Suzanne from Manhattan: You are absolutely right that welfare as conceived in the 60s did not solve the problem. Unfortunately, like those 60s officials, you either don't understand or willfully ignore the problem that needed/needs to be solved. Especially if you believe this: "...offering housing and support to young women who get pregnant incentivizes them to drop out of high school and go that route and to have more children for income..." So they drop out of (bad) high schools, to get pregnant, for "income" that will keep them impoverished? From whence comes this low aspiration and low belief in the possibilities? THIS is the problem to understand, historically, and to solve. After hundreds of years, it's about time.

I'm a big fan & regular listener who's politically left of center with particular concern for low income educational improvement. I couldn't believe you remarked that r need to keep giving more welfare with each child because welfare follows the child. Please do not hold that view until you've wormed or lived extensively in a low income area, as I have. Unfortunatly welfare as conceived in the 60s didn't solve problems. This is not a moral judgment, just s fact: offering housing and support to young women who get pregnant incentivizes them to drop out of high school and go that route and to have more children for income. After generations of living this way, they know nothing else. Many young women who have followed this economic pattern are very poor parents, are uneducated and have no skills. Money is not being spent on the childrn. It's complicated but this cycle must be interrupted. Youmay not realize that the Clinton welfare reforms started welfare to work for this reason and capped benefits after a certain number of children. Fewer girls step now getting pregnant to get an apartmen and income. More needs to be done to give the children better lives & futures.

dboy, with fewer hospitals, where will the wealth..., I mean, "job creators" go when they get sick ;-)?

The attitudes of the carpet baggers who live in manhattan is atrocious. The way some people treat service staff is despicable and I bet these are the same people who are against raising the min wage. I really don't understand that pov at all. Min wage in this city needs to be $20 an hour.

Bob, true. But you keep doing your part (and better yet, imagining remedies).

John -- don't forget the tax payer subsidized Barclays Center and the insane ticket prices and surcharges for shows. New Yorkers should just boycott this stuff.

More $1.5M 1 bedroom apartments, THAT's what we need!!!

That, and fewer hospitals!!

GRRAAAAHHH!!! The world is a ghetto and it's hidden behind reality tv distractions, football games and fake money! AAAA!!!!HHH!! WE alll gonna die!!!

This issue is nearly pointless to talk about because those who have the power to do anything don't give a sh it as long as they get theirs.

As a real estate agent recently put it:

"NYC is an amusement park and the cost of admission is $250,000/yr."

Wouldn't you agree, Mr. Bloomberg???

BOb is starting to see the light . The ironic thing is all of this wealth is no more than a prime number followed by a bunch of zeros deposited in the financial system and for those with wealth over the tens of millions.. it is basically all virtual... they wil never really posses it or see it ....it is a construction on a ledger....why can it not be distributed and diffused to allay the fears and anxieties of the vast majority of human beings...... it is wealth that can never really be "spent" in a world of surplus where there is limitless possibilities of production to meet demand ....

IT is in reality a MIND GAME

People on public assistance can have huge effective "tax" rates, where they lose more in benefits for their first dollar earned, than they earn.
Tax rates maximize revenues when they penalize earning between 18%-28%.
For some welfare programs, the penalty on reported earnings exceeds 100%.
Their recipients would be economically crazy to get a low-paying job in such circumstances.
The incentives need to be changed.

I wonder how many more years we have until this whole country tears itself apart.

Regarding the guest's comment about the local resident's ability to participate in some of the New York cultural events, she mentioned attending a Broadway show as an example. The locals get a small window of opportunity when tourists are not likely to visit NYC. We get Restaurant/ Broadway week for a few weeks in the winter and the end of the summer. Something is wrong when local residents just can't afford to attend these events. The current Mayor has an exaggerated view of the benefits of tourism in NYC.

Human relationships are based on power. Keeping people poor means that those in power, "the rich" will maintain their position. THEY can dole out the welfare, the charity, the jobs .. literally be the lord that gives you your daily bread.

That is what income and political power distribution is all about. You can be distracted by FOX noise and political conservatives just like a doomed bull in a bullfight by the red flag of "SOCIALISM!"

