>I keep saying over and over - enough money to LIVE OFF OF. That means the essentials - such as food, housing, clothing, heathcare, education. If you work 40hours a week you should be able to afford these things. Today you can not.
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>A lot of people think that an iPhone, a 40 inch flat screen TV, high speed internet and a car are essentials. Personally, I do not. And we have already established, by your own admission that someone working as a waitress or a bartender can earn up over $1,250 per week. That is over $65,000 per year. I think that this is enough money to live on and to pay for a college or trade school education. College is not meant for everyone....

As I have said over and over - food, rent, clothing, transportation, health care, education. I have never suggested that a big screen TV is an essential. Yes if you're lucky enough to land a job as a waitress or bartender at a place that stays busy, you can indeed have these things. But on minimum wage you can not. That has been my whole point. And since there are not enough waitress jobs for everyone, some are going to have no choice but to take the minimum wage job somewhere. You can try to spin this anyway you want, but at the end of the day it doesn't change the fact that a) the minimum wage is not a livable wage b) Many MANY people have no choice but to take a minimum wage job c) You can not pay for college on minimum wage job. d) The disparity between the haves and the have-nots is growing, and only time it's been this big was prior to the great depression in the 1930's. e) The problem has become so pervasive that we currently have a candidate who's based pretty much his entire campaign on these issues - because these issues are real! Being able to afford to live if you work a full time job is not some kind of radical concept - its something called "humanity". When a guy has a full time job and maybe a part-time job too and still can't make ends meet, having someone trying to tell them that they a lazy or that's its their fault they have nothing is counter-productive and frankly kinda mean. These people are victims of a rigged and corrupt system - and all you seem to be doing here is blaming the victim. There are communities in the USA where there is nothing but pawn shops, pay-day loan places, and liquor stores for miles and miles and miles. Try telling some of the kids that have no choice but to live in these types of places that all they need to do is get a job as a waitress and then all will be fine because then they can pay for their college or trade school. Many of these kids only have one parent because our society decided it was a good idea to lock up an entire generation of black men too - which results in the kid growing up somewhat unsupervised - which obviously creates another whole set of social issues to deal with. Right now, for the first time, the life expectancy among people just like me (white male, around 50 years old) is actually going DOWN, not up. Its a result of suicide, drug and booze addition, serious depression problems, lack of proper heath care, etc. These are all are intertwined with this same economic issues that have caused young people to either not get a college education or have huge debt that can't ever be forgiven right as they start their adult life, people trying to decide if to buy food or medication because they can't afford both. Meanwhile the corporations these people have worked for rake in billions in profits. Overall it's a systemic problem that is going to require a lot of changes. But trying to sit here and say all is ok the way it is now because you did it 40 years ago or there are isolated situations in certain locations with certain demographics where someone can make a decent life simply does not fly. All you have to do is open your eyes and look around, read a few numbers, look at a couple of graphs. Like the title to thread says - this is why we need Bernie. Meanwhile the GOP (who won't even admit many of these problems, let alone try to fix them) gives us Trump - who's solution seems to be insult everyone, build big wall, punch black guy in face - yeah that'll fix it! heehawww! Geeze