The real American household poverty line isn’t $31,200, it’s around $140,000.

TIL that I'm severely below the poverty line by about 70%.

would socialism/communism help fix poverty?

how do you think socialism would help fix this?

What do you think socialism is?
Simple, we take the money from the rich, and give it to the poor. Cap maximum salary at $999,999,999; anything you make after that goes directly towards those who need it most. Get the entire world on-board, so there's nowhere for them to hide their money, eliminating billionaires entirely. Problem solved.
- $999,999,999 is way too high.
- This all assumes there is no inflation. At some point the system breaks mathematically, even with a steady 2.5% growth rate (which it is not at all accurate but that’s another topic).
  The ownership class is planning wealth on generational levels. This represents a significantly larger amount of capital over a longer time frame.
  Capping the allowed maximum salary doesn’t even begin to remotely address taxes on corporations and trusts. The wealthy do not pay themselves a high salary , their money is managed through funds.

I’m sure many of my left-leaning readers will say, “This is obvious, we have been talking about it for YEARS!” Yes, many of you have; but you were using language of emotion (“Pay a living wage!”) rather than showing the math. My bad for not paying closer attention; your bad for not showing your work or coming up with workable solutions. Let’s rectify it rather than cast blame.

Yeah, no. How convenient you wanna do that when there's no way to avoid the shit that has been given to the other side for-fucking-ever.

but you were using language of emotion (“Pay a living wage!”) rather than showing the math.
There's a key bit of bullshit buried in this line that I'd like to call out. This calls back to some old fashioned conservative propaganda from decades past.
It's the idea that the left thinks with their heart while the right thinks with their brain. It implies that emotionally stunted greedy assholes are actually smart and admirable, while things like empathy and giving half a shit about the lives of people outside your circle are weak and foolish and "giving in to emotion."
But giving in to greed and anger are just following God's plan or some shit.
“It doesn’t count when I say you’re being emotional, ot only counts when I say it”.
Wtf.
Must’ve completely skipped the parts where plenty of people actually did the math. Or the author just scrolled the stupid parts of social media and ignored places where actual discussion takes place.
Yeah, the idea that no one has been able to put math behind the wealth and wage gaps until now is UTTER horse-shit. You weren't just "not paying closer attention" dude, you were being WILLFULLY ignorant, and if you really want to be part of the solution now, that deserves a lot more than a "my bad".
it’s also rather different things:
pay a living wage is a concept that applies no matter when you say it
this maths is for this particular point in time and a particular set of circumstances
not coming up with a workable solution
We've come up with plenty, but I'm a ¹⁷90s girl myself.

Notice how the poverty line increases barely at all, and if so, linearly. However, the stock market grows exponentially.

That's because the poverty line is directly tied to the cost of goods and services (and to social services, tax credits, etc that those under or near the poverty line can take advantage of).
Effectively it will move up as goods cost more (inflation) and social services and other credits people can take advantage of are reduced / removed.
If more social services are added, i.e. Life becomes cheaper without your income increasing, then the effective poverty line drops as it's only a number based on household income, and now you need less household income to survive at the same level.
The stock market is its own beast and is not directly connected to income, social services, or the cost of goods.

Part 1 (which you are reading) points this out:

And the system is designed to prevent them from escaping [from poverty + precarity]. Every dollar you earn climbing from $40,000 to $100,000 triggers benefit losses that exceed your income gains. You are literally poorer for working harder.

Part 2 is here.

The wealth you’re counting on—the retirement accounts, the home equity, the “nest egg” that’s supposed to make this all worthwhile—is just as fake as the poverty line.

Part 2 points out that all these inflating assets (401k plans, homes, etc) depend for their value on the next generation to ultimately be wealthy enough to want to buy these at a future date at a higher price. The whole "asset inflation" spiral seems like a ponzi scheme of epic proportions since that doesn't appear to be shaping up.

