Inner-City Workforce Struggles With High Gas Prices

Good luck to all in this story... its tough but dont give up!

As long as the wealthy continue to get more wealthy, what are we complaining about? In another 50 years, it should start to trickle down.

The Courant finally profiles someone you can feel sorry for....the working poor. Try to play by the rules and work and this is what the USA has come to. Maybe Monday the Courant can do an in depth piece on Kevin Cales and his hopes and dreams.

when you want to work and are kept from it, that is absolutely unAmerican. Vote them out remember in November.

As George Bailey said in "Its a Wonderful Life"- "They do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community". It is sad to see them noticed for this. We have spent way to much time on "Coach Geno" and Nantucket and "American Idol" and need to spend more time, energy and thought on real people of all ages. I often wonder how this first cohort of retirees without defined benefit plans (except govt and education) are going to make it. I see an 85 year old women waiting for the bus every day and may just stop and ask her about her life

It's too bad that in a state as rich as CT. people have to struggle so hard to just barely make ends meet. The gap between the rich and working poor is getting wider and wider.

On another note, the article didn't mention, why does Michelle Powell's husband not work? It says she has "stopped allowing him to take her to work"! Why does he not have a job?

The "working poor" in the United States
The nature and extent of the working poor in the United States is a contested subject; while both sides of the political spectrum acknowledge that there are non-negligible numbers of working people living near or below the poverty line, there is disagreement as to whether or not this reflects a genuine flaw with current economic policy, and what the response should be.
In the United States, according to the government Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 6.4 million working poor in 2000 [1]; by 2003 the number had grown [2]. In 2004, Business Week suggested [3] that "the share of the workforce earning subpoverty pay [is] 24%[in 2003]".
Different numbers were found by The Working Poor Families Project, a national initiative that examines the conditions of working families both nationally and at the state level. In 2005, using U.S. Census American Community Survey data, the project found that 2.8 million working families are poor (earn less than 100% of poverty) and that these families constituted 12.2 million people. In addition, 9.6 million, or more than 1 out 4 working families in America (29%), are low-income, earning less than 200% of poverty. The 200% of poverty threshold is considered a reasonable estimate of the amount of earnings needed to be economically self-sufficient ($39,942 for a family of four in 2005). Among states, the range for low-income working families extends from 15%(New Hampshire) to 42%(New Mexico).
Problems the Working Poor Face
Workers without marketable skills may face low wages, potential economic exploitation, unpleasant working conditions, and few opportunities to attain skills that would allow them to escape their personal and economic situations. Unexpected costs (such as medical, high gas prices, increased food cost or automotive repair costs) can substantially decrease the economic ability of the working poor to manage their lives.
In some cases, members of the working poor work at multiple part-time jobs, which require nearly full-time commitment but are classified as "part time". In this situation some benefits, like medical insurance, are not paid by employers (Wal-Mart). This situation is sometimes referred to as precarious employment. These workers are more often than not without adequate (or in many cases any) health insurance.
A common expression of working poor conditions states that such individuals often live from "paycheck to paycheck".
Government Solutions for the Working Poor.
Many governments have initiated programs with the proclaimed intention of assisting those who may be considered impoverished or working poor. Much debate is centered upon the efficacy of such programs.
In the United States, fiscal conservatives tend to argue in favor of the approaches recommended by Trickle-down economics, in which stimulation of the investment sector is assumed to lead to increased job opportunities and a better economy. Examples of conservative measures include lowering taxes (the richest 10% in the nation pay 70% of the US tax burden while the bottom 50% pay less than 3.5%) and reducing governmental regulation of business and trade. Fiscal progressives tend toward a more direct approach, usually with increased taxes and regulation. The government funds social welfare programs like food stamps and vouchers, subsidized housing, meal plans, and healthcare, and regulating wages, or by helping the working poor become more competitive in the labor market, through such measures as job training programs, low-interest student loans, and small business loans.
It remains to be seen if leadership at the federal, state, and local levels have any novel remedies for improving the state of the working poor. It should happen in the richest state in the nation!

