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Any real data to back up what assertion? I'm not the one of being accused and villified because I request first for individual responsibility over governmental handouts.
We Americans give
$248,500,000,000 (in 2004 alone) to charity
$586,100,000,000 for social security
$394,500,000,000 spent on medicare
$367,000,000,000 spent on unemployment and welfare
Thats over $1.6TRILLION people GIVE to less fortunate.
This does not even count local taxes either.
Note, these are facts.. and I did not state these should be removed, so dont twist the posting around to suit your needs.
So I ask a question and dont change the subject.
HOW MUCH GIVING TO THE POOR IS ENOUGH in order to stop being villified?
When will we start to see the poor lifted up and no longer poor?
Sorry but I'd think 1.6TRILLION a YEAR, (+ local spending) we'd see less poverty but each year but we dont, we see more and more and more.
How much is enough to solve this "poverty" problem that we have, please quote me a $ figure.
So how much money will it take to solve POVERTY? ANYONE?
Stopping the blaming and judging would actually go a long way. When you stop trying to kick a man while he's down, he has a better chance of getting back up again.
After that:
- More help for the unemployed along the lines of Job Centers to help them get back to work more quickly (and off welfare).
- A crackdown on welfare fraud, ensuring that no one can simply "refuse to work", unless there is a genuine reason (medical, etc).
- Extend Medicaid to cover more people, or even bring in a new "national insurance" so you remove the worry of healthcare costs, ensuring that everyone has the right to basic healthcare coverage
- Promoting community spirit and encouraging communities to take an active role in helping one another.
- A drastic cut in the cost of tuition
- A higher minimum wage
- Financial incentives to be given to corporations to encourage them not to outsource American jobs overseas.
....these are just a few ideas. I'm sure that I can think of a few more, but bear with me because I have a stinking cold today!
If we spent just a small portion of the money we are spilling down the drain in Iraq to provide shelter/psychological and medical care/job training and job placement assistance to the Homeless that would be money much better spent for our own country, in my opinion. We still end up paying for people on the streets when they get very ill or get desperate enough to commit crimes and get put in jail. It is not like they just "disappear", with no cost to society. Vets with PTSD that have been discarded... after giving their all for our country... deserve better.
We spend $1.6 TRILLION on poverty a year, the war cost what?
Lets leave the issue of those "defrauders" out of the equation because I think everyone agree they are such a small minority of the "lazy" people to not even count.
So how much money will it take to solve POVERTY? ANYONE?
It's not just about spending X amount of money though. The money spent needs to be managed and allocated correctly to ensure that it trickles down to the right places.
Part of the reason why we spend so much (and get so little in return) is that the money is being swallowed up through government and corporate bureaucracy. Healthcare costs in the US are simply staggering, so the cost of providing assistance to those on Medicare and Medicaid will also be staggering.
One solution is to look at how the money is being allocated, instead of just throwing more money into the pit.
It's not just about spending X amount of money though. The money spent needs to be managed and allocated correctly to ensure that it trickles down to the right places.
Part of the reason why we spend so much (and get so little in return) is that the money is being swallowed up through government and corporate bureaucracy. Healthcare costs in the US are simply staggering, so the cost of providing assistance to those on Medicare and Medicaid will also be staggering.
One solution is to look at how the money is being allocated, instead of just throwing more money into the pit.
Which is precisely why pghquest and others question the wisdom of expanding the federal bureaucracy's power to extract yet more money from working people and sprinkle it onto the poor.
Lets leave the issue of those "defrauders" out of the equation because I think everyone agree they are such a small minority of the "lazy" people to not even count.
You keep bringing up the fact that the people you talk about are simply "lazy". Can you post some facts to back that up, i.e. the percentage of "lazy" people who claim Social Security?
I will say that (what I believe to be the minority) of people who are genuinely just lazy are in fact committing fraud.
Unless you are incapable of working for medical reasons, there is no reason for you not to work. However, it's the working poor (the people who DO choose to work, and work hard) who are getting the short end of the s**tstick here.
The socialists try to make it sound so honorable, when, in fact, it's simple class envy. Instead of helping someone up the ladder, they'd rather bring others down. That way, the contrast is less and it seems as though something good has been done.
I agree the hard core left love a victim and will often create victims when they can't find enough. They love to find excuses and then initiate institutionalized discrimination. That would be affirmative action like laws.
The hard core right like to blame anyone but society for people having it hard. Often families end up homeless through no fault of their own. As I said before an unforeseen layoff. Its easy to