Marriage is #1 Social Justice Issue, Not Race

[Saucy]

There's a lot of stuff going around today about race and racial inequality. The main idea seems to be that a person's race is the #1 hinderance that divides the country, but according to the research, that's not the case at all. It's marriage.

Single-parent households account for nearly ALL the incidences of childhood poverty.

Isabel Sawhill, a senior scholar at the center-left Brookings Institute, boldly and correctly proclaimed some years ago that “the proliferation of single-parent households accounts for virtually all of the increase in child poverty since the early 1970s.” Virtually all of the increase!

According to a former Clinton domestic policy advisor, explained in the early '90s that if you don't want to live in poverty, then you need to do three things:

1) Graduate high school.
2) Marry before having kids.
3) Have that child after the age of 20.

The stats are staggering. Nearly 80% of people who fail to do those three will live in poverty.

Working-class women are nearly three times more likely to have babies out of wedlock than upper-class women. Poor women are about five times more likely. These two groups are far less likely to be married overall and twice as likely to be cohabiting, suffering further from inherent instability of living together without marriage.

Other interesting stats:

-Only 4% of married couples are on food stamps.
-78% of married couples own their own home.
-The poverty rate of cohabiting, non-married families is nearly the same as single mothers.

Source: http://thefederalist.com/2017/11/03...ice-imperative-marriage/#.Wf4Ih4HHlkE.twitter

Of course, this doesn't prove that race issues don't exist in this country, but I've always believed that it's not systematic racism, but classism that keep people down. I'm a white guy who grew up poor, and a lot of that was due to living with my single mom who could barely pay the bills. We lived with roommates who were abusive and the drug culture was big. It didn't matter if you were white, black, Hispanic, Asian, etc. Life was equally tough on all of us.

It also speaks to the precedence of God's rules concerning marriage and sex before marriage. Personal responsibility goes a long way. Buckle down, do your job, work hard, graduate and do things the right way, and you'll do fairly well.

Thoughts?

 

[naveed]

then you need to do three things:
1) Graduate high school.
2) Marry before having kids.
3) Have that child after the age of 20.
The stats are staggering. Nearly 80% of people who fail to do those three will live in poverty.
Thoughts?

yes very true and then

shouldn't the age of consent be set at 21

to help reduce world poverty?

Should the age of consent be set at 21 to help reduce the world population?

New World Order and feminism

 

[Paidiske]

Sounds to me as if there are significant barriers to employment for people who also need to care for children. (Not rocket science, I know). I wonder how much better off these families would be if the parents had access to reliable, low-cost childcare, and were therefore able to work more?

 

[Redac]

Sounds to me as if there are significant barriers to employment for people who also need to care for children. (Not rocket science, I know). I wonder how much better off these families would be if the parents had access to reliable, low-cost childcare, and were therefore able to work more?

It might be better if single-income families were a viable thing again, and one parent could afford to actually stay home and raise the kids. I couldn't tell you quite how to go about doing that, though.

 

[Paidiske]

It's been a viable thing in my experience, but I gather in America you might need to raise the minimum wage?

 

[Dave-W]

It's been a viable thing in my experience, but I gather in America you might need to raise the minimum wage?

Even doubling or tripling the minimum wage will not allow us to go to a one bread-winner family structure again.

We did that while the kids were small, but I was making a LOT of money on overtime and we lived in a relatively cheap area of the country. Where I live now, even 10 times minimum wage would barely cover rent or mortgage.

 

[Paidiske]

Are you living in a particularly expensive part of your city, or something, Dave? I can't see how that could possibly be sustainable (I mean, I can't see how those prices could stay at that level if nobody could pay them).

 

[durangodawood]

Even doubling or tripling the minimum wage will not allow us to go to a one bread-winner family structure again.

We did that while the kids were small, but I was making a LOT of money on overtime and we lived in a relatively cheap area of the country. Where I live now, even 10 times minimum wage would barely cover rent or mortgage.

10X the min wage would give a person and child a lot of options to go other places where they could live very well on one paycheck.

 

[Dave-W]

10X the min wage would give a person and child a lot of options to go other places where they could live very well on one paycheck.

Only if they could take that paycheck with them.

I am making about 3x what I made back in my hometown, (when I was sole breadwinner) and all of the kids are gone. But it still takes both my wife and I working full time to pay the housing and food.

 

[Dave-W]

Are you living in a particularly expensive part of your city, or something, Dave? I can't see how that could possibly be sustainable (I mean, I can't see how those prices could stay at that level if nobody could pay them).

