Posted on 09/27/2011 3:02:59 PM PDT by Cardhu
READING, Pa. — The exhausted mothers who come to the Second Street Learning Center here — a day care provider for mostly low-income families — speak of low wages, hard jobs and an economy gone bad.
Ashley Kelleher supports her family on the $900 a month she earns as a waitress at an International House of Pancakes. Louri Williams packs cakes and pies all night for $8 an hour, takes morning classes, and picks up her children in the afternoon. Teresa Santiago takes complaints from building supply customers for $10 an hour, not enough to cover her $1,900 in monthly bills.
These are common stories in Reading, a struggling city of 88,000 that has earned the unwelcome distinction of having the largest share of its residents living in poverty, barely edging out Flint, Mich., according to new Census Bureau data. The count includes only cities with populations of 65,000 or more, and has a margin of error that makes it difficult to declare a winner — or, perhaps more to the point, a loser.
Reading began the last decade at No. 32. But it broke into the top 10 in 2007, joining other places known for their high rates of poverty like Flint, Camden, N.J., and Brownsville, Tex., according to an analysis of the data for The New York Times by Andrew A. Beveridge, a demographer at Queens College.
Now it is No. 1, a ranking that the mothers at the day care center here say does not surprise them, given their first-hand knowledge of poverty-line wages, which for a parent and two children is now $18,530.
The city had been limping for most of the past decade, since the plants that sustained it — including Lucent Technologies and the Dana Corporation, a car parts manufacturer — withered.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I bet not one of them pins it on the real culprit, unions.
It being PA - you can take that to the bank.
Reading had a significant criminal Mexican population when I lived there in 1967-1968. I doubt that it has gotten any smaller.
Reading had a lot of businesses that did contract work for the candy and snack business. They did not retool when the industry was switching from paper to plastic. And they do have a bunch of illegals as well.
The article states, “The city has had a large influx of Hispanics in the last decade”. Ergo, you are right.
I never lived in Reading but did live for 15 years in the Philadelphia area starting in the early seventies.
...poverty-line wages, which for a parent and two children is now $18,530.
^^
Here’s a hint, girls: Marry a man, first, and then have children. The kids and you will most likely fare much better.
Cost of living must be pretty high in Reading...
Depends how much she owes on Credit Cards.
I grew up in the Reading area. I was terrified to go into the city in the 70’s and early 80’s because of a high crime rate due to Puerto Ricans and blacks. My dad went to Reading High School which became a terrible high school with all minorities.
Add the fact that Reading was a major industrial and manufacturing city with many leading companies that have since been shipped overseas or gone out of business, this is sad, but not surprising.
What kind of union lets someone work for $8 an hour?
Yes, it was Puerto Ricans, oh well, it was 44 years ago and I’m sure it’s much worse now.
I had just spent 4 years in Washington, D.C. when I moved to Reading and that made it look, not so bad by comparison.
“for a parent and two children is now $18,530”
A big part of the problem is this is now normal/expected.
“for a parent and two children is now $18,530”
A big part of the problem is this is now normal/expected.
This is a city run by Democrats for HOW MANY DECADES???
I take it that every one of these women is an unmarried mother. No husband/father is, or could be expected to be involved. Might it be that such a social order is not sustainable?
“Here’s a hint, girls: Marry a man, first, and then have children. The kids and you will most likely fare much better.”
Common sense vs. “Rappers shouting “I gots My EBT!”
“My EBT” by rapper Mr.EBT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi8I19ZAqLw
Rap songs with lyrics saying “All ya’ hafta do is f**k, and nine months later ya gettin the big bucks!!”
“It’s Free Swipe Yo EBT” By Chapter
They did not like my explanation of statistics at all.
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