poverty line shananigans

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Friday March 07, 2008 · 3:51 PM PST

2008/03/07 · 15:51

There has been a lot of talk here today about the state of the economy. I think we can all agree it is scary. On another post there was some discussion about the vagaries of the "unemployment" numbers which led me to think about other useless measurements. The one that has bothered me the most over the years has been the so-called "poverty line."

This will be short, see below.

Poll

20 votes Show Results

You are poor if......

20 votes Vote Now!

You are poor if......

Daddy couldn't afford to buy you the presidency

3 votes

You had to dock your yacht because of high oil prices

3 votes

Your are going to lose your home

6 votes

You don't have a home

8 votes

needed: new narrative

jemjo

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday March 04, 2008 · 7:55 PM PST

2008/03/04 · 19:55

I was recently reading Obama's book and was struck by the cohesiveness of his message. It reminded me of another book I read some years ago as a graduate student seeking a degree in education -- another book that left me feeling similarly hopeful and amazed by the clarity and simplicity of the message. Neil Postman's book The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School, is basically a discussion of the need for a unifying narrative in the context of public schools. However, it seems to me that this is a discussion that needs to be had in terms of the larger public context.

It made me think about this primary race and politics in general in a way slightly different than I have been to this point. The narratives that each candidate has created for themselves is very showing of thier characters and how they envision our future. I am relatively new to this community, but I am aware that these topics have been touched on before....I hope this adds a little something new.

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