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In Europe (at least the richer Western-Northern parts) they still have poverty but the rate's smaller and many studies have shown the chances for advancement out of impoverished conditions to be higher there.
as a society, we are only as good as our weakest link. that includes, murderers rapist, child molesters, and poor people. Not to compare them to each other, but America has problems with all of these categories. Now, it isn't an attack on capitalism, but there needs to be a point where we as a society sit down and draw lines of what we will and wont accept and tolerate. Now, Saying that everyone has the same opportunity might be a fair bet, but anyone that knows basic economics, there's only so much wealth and so much resources that exist, so that NOT everyone who works hard gets the pay off.. its who "WORKS hardest" I guess. and you and I all know that making money doesn't just mean working hard... bottom line.. for someone to be rich.. someone has to be poor.. its irrelevant on how hard they've worked.. I know poor people that work harder than any rich person. This is the issue that people want addressed. Allowing the rich to get sickeningly richer at the expense of a mass of poor people is not any way a society should be, but capitalism allows this. Our politicians did a really good job of demonizing social programs, and other things. like the word socialism is a huge horrible thing. When the rich want you to think that because then they are allowed to continue to rape the society. The fact is, there needs to be social programs in place that do not disrupt the flow of capitalism, so people can still earn wealth, but still redistributes a bit of that wealth for the bettering of the society. Nobody is saying that a millionare should have to give his fortune away for welfare, they're simply saying, once you've reached a point of wealth, you owe the society that gave you that wealth a bit of responsibility. Taxes, or whatever, I don't know the best way to do this, but It MUST happen, otherwise you will watch america turn into "argentina"
I liken it to a family, all of us in a society are family, aside from whatever capitalism makes you think. If i was to win the lottery, or found a huge enterprise and became rich, you know I would give SOMETHING substancial down to my blood family members, I would feel that is my obligation to do that. why is your neighbour and fellow human beings worth less than this notion? they are the ones you've walked over or made poor so YOU could be rich... I don't think its a matter of mandating action, it should just happen, but it doesn't.. and people are pissed off...
so long story short, We as americans SUCK if we think for one minute we don't owe atleast something back to society and the poor... those who think otherwise wouldn't know jesus if he punched you in the face...
Nonskilled jobs should have a low pay scale. nessecity is the mother of invention. If all jobs paid well we would become stagnant no motivation to inspire us to excel.
I grew up on a small dairy farm. Ie we were poor. Out of 5 children 4 of us are mid to upper middle income.. We grew and learned a work ethic that has taken us far.
A comon factor I see amoung those who are chronicly poor is poor personal life styles. They spend a good % of their money in bars, on cigerettes etc. Their kids go without and learn nothing about success from their parents. You and I can't fix that, not matter how much money we throw at them they will be the same.
As my father taught us: You can forgive someone for being stupid, we are not all born with the same intellegence. Ignorance is by choice and is unforgiveable. Ignorance by my dads definition is when you know there is a better way but choose not to learn.
Unemployment is at an all time low. There is no excuse to live at poverty level or below. After my time in the Navy I worked 2 and 3 jobs for about 5 years. Never collected a cent in welfare and paid for the birth of 2 children myself. My work ethic and drive helped me to step up the ladder and eventually land the job I have had for the last 16 years. In 16 years I have called in sick on 2 occasions. I have never been late even when I lived 45 miles away from my job. I have never been confronted for poor use of discretionary time and have been given more than a few file entrys for being an example to follow.
I dont drink to excess or smoke or allow my personal life to conflict with my job.
Most of the underclass I know struggle with such things as reliability, and personal lives impacting their work.
My point being most of the underclass are where they are at due to their own bad decision making.
I think there's a big difference between ignorance and apathy---but I don't KNOW---nor do I CARE....what it is.....which, I suppose, makes me guilty of both.
America NEEDS a poor underclass (which, if we took better care of it, wouldn't be "poor"--and if we took REALLY good care of it, wouldn't be "under", either)--in the same way that the police department NEEDS criminals---and doctors NEED sick people---and the military NEEDS enemies---and the NAACP NEEDS white racists. We all NEED bad things to validate how "good" we are. Even "A" students in school NEED the poor students. Otherwise how would we know the "A" students were smart? And employers NEED illegal immigrants, for otherwise, if they suddenly became legal, and fully entitled to their rights and protections, then why not just hire Americans?
Does this bother you that even though we must have them, we offer them few benefits and practically no social safety net?
What bothers me more is that the "social safety net" often gets used as a hammock for certain able-bodied people who could work, but are just lazy-a$$es and prefer to remain idle, collecting gubmint goodies instead.
Low- or non-skilled jobs don't pay as well as highly skilled jobs because there are more people who are able to do them. I'm not sure what you're going to do about that other than have the government set a pay scale higher than the market pay scale, but that surely would put many small employers out of business.
I don't think that's the same thing as saying America NEEDS an underclass. Rather, I think societies HAVE underclasses because there are always low- or non-skilled jobs that need to be filled. I can’t think of a society that doesn’t.
As far as benefits or a safety net, I think every employee is entitled to (1) a safe work place, (2) to be paid the agreed-upon amount, on time, for the hours worked, (3) the right to organize and negotiate with employers to secure higher pay and benefits; (4) the right not to be denied a job because of race, sex, etc. and (5) some sort of medical care if injured on the job.
Whether everyone in the country is entitled to health care is another issue, but if a decision is made that everyone is entitled to health care, I don’t think it should be the responsibility of the employer and especially not of the small employer because it’s just too expensive.
There are always going to be poor people, either because of choices they’ve made or sheer crappy luck and there’s not much a society can do about that, other than have laws in place to assure that the poor are not further exploited.
What bothers me more is that the "social safety net" often gets used as a hammock for certain able-bodied people who could work, but are just lazy-a$$es and prefer to remain idle, collecting gubmint goodies instead.
That bothers you more than people who need it potentially not getting it? Isn't that sort of cold?
"social safety net" Isn't that just welfare for those that don't want a job ? You might be suprised by how many people live off of that "social safety net" and wouldn't have it anyother way.
You mean that 5-year time-limited workfare social safety net for mothers with children? Or the dilapidated public housing with long waiting lists for occupation? Or are you talking about old people?
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