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Older, Suburban and Struggling, ‘Near Poor’ Startle the Census
New York Times ^ | 11-1-11 | Staff

Posted on 11/19/2011 10:55:44 AM PST by radioone

They drive cars, but seldom new ones. They earn paychecks, but not big ones. Many own homes. Most pay taxes. Half are married, and nearly half live in the suburbs. None are poor, but many describe themselves as barely scraping by.

snip

She has one BlackBerry and two cars (both Buicks from the 1990s), and a $230,000 house that she, her husband and two daughters will move into next week.

Combined, she and her husband, a janitor, make about $51,000 a year, more than 200 percent of the official poverty line. But they lose about a fifth to taxes, medical care and transportation to work — giving them a disposable income of about $40,000 a year.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Government; Politics
KEYWORDS: censusbureau; poverty
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Someone care to tell me how you make $51,000 and get a mortgage on a $230,000 house.
1 posted on 11/19/2011 10:55:51 AM PST by radioone
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To: radioone

Well, now they will have a tax deduction to reduce their tax burden.


2 posted on 11/19/2011 10:59:18 AM PST by Eva
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To: radioone

Exactly.
They are over mortgaged.


3 posted on 11/19/2011 11:00:49 AM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: radioone

Wondering if they will soon be writing articles on the “near beautiful,” “near smart,” or “near sighted.”


4 posted on 11/19/2011 11:00:58 AM PST by Paved Paradise
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To: radioone
Someone care to tell me how you make $51,000 and get a mortgage on a $230,000 house.

Go to your nearest democrat representative, cry, and demand it as a human right.

5 posted on 11/19/2011 11:01:22 AM PST by EGPWS (Trust in God, question everyone else)
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To: radioone
"Someone care to tell me how you make $51,000 and get a mortgage on a $230,000 house."

That's less than 5x yearly earnings. NOT unaffordable, but they won't have much room in the budget for anything else. A mortgage of $150k, or less would have been FAR more responsible. They should have rented and worked on boosting their income before buying a house. Sucks for them now, because they won't be able to easily move and get better jobs in other places if they should find any.

6 posted on 11/19/2011 11:01:47 AM PST by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
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To: radioone

They own a home, have two vehicles, one blackberry, have two jobs, get medical care. I am sure they eat. What’s the problem? Our grandparents would feel blessed.


7 posted on 11/19/2011 11:03:42 AM PST by GOP Poet (Obama is an OLYMPIC failure.)
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Did You Know?

The Current FReepathon Pays For The Current Quarters Expenses?

Now That You Do, Donate And Keep FR Running


8 posted on 11/19/2011 11:04:21 AM PST by DJ MacWoW (America! The wolves are here! What will you do?)
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To: radioone

Even if you mortgaged the entire $230,000 your payment would be about $1400 p/m. That’s $16,800 p/y.


9 posted on 11/19/2011 11:04:27 AM PST by albie
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To: radioone

So here are some folks with no skills living good, and they are complaining.


10 posted on 11/19/2011 11:06:17 AM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: radioone

Here ia my favorite line. They seem to be trying to attach people to the stupid occupy movement whether they agree or not:

“the findings can be thought of as putting numbers to the bleak national mood — quantifying the expressions of unease erupting in protests and political swings.”


11 posted on 11/19/2011 11:09:39 AM PST by marstegreg
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To: KoRn

If they had bene smart and paid for a $75,000 house they could easily afford more in life instead of barely getting by. They would then owe nothing and then be able to enjoy the fruits of their work a lot more easily. They would have more security too and for the life of me, they do not need a $230,000 dollar house.


12 posted on 11/19/2011 11:11:28 AM PST by Niuhuru (The Internet is the digital AIDS; adapting and successfully destroying the MSM host.)
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To: radioone

Wow...That mortgage aint gonna end well.


13 posted on 11/19/2011 11:11:47 AM PST by Michael Barnes (Obamaa+ Downgrade)
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To: radioone

Why does she work a 40 hour week and her employer gets to claim her as part-time? I’m curious as to who she is working for.


14 posted on 11/19/2011 11:13:18 AM PST by linn37
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To: radioone

I’ll bet we are paying for that social workers blackberry and a lot more.


15 posted on 11/19/2011 11:13:59 AM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: GOP Poet
"They own a home, have two vehicles, one blackberry, have two jobs, get medical care. I am sure they eat. What’s the problem? Our grandparents would feel blessed."

Damn right. These folks are "near poor" only in that they're in the same boat an awful lot of people were in throughout the fifties and sixties while they were raising their children and putting decent housing ahead of other things. Only when everyone started looking at their house as a sort of slot machine they could milk for cash to live beyond their income did most people begin to think that middle class folks were supposed to have an abundance of disposable income. Until the equity loan craze came along, everyone expected to have to budget and save for things like birthdays, vacations, and Christmas.

I always thought it was so funny when after the democrat fascist preached the "decade of greed" bunk throughout the eighties that they bragged about prosperity during the nineties while people were borrowing every cent they could to live beyond their means.

16 posted on 11/19/2011 11:14:48 AM PST by Rashputin (Obama stark, raving, mad, and even his security people know it.)
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To: Niuhuru

My guess is she is trying to buy her way into a better neighborhood for her children.


17 posted on 11/19/2011 11:14:57 AM PST by linn37
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To: albie
Even if you mortgaged the entire $230,000 your payment would be about $1400 p/m. That’s $16,800 p/y.

Then there is PMI, escrow on property taxes and home owners insurance, few other misc items in there. By the time that is done, you are talking closer to 2000, maybe 2100 a month and I bet my figure is still low.. They would have to be receiving interest rates you and I are not privy to in order to make this work long term.

18 posted on 11/19/2011 11:15:31 AM PST by Michael Barnes (Obamaa+ Downgrade)
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To: KoRn

You are correct. Bottom line is there’s no wiggle room. They are one hiccup away from default or worse.


19 posted on 11/19/2011 11:19:43 AM PST by moehoward
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To: radioone

30 year sub-prime mortgage?


20 posted on 11/19/2011 11:21:34 AM PST by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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