Part 1 is the one I have more experience with and yet so many people refuse to believe it exists. Prefect example. Last year my son for approved for SSI benefits, about 300 dollars a month. Great right? Some much needed wiggle room for a family that relies on disability benefits, SNAP, housing assistance, etc right?
Well that income change triggered a reduction in our SNAP benefit and an increase in our income based rent. So that additional 300 a month cost us about 250 dollars in benefits and now we have to keep meticulous track of where every cent of that SSI gets used on our son's behalf. Lucky for us in this particular instance we're allowed to just say "we're putting it all towards rent" every month and have it be fine.
- The system wants everyone Numb or Dumb.
  For extremely successful people, they are busy out of their minds and distracted with sports, shopping, zoned out on comfort and affluence living in a privileges bubble.
  For everyone else, the situation is just this futility of never being able to make it. The system is geared to keep everyone stuck and subservient and employable and dependent. Caught in a system of traps that seem designed for maximum inertia.
  People either don't Want anything to change or feel Powerless to make it change. I don't meet many people who are working to replace the system.
- When my youngest son was born we were barely making it and looked into getting benefits.
  We were told we were disqualified for around $500 a month of various benefits (housing, food, etc) because I made $50/month too much.
Fuck it, let's burn it all down then.

My household makes good money and ya, if you include housing, it's gonna take a lot more money for us to afford our own place.

There is seemingly few things as broken and fundamental as current generations inability to own the place they live. Housing does not have to be this expensive, the paperwork doesn't have to be so hard, and the houses do not have to be made of cardboard to be economical.

We need to limit house ownership to those who live in it until everyone has their first.

or let them own as many as they want but pay 500% property taxes.
- There is a radical / revolutionary idea around tax reform that frames taxes as being applied to LAND and not improvements.
  The argument is that the value of a piece of land derives from the public investments / improvements. Like decent infrastructure, public transportation, good schools etc all raise the market value of a given size of land in a given location.
  Then its up to the owner to find a use case / improvement that makes the tax burden "worth it". Like the market incentives are for the highest value of private investment / private use. You don't get rewarded for land banking or sitting on empty lots or making hotels into surface parking, instead you perhaps pay 5% of the value every year AS IF you were doing something that is worthwhile with the property.
  Basically the system currently rewards speculation and idle property, and when the public makes an investment in services in an area, the profits get extracted by land owners who essentially privatize the reward by cashing out after doing nothing. A lot of people feel this is fundamentally broken. Not only that, but a lot of these land owners KNOW this is a rigged game and they run city hall and get the public to commit to investments that they stand to profit from.
- Just fucking tie the taxes to a logarithmic scale based on the amount of properties an entity owns. It's too easy of a solution.

So the folks at $32000... What are they?

I tried to live off $45k 10 years ago and I felt broke all the time. I can’t imagine living off $32k today.
Fucked
They are so poor that they actually feel rich, and if they get poorer they may end up clipping through the system and become billionaires.

great piece worth reading in full. It's well argued but it is based on "average spending". Some tips:

In the Snowpiercer economy, children are to be eaten, not heard. babies taste best. Savings: $2700/month.

$1200/month transportation is argument for bikes.

Big part of post is about "welfare cliffs", and divisive hatred directed below (above?) from those who fall off the cliffs, by earning more than a magic number.

UBI/freedom dividends is an extremely important reform, not just to eliminate homelessness, but all of the cliffs that prevent incentives to work harder and keep gains from working harder. Whether freedom dividends are $12k or grow to $24k+, it should be viewed as help to everyone, and more help than existing programs that can be eliminated.

Who...The fuck...needs that much money to live for a year? Omg.

Just move somewhere cheaper.

Skill issue, tbh.

50k+ was average childcare for 2 kids + Heath insurance premiums for a family of 4. Where do you go to get around that cost?
- South america
Are you a single person? This is household income, not 22 year old living with roommates and eating ramen noodles for dinner.
Yes, of course. Everyone knows it's very easy and simple to move house. People can do it as easily as ordering a pizza.
And no one has ties to family, community, or work etc etc to consider. Yes, yes, everyone is actually nomadic but most are just being silly obstinate gooserers'
...orrrrr the reason there's an issue with property being very expensive is not just greed but also because it's difficult to just move?
No, no, no, what am I saying, everyone is just unskilled idiots (except you, obvs)!!!