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    "Hachi"Genetta M. Adams
    3/26/17 9:47am

    Very interesting and timely article, Maya. I don’t think people realize how beneficial the social safety net is because of the myth that beneficiaries are lazy. And we all know that that gets translated. Many people, especially people of color, don’t make enough of a living wage to cover the full cost of living. The minimum wage is still at $7.25. While some states have a minimum wage higher than that, it’s still not enough. People can be employed yet still be on Medicaid because their income is so low. So they are able to get subsidized heath benefits and use their income towards rent, food, etc.

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      Raineyb1013"Hachi"
      3/26/17 9:52am

      We need to start talking about a minimum basic income at this rate. It is looking increasingly likely that there are simply going to be more people than jobs and we cannot have an economy where people are making no money and can’t take care of their basic needs.

      Unfortunately, that will not happen in this country because this country seems to be under the impression that it is entitled to cheap things and has absolutely no regard for the poor because they assume that they’re lazy and undeserving. (An attitude that it did not have back in say the 1930s when the face of poor people was white. Of course, America being America, they browned up the face of the poor then came up with all kinds of nasty stereotypes about them in order to justify being shitty to them and cutting off access to things like food and housing.)

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      "Hachi"Raineyb1013
      3/26/17 10:27am

      When I worked in direct service, part of that included helping people apply for benefits and cash assistance programs. These were mostly people of color coming out of the prison system so they had charges on their record - making it more difficult to secure any type of job. So I saw firsthand how difficult it was to get a job and a job that paid well. I remember so many of my clients feeling so dejected because they had done everything required of them and still couldn’t make ends meet. Minimum wage for janitorial services, literally mopping up other people’s messes and still not being able to afford anything. You are so right, they browned up the face of the poor and now this stupid lie continues to dominate the narrative of the social safety net. Stupid, stupid, stupid and hateful and racist.

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    OhJoKoJoRoMoGenetta M. Adams
    3/26/17 10:15am

    Genuine question: is there a reason NOT to advocate as a cross racial class based alliance here rather than advocate specifically for the AA population?

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      ld20OhJoKoJoRoMo
      3/26/17 10:51am

      People talk about the Internet of Things being the next big Industrial Revolution, but driverless vehicles seem likely to have much bigger impact on the economy and how it will shape the job market.

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      NickylechatOhJoKoJoRoMo
      3/27/17 3:02pm

      Except that, a fair share of other ethnicities have embraced evil or doesn’t feel concerned. AA doesn’t have the luxury to play collective when others want to play solo.

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    Cali4lifeGenetta M. Adams
    3/26/17 10:59am

    Some black communities that I visit are already out out of the loop on many new economies from a jobs perspective but provide money to those new economies as users/buyers. So poor folk money is used to supplant the lack of public transportation, for example, by using Lyft/Uber. Those services are relatively less expensive that more efficient than a city bus - when I drove for lyft and on the occasion I drove weekdays.. *most of my riders were young and *poor, mostly female, and all POC who were using lyft to go to school and fast food jobs. The neighborhoods were I picked them up were decidedly *poor (what the media would call inner-city/ghetto). Each said the rides allowed them better time management - light-rail and buses were not timely, didn’t run on certain days, and required multiple transfers and thus TIME that they didn’t have. So these *lazy poor people were working really hard to get to low wage jobs by using new economy services that won’t hire them in large numbers. They are no different than walmart, and perhaps worse, in how they prey on the poor.

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