I live just north of DC, (Montgomery county MD) probably the 3rd or 4th highest cost of living areas in the US.

 

[durangodawood]

Only if they could take that paycheck with them.

I am making about 3x what I made back in my hometown, (when I was sole breadwinner) and all of the kids are gone. But it still takes both my wife and I working full time to pay the housing and food.

Well the discussion was min wage, so that would be everywhere that theres jobs.... (whatever jobs are left at that rate)

Are you stuck there? Your situation sounds tough.

 

[Dave-W]

Are you stuck there? Your situation sounds tough.

I and my wife both are in government work. At our age we will not find employment elsewhere, so we are here until retirement (another 8 years give or take). Then we we will move out of here. (unless God says to stay)

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Sounds to me as if there are significant barriers to employment for people who also need to care for children. (Not rocket science, I know). I wonder how much better off these families would be if the parents had access to reliable, low-cost childcare, and were therefore able to work more?

Are you advocating taxpayer funded (therefore State regulated) childcare?

 

[Paidiske]

Are you advocating taxpayer funded (therefore State regulated) childcare?

Not necessarily, although that might be one option. What we have in Australia is a childcare benefit/rebate, which the government pays to families to help with the costs of childcare, if the parent/s meet the requirements for studying or working while childcare is used.

It's not a perfect system, but it does help more women access the workforce than would otherwise be the case.

 

[Sketcher]

It's been a viable thing in my experience, but I gather in America you might need to raise the minimum wage?

That shouldn't be set federally, no higher than state level. Many states have minimum wages that exceed the federal one. They also have different needs in how to apply it, if we're going to believe those who support using illegal immigrants to pick fruit. Besides, with the way part-time employees are treated, it's just going to be used as an excuse to reduce their hours.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Not necessarily, although that might be one option. What we have in Australia is a childcare benefit/rebate, which the government pays to families to help with the costs of childcare, if the parent/s meet the requirements for studying or working while childcare is used.

It's not a perfect system, but it does help more women access the workforce than would otherwise be the case.

We have childcare assistance programs but it doesn't help working families, only those who have virtually no income and are participating in other aid programs. My daughter receives help via another program but because she earns above a certain minimum she must pay the money back when she is able.

Wisconsin, Child Care Assistance - Wisconsin Child Care Assistance Program - Aidpage

 

[essentialsaltes]

Sounds like a good argument for free and freely available birth control, and good family planning education.

 

[Minoa]

Considering home ownership is less of a reality for nearly anyone's marital status now, most of all for younger gens like me (money laundering and greed making prices absurd where I am---even 1-2 hrs outside the main city it's still unreasonable), I'd probably take this one off the list of things to strive for.

regarding min wage, I'd rather be paid more to work less and have my life back. Time is precious as we all learn the more we age how it flies and cannot be bought back afterwards. Of course, a 'living' wage would be proper. However, America is about capitalism. I'm in Canada so there are some differences, however, we got so many American businesses here, that it's hard to get away.

I agree though on classism vs racism as the main issue but it's hardly spoken about. I'm Caucasian and I'll tell you, it didn't make my life 'easy and privileged' either.
Even when my parents were still married, we were on welfare. I was bullied and my parents didn't finish high school and I still get picked on because I'm not as aggressive as this culture expects of me and struggle to have respect and get a decent job as an adult. Starting out with less in life, you regardless still have to work harder for anything and most of those pointless extra efforts seem like such a waste of energy---work hard and still get less.

Whenever something happens to someone of a different culture/race now though, suddenly people go "[bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse] racism" and make it viral. It's so touchy that if you are "White" you are basically supposed to just shut up and have no opinions or else you are some evil racist white supremacist.

 

[zephcom]

There's a lot of stuff going around today about race and racial inequality. The main idea seems to be that a person's race is the #1 hinderance that divides the country, but according to the research, that's not the case at all. It's marriage.

Single-parent households account for nearly ALL the incidences of childhood poverty.



According to a former Clinton domestic policy advisor, explained in the early '90s that if you don't want to live in poverty, then you need to do three things:

1) Graduate high school.
2) Marry before having kids.
3) Have that child after the age of 20.

The stats are staggering. Nearly 80% of people who fail to do those three will live in poverty.



Other interesting stats:

-Only 4% of married couples are on food stamps.
-78% of married couples own their own home.
-The poverty rate of cohabiting, non-married families is nearly the same as single mothers.