The only way anything is going to change is if the RICH start losing money. Like the stock market losing points. If it goes down more they will do something.

As usual the rich get richer and the poor pull the line. Sad but true.

This only pojts out that despite the fact that the legislature has taken billions of dollars from the "Gas Taxes" they have been totally off base about how they have spent it.

While every year the Connecticut legislature talks a great deal we still don't really have a mass trnsit system in this state.

How many posters would even know where to find a bus schedule if they decided to take a bus. And where would they catch the bus.

It is also true, that even if they could find a bus, and if they could find a schedule there wouldn't ba any way to get where they want to go convienently! Why should, or would it take an hour to get from Hartford to Windso Locks?????

bill wrote:

As George Bailey said in "Its a Wonderful Life"- "They do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community". It is sad to see them noticed for this. We have spent way to much time on "Coach Geno" and Nantucket and "American Idol" and need to spend more time, energy and thought on real people of all ages. I often wonder how this first cohort of retirees without defined benefit plans (except govt and education) are going to make it. I see an 85 year old women waiting for the bus every day and may just stop and ask her about her life

Bill...Good qustion how will the first generation of "Non defined benefit Pension" employees make it? They will never retire that's how. Not too many years ago a non skilled person could get a job at a Pratt & Whitney, The Phone Co. or the State and have a nice career and retire with a decent defined benefit pension (the state's is a Caddy). Today even skilled and eduacated people get 401K's with a weak match and basicaly save their own money and trust it to an S&P index fund. Meet any older person today who was lucky enough to live to say 85. If they worked for one of the above big companies, they are very finacially set. Meet someone that age who worked for a small business (No benefits) and they are not doing so well. Most were frugal and saved and life was much easier after WWII but today we are creating a generation of people who will be dependant on the Gov't from craddle to grave.

Here's a thought:

How about our elected/appointed officials, who are riding around on their taxpayers dollars anyhow, offer to carpool those in need.

Or maybe they (representatives of cities/towns) can bike it to work once in a while. This would also help out. The gas prices are making it harder for US common folk to pay THEIR way nowadays.

simple vent wrote:

Here's a thought:
How about our elected/appointed officials, who are riding around on their taxpayers dollars anyhow, offer to carpool those in need.
Or maybe they (representatives of cities/towns) can bike it to work once in a while. This would also help out. The gas prices are making it harder for US common folk to pay THEIR way nowadays.

Yeah, right! They'd be coming to work in carriages drawn by white horses if they thought they could get away with it. Our elected and appointed leaders are above that, don't ya know. They're too important--big shots.

Well Ms. Doan, you do a lot of hand wringing in your article, but fail to get to the root cause of all this. The American left and its media allies, such as the Courant, who proclaim to care about the "little guy" have caused this problem. Thirty years of no energy growth policies, promulgated by the radical enviornmentalists, have led us here. And still they fight energy independence by proclaiming no IMMEDIATE relief if we develop more of our resourses today. Still no admission from the radical envio movement that 30 yrs have gone by since Three Mile Island, and perhaps technology has improved a tad, such that we, like the French, can produce 80% of our energy needs thru nuclear. When the Courant decides to get real, and stop spewing the hard left's line, that's happy people are suffering with $4.50 gas, because it fits their pristine naive view of the world , then things will start to improve. You all need to get your heads out of the sand and realize what energy demands are necessary to support and grow a $ 12 Trillion economy. Just follow the stock market if you don't believe me. Remember, in a depression, the Courant will be one of the first victims, then what will you all do in order to survive?

How about a new state funded program. Gas vouchers-This will help the folks.

