The Democrat Thread

[Balta1701]

Wouldn't know, I'm not poor, but unlike you, I don't pretend to be an underprivileged poor person, who knows exactly how poor people feel.

 

You know who was actually poor, my father was. As in below American poverty poverty poor. Growing up in Nazi Germany, nearly starving on a daily basis poor.

 

And he b****es less about this than anyone I know, including those -- such as yourself -- that were born infinity more privileged than he was.

You have someone you care about put off goig to the doctor/surgery for years, writhing in pain on the floor, when you can't do anything for them because you'd have to lose your home to pay for it, no one will insure the condition because its preexisting, and then you tell me about how I'm pretending.

[Y2HH]

You have someone you care about put off goig to the doctor/surgery for years, writhing in pain on the floor, when you can't do anything for them because you'd have to lose your home to pay for it, no one will insure the condition because its preexisting, and then you tell me about how I'm pretending.

 

I won't even b**** about your outburst. I couldn't imagine how you feel, and in saying that, I also feel you're absolutely justified to say what you said to me. I don't know how that feels, at all. And like with the underprivileged, I won't pretend to "fake emphasize" with you for the sake of "understanding" when I don't understand whatsoever. I'm sorry as hell that happened to you, I truly am.

 

While my direct family never suffered like this, my fathers did. Badly. And then, coming to US, were discriminated against because they happened to be Germans during WWII. So while I cannot personally relate, I've heard the stories from those, separated by a mere generation, that have. And once again, they b**** less than most. And they've been through worse than most.

Edited July 24, 2013 by Balta1701

[lostfan]

Has someone kidnapped Y2HH in the past few months and replaced him with someone who behaves and doesn't have to get called to the principal's office all the time? Like 2 years ago he'd have gotten himself banned on purpose, lol

[Y2HH]

Has someone kidnapped Y2HH in the past few months and replaced him with someone who behaves and doesn't have to get called to the principal's office all the time? Like 2 years ago he'd have gotten himself banned on purpose, lol

 

It wasn't on purpose. I was just Dennis the menace.

 

I don't feel he's wrong in what he said, is all...it'd be easy to retaliate against what he said, as if I didn't deserve to have that said to me. But I honestly feel what he said was justified. I didn't know that about him, so IMO, his rage is justified.

[DukeNukeEm]

Should I also note there is no line for gas money? Or auto repair on the car you're trying to push to 250k miles?

On a Civic? If you its an automatic you'll have to rebuild the transmission, if its standard you wont. The things last forever (250k before things start going wrong IIRC was my quote). It also gets like 50 mpg.

 

But you say poor burger flippers deserve to have a minimum wage that accounts for a brand-spakin'-new car. I think that's stupid.

[Balta1701]

I won't even b**** about your outburst. I couldn't imagine how you feel, and in saying that, I also feel you're absolutely justified to say what you said to me. I don't know how that feels, at all. And like with the underprivileged, I won't pretend to "fake emphasize" with you for the sake of "understanding" when I don't understand whatsoever. I'm sorry as hell that happened to you, I truly am.

 

While my direct family never suffered like this, my fathers did. Badly. And then, coming to US, were discriminated against because they happened to be Germans during WWII. So while I cannot personally relate, I've heard the stories from those, separated by a mere generation, that have. And once again, they b**** less than most. And they've been through worse than most.

 

I edited out the opening, that was over the top and I'll apologize for that.

[Jake]

They shouldn't be buying a Honda, that's unamerican!

[iamshack]

I edited out the opening, that was over the top and I'll apologize for that.

I enjoyed seeing you get ticked

 

Sorry about that particular situation though; shouldn't happen in any civilized country in this day and age.

Edited July 24, 2013 by iamshack

[Y2HH]

I edited out the opening, that was over the top and I'll apologize for that.

 

You'll never have to apologize for that to me. Ever. I know these are conversations, and they will sometimes get heated. I sincerely believe we all mean well in what we say to each other here, and I also believe there are time we have things said to us we deserve. And I deserved that. So there is no need to apologize.

[DukeNukeEm]

They shouldn't be buying a Honda, that's unamerican!

There's maybe 3 cars made in the USA right now that I would spend my money on. Besides, our president made the forward-thinking move of scrapping a huge chunk of the used car market right before a massive spike in gas prices and a huge recession so its not like anyone pays attention to that s*** anyways.

