Flipping hamburgers is a time-honored way to put oneself through school..then the person can become an electrician, physical therapist,nurse, whatever. If they have a full-time job flipping hamburgers, and are single, and have minimum wage in my state, which is not too bad, they are out of the direst forms of poverty that have been described. They are a success story. They made it. They can afford food, a shared apartment or rental room, a bus pass and a few clothes. Medical problems would be another story and I hope we soon have national medical programs. I would have loved to have had a job say at McD. when I was in high school. Next step is the community college where they can get loans, grants etc. Then they get a decent job that the community college (in my state) will essentially place them in, because that is how they keep programs going, and leave the hamburger job for someone else.

McDonald's issued a request for educators (if you can call them that) who kept threatening kids with jobs flipping hamburgers, and described, with examples, how people used these jobs either to stay with the company and do fairly well, or to educate themselves into other positions. mg