But if you buy into this and are trapped by it, you are just as doomed as that bull, you continue to try to "destroy " that red flag as the matador sticks his sword thru your shoulders and the crowd cheers....

Are they that lord ? if you are living paycheck to paycheck..what power do you have over your lord?

Mayoral Political Klowns.

We're screwed.

I agree. More police on the street and end stop and frisk. Stop and frisk is simple racism. Maybe that's why poor whites are for it and poor minorities are against it.

Rent rent is way way way way way too too high. No way to save no way to leave, i would rather get muged every year and be able to afford rent. landlords do nothing and charge 100$ more every year! This is dystolia!

dboy, I'm beginning to think that the rest of the country is not far behind.

Nancy ...
that is the city ....my firm which had a profit of 250M
Is filled with Temps...filled lower FTE's
Less cost ,more profits

...their enablers...

NYC is becoming like the rest of the developing world where you either have a servant or you ARE a servant!!

DISGUSTING!

Bob: Aiight!

On another note:

Why must we re-learn what Ford knew 100 years ago?

Big business and they're enablers are not only depraved, they are ignant.

Not only do they require a sustainable customer base, they need a sustainable customer base in a stable, resourceful, sustainable socioeconomy.

Meanwhile, we're racing to a "banana republic"...

I have an idea. Let's put a wealth cap on everyone. You are allowed a net worth of $100 million dollars, the rest get put back into sustaining the society. It will help cut down on the very few who have all the power, and we will have less debt and more economic equality.

Also, can we please get better sex education in schools? No one should be having kids anymore. There are more than enough people on the planet.

83% of New Yorkers don't run a business, so it's not surprising they will say yes to sick days.

I believe that workers should get sick days. I'm not sure that the City of New York should be the one to enforce it.

Modern Konsumer Kapitalisim™ = Unsustainable profit margins

Looking at the bright side, the world once was divided between slaves and free men, or serfs and land lords. The "middle class" was usually quite miniscule for most of history.

In the current environment you cannot be both business friendly and labor friendly. With the exception of a few very progressive companies, businesses, especially big business, see employees as just another expense, to be gotten at the lowest price. The continuing judicial and political assault and campaigns against union power have a lot to do with this trend, and perhaps we should look there for the answer.

List to this racist b itch about welfare for kids. Oh god.

A third of the city lives on less than $15,000 a year, while the average bonus just handed out this year to those on Wall Street is $121,000, for a total of over $20 billion. That's in bonuses- on top of high salaries. How can a person- one not blinded by greed- look at those stark facts, and not realize that the workers of the city need help?

Cheap Disposable Labor. good one

It's just seems the disadvantage always defaults to the workers. There is the "economy is poor" argument to deny a vote on the paid sick leave initiative by the New York City Council. Yet the economy seems to be okay enough for people who are required to pay these frequent increases in the transit fare.

The idea of "middle class" was an ephemeral postwar phenomenon. Historically, the world's populations was divided between "Haves" and "Have Nots." Very rarely "Have a Little." The Iron Law of Rents and Wages is hard to repeal,like the Law of Gravity.

Businesses are not interested in training workers. That outsource that to 'schools'.

A multiracial low income coalition would be nice. To be effective, they'd have to know the different reasons why they're poor.

It's not surprising that Brian is not surprised that blacks and latinos are disproportionately poor. Unfortunately, to not be surprised often means one has normalized and accepted it...

Affordable Housing!!
Affordable Housing!!
Affordable Housing!!

i was there. liu and albanese are my guys. the rest are just the same same same!

There will NEVER be a mayor who is not in the pocket of big business

Working hard and getting paid well for the hard work one does goes against the bottom line. So a good 95% of the population can just forget about the fantasy of well paying jobs.

How many low income New Yorkers are native New Yorkers (5 boroughs)
Vs. recent New Yorkers who have arrived in tithe last 10-15 years.

Bob, I'm fearing more and more each day that you might be correct :-(

It's still possible to rise into the middle class if you don't mind becoming a debt slave and working for the rest of your life probably doing something you hate every day.

The next Mayor should be more "Occupy" friendly...that would be a small, but auspicious start in the war on poverty.