Spreading the Wealth -vs- Faith Based Charities (Colin Powell, salaries, Barack Obama)

[totallyfrazzled]

Originally Posted by GloryB

I suppose I should have asked if people who support charities are less prone to support a spread the wealth frame of mind.

I don't support any charities but I do support a nonprofit organization that works nationwide to benefit animals. I also would not support a faith-based organization, no matter how laudable its purposes, because I am a nontheist and thus would feel hypocritical supporting any organization that also furthers a religious agenda.

I can't honestly say that I 'support a spread-the-wealth frame of mind' because I see the situation as more of the wealthiest taxpayers having up till now paid what IMHO is less than they 'should' pay in proportion to their incomes. So I see it more as an attempt to make the current system more fair across-the-board than it currently is, than a Robin-Hood-style 'forced income redistribution at gunpoint'.

As another poster said, nobody really knows at this point where the 'extra' money from the 250K+ bracket would actually go... assuming it ever even happens. Personally I think most of both candidates' plans and promises will never actually come to fruition, or if they do it'll be in a form so different from what we're hearing now, as to be almost unrecognizable. Just like always.

[texdav]

Many of teh faith based charities do not accept governamnnt funding because of the requirements involved. In fact where I live most do not. I saw just such a example of this during two hurricanes where the charities were able to immedately help people because they had no requirement to do anyhting thru governamnt which often times responds to the whing wheel. The only exception was were the government had no way of suppying cooked meals and faith base chareities had portable kitrchen units and FEMA supplied the food stuffs. But then wal-mart and other privte enterprises did even mpre. I ahve comje to the conclusi0on that governamnt will never be good at handling a disaster as too much politics involved.FEMA for example is very small really and requires contrctors and then has to go to stae;then country then local officals whp all want some control. It ends up a might,mare of political decisions. The red croos is the same way IMO.

[elvislives]

Lol neocons are so funny to me.. Old GW cut after school programs, college scholarship programs and school meals to give the wealthy thier "tax" break now we want it back. Face the facts folks come Wed 11\5\08 Obama will be our president and there is nothing at all you can do about it ... You had your 8 years and look how they turned out.. Thank god America has woke up and realized that the republican party is filled with nothing but buffoons... Mcsame draws less than a thousand to his rally Obama draws almost fifty thousand...lol... Why because we are sick of you it's time for America to move forward and throw off the stink of GW's 8 long years of mistakes.. He needs to be tried for crimes against humanity for all the kids he killed in his immoral war based on his personal agenda. Shoot he makes Carter look like a political genius..

[mainesnowflake]

Originally Posted by AngelEyez02403

Well, on average aren't conservatives wealthier? If you have more money, you would have more to give.

That is what's great about this country, if we work hard we get to reap the benefits. And everyone is free to do the same.

I don't mind sharing with someone who is truly in need but I want to be the one who decides where it's given and if it's given. I worked for the money and should be the one to spread my own wealth.

I am not actually wealthy but I do have some to share.

[SuSuSushi]

Originally Posted by elvislives

Wed 11\5\08 Obama will be our president and there is nothing at all you can do about it ...

Wrong. The newly elected president does not take over until 1/20/2009.

[elvislives]

Originally Posted by SuSuSushi

Wrong. The newly elected president does not take over until 1/20/2009.

Of course i know that.. But really what will GW do until then??? Pocket pool most likely...

[SuSuSushi]

Originally Posted by elvislives

Of course i know that.. But really what will GW do until then??? Pocket pool most likely...

Typically this is the time in a president's term when he issues pardons to all his good friends who got caught breaking the law.

[elvislives]

Originally Posted by SuSuSushi

Typically this is the time in a president's term when he issues pardons to all his good friends who got caught breaking the law.

so true

[texdav]

Originally Posted by elvislives

Lol neocons are so funny to me.. Old GW cut after school programs, college scholarship programs and school meals to give the wealthy thier "tax" break now we want it back. Face the facts folks come Wed 11\5\08 Obama will be our president and there is nothing at all you can do about it ... You had your 8 years and look how they turned out.. Thank god America has woke up and realized that the republican party is filled with nothing but buffoons... Mcsame draws less than a thousand to his rally Obama draws almost fifty thousand...lol... Why because we are sick of you it's time for America to move forward and throw off the stink of GW's 8 long years of mistakes.. He needs to be tried for crimes against humanity for all the kids he killed in his immoral war based on his personal agenda. Shoot he makes Carter look like a political genius..

Sure you knew that'heh;heh. Looking at the next four years no one will pass anyhtign much no matter who's president. Look at the last two years and they have passed nothign including a budget. The truth is that in the last congressal elections only bluedogf democrats won new seats. Then Obama failed to win the nomination in his own party ;outright;and had to go to the super deleagtes. He did not win over 505 of the vote in the primary.Since the democrats took over congress they ahve passed nothign of consequence except for the b ailout andthat took two votes. Seing as how everyhting that ob ama has to sign has to come from the house to the senate and then he gets to sign it. Result: same old gridl;ock we have sen for years with no major bills passed.If Obama wins he looks at the same type of heat Bush has had for eight years.You almost have to petty anyone getting i teh whitehouse now days.

[Pandamonium]

The are several problems associated with faith based charities.

One of the problems in relying solely on faith based charities is that need is beginning to outweigh resources greatly. People are being turned away at homeless shelters and Interfaith is hurting because there is a 10 million dollar budget and 46% of that comes from the private donations and those that used to give are now in need. Catholic Charities is another faith based organization that is experiencing problems as well.

So where does that other 54% come from for Interfaith? Federal, state, county and municipal grants. By 2001, 63% of the funding for Catholic Charities and 75% of the funding for the Jewish Board of Family and Children Services came from the government. Therefore, the faith based charities that provide social services such as these are receiving the majority of their funding from the government. The money coming from grants as noted above in the articles is decreasing.

Now Obama has stated that he wants to increase funding at the federal level for the faith based initiative and wants to address key problems, namely proselytizing and discrimination in hiring practices, and getting the federal money into smaller local charities and grass roots organizations. Two former White house officials think he is on the right track. David Kuo has an insider prospective, for those that are interested, in what he thinks is fundamentally wrong with the system as it currently is.

Yet, anther factor in faith based charities is their tax exempt status. Is there enough charity happening to qualify? That might be between 8 to 13 billion at the local level.

Which brings us to operation ability. A study on Charitable Choice that came out with their initial findings in 2003 in 3 states. In Indiana, three counties were included. They looked only at job training and placement. Sheila Kennedy discusses her findings and where the funding came to do the research. They found that the faith based organizations had a lack of knowledge of constitutional law, NO state constitutional oversight and no method to get the knowledge of constitutional law to the faith based organizations. In their findings on job assistance, it was the faith based organizations that fell short finding placement for 34% of the clients and secular organizations had 53%. They also found that although the wages were the same, only 1% of those that found jobs with health benefits through the faith based organizations versus the 9% in secular organizations. Those that found work in the secular organizations worked more.