Are there enough good jobs in the US for every American to have a middle class income or better?

Or is it impossible to eliminate poverty?

No there aren't. But many Americans will not recognize the crisis we are in until it hurts their own jobs. Then we'll see who's lazy.

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no. but conservatives like to pretend there are.

min wage is too low in some states to wipe out poverty.

no...some "lower class" jobs need to exist for the world to function....talk to anyone who's worked for a church :P

So long as the working classes wait for corporate America to hand them a decent paying job no. The only way for all workers to have a moderate standard of living is for more employee owned concerns like the Mondragons in Basque Spain.

It just depends on how high the minimum wage is set. Right now, the answer is no, there are not enough good jobs for everyone to live middle class lifestyles.

Wages have decreased so that people with two jobs often don't make a living wage.

Job growth has been almost exclusively in jobs that require a hair net (or used to) and those are falling off now.

Notice how Alan Greenspan didn't give a direct answers about his investments but did say they were in "Various" currencies?

Put your money in Euros, the dollar is going into the 'Craig'.

Sure. But the stakes are much higher than they used to be. You need a good education, some smarts and courage to get and hold a god job. That is unless you belong to a public Service Union . then you have it made in the shade. You get excellent pay, great benefits and a generous retirement for very little work.

As long as there are people with an apparent 3rd grade education in high office,I don't see any reason that almost any "dummy" couldn't make it in the job world, OH! Wait, I forgot about the degrees,the dunce bought, guess you have to have money to make it though, if you're not too bright..!( Poverty is a result of under-education)...in most cases that is

There is ample opportunity to live comfortably if one is willing to get off their @$$ and apply themselves.
There will always be bums in the U.S who refuse to work because they know the gubberment will feed their pitiful selves.
The guy below thinks that it is the role of gubberment to provide opportunity.BUNK! Unless one is disabled, It is individual choice how one lives.

Absolutely not. If there were, dedicated neo-cons would have the southern states paved with gold. So either southerners are extremely lazy, or their political leaders fail to bring them the opportunities they need to shine. Unlike neo-cons, I refuse to call everyone in a group, lazy.

well... it's tricky...

on one hand... you don't have enough jobs... clearly...

and even if everyone "did the work" to get the jobs (went to college and such), there still just aren't enough to go around for everyone...

that's the thing I don't get about Republicans... they say "those who work for it get it"... but if everyone did work for it... they clearly couldn't ALL get it, by simple supply... so it's a bit of a flawed theory, since it depends on the VERY THING they complain about... some not working as hard/being as intelligent...

but on the other hand... just increasing the minimum wage for people who don't know how to handle money, because they've never had any or knew anyone who had any... it would mainly cause mass inflation due to the mis-spending...

but of course, profits and stockswould go though the roof for many complanies....

BUT, to get to the heart of your question... we've reduced poverty... and if we can reduce it... we may be able to end it... EVENTUALLY... if we focus on education... both general and financial...

I think if we taught everyone how to handle money... that would go a LONG way to increasing individual wealth in the U.S....

of course then people wouldn't spend as much... which companies and the stock market wouldn't like

Yes but as long as their are Liberals encouraging the underclasses to live off of Government teet...there always will be a lower class.

No there aren't.
Especially if you aren't specially trained or educated.
The well paying factory jobs are a thing of the past.
The factories themselves are gone, as are the steel mills.
Only thirty percent of us are college educated, and businesses don't even want to look at you or your ability without a diploma.
No one wants to take a chance on an unknown quantity anymore.
Poor in this country is at just under $20,000 for a family of four. With dad working two jobs, and mom working one, they can be middle class at $8 an hour.
But you can't eliminate poverty, we don't all have jobs that pay the same now. Some will always be rich and some will always be poor, but it the opportunity of a well paying job for the average person that I was thinking of.

Is that why so many people have 2 full time jobs? Just to live middle class and make ends meet?

No. There never have been and never will. There is no way you or anyone else can make it so.

No:

Simply put, if everyone in the middle class income or better, the middle class would become the new lower class. This influx of money would cause inflation, which means that even if you earned $75,000 flipping burgers, the cost of burgers would go up, thus cutting the buying power of those making $75,000 washing cars.

No. We need people to do the grunt work. Who's going to man the deep fryer at McDonalds? It's not like people are forced into these jobs. Granted the circumstances of many peoples' lives pretty much ensures they will end up at some crap job despite their best efforts. But this isn't the best of all possible worlds. What better solution is there? Basically all you can do is keep the minimum wage at a level that will ensure misery but stave off starvation.

Not everyone.

Many of you are so stupid, can not even count to 3, you will never make it anywhere.

Good jobs? try to be a good student first, and don't ever making anything below As.

No Bs, period.

only enough for those who choose to work for it.

A lot of people in America just aren't that ambitious, they would rather live on the dole that liberals provide them.

No. It is impossible to have no lower class. The poor in this country have it quite well. They have a home to live in, a car, cable tv, all stuff that almost every real poor person is jealous of.

All the government can do is create an environment that allows people the opportunity to succeed as much as they can.