No Rent Control in Portland? (Detroit: apartment complex, leases, loans)

[urbanlife78]

Actually just did my taxes and the government did keep some of my taxes, and the interest that they have earned off my taxes they have been collecting all year, so yep, I pay taxes...now if you want me to pay more in taxes, I would gladly take a pay raise.

As for the healthcare comment, no confusion, I am well aware we are an obese country....I was referring to having the best healthcare, I have never heard anyone say that before and have never seen anyone prove that before, so I was confused where you got that statement from....it reminded me of the whole abortion is directly connected to breast cancer issue going around which is completely false.

As for the rest of your post, I am just not gonna agree with you on any of it, just a fact, sorry. I have zero trust in the private sector, the public sector at least acts like it has my best interests in mind. The private sector makes me feel like they would sell me food with lead in it if the government wasn't there to tell them no.

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by ccjarider

The US has the best healthcare in the world bar none.

Then why are "Medical Vacations" to Canada and Thailand been all the rage over the past couple of decades?

To me "best healthcare" means affordable, comprehensive, up to date on the latest techniques and technologies.

[Nell Plotts]

We fail the 'affordable' test. If we had the best healthcare we would have the best infant mortatality rate, we don't. If we had the best healthcare we would live the longest, we don't. Measures of health care failed!! We have the most expensive, least productive, health care in the world.

[badalchemist]

US Healthcare is only the best if you're already insured and already sick with something. If you want preventative care or you don't already have insurance, too bad.

[Minervah]

The US is ranked as number 37 in the list of good healthcare. That's not a very good ranking for a country of this size with its wealth.

[turquoise1]

Originally Posted by ccjarider

The US has the best healthcare in the world bar none.

This lady might have disagreed with you, were she still alive...

Tape shows woman dying on waiting room floor - CNN

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by badalchemist

US Healthcare is only the best if you're already insured and already sick with something. If you want preventative care or you don't already have insurance, too bad.

And if you have a job that provides health insurance. If you don't even if you have the hundreds of dollars to pay the premium for health insurance you won't get it if you have a pre-existing condition.

I worked for insurance companies for years as a health insurance claims adjuster and I am the first to say that whether or not a person has insurance should not determine whether or not he or she is able to obtain medical care. Nor should they have to be employed. Nor should the health care industry make millions of dollars off insurance companies that pay for healthcare as the only payer.

We have strayed. This does not relate to rent control. But when someone makes an erroneous statement like the US has the best healthcare, it is going to obviously cause a lot of comment.

[Woof]

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

The first point is you do not have to be in poverty to be eligible for Section 8.

I worked as a property manager for a number of years in the SF Bay Area and almost all the units I managed were low-income subsidized...

About a third of the families had at least one wage earner in the family...

One family... a mother, daughter and the mother's niece... the mother drove for the transit agency and her share of the $1200 rent was $1174 dollars... in other words housing paid all of $26 a month...

Also had a family of four... Mother, Father and two daughters. Then the mother gave birth to a set of twin girls the family size went to 6 in a two bedroom apartment... Housing not only paid the rent in full... the family received a modest check from housing because they were under housed... this continued till they were able to fine a larger unit that passed HQS and accepted Section 8.

The second point is yes... there is a dole formerly called General Assistance and it is available to able bodied adults that are looking for work and not eligible for unemployment or receiving other assistance.

Here is the most recent Income Eligibility Numbers from my local Housing Authority...

Section8

EXTREMELY LOW-INCOME
(30% Area Median Income) Section 8

VERY LOW-INCOME
(50% Area Median Income) Section 8

LOW-INCOME
(80% Area Median Income) Public Housing

....................30%.........50%.........80%
1 Person .....$19,650 ....$32,750 ....$45,750
2 Persons ....$22,450 ....$37,400 ....$52,300
3 Persons ....$25,250 ....$42,100 ....$58,850
4 Persons ....$28,050 ....$46,750 ....$65,350
5 Persons ....$30,300 ....$50,500 ....$70,600
6 Persons ....$32,550 ....$54,250 ....$75,850
7 Persons ....$34,800 ....$58,000 ....$81,050
8 Persons ....$37,050 ....$61,750 ....$86,300

I appreciate the opportunity to enlighten those not familiar and to point out that one is NOT REQUIRED to be Extremely Poor to qualify for assistance... no shame in not knowing... most outside the system don't know.

Just noticed this thread again ...... sorry for having been a bit rude, it's a topic that angers me a lot.

What you're saying is that public housing is available to people who aren't really low income. I couldn't agree more. It should ONLY be available for low or extremely low income people. I'm talking about people who would chronically be a paycheck away from homelessness despite living a frugal lifestyle, or people who are outright disabled. It was extended to higher income people under the Reagan Administration if I remember correctly, but could be mistaken - I think it was around the same time that a few hundred million dollars for housing programs simply vanished one day, and no one was prosecuted for that.

Basically what I want to say is, don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. The system needs to be fixed, not done away with entirely.

As for General Assistance types of welfare, they're not available to people who simply don't feel like working. They are a tiny pittance for those who have run out of unemployment checks (which has been happening quite a bit over the past coupla years), who are disabled but not getting disability checks yet, or who are single mothers.

The latter is a problem because marriage and a man's responsibility for his children has been waning over the decades since the 60s, and naturally people are upset that their tax money has to go to those women and the children when the father should be doing that. Sometimes the mothers are drug addicts or otherwise irresponsible. Unfortunately you can't make men and women marry, and the children need to get raised in a home rather than dumping them out on the streets as in thirdworld countries, or else they'll cost society a lot more money than welfare/medical/food stamps cost.

That's always been the way of the world from the beginning of the human race - the children consume a lot of resources before they're able to contribute to the tribe or society, and sometimes they're never able to do much.

[ccjarider]

Originally Posted by Minervah

The US is ranked as number 37 in the list of good healthcare. That's not a very good ranking for a country of this size with its wealth.

You reference an old WHO ranking that was discredited years ago.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by ccjarider

You reference an old WHO ranking that was discredited years ago.

Well you are welcome to provide a link to back up your claim that States we have the best healthcare in the world...seeing we don't have a healthcare that covers all Americans, which is something we don't have.