Posted on 06/08/2015 4:55:05 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
President Obama recently acknowledged what every sane person knows to be true: The best anti-poverty program is a job. Mr. Obama said this at a recent conference on poverty.
But he continues to repeat a falsehood over and over. This is the claim that the poor work just as hard as the rich do. Well, yes, many people in poor households heroically work very hard at low wages to take care of their families. No doubt about that. Yet the average poor family doesn’t work nearly as much as the rich families do. And that’s a key reason why these households are poor.
The most recent Census Bureau data on household incomes document the importance of work. Census sorts the households by income quintile, and we will label those in the highest quintile as “rich,” and those in the lowest quintile as “poor.” The average household in the top 20 percent of income have an average of almost exactly two full-time workers. The average poor family (bottom 20 percent) has just 0.4 workers (see chart). This means on average, roughly for every hour worked by those in a poor household, those in a rich household work five hours. The idea that the rich are idle bondholders who play golf or go to the spa every day while the poor toil isn’t accurate.
The finding that six out 10 poor households have no one working at all is disturbing. Since they have no income from work, is it a surprise they are poor?
As for rich households, 75 percent have two or more workers. For the poor households, that percent is less than 5 percent.
Of course, hours worked doesn’t account for all or even most of the gap between rich and poor. But it does account for some of it.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
The key to success is hidden under the alarm clock. Get up and work!
Wow, common sense! Who knew.
RE: Wow, common sense! Who knew.
Who said: “You didn’t build that...”
Yes, if you define ‘rich’ as households making more than $85K a year.
However, most people do not actually consider such people rich.
I would say you are rich if you could live on your wealth, without working. Otherwise, you are just another well-paid worker.
I suspect most of the lazy rich types were either born into wealth or fell backwards into it. Often the majority of these end up poor again or need to be supported by a relative so that they don’t end up poor.
The rest have gotten wealthy because they worked their arses off. I’ve often heard CEOs talk about how they spent the majority of their careers pulling 10-12 hour shifts. These folks don’t get poor because they have earned everything they have and understood what it takes to get where they are. Many CEO types are complete d-bag jerks, but I will at least give them the respect that they understand the value of their work.
Welfare institutionalizes poverty and removes the incentive to work and better yourself.
Having children out of wedlock is a one-way ticket to poverty.
Married couples almost always do better and usually end up in the top 2 quintiles of income.
I know a wealthy woman. She works much harder than any man I’ve ever known. Among her businesses she owns now 26 houses. A guy delivering shingles and putting them where she directed on the roof of her latest house told her, “You know, a lady your age shouldn’t be up here.” She could barely contain her laughter. (She just hit 50.)
I read an article a few years ago (I think) about “leisure inequality” in relation to “income inequality”. It matched my experience since college.
I know a number of people who went form where I started to millionaires. A few others who stayed where I started. And some of us in the middle. And there’s almost perfect correlation between work put in over our careers and income 30 years later.
There’s almost no correlation between income and who’s happy with their life - it’s about making the decisions that are right for the individual (and family) or prioritizing the wrong thing (e.g. valuing money when you really prefer leisure or vice-versa)
I don’t know about all them them but some of us consciously chose our leisure/income balance throughout the years knowing the current and future implications.
Good morning fellow members of the "idle rich" --as the ruling faction in Washington calls us. Stock futures are down -0.17% but metals are seen rising +0.09%. World markets seem tranquil and no major reports are due today. PLEASE keep things calm, I'm off to the airport again this a.m.!!!!
The poorest people I know sleep during the day and stay up all night. The television is always on to some inane show. The home smells like burning leaves. The house is always unkempt. It’s like they just don’t work at all.
God has designated work as special to his children. Even when little kids work, despite the lack of pay, they learn many critical skills.
He even gave them work before the fall. Work is not a curse.
It’s not that easy. There is an enormous disincentive to work. In Chicago, the hassle just to get a permit to sell on the street is off-putting. Toss in taxes, inspections and the risk and why work?
We often hear of the effects of high marginal tax rates on work. Poverty programs have the same effect. Work to make an extra $160/month and you lose $200/month in benefits.
It’s as if the welfare system is designed to keep Democrats in power and employ an army of bureaucrats while maintaining a constant or growing class of people trapped in poverty.
Great insight and I love concept of leisure inequality. In school there were always the guys having a really, really great time right then and there. No need to study and they spent a lot of time pursuing their pleasures. Their grades reflected this as does their current financial state.
In America, you don’t have to be rich to have a wonderful life. You just have to combine the power of compounding work and thrift. 30 years later you’re shocked at how much you have made/saved/invested.
Exactly correct. Work is part of the plan and is for our sakes. Good catch.
The harder I work, the luckier I get!
AKA, “The Millionaire Next Door”.
There have been studies on how to almost guarantee you won’t be in poverty:
1. Don’t have kids out of wedlock
2. Don’t get married before you are 20
3. Finish high school
4. Have at least one full time wage earner in the household.
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