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^^^ Sadly it has become a way of life for some... speaking as someone that managed a fair amount of Section 8 rentals.
The bulk of assistance is based on families with minor children plus some for the aged and disabled.
It really was sad in that the assistance benefits became a generational way of life... the safety net stifled the desire to make it because that would mean the burden for providing a home, food, education, medical... etc. falls to the individual.
The real question I ask is why punish honest success?
^^^ Sadly it has become a way of life for some... speaking as someone that managed a fair amount of Section 8 rentals.
The bulk of assistance is based on families with minor children plus some for the aged and disabled.
It really was sad in that the assistance benefits became a generational way of life... the safety net stifled the desire to make it because that would mean the burden for providing a home, food, education, medical... etc. falls to the individual.
The real question I ask is why punish honest success?
I know two different section 8 investors and they both got out. It was the best thing they did. The disrespect, the trashing of the properties wasn't worth the headaches. They didn't keep clean homes either (I'm being kind).
I know two different section 8 investors and they both got out. It was the best thing they did. The disrespect, the trashing of the properties wasn't worth the headaches. They didn't keep clean homes either (I'm being kind).
There are success stories to be sure... it's just the odds of leaving assistance behind is slim and it takes a special kind of fortitude to pull your way to independance... I can count the successes on one hand...
Also, it is important to add the program bears little resemblance today because it has changed so much.
To bring this back on topic... there was quite a San Francisco story a few years back... a man that worth hundreds of millions of dollars owned residential rentals in such deplorable shape the Judge ordered this 1% to live in one of his units... so one concrete example of punishment by being forced to walk in another's footsteps...
One is biologically compelled to eat and drink. There is nothing voluntary about it. Failure here will have extreme consequences.
Nobody is arguing that a person doesn't have to eat. The fact that one must eat doesn't mean that one is legally compelled to purchase food, either at a grocery store or at a restaurant (some people grow gardens & crops, hunt, trap, and fish to survive). While one is not legally compelled to purchase groceries or eat out, one is legally compelled to pay taxes.
I fully understand that the American econmy is stagnant; that is mostly due to the fact that our real heavy industry can't compete in many global markets -- and that is due to the burden of too much regulatiory, environmental, and egalitarian dreams. We can afford the basics everyone agress upon, but there are limits.
This is fundamentally wrong. Every conservative misunderstands this point.
It is not because of too much regulation that our industry and manufacturing jobs have disappeared; it is because of the extreme labor force cost savings enabled by globalization.
I work for a large Silicon Valley technology company that you have surely heard of. I manage their entire internal profitability. Know how much our typical fully-loaded US software engineer costs? North of $200K.
Know how much that software engineer costs in a place like India, all in? Try about $37-$40K.
As a US laborer, you cannot compete with that guy in India! I don't care if you reduce all the regulation to nothing. It is still orders of magnitude cheaper for the corporation to get the guy in India, who is educated and motivated to do the work.
And that's why the jobs are gone (except for the ****ty poverty wage McJobs), and that's why the income disparity is growing.
The fact that conservatives can't recognize this means that they are just as devoid of solutions to the problem as liberals.
Originally Posted by Major Barbara View Post
Keep in mind that many if not most poor people are poor only because we do not pay them enough to be anything else.
Because they didn't do anything to increase the value of their skills. They chose to have kids, party, no sense of the value of money, some thinking money came in the form of a government handout all because they breath.
This is fundamentally wrong. Every conservative misunderstands this point.
It is not because of too much regulation that our industry and manufacturing jobs have disappeared; it is because of the extreme labor force cost savings enabled by globalization.
I work for a large Silicon Valley technology company that you have surely heard of. I manage their entire internal profitability. Know how much our typical fully-loaded US software engineer costs? North of $200K.
Know how much that software engineer costs in a place like India, all in? Try about $37-$40K.
As a US laborer, you cannot compete with that guy in India! I don't care if you reduce all the regulation to nothing. It is still orders of magnitude cheaper for the corporation to get the guy in India, who is educated and motivated to do the work.
And that's why the jobs are gone (except for the ****ty poverty wage McJobs), and that's why the income disparity is growing.
The fact that conservatives can't recognize this means that they are just as devoid of solutions to the problem as liberals.
It's cheaper to do business outside the U.S. also because of taxation. Mandating expensive Obamacare made it worse, throw in cheap labor coming into the country and yep, your screwed. Of course companies will do business where costs of doing business is lower.
Imagine that, instead of going elsewhere for cheap labor we're allowing the cheap labor to come here.
Sales tax is due upon purchase of most items in California...
Items vary greatly... my $800 car serves me well... Bob may want a new 12 cylinder Mercedes for 130k...
A mortgage is a loan that must be repaid... rent is fixed cost for a time certain and under California law must include various items including maintenance to be/remain habitable.
Your basic premise would be correct if you bought a 5k tent trailer and buys a 100k Airstream... each provides mobile shelter... either without or without specific enhanced amenities.
I may choose to drive a 40 mpg car and Bob may choose to drive a 15 mpg car... Bob consumes more fuel to cover the same distance... so Bob is paying much more per mile traveled and has chosen to do so... note... Bob only pays when he drives... if his 15 mpg vehicle is parked... there is no fuel costs... unlike a home... makes little matter if the home is occupied, rented, vacant... has a vegetable garden, water well, etc... property taxes must be paid or the property is taken...
If Bob gets 20x as much housing space as I, isn't Bob consuming 20 as much housing?
Not to mention that as a renter living with a drunk, I have impaired use of my housing, plus disamenities, while Bob has full use of his property and amenities without the disamenities.
It's cheaper to do business outside the U.S. also because of taxation. Mandating expensive Obamacare made it worse, throw in cheap labor coming into the country and yep, your screwed. Of course companies will do business where costs of doing business is lower.
Imagine that, instead of going elsewhere for cheap labor we're allowing the cheap labor to come here.
Not to mention that under Obamacare, employers have a disincentive to hire you, and an incentive to hire illegals.
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