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I worked 34 years for it, contributing 8% of my salary for it. How much have you contributed to yours?
I contribute that much to my 401k. Anyway, you spent 34 years being funded by taxpayers.
Which is fine by me, I'm sure you provided a useful service to the country and earned every penny. But offering social safety nets to all citizens are also an investment, if done right.
I've lived in the real world and know this. There are some truly needy people in society, but it's a very small number, maybe 5%. The rest are just lazy or stupid. You wouldn't believe the number of Americans who turn down opportunities for higher paying jobs because "I don't want to work longer hours" or "It's not located in a trendy city."
Let me give an example. I know someone who works 2 part-time minimum-wage jobs and is a Bernie Sanders supporter. His mom told me that 1 of his jobs recently offered him a promotion to be a salaried manager. He turned it down because he is afraid that he might have to work longer shifts if he has a full-time job. Now of course he'll vote Bernie Sanders and complain that we all need to redistribute wealth to him because there are no good jobs available.
By the way, did you know that having a car loan is a choice? Most poor people don't know that.
it's hard to believe that we have a ton of people who are foaming at the mouth over their notions of the poor being fully deserving of their plight. Ya gotta be dumb as dirt to think that the "95%" story has any validity to it and further, to think that poverty in America is something many are drawn to voluntarily.
In spite of all the university level studies on the causes of poverty, some still want to bask in the stupidity of their own anti intellectual mental drought, speculating on a subject that has been studied to death is the pastime of fools, but we've never been short on that score here in Murica..
Read the works of such writers as Lillian Rubin, Barbara Ehrenreich, Howard Zinn, and others who have spent the time and energy required of those who study our problems in earnest, and write about the people, the economy, the institutions, that make up the entirety of American poverty and the ways in which those facets come into play in the suffering of so many.
Anecdotal evidence is the gospel of fools, but hard data is what unveils the real story of US poverty and the fact of laboring Americans being the majority of those who are also impoverished. Propaganda has been the tool of the oppressors, and dividing the working class against itself is a very effective aspect of the type of propaganda which serves to keep the upper class on top..
Well, when the fast food places try to donate food to the poor, they get told no by the health departments.
B.S...I say respectfully.
If you drive thru Little Rock, on the West end of town right off I-40 is a restaurant called Brown’s Country Store. It’s a pretty decent sized buffet joint. The food is absolutely delicious.
When Brown’s closes at 2100, any visitor will see several white vans pull up in front, and about 15 minutes after closing, the crew (all Hispanic BTW) breaks down the buffet line and all food goes into containers. Those containers are loaded into those vans outside and the food is taken to a facility to feed the poor. Nothing is wasted.
Now imagine if this went on everywhere where edible food is about to be tossed out. Now I agree with you that local health departments are an impediment, and they SHOULD be. Health departments exist for a reason and I believe in that reason 100%. However, I see it as pure laziness that these issues haven’t been worked out locally, and my guess is that it doesn’t happen because it’s easier to just toss the damn food or give it to a farmer to feed pigs. No health code needed for that.
But if the people demanded it, we could feed poor people easily and do so without an abundance of food stamp use since we have so much surplus food that gets wasted.
If the United States made the same commitment to taking care of our fellow Americans that we give to wars and armaments, we wouldn’t have any issues with people being hungry.
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Dark Enlightenment
... mostly because it's rotten or past it's expiration date. There, I figured it out for you. What do I win?
Nonsense.
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Originally Posted by skeddy
poor choices .... poor people.. I didn't make your bad choices, I'm not willing to pay for yours.
So. We don’t care about what you’re willing to pay for. You’re gonna pay for it anyway just like I have to pay for dumb wars that you right wingers can’t get enough of.
I've lived in the real world and know this. There are some truly needy people in society, but it's a very small number, maybe 5%. The rest are just lazy or stupid. You wouldn't believe the number of Americans who turn down opportunities for higher paying jobs because "I don't want to work longer hours" or "It's not located in a trendy city."
Let me give an example. I know someone who works 2 part-time minimum-wage jobs and is a Bernie Sanders supporter. His mom told me that 1 of his jobs recently offered him a promotion to be a salaried manager. He turned it down because he is afraid that he might have to work longer shifts if he has a full-time job. Now of course he'll vote Bernie Sanders and complain that we all need to redistribute wealth to him because there are no good jobs available.
By the way, did you know that having a car loan is a choice? Most poor people don't know that.
I don't find it convincing when someone claims 95% of poverty in America is the result of a "poor choice" and than cites as evidence as example of one person working two minimum wage jobs.
The problem with poverty is that there are many reasons why people are poor.
Some are poor because of disease and bad health. Some are poor because of a lack of education. The geographic location one lives in this country has much to do with poverty. Yes, these people can move, but the cost of moving also has to be taken into account before we judge them. Discrimination still plays a role in keeping some people impoverished. That has become less of a problem than in the past, but hell yes, prejudice and discrimination still exist in some places in this country. Low intelligence or even average intelligence plays a role in keeping some people poor. Poverty can result from an economic recession or depression. Ordinarily, people can find work, but this is not always true when the economy is in free fall like it was back in 2008 through 2011.
What I never cease to marvel at are people who want to take a very complicated problem--poverty--and try and simplify it like you did. Your post is extremely superficial and portrays a deep lack of understanding.
Most of the poor that I know don't smoke or drink alcohol. Most don't own a car. And many use a tracfone. Oh and you can't go online and apply for a job with the $10 tracfone, so they do have to buy one that costs more.
You can go to the library and use the computers for free to apply for jobs online.
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Originally Posted by 2sleepy
Absolutely! Being born to the wrong parents or being born with cognitive impairment or a physical disability are all poor choices
Not even remotely the same. Not an apples to apples comparison.
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