[johndubchak]

The article never mentioned they are complaining, IIRC. They are economically displaced. Where would they go?

This is a large-scale socio-economic uprooting. Many of them lack marketable job skills and the necessary finances to allow location portability.

We're experiencing a very large shift in financial wealth where the level of poverty in the country is increasing at rates not seen since The New Deal and that's the entire point: the Bay Area is an extreme example of this where economic disparity is so extreme. Add to that the socially minded nature of California and you have those people who "complain" of the lack of a social safety net at the Federal level or even a lack of a fair balance of distributing economic wealth fairly.

edit:

And our "capitalistic market economy" is anything but capitalistic, in fact it is predatory upon the poor and economically disadvantaged. [1],[2],[3],[4]

[1] http://reason.com/archives/2015/04/26/american-capitalism-vs...

[2] http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746

[3] http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/17/making-money...

[4] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/17/social-immobility-c...

[harryh]

There is no meaningful data that backs up your assertion that the poverty rate in the United States is significantly increasing. In fact, the rate has been essentially flat for 50 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States#/...

[johndubchak]

Well, I guess we can cite statistics all day to prove each other wrong, but clearly in [1] from 1990 to 1992 it rose before a Clinton Presidency where it fell considerably (not crediting President Clinton directly but he did produce a large number of jobs during his presidency) before President Bush's contractionary policies started a large increase in poverty again in 2000 through 2010 in our worst recession since the Great Depression.

It did, this has improved, however it's structurally temporary. The effects of it are that it's also continually displacing larger numbers of the middle-class as our trade policies are moving what remains of our higher paying manufacturing base, what used to make up that lower to middle part of the middle-class blue collar workers, to lower paying countries.

So, if you think, with your single graph that poverty isn't increasing you're not looking at what's really happening structurally in the US economy and with all of the relevant data around you.[2]

We have College tuition that is unaffordable and an aging, out of work, unemployed, or underemployed workforce, with skills that have not kept up with the rapid change in the shift of American jobs and poverty truly is on the rise.

[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/200463/us-poverty-rate-s...

[2] https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/09/03/jobs-s03.html (Uncertain how credible this site is)

[harryh]

1) Sure there have been some small short term fluctuations but the long term stability is pretty clear. And if you look back further than 50 years you'll actually see a steep decline in poverty. You can also see steep declines in poverty if you look internationally instead of just in the US.

2) You bring up a lot of other issues that are certainly real problems but they are mostly claims about what might happen in the future. That makes them speculation not fact. And sure, your speculation might end up being true and some of those speculations could lead to an increase in the poverty rate[A]. But you should be careful to frame what you are saying as a prediction about the future not a statement about something that has already happened in the past.

A. Personally I think you're wrong. But that's speculation too!