[Balta1701]

There's maybe 3 cars made in the USA right now that I would spend my money on. Besides, our president made the forward-thinking move of scrapping a huge chunk of the used car market right before a massive spike in gas prices and a huge recession so its not like anyone pays attention to that s*** anyways.

Huh?

 

Cash for clunkers happened in August 2009. Gas prices didn't recover until 2008 levels for another year or two after that. You have your order backwards.

[pettie4sox]

I am convinced Duke is a bot. He never makes any sense in his posts. He seems like an angry dude. If you're ever at a game man, I'll buy you a beer. Seriously.

Edited July 24, 2013 by pettie4sox

[lostfan]

he's not a bot, over the course of about 8 years I've seen him pretty much hold every political position there is to have though

[StrangeSox]

Bank reposes wrong house, sells homeowner's stuff

[iamshack]

Bank reposes wrong house, sells homeowner's stuff

When will these banks and companies learn?

 

"Maybe we shouldn't give these people attitude because then they will go to the press."

 

They should have just cut her a check immediately and she wouldn't have said a word. Now they're going to end up paying her what she asked and more.

[StrangeSox]

I'd prefer they stop foreclosing on the wrong people!

[StrangeSox]

thought some might be interested in this graph of economic mobility by county:

 

 

from this expansive NYT article

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/22/business...p&_r=2&

[iamshack]

I'd prefer they stop foreclosing on the wrong people!

Well that was the more obvious takeaway, yes

[iamshack]

thought some might be interested in this graph of economic mobility by county:

 

 

from this expansive NYT article

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/22/business...p&_r=2&

Much higher? Yes, maybe 2 or 2.5 times as much, but still pretty s***ty odds.

[StrangeSox]

Much higher? Yes, maybe 2 or 2.5 times as much, but still pretty s***ty odds.

There's a caveat here, and it's that this article looked at 2011 income and if you'll notice, the higher-mobility areas overlay very nicely with the shale boom areas. When that boom starts to subside, the higher mobility in those areas will decline as well.

 

What I think we all often forget when talking about poverty is poverty outside of urban areas. The deep south and Appalachia are deeply impoverished in many areas. I've driven though a lot of rural Georgia and South Carolina and, aside from the climate, it looks little different than Gary and other run-down urban areas.

Edited July 24, 2013 by StrangeSox

[cabiness42]

thought some might be interested in this graph of economic mobility by county:

 

 

from this expansive NYT article

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/22/business...p&_r=2&

 

I would like to point out the relative uselessness of this graph. It is specifically tracking movement from the bottom 20% to the top 20%. I'd be much more interested in seeing a graph tracking the movement from the bottom 20% to the other three quintiles. I'd rather be first in that graph than this one.

[iamshack]

I would like to point out the relative uselessness of this graph. It is specifically tracking movement from the bottom 20% to the top 20%. I'd be much more interested in seeing a graph tracking the movement from the bottom 20% to the other three quintiles. I'd rather be first in that graph than this one.

Ahh, good point. Now it makes a little more sense.

[StrangeSox]

I would like to point out the relative uselessness of this graph. It is specifically tracking movement from the bottom 20% to the top 20%. I'd be much more interested in seeing a graph tracking the movement from the bottom 20% to the other three quintiles. I'd rather be first in that graph than this one.

 

Here's a pretty good study, I know I've seen others like it before:

 

http://www.frbsf.org/economic-research/pub...ity-dream-data/

 

Overall, you can look at the Gini coefficient.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_count...income_equality

[StrangeSox]

There's also the new study that the NYT article was based on:

 

http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/

 

 

This appears to be the chance of any upward mobility at all for any quintile (other than the top, obviously). It's also by "communting zone," not county as I said above, and they did try correcting for cost-of-living differences but found no overall change.

Edited July 24, 2013 by StrangeSox

[Jake]

There's also the new study that the NYT article was based on:

 

http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/

 

 

This appears to be the chance of any upward mobility at all for any quintile (other than the top, obviously). It's also by "communting zone," not county as I said above, and they did try correcting for cost-of-living differences but found no overall change.

 

Looks a lot like maps of black population density

 

 

Not that racism would have anything to do with income inequality