Community Chat

[Hippiified]

---

@Anonymous032819 wrote:

---

@Hippiified wrote:

We are not out of the woods.  Cases are rising in 42 states.  Not a good sign.

---

They are rising with the Delta variant, and among those who didn't get vaccinated.

---

Yes. And the more spread and the more mutations, everyone will be subject to more danger of a variant that will not be stopped by the vaccines. 

@Anonymous032819

[Porcelain]

---

@Kachina624 wrote:

@Sooner    The corruption involved with that legislation was unprecedented.  Fraud investigations will continue for years.  It was a money grab by the morally corrupt. 

---

Many many employers accepted PPP loans that were explicitly intended to help them continue to employ and pay their workers while the businesses had to shut down. To avoid putting the employees out of work and to spare the unemployment system.

And most of those businesses laid off their workers anyway, leaving them without paychecks and still took the loan money dishonestly. There was zero oversight in practice, even though it was written into the bill. I would like to see every single one of them prosecuted and all the money clawed back.

If you make a mistake or are dishonest about receiving unemployment payments, the authorities sure track you down and claw that money back, or even put you in jail. Same needs to happen to the businesses who stole that money from all of us. Or if fraud is okay for businesses to engage in (which it shouldn't be) then fraud needs to be fine for everyone else as well.

[suzyQ3]

---

@Hippiified wrote:

---

@Anonymous032819 wrote:

---

@Hippiified wrote:

We are not out of the woods.  Cases are rising in 42 states.  Not a good sign.

---

They are rising with the Delta variant, and among those who didn't get vaccinated.

---

Yes. And the more spread and the more mutations, everyone will be subject to more danger of a variant that will not be stopped by the vaccines. 

@Anonymous032819

---

@Hippiified, this should keep us all up at night. It is not farfetched at all.  It would be interesting to see what or who the dedicated anti-vaxxers would blame if this catastrophe actually did happen.

[Cakers3]

@dooBdoo   Thank you for the explanation.  From now on I'll cut and paste and note the source.

I understand links can be troublesome now so I'll stay away from using them.

Far, far away.  LOL

[Spurt]

---

@Jordan2 wrote:

I went to the grocery store today, now I usually don't go on Mondays so this could be a weekend thing, but the shelves were bare. Frozen food, dairy, and produce especially ( I didn't look at the meat section). Also I have looked for Thomas Bagel Thins for three weeks at Foodtown, Stop & Shop, King Kullen, and Target no one has it, I have asked about it in three of the stores with no answer. Are we going backwards again where we won't find goods we need due to manufacturing or distribution problems ( or hoarding)?

---

@Jordan2 

I found that to be true after the weekend on Mondays at our grocery stores, HEB, here in South Texas....That's when they are having to re-stock the bare shelves....This was true way before the pandemic even started..... I changed my shopping day to Thursday early morning and its rare when an item isnt in stock....

[happycat]

I went to the grocery store Monday, and there were a lot of empty spaces on the shelves. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I think we need to stock up. 

This delta variant is bad, there people getting very sick with it who were fully vaccinated. 

[Cakers3]

---

@Kachina624 wrote:

@NYCLatinaMe    Perhaps in NYC you are not familiar with the community College system.  A large percentage who choose this low-cost type of education are not seeking bacculaurate degrees.  Community colleges typically offer the best vocational training available outside of the military, and that's what many young people should be considering to improve their employability and ultimately their standard of living. 

---

@Kachina624   I agree.

Community colleges also give the students a chance at finding a major that is suitable for them.  If they decide to move onto a higher degree, their credits are transferable to several colleges which can also be in their price range.

Tuition assistance is also available more easily with community colleges.

Paying on a student loan is also a consideration.  Taking out a loan for a year at a 4-year college and then finding out it just isn't for some is another consideration.

Associate degrees are perfectly acceptable with some careers.

[JamandBread]

Community Colleges are tuition free in my state. So many friends and neighbors are sending their children to community college to get their required classes. Then they transfer credits to a 4 year to finish. It cuts the costs of educating their kids in half.

Agree, nothing wrong with an Associated Degree, either.

Big proponent of free community college.

[proudlyfromNJ]

We know a few kids who went to Community College and then transferred to a four year to get their degree. Yes, it was much cheaper to do it that way for them. 

[NYCLatinaMe]

---

@Kachina624 wrote:

@NYCLatinaMe    Perhaps in NYC you are not familiar with the community College system.  A large percentage who choose this low-cost type of education are not seeking bacculaurate degrees.  Community colleges typically offer the best vocational training available outside of the military, and that's what many young people should be considering to improve their employability and ultimately their standard of living. 

---

@Kachina624  This post is not responsive to my post.

Your post advocated for the payment of poverty wages for unskilled workers to incentivize them to go to college, because you assume it is only 17 year olds who receive these poverty wages, and that their alternatives are poverty wages or going to college and making more money.

My response was 2-fold.  There is no reason why unsklilled workers need to be condemned to earn poverty wages. unskilled workers are not just teenagers.  Think about restaurant workers, retail workers, people who do yardwork, janitorial work, construction, etc..  Workers should be able to pay for a place to live, food to eat, clothes to wear, transportation and some entertainment.  They are not children.  The minimum wage should allow for that because we need these workers.  Some of these people can't go to college (whether community or otherwise) because they need the income or lack the ability to absorb college level coursework.

The federal poverty level is $26,200 for a family of four, the equivalent of about $12.60 per hour for a full-time worker. A living wage must at least be greater than that, which I think is the point that @Anonymous032819 was making.

My second point is that college does not guarantee a higher wage because the country has suffered from wage stagnation since after you began working.  I didn't have a chance to post a chart specifically about that because i was rushing, but here it is:

Women college graduates are particularly suffering, as shown here.

Link to earlier data I posted.

https://community.qvc.com/t5/Community-Chat/Is-Something-Going-On/m-p/7021869#M1765970