are interesting, imho.

2. New Jersey

With more than $4.5-billion in contributions, New Jersey ranks eighth in total giving. But the share of discretionary income donated by typical households is relatively low, at 3.7 percent.


We are a state that is becoming haves/have nots. I would think the higher income brackets are giving huge chunks of money away but when you average it across households - eh? Still not surprised.

My property taxes are close to 9K a year.

I never paid much attention to the property tax, it was paid for through my mortgage. My ex's aunt and uncle had some little cottage on a 1/4 acre lot and paid about $15K back in the 90's.
After I heard that I started asking co-workers what they were paying. Even those who moved out to the boondocks to find affordable property were paying around $5K a year.

I moved back to PA in 2002 to care for my parents. The property tax for an acre is less than $1K.
As far as charitable contributions, I'm surprised PA is so far down in the rankings. When I grew up here pretty much everyone I met would give you the shirt off their back. When I got back here I could tell their was a different attitude in the people who lived here but I didn't think it was that bad.
I've been trying to get by on a zero income budget but I still do what I can for the local food pantry even if I could use their help.

Its where the work is. Hunterdon County is expensive but at least my commute is on 45 minutes away. And you would be shocked who comes into the borough's food bank. We can't keep the shelves stocked.

At the time it was where he could afford the property. It's a nice place and I wouldn't mind being there but all the McMansions and the ever increasing drive time would turn me away in a minute.

love them

The Mormon Church nets huge profits - and I believe this study always includes tithing amounts.

Not surprised NJ isn't in there - our property taxes and rent alone preclude the average family of four from giving big bucks away.

Churches are not charities.

And no they shouldn't.

There are some churches like this out there, but they're the minority. Most churches are tiny and look to their members to donate enough to keep the roof up to code and the electricity on. That's a really broad brush you're yielding.

and instead use it to build bigger churches and pay salaries of an array of assistant pastors, junior pastors, etc.

to the church building, maintenance, salaries, vehicles and so on. I don't know how much could actually be considered charity.

fuck 'em.

the usual right wing bullshit.

It would be good to be able to sort this data by sector. Especially by church giving/tithing vs. all else. If I had to make a guess it would be that giving rates in this study are correlated with religiosity. Whether such religiosity creates true social benefits is in the eye of the giver.

counts as charity. Bullshit. Does anyone think Mitt Romney giving to LDS is charity?

Nope! I sure don't!

it's no surprise that the Bible Belt "excels" at "charitable" giving.

Find the study that strips out that component and get back to me....

I am sure that if a child is cold and receives a coat from charity..
he/she wouldn't care less where the charity came from.

but am against charity taking the place of what should be governmental programs to alleviate poverty.

I guess my point is that as long as a poor child benefits....I don't care where the help came from/.

Oh, you don't know? That's because they are not required to disclose that data. I do know that at least some goes to fighting against equality and autonomy. So, yeah - fuck them.

The "private charity should take care of the poor, not teh gubbamint stealing my money and calling it taxes" is a favorite meme of theirs.


The poster thinks that churches = charities.

of stereotyping which I am heartily against. It's a right wing thing.

In more than one post here. People have every reason to assume you hold right wing povs when you state them here. Just because you don't like it that others see your positions as right wing doesn't give you the right to call this stereotyping.

People are telling you they see you for what you are.

Right wing conservative.

so I would consider myself in good company.

Anyone who thinks Ehrenreich is just a poopy-head for talking about reality is someone others should ignore, imo.

But the proverbial cat is out of the proverbial bag ...

Not a big fan of right wing DUers ...

When you throw a rock into a pack of dogs, the one that yelps is the one that got hit.

You know, there are even posters online who pretend to be a different gender than what they actually are?

I wonder why a person would do such a thing, except to be intentionally divisive.

The third one is dead center.


As I thought.

When your position is fixed you are in trouble before the first shot gets fired.

Your position is definitely a fixed one.

The spouting of right wing bullshit couched in feigned innocence. She needs a DU tombstone

Oh, did the 'fuck them' at the end offend you? Well you know what offends me? Assholes raising money to fight against equality and my autonomy and calling it 'charity'.

A pox on them and anyone who thinks that is fucking noble.

Don't try to play it off like you didn't by being a patronizing asshole now.

you know what's really abusive? raising money to fight against equality and the general autonomy of women and calling it 'charity'.

Your responses to me weren't exactly friendly....truce ????

Besides, you've got balls, I like that.

That demonstrate her opinion aligns with conservatism. She considers this abuse because truth is the enemy, apparently, when she wants to promote religion.

because, if you actually were ignoring me, you couldn't see Pri's reply to me. LOL.

unless this is some super weird troll-ish glitch in the DU-osphere that resulted in some tear in the time/space reality.

my best guess is the poor are much better served by the government through higher taxes (like in NY, MA, NJ, CT), than with individual donations to churches (like in UT)

you pay a tithe because your religious says so, otherwise you dont get smooth access to heaven. how is that a particularly noble act?

more respect and more politeness.

I appreciate the opportunity to discuss real issues.

when its well deserved

exactly you are referring to.