Source: http://thefederalist.com/2017/11/03...ice-imperative-marriage/#.Wf4Ih4HHlkE.twitter

Of course, this doesn't prove that race issues don't exist in this country, but I've always believed that it's not systematic racism, but classism that keep people down. I'm a white guy who grew up poor, and a lot of that was due to living with my single mom who could barely pay the bills. We lived with roommates who were abusive and the drug culture was big. It didn't matter if you were white, black, Hispanic, Asian, etc. Life was equally tough on all of us.

It also speaks to the precedence of God's rules concerning marriage and sex before marriage. Personal responsibility goes a long way. Buckle down, do your job, work hard, graduate and do things the right way, and you'll do fairly well.

Thoughts?

Thoughts??? Sure, I have thoughts on the issue.

First, it is too bad that you attempted to minimize the elephant in the room...systemic racism. As a white guy, it is easy to say, "Buckle down, do your job, work hard, graduate and do things the right way, and you'll do fairly well." As a Black person, doing all those things can still get you shot and killed by the very people designated to protect you. And if not killed, you can get arrested for a (relatively) minor offense (think 'war on drugs') and face thirty years in prison unless you are white.

Second, I have no reason to question the statistics you presented. But I note you left out one of the more damaging statistics. Systemic racism as well as systemic sexism put single parents at a distinct disadvantage over the white male. I'm not going to look up the actual current disparity but I think you will this well within the ball park. For every dollar a white male earns, a white woman makes 87 cents, a Black man makes 78 cents and Black woman makes 48 cents.

It is pretty easy to see why single mothers struggle so much. Not only do they have the expense of children but make less money to pay the bills with.

Third, no culture is fragmented into distinct issues which, if changed, will magically fix the problems a culture experiences. A culture's issues and problems are intertwined. Single parent families are at a disadvantage because the single parent is almost always a woman who makes less money than the guy who help make the children. Those women make less money because we have a culture which allows employers to pay them less.

Those same women who choose to take their pregnancies to full term and raise the children are not considered good marriage candidates because we have a culture which doesn't respect women who decide against abortion.

These women don't usually have access to reasonably priced child care because we have a culture which values wealth over human compassion.

We are not doing fairly well because we refuse to see the plank in our own eyes. Rather we look at how we, as individuals, reached whatever level of success or non-success and assume that everyone else is just like us. They are not because our culture is designed from the ground up to favor some people over others.

And if one is part of that favored class, white male, one HAS to understand that not everyone else will reach our level of success just by following our footsteps. They just don't have the same terrain to walk on as we do.

Fix the inequality issues first, then make sweeping generalizations about how people should live.

 

[ananda]

There's a lot of stuff going around today about race and racial inequality. The main idea seems to be that a person's race is the #1 hinderance that divides the country, but according to the research, that's not the case at all. It's marriage.

Single-parent households account for nearly ALL the incidences of childhood poverty.



According to a former Clinton domestic policy advisor, explained in the early '90s that if you don't want to live in poverty, then you need to do three things:

1) Graduate high school.
2) Marry before having kids.
3) Have that child after the age of 20.

The stats are staggering. Nearly 80% of people who fail to do those three will live in poverty.



Other interesting stats:

-Only 4% of married couples are on food stamps.
-78% of married couples own their own home.
-The poverty rate of cohabiting, non-married families is nearly the same as single mothers.

Source: http://thefederalist.com/2017/11/03...ice-imperative-marriage/#.Wf4Ih4HHlkE.twitter

Of course, this doesn't prove that race issues don't exist in this country, but I've always believed that it's not systematic racism, but classism that keep people down. I'm a white guy who grew up poor, and a lot of that was due to living with my single mom who could barely pay the bills. We lived with roommates who were abusive and the drug culture was big. It didn't matter if you were white, black, Hispanic, Asian, etc. Life was equally tough on all of us.

It also speaks to the precedence of God's rules concerning marriage and sex before marriage. Personal responsibility goes a long way. Buckle down, do your job, work hard, graduate and do things the right way, and you'll do fairly well.

Thoughts?

4% of married couples are on food stamps, because the others largely don't qualify for them. Are you sure 78% of married couples own their own homes, or are they actually renting-to-own from the true owners, the banks (as most married couples probably haven't paid them off).

IMO the #1 social justice issue is the imposition of manipulated fiat currency by those with power.

It is a root problem which results in destitution (confiscation of personal wealth through cycles of inflation and deflation, etc.), fuels the need "to climb the corporate ladder" & all its associated competitive sufferings, and unbalances the natural order of society (which naturally tends towards equilibrium).

Equilibrium in society means harmony, and peace. Harmony & peace equals loss of profit. Those who "do god's work" can't allow that to happen.