9Ilje
lune 27, 2012
sportiani» (Obstruer
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OH
O pinion
Martin
Cleaning
Service
'too MfcAM,UNLÌ«£
OTKÖ^
New Prices
Effective
May 1,2010
OURS?
u
A* • .K^..
Carpet & Upholstery
Cleaning
Residential &
Commercial Services
Minimum Service CHG
$45.00
A sm all distance/travel charge
m ay be applied
CARPET CLEANING
2 Cleaning Areas or
more $30.00 Each Area
Pre-Spray Traffic Areas
(Includes: 1 sm all H allway)
1 Cleaning Area (only)
$40.00
Includes Pre-Spray Traffic Area
(Hallway Extra)
Stairs (12-16 stairs - With
Other Services)-. $25.00
■HHMMI
Why so Much Low Wage Work?
Chronic
inequality
threatens our
democracy
three. T hat's 103 m illion people liv
ing on less than tw ice the poverty
line, but m ost o f them technically
aren't p o o r or don't co n sid er th em
selves poor. Y et they struggle e v
ery m onth to m ake ends m eet and
are o n e m ed ical e m e r
gency o r protracted ill
by P eter E delman
n ess aw ay fro m b a n k
W ith its catchy "W e
ru p tcy .
are the 99 Percent" slo
W h y so m u c h lo w -
gan, the O ccupy M ove
w age w ork? B ecause over
m ent focused m illions o f
the past 4 0 years, w ell
A m e ric a n s in o n o u r
paying industrial jo b s d is
nation's chronic inequal
a p p e a r e d , u n io n s lo s t
ity. As that m ovem ent re
m uch o f their clout, the
gains m om entum , it m ust pay m ore m inim um w age stagnated, and the
attention to the w hole 99 percent.
field o f com petition in m any areas
W e certainly should w orry about becam e globalized.
how the w ealthiest 1 percent o f
T he result: h a lf o f U.S. jo b s now
A m ericans isn't paying its fair share pay $34,000 o r less a year. A quarter
o f the cost o f running the country. o f U.S. jo b s pay less than $22,000,
B ut w e should be ju st as w orried the poverty line fo r a fam ily o f four.
about how people at the other end A nd the w ages for those jo b s have
are doing.
been stuck for four decades. Today,
It's not ju s t about the continuing they pay only 7 percent m ore than
w ave o f foreclosures. M illions o f they d id in 1973.
people are stuck in low -w age jo b s
M ost fam ilies cope by having
that don't pay enough to m ake ends both parents w ork, but the rising
m eet. A nd m illions m ore live on in nu m b er o f single m om s m eans that
com es so low that it's hard to im ag m illions o f ho u seh o ld s have ju st
ine how they survive.
one possible w orker. It's no w onder
L ow -w age w ork is a pandem ic. A that 42 percent o f single-m other fam i
third o f o u r population ekes by on lies w ith children u n d er 18 are poor.
less than $36,000 for a fam ily o f
M eanw hile, o u r safety net is in
tatters at a tim e w hen 20.5 m illion
people have incom es that am ount
to less than $9,500 a year. That's h alf
the poverty line, w hich is currently
pegged at $ 1 9,090 for a fam ily o f
three. T his nu m b er grew by alm ost
8 m illion betw een 2000 and 2010.
W hy? C ash assistance for the m o th
ers and children w ho need it in m any
states has been scratched.
M any politicians still crow about
the supposed "success" o f T em po
rary A ssistance for N eedy Fam ilies
(T A N F ), the threadbare national
w elfare program that replaced Aid to
Fam ilies with D ependent Children
during the Clinton adm inistration.
A t last count, W yom ing has a
total o f 617 people enrolled in its
T A N F program . The kids it covers
com prise ju s t 4 percent o f the c h il
dren in the state's poor fam ilies.
T w enty-five states now provide less
than 20 percent o f their poor c h il
dren w ith this kind o f support.
N ationw ide, the p ercentage o f
kids co v ered by these benefits has
declined to 27 percent from 68 p er
cent before President Bill C linton
and the G O P -co n tro lled C ongress
"reform ed" the w elfare system . As
a result, we have 6 m illion people
w hose only incom e is from food
stam ps. Food stam ps provide an
incom e o f a third o f the poverty line
— about $6,000 for a family o f three.
T his is the m ost urgent problem we
face.
Rep. Paul R yan and his H ouse
R epublican colleagues want to m ake
m atters w orse. T hey're touting a
budget that w ould slash virtually
every program that helps lo w -in
com e people. T h eir rationale: w e're
helping to o m uch.
B ut the H ouse R epublicans ev i
dently think w e're not helping the
rich enough — their budget pro
poses m assive new tax cuts for the
w ealthy. R obin H ood w ould turn
o v er in this grave.
Seeing that w ork produces a d e
cent incom e and that o u r people are
prepared for the jo b s o f the future is
co st-effectiv e and will benefit co r
porate bottom lines. But there's an
even m ore fundam ental reason to
act. T he concentration o f pow er and
w ealth at the top and the sense o f
political exclusion and im possibil
ity at the bottom threaten a new
o rd er that's antithetical to the an i
m ating ideals o f our country. P ov
erty and inequality are threatening
o u r dem ocracy.
P e te r E delm an tea c h es at
Georgetown University Law Cen
ter and co-directs the Georgetown
Center on Poverty, Inequality, and
Public Policy.
Area/Oriental Rugs:
$25.00 Minimum
Area/Oriental Rugs (Wooly.
$40.00Minimum
Heavily Soiled Area:
Additional $10.00 each area
(Requiring Extensive Pre-Spraying)
UPHOLSTERY
CLEANING
Sofa: $69.00
Loveseat: $49.00
Sectional: $ 109 - $ 139
Chair or Recliner:
$25 - $49
Throw Pillows (With
Other Services): $5.00
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