http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/17/news/economy/us-middle-class-basics-study/index.html
"Nearly 51 million households don't earn enough to afford a monthly budget that includes housing, food, child care, health care, transportation and a cell phone, according to a study released Thursday by the United Way ALICE Project. That's 43% of households in the United States."
The figure includes the 16.1 million households living in poverty, as well as the 34.7 million families that the United Way has dubbed ALICE -- Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. This group makes less than what's needed "to survive in the modern economy."
"Despite seemingly positive economic signs, the ALICE data shows that financial hardship is still a pervasive problem," said Stephanie Hoopes, the project's director.
California, New Mexico and Hawaii have the largest share of struggling families, at 49% each. North Dakota has the lowest at 32%.
Many of these folks are the nation's child care workers, home health aides, office assistants and store clerks, who work low-paying jobs and have little savings, the study noted. Some 66% of jobs in the US pay less than $20 an hour.
(Score: 2) by mendax on Monday May 21 2018, @06:20PM (1 child)
It's still common to see exploded retreads on the freeway. However, the "retread" model would not work very well today. Today only truck tires are routinely retreaded, and that's because new truck tires are especially expensive.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 1) by suburbanitemediocrity on Tuesday May 22 2018, @01:20AM
Yeah, I know about retreads today. I have a trucker friend who says that all non-steering tires are retreads. I do see substantially less treads on the freeway today than I did 40 years ago. Maybe the process is better...?