1.) Just tell them Hussein Obama is busy encouraging people to think up new ways to make cars. That should happen any day. And remind these people about that nasty evil drilling - they don't want something which can produce more oil in a safe clean manner which, if we had started five years ago, would have prevented this mess from happening. No, we don't want that. Let's all put on our thinking caps and whip up some new fuels and new types of cars. We CAN do this in five years Hussein, eh?
2.) A Chrysler Fifth Avenue isn't an economy car. Where did the person get the money for such a nice car in the first place? Did they buy beyond their means when they bought a car? The article is wrong when it cites "older" as the reason these cars are gas guzzlers. Maybe if they bought a smaller car at the time this wouldn't be a problem for them.
3.) Are we supposed to be frightened one woman has to wait IN THE DARK for a bus? People of all income levels do that, you know (excepting those in Greenwich - I mean lower and middle class.) Stop trying to draw sympathy citing common inconveniences people like me have faced. Yes - I have waited for busses in the dark, in the rain, and in the snow. And I am still here.
4.) I would ask the Hussein Obama supporters why, if we can't drill our way out of this as they say, how long will it take before we have a substitute for oil. And don't cite for me those little hybrids with the $5,000 battery you have to buy. How will that be quicker than drilling, because you say drilling takes too long to show any result.

1) Anyone who thinks this is just a lack of "pulling oneself up by the bootstraps" needs to read the book "Nickel and Dimed". Then appreciate how fortunate you are to have a decent job.

2) Why is Mrs. Powell's husband not working? Poor woman - if he is well enough to drive her to/from work every day, he is well enough to go get a job so his wife won't have to work TWO of them!

3) Our public transportation system is broken. I am an educated professional, and I went to websites and looked at bus schedules - to get from my home in Bristol to my job in Farmington would require leaving 2.5 hours before I need to be at work and changing buses in New Britain. There are no Easy Street vanpool routes available for me or my husband (who commutes to Bloomfield). Since we don't work in downtown Hartford, the express commuter bus that leaves from Bristol is of no use to us.

We are fortunate to have education and jobs that compensate us adequately for needing to commute a bit. Many people are not so fortunate. Good luck going to community college or vocational school if you're working 2 jobs and have to spend 3 hours a day on a bus to get to those jobs.

Rat Fink wrote:

As long as the wealthy continue to get more wealthy, what are we complaining about? In another 50 years, it should start to trickle down.

You didn't add that as long as the welfare recipients get their food stamps, free housing, heating assistance, and free health care why should we care. You also didn't include that as long as baby mama gets all her expenses covered for the kids she and some scumbag dad made, who cares? And you forgot to say as long as the illegal aliens get all their expenses paid for by the working class, including free hospital visits, this story is not relevant. Stop picking on "the rich" - Democrats love to play class envy. I am not rich, but I realize we need wealthy people to create jobs, fund development, and maybe do something fo rwhich they can use the services of others (create jobs). How many jobs has baby mama and the welfare class created, excluding government jobs to take care of them paid for by taxpayers.

Konnecticut_Better_Yet wrote:

<quoted text>
Yeah, right! They'd be coming to work in carriages drawn by white horses if they thought they could get away with it. Our elected and appointed leaders are above that, don't ya know. They're too important--big shots.

All through this campaign, I see Obama, Clinton, Dodd and the other Democrats riding around in SUV's and vans. All the while they tell us we need to drive in smaller cars and cut back on driving. Let them set the example. Remember Al Gore - flying around solo in one of the mose fuel INefficient planes made. Also, don't forget Gore's drug addicted son caught speeding at 80 MPH, wasting energy. Democrats - top notch hypocrites.

There ya go the dude is adjusting so big deal he hangs out and takes a nap at the motel wow what a hardship gimme a break the good legislators could reduce the fuel tax, nah we won't go there

bill wrote:

As George Bailey said in "Its a Wonderful Life"- "They do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community". It is sad to see them noticed for this. We have spent way to much time on "Coach Geno" and Nantucket and "American Idol" and need to spend more time, energy and thought on real people of all ages. I often wonder how this first cohort of retirees without defined benefit plans (except govt and education) are going to make it. I see an 85 year old women waiting for the bus every day and may just stop and ask her about her life

Why haven't you asked her already about her life? Further, why haven't you offered her a ride yet? You get on here and whine and admit you haven't followed up your castigating of society with an admission of your own inaction. Quit browbeating us and set an example - do something DUDE, don't just talk down to us.