At 11:58 AM 1/19/02 -0800 Nick Arnett wrote:
>The most depressing stats, by the way, were on the same page. One showed
>that at the 20th income percentile, inflation-adjusted income has risen 1
>percent since 1993, while the cost of living rose 20 percent. I was
>irritated that the headline for this chart reads "Standard of Living for
>Low-Income Households is Not Rising." Not rising? That's like saying that
>Enron is failing to make a profit.
That's a bit of an exaggeration, Nick. According to those numbers the
standard of living of the 20th percentile has risen by 1% since 1993.
That's not despicable by any means.
>Below that one was a chart showing that the cost of child care has risen
>five times faster than household income since 1995.
>
>To me, this screams that it is become harder and harder for poor people with
>children to better themselves.
>
>A few months ago, I had suggested to the rest of the board at Plugged In
>(www.pluggedin.org) that we add child care to our services, so that those
>with the greatest obstacles, especially young, poor, single mothers, can
>participate in our programs. After seeing these numbers, I decided to make
>that, or something like it, a condition for my support of the building
>project we are beginning.
That is unfortunate. If we are to believe in equal pay for equal work,
then employers should not provide extra benefits to employees with children
without a stay-at-home mother vs. employees in a family where the wife (or
husband) has chosen to invest in their own children by staying at home.
Indeed, this is a market-distorting incentive that *discourages* having one
parent stay at home with the children.
JDG
__________________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ #3527685
"Our campaign against international terrorism does not represent some
sort of 'clash of civilizations.' Instead, it is a clash between
civilization and those who would destroy it." -Amb. Richard N. Haass
