The men in my dumpster

[nodmicks]

Yes it is sad now a days. But pan handeling is very questionable. Here in FL i see alot more woman now doing it. My fav was the woman outside the bussiness distric with a sign that said."u can go shopping and buy stuff why cant u give me at least a dollar!"
fight over street corners. More woman are saying they r preggers and make up from 500 a day! In FL there are more organizations then I ever thought of that give happily to all the so called homeless. Most have it made. I hurt for money for my family as well but yet we are turned away from any assistance cuz we do not qualify. The whole thing is lopsided.I can see making ends meet and doing what 1 must to survive but well...ok off my rant dont wanna hijack the page. I just kno first hand that most ppl who do the foraging and the pan handeling(yes 1st hand) they are doing it for drugs and some could care less about working cuz they like there life and just need ciggy and beer money.(uncle hires many ppl for odd jobs as he is a handy man and they tell me 1st hand whats going on especially under the over passes by st vincents. Its all crocked)

this is what I meant was sad. So sorry I didn't clarify. I didn't mean to step on toes!
Our local little township dump collects scrap and aluminum for our library fund.

[shoiji]

I think it is great that he is able to find a way to create income. I think what is sad is the possibility that being unable to find a job can happen to anyone. Have to love the human spirit though!

[nuisance26]

$52,000-13,000 (25% taxation)= $39,000 Less the cost of medical and vehicle maintainence. That's above poverty level for 1 person. Still look sad. He works under the table,people give him stuff,he qualifies for food stamps,medical assistance. He may even be getting unemployment. People make due.

~It's unlikely that he's consistently making $150 day but if he is he's pulling in $12K more a year than we are. If he's reporting it he's still netting 200% of the poverty level and should not qualify for food stamps and medical assistance in NJ.~

[nodmicks]

~It's unlikely that he's consistently making $150 day but if he is he's pulling in $12K more a year than we are. If he's reporting it he's still netting 200% of the poverty level and should not qualify for food stamps and medical assistance in NJ.~

How do you figure the % of the poverty level like that?

[itlw8]

every year in the spring we have a city wide big trash pick up people carefully put the good stuff to the side to prevent people digging and making a mess ALL metakl goes right away and never makes the trash trucks neighbors also drive around to see if they can use things like 2 old tricycles they can put together and make one good one.

In the college town near by the departing kids tossed so much reusable stuff the university now does a garage sale in the stadium and it is sold instead of tossed.

[nuisance26]

~Poverty level in the US for one adult was $10K in 2006. You can adjust the numbers up a bit for inflation.
"As defined by the Office of Management and Budget and updated for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, the weighted average poverty threshold for a family of four in 2006 was $20,614; for a family of three, $16,079; for a family of two, $13,167; and for unrelated individuals, $10,294."
Source: http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/...th/010583.html
I'm trying to find the source for NJ. I *think* NJ's poverty level for one adult is around $17K because of the way they figure it based on a state's median income and cost of living.~

[nodmicks]

~Poverty level in the US for one adult was $10K in 2006. You can adjust the numbers up a bit for inflation.
"As defined by the Office of Management and Budget and updated for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, the weighted average poverty threshold for a family of four in 2006 was $20,614; for a family of three, $16,079; for a family of two, $13,167; and for unrelated individuals, $10,294."
Source: http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/...th/010583.html
I'm trying to find the source for NJ. I *think* NJ's poverty level for one adult is around $17K because of the way they figure it based on a state's median income and cost of living.~

Thanks! Our local paper had the census info for 2007/2008 for the nearest bigger city and all of WI. Is said what the average/median income was for a family and I was really surprised.

Anyone know what the average income for an American family was in 2008?

Edited to add: I found the answer way down this page [ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States[/ame]

[nuisance26]

~I can't seem to find anything with $17K in it so I must be pulling that number from what you would need to qualify for WIC or something.
NJ apparently uses the Federal guidelines.~

[valerian]

I had a yard sale last June and put a little bit of stuff out at the street later. An old man in a truck came by and asked if he could have some of the stuff. We told him to help himself and he did. I don't remember what he picked up...maybe an old vacuum cleaner and some other junk. Anyway, he put some things in the truck and then slapped his hands together and did a little skip before walking back to his truck! I was very amused by this old man who had to be in his 70's being so pleased about finding himself some "treasure". It made my day!

[Ocean_Beach_Dweller]

I also notice at certain areas of the island there are larger pockets of men/ illegal immigrants waiting to be picked up for day labour. Alot of bodies milliing about and waiting for work.....

Its quite alarming to me. Last year this time I hardly saw any men during the day just milling about with nothing to do.

I noticed this too! I live in a large city and in the poorest part of the city there are tons of people just out sitting on the curbs with nothing to do all day. But even in the less poor parts, coffee shops are packed. I go in the middle of the day on a tuesday and every table is taken, I don't know for certain that the people at the cofee shop are unemployed but i never remember it being so crowded on weekdays.

The average income here is 59K because the cost of living is so high, so I don't know how these unemployed people survive here!

[Teresa T]

We have people going through the dumpsters in my apartment complex, usually the day before trash/recycling pickup.

From all the clanging I hear, they get stuff. It's too bad people have to do that. I guess one up side: It helps get more stuff recycled.

[geckoace]

My uncle used to scrap when we were kids, alot of copper which is worth a fair amount. I think it's awesome that he has an income

[kittykatstrong]

I live in a group of townhomes and when people move out they sometimes leave stuff at the curb. In fact I am wearing a sweatshirt right now that I found laying on top of a huge pile of stuff.

[Lora88]

I think waht I was trying to say is not that people dumpster dive or scrap Hell dh is an hvac man and we scrap copper all the time It was the fact that this guy could not find a job in such a long time. I see more and more evidence of hard times for people and it makes me not only sad but grateful that we have not been impacted as hard as some.Sure its slow and theres no overtime but at least dh hung on to his job What hurt us alot was the increase in the cost of our medical insurance that dhs boss could no longer sustain We are currently paying 150.00 a week for health ins. but we are gratefu he is working ds got laid off from dh s job but htat turned out to be a blessing because he went back to school like I wanted him too .

[FrugalMomof3]

Yeah every garbage day we see the same truck drive down our street looking for scrap. I think it's ok especially if your throwing it away and it is a decent way to make money (claimed or not) he has to live.

I also agree that this recession is far from over, we only know what the news reports to us and not all of it. Yes, I have a job but I can tell you business isn't doing so well and I've been hearing how hard it is for people to find jobs even now.