2000	2.74%	3.22%	3.76%	3.07%	3.19%	3.73%	3.66%	3.41%	3.45%	3.45%	3.45%	3.39%	3.38%
Note: Red indicates Deflation, NA indicates data not yet released.
Get more Historical Data from InflationData.com

Okay, why on earth has the poverty line only gone up $60 in the last two years while inflation has gone up quite a bit more? Inflation is 1.6% higher than it was in 2009, so you’d think the poverty line would have gone up 1.6%, not .0055%. I wonder how they figure the poverty line.

After some research, I’ve found out the way the poverty line is determined. The government determined how much it should take to feed a person and then multiplies it by 3, making food costs 1/3 of the person’s budget. Now I want to know how they determine how much it will cost to feed a person. Not everyone eats the same amount and not every person’s nutritional needs are the same.

This is what I’ve found so far. It’s the government’s estimation of what it should cost to feed people and families:

Official USDA Food Plan, January 2011

I haven’t found anything that says how the government calculated that, but I’ve come across several blogs that talk about it and say their family food spending is within $10-20 of the government’s estimate, so I guess they’re calculating it well.

So, the moderate plan for a family of 4 is $818.00 per month. Hmmmm. Multiplying that by 3 equals $2,454.00, not $22,350.00. So, the actual calculation is 2.75, not 3. Interesting.

Personally, I think the government needs to recalculate their poverty schedule. I’ve got a friend who makes $9.50 an hour and barely makes ends meet, and that’s even with his mother paying his rent for him. He’s making $19,760.00 a year, so by the government’s standard, he should be just fine, right? Weeeeeeeeeeeeell, he’s not. Of course, he likes to buy lunch a few times a week and he orders pizza once or twice a week, but being in the bracket of income he’s in, he should be able to afford a few extra things. Every month, though, the very last week, he starts to stress about how he’s not sure he’ll be able to get to work that week because he doesn’t have enough money for gas. Personally, I think he’d be able to do better if he managed his money better. I did his budget for him and with his mom paying his rent, he should be able to save a little each month, have a little to splurge with and still have about $30 left at the end of the month. But, he doesn’t stick to his budget. He just spends and spends and only puts $5-10 worth of gas in his truck at a time, so at the end of the month, he goes into panic mode and talks about how he’s going to have to get rid of his pets because he can hardly afford to feed himself.

But, that’s beside the point. The point is, even with his mom paying his rent, he can’t really afford to do anything because he hardly makes anything. So, either the government needs to raise the poverty line, or they need to raise the minimum wage. Minimum wage is $7.25 right now and that equals out to $15,080.00 per year, barely barely above the poverty line.

True, people need to get their own behinds in gear and work work work if they want to get out of the situation they’re in, but it’s going to be really hard if the government doesn’t step in to help out a little. Companies try to pay their employees as little as possible and that makes it hard for some people to get a leg up. Granted, getting more than one job would really help with that, but I don’t know many people who have the work ethic for that. I’ve almost always had 2-3 jobs, so it’s something I’m used to. When I first started doing two jobs at a time right out of high school, and then a third when I was in college, it was hard for me. I dreaded going to my second job because I’d already spent a majority of the day working at my full-time job, but it’s what I had to do so I could get into a better situation. Luckily, after my divorce, my job here was slammed with work, so I was able to work 60+ hours a week at a job I liked instead of having to get a second job and it also helped that my ex-husband offered to pay my rent for a year, which I gladly accepted. I figured he owed me since he was leaving me for another woman and all.

Anyways, the whole financial situation of this country is  mess. I could go on and on about different facets that are not running properly, but I don’t have the time. I need to get back to work. Lol. If anyone made it through this rambling and rather ‘all over the map’ post, I give you kudos.