Income Disparity

Uhh… you do know that a recall is expulsion, right?

Did I say that any of the possible remedies would be easy? Perhaps breaking all TVs or outlawing reality TV shows is the answer. It’s about getting people off their dead asses and participating in their own governance. Shining the big spotlight on the bad actors and then acting (lawfully) is the correct answer. No, it doesn’t happen overnight, but when the people rise up, then some sort of justice can happen.

Ludes? Did you actually say Ludes? That is so 70’'s!!! I think I remember those but it was looooong ago. And yes, my rocker is broken. It broke a long time ago. It’s called old age cynicism…

I haven’t heard of it being done other than by a Congressional vote which doesn’t happen all too often and no I’d never heard of a recall being called an official expulsion.

Who do you think you’re talking too…a spring chicken?

A recall only happens at the state level. A congressional vote has nothing to do with it. Congress can vote a censure (that has happened) but a recall can only come from the people who elected the crook/idiot.

Damn! I thought you were one those wet behind the ears kids. But if you remember ludes… Yeah, you’re a little long in the tooth. :laughing:

You do realize that poor people could not afford horses back then … Just as poor people can’t afford cars now.

That’s horseshit…an old nag was totally affordable…who are you kidding?

FTS

Tentative,
Where’s a good resource to figure out how to recall those sons-o-bitches and the plain 'ole bitches? I wonder if it can be all inclusive of both houses of congress statewide in one fail swoop or separate cases for each individual? Same for governors and mayors? Is there a way to place them on the inactive roster, where they are not allowed to participate while the recall process is transpiring?

:question: :-k

The rules and regulations for a recall effort is different for every state So, it would be one at a time. But first, you have to obtain X amount of citizens to petition for a recall. It isn’t an easy task. Next, the list of petitioners have to be verified as legal. This usually takes as long as they can stall the process. After that, a referendum date for a vote has to be established. Assuming it goes that far, a congressman can be thrown out of office to be replaced by a person chosen by the governor of that state to be a representative until the next general election. The rules for recalling local officials may be different. It depends on the rules chosen by the state legislature.

Having fun yet? It is an ass pull with little chance of success. The most efficient method is through the ballot box at general election. Time, effort, and resources are better spent here.

I wonder if the process of petition verification can be sped up (streamlined) with technology, live recorded constituent faces acknowledging their signatures, on petition site photocopies of I.D.s, and e-signatures (recorded while happening) could enhance/speed up the process. People who have half a brain and a fire in their bellies need to attempt these things to outsmart the dirty government, beat them at their own BS game. Holes need to be blown into their ivory towers.

Everything you mentioned could be accomplished with enough assets and a software program that everyone agrees can’t be tampered with. But are you sure? The people who sign any petition are putting their ass on the line. The information gathered can be misused to target potential voters in nasty ways. Stories of individuals being intimidated and receiving death threats are fairly common. The internet is anonymous. That is a two edged sword. It is best to keep big brother stupid. He already has the ability to collect more information than anyone should feel comfortable having it out there.

Perhaps you can see why I’m leery of AI and robotics. What happens when government has the means to know everything you say and do? The people most interested in AI isn’t the scientists, It’s the politicians and corporations who seek absolute control. We aren’t completely slaves yet, but it is right on the horizon. The future could make 1984 look like kindergarten.

My friend,

Your perception of poverty and poor people are miles away from the target. You have not seen what really poverty means. It looks to me that you consider merely absence of luxury as a sign of poverty which is not a right way of judging it.

For instance, i do not have any air conditioner, any four wheeler (old or new), any central air system, any iphone and not even a LCD in my home. In spite of all that, i still do not consider myself as a poor.

with love,
sanjay

Well you have access to the internet…a luxury. Others have said that having electricity or any form of transportation other than walking is a luxury one should go without upgrades to horses, two wheelers, four wheelers. We can get all kinds of ridiculous if we compare country by country what “real poverty” is. It’s dying homeless from famine naked in a snow laddened street in -20F weather during a blizzard, so you are spoiled too Zinnat. I mean really. Most Africans have it the worst…agreed? So Zinnat lives in luxury compared to the desert nomads of Africa who are running from kids with machetes. Grow up people with your misplaced finger wagging.

That generally happens with young people. They get angry very easily.

By the way, internet costs me merely 6 $ per month, which includes unlimited sms and calls per day and 1 GB of 4G internet data daily. But yes, some people living in any remote place in Africa may call it a luxury. And, that is precisely why i said that i do not consider myself a poor.

Realize that poverty has nothing much to do with the means of living or wealth one have. You would always run into trouble if you take that as a benchmark for deciding poverty because then everyone on this earth becomes poor in the comparison of Bill Gates or Jeff Bezros so do not make it a relative issue.

To me, one becomes poor only when one cannot do or achieve most of those things in spite of one’s best efforts what he/she would be able to do if the necessary means were available to him.

with love,
sanjay

Is $6 a month considered a lot by the poor there? Here we pay $35+ for the same.

Wendy,

If your want to understand what is poor using dollars as the benchmark, then look at per capita yearly income and any particular purchase as a percentage of that income. I don’t think it’s a very good indicator of what is “poor”, but it gives you a method of comparison. What is poor depends on the country or geographical area if dollars are the measurement. For instance, zinnat may only have to spend 72.00/yr for internet service and that might represent only 5% of his total yearly income, but he may have to spend 70% of his income on food if living in a food importing country. Here in the U.S., we might spend 15% of our income on communication services but only 20% on food. It makes defining poor a little more complicated than just looking a dollars.

What percentage of his income is he paying for internet service? What is his income in US dollars? Do you pay 70% of your income on food Zinnat?

How do I do this if one rich person earns what 1,000,000 poor people earn? Doesn’t the billionaire throw the figures off?

I think you’re missing tent’s point, but it doesn’t really matter. It’s a matter of how you define “poor”. If poor means simply “much less rich than a billionaire”, then the vast majority of people are poor. Even if they are living comfortable lives with discretionary income. What is the point of calling people who own a house and can go out to dinner and who own a nice car (etc) poor?

How many hours of work does the purchase of basic necessities, even liberally defined, require? What is the relation of wages (income) to prices of these basic and not-so-basic goods and services?

Income alone is not a particularly effective measure of poverty, especially if you’re comparing different moments in time. Which you have.

The factors are wealth, income (two different things), purchasing power and the value of money (meaning the difficulty in obtaining it). The relationship among these is complex. Income disparity does not have a linear relationship to income alone. if, for instance, in some non-existent universe, you could become twice as rich merely by working twice as hard, income disparity is not even interesting.

I’ve defined poor, you haven’t. People who earn less than $30,000 are poor. Yes, people today earn less than their parents did but the cost of living is three times greater.

I get the point perfectly well, that the law of averages does not work well describing people’s economic situations, it skews it to look like most people have a decent income.

Describe a poor person who works full-time and what their existence looks like? Double dare you.

I thought Faust did that, but to barge in…

Poor is working a full time job for less income than the cost of necessities. The trick is defining necessities and THAT is all over the park.

Case in point: If I’m living 1 block from my work, a car isn’t a necessity. But if the only work I can find is twenty miles from where I live, then a reliable vehicle or bus service is a necessity. Renting an apartment? Cost depends where you live. So poor depends on the cost of that apartment. And on and on for anything defined as a necessity.