wilkes

Blimey2, I most def. do think theres a hunger problem, when you can't afford to buy the necessities of life for you and urchildren and you work full time but still barely surviving, theres got to be another way. I use to see myself in the middle class range all through life growing up, father was in the viet. war and i was raised in fort Bragg then when he got out we lived in hickory and lenoir. Everything seemed great back in the day until my parents split up and my father died at the age of 53 with complications from agent orange. I had moved with my mother and sister to the mountains at that time in which we had to live in a camper for a while till we got a trailer. It was very humbling. Seemed we never had enough food to last because my mom worked in lenoir at a furniture plant and at the age of 10 I was babysitting my sister and nehpew daily and every weekend. I didn't get much of a teenage life but I didn't mind as long as we were happy and good to oneanother. I realized the small things in life meant so much more. When you work you don't get help like in foodstamps because they say you make too much,,,,im sure min.wage seems too much geeez...but but i did go by a couple places that gave out food in a box and it was outdated mostly. Everyone is just having hard times and we are just putting back as much as we can to survive these days. Sometimes the dollar menu is what we do because its cheaper than making a meal. unhealthy but got to do what you got to do. I still survive on my slimfast daily. So yes i feel there is def. hunger prob. in our own areas and I plan to get proactive and volunteer with some places like make a wish foundation, poss. the salvation army, just diff. ones. My daughter has a brain tumor and wasn't supose to be alive after the age of 18, but she is 24 today. So smart and has a degree in which she might never get to use due to her memory capability but the fact that she just wanted to see if she could do it and prove it to herself made me so proud. This kid has been the joy and hope I have always held on to. She's a blessing. Her dream is to be an activities director at a rest home sometime once they start retiring. Ok sorry got a little carried away with details but....we will make it together in the hard economy as a whole community and with God nothing is impossible.

tag....you think there is a hunger problem? I've long thought so, but so many on this forum and others say that everything is just great.

The only way theres going to be change if for the people to demand change. Starting on the home front. People are so afraid to stand up for their rights due to being called a racist. We have to get a backbone and stand our ground as people wanting to change for a better economy and life. This way of life can't keep going on like this. We have children in our own homes are eating little and parents who are cutting so far back that they are going on liquid diets 3 times a day to save on food for the kids. There is something very wrong with this picture in the united states. Looks like we are all going to have to pull together these times of needs. We don't have all the right answers but we can get proactive and figure out something we can do to bring about change. Not only for the poor/ but for the rich and middle class.....if there is even a so called middle class at this point. A very scary world that we live in. Come together as a community we need to help oneanother not knock down one another. build eachother up.

Top Soil (view profile)

Posted 6:19 am, 09/17/2014

so the only way for business to start paying a living wage, provide a competitive health plan, and conform to the law......is to deregulate and take away all the laws that have been written to protect the workers from being abused by business, so that they did pay a living wage, healthcare, and obey the laws? give it up, Reagans trickle down economics was a FAILURE. we have over 30 years of proof. The only reason someone would still push it, was if they were ignorant on subject of economics......which i have proven you to be,on multiple occasions. ------ Very true Top Soil, some don't have the brains to learn anything. (I didn't create this huge print, it just came out that way)

I have said it a 100 times. Our ancestors knew when to pack up and leave. Somewhere along the way a lot of you forgot that. Sell everything and move to a better place.

We are hunter gathers at heart. Everything has already been hunted and gathered in this location.
The land is expensive. The taxes are high. Wages are rediculously low. Move on. Stop wining . No jobs are coming.

Come on Toppie, I am a slow learner, give me ONE example where money flows UP . You know like where at any time in history the poor have been the generators of an economy.

I am sure you have the experience, you spend all your time on the playground trying to impress kids

i've explained it plenty of times. your failure to grasp the subject, does not require action on my behalf. I'm not your daddy and i wont give you another chance. nor do I get paid to lecture and educate. take a class at a real school. also i don't have the required certifications to be able to teach children with learning disabilities, i do however have the experience.

Toppie Please tell me just one more time, I am kinda slow learning. How does this trickle UP economy work for you.? Let the poor lift us out of our economic woes by spending government handouts. Like Nancy Pelosi suggested, Unemployment Compensation will stimulate the economy. I am sure I have more questions but lets start with one. Where does the poor get the money to stimulate with?

Per my studies in economics, if it weren't for the government throwing so much money in subsidies everywhere many things wouldn't be so expensive. From college expenses to medical expenses, the GREED of the administrators in every field lobby for more and more money to LINE THEIR POCKETS rather than actually help us average joes like it's really intended to. So, if there were less subsidies and more control from the top down of those monies being used more efficiently, we'd be better off.

so the only way for business to start paying a living wage, provide a competitive health plan, and conform to the law......is to deregulate and take away all the laws that have been written to protect the workers from being abused by business, so that they did pay a living wage, healthcare, and obey the laws?

He said She said, sad but this is a story that is being lived out everyday in America. We have been persuaded to accept the high unemployment rate, high inflation, high medical care prices, low wages as the norm. The only answer is to remove the heavy boot from the throat of business by stopping the money grab. Obama says no boots on the ground but I think the only thing keeping the boot from the ground is the neck of working people. Remove the heavy handed tax grab and ridiculous regulations and let America prosper. We can do it if government will just get out of the way.

Rejoice, we have a new enemy that will keep the money flowing to those of us who have overseas bank accounts. If you are a peon just be patient because the the money will trickle down to you when the time is right after we have more wars.

EXAMPLE: Lets say that your a married couple with a few kids and together living in an economy where it takes two incomes to even make it, you go in debt for a car so that you have dependable transportation for your family and kids and you have your home, in which you will be paying a 15/ or 30 year morg. on, or you poss,. rent which is no less than 400 a month but most cases 500 and up. Then...one day you find yourself divorced, raising your children on low wages due to the economy. You have education in your background, but companies are going to part-time due to health care so you find yourself having to work a couple jobs just to have full time and those jobs only pay minimum wage because the companies know people need work and you can be replaced. In this economy people say that min. wage workers are uneducated, or teenagers, which is not true anymore. The truth is that people can't make it in the economy the way it is and even if your living in govt housing and working your still paying atleast 200 plus by yourself because nobody takes out consideration that you have a car loan. That doesn't count according to govt. because you don't have to have that car, true...but that is something you had before all of this happen which was not your doing so you choose to keep it for it is your only transportation at this point and without it, you would be walking because you can't afford to let it go back and buy something eles even used. There's times when I have to go without so my kids can eat and I gladly do that but something has got to change for all of us, and moving out of the area is not poss. for many people due to relocating your children and family to a new area takes money and that's not something most of us have at this point. What is the answer? The quest. is ( Is there an answer? ) Prayer...

Do the search yourselves? See how many companies (like APPLE) pay NO federal tax?

The pinnacle of success, drive a truck and see the world. You gain so much insight you can become freelance economist and social engineers. Right Moving

I understand ptw. I had to make a drastic change from what I was used to. Not doing what I'd prefer to be doing. But, doing what I have to do to recover. And, it's working out, with some perks. Mostly, I think we fight change.

Good luck to you and hang tough.

Moving, I lost the best job I ever had almost 5 years ago when Wells Fargo (shutter!) took over Wachovia. I'm on my 2nd job since then. While I know I'm blessed to have a job, it sure would be nice to have something that paid closer to the one I lost! I'm still searching but my age is against me & at this point in my life I just don't want to drive out of town. I'm praying I can hang on until I find something better. It has to be out there somewhere!

pdtw (view profile)	Posted 6:05 am, 09/16/2014
When someone says how much better the economy is getting, I am always amazed!! Where? HERE? What world are they living in? I just don't see it!

I am a Wilkes County resident that works for a local company, but I do travel all over the country. There are pockets throughout the US that are not doing well, just like Wilkes County, and there are areas all over that are doing great, and a lot somewhere in between. There's not any one specific factor that makes the difference between a community that flourishes and one that crumbles. Those that are doing well do for the most part put more emphasis on education, retaining a manufacturing base, and/or have a specific commodity or service they offer that gives them the upper hand. Wilkes is behind the curve on education, has lost most of it manufacturing, and doesn't have oil wells/a shipping port/or anything in particular that makes it unique that can't be bought from somewhere else. The one "niche" we do have, we are not capitalizing on. Tourists. If you build it they will come. The lake, Stone Mtn, the BR Parkway to name a few things...all at our doorstep and not being used to our advantage. JMO

If you personally aren't seeing an improvement from 3 to 6 years ago, then it's past time to make some changes in your own life. That's what I did and that's what made the difference for me.

There has always been a certain level of money maintained in the local economy. That level of money in our local economic region is half what it once was. The more corporate big stores come to town the more of what is left of this local money is reduced as it is sent out of the area to corporate.

I believe that if local businesses are patronized for purchases about 60% to 70 % of each dollar on average remains at the local economic level generation additional local spending by the local businesses, their employees, and most likely local suppliers. If I remember correctly about 35% of each dollar spent in chain stores remains local to generate additional local spending.

To boost the local economy, buy local from local businesses when possible.

It is not worth saving $0.39 to travel 2 miles to the dollar store when you will pass two local owned stores on the route. You will save the same $0.39 in has by stopping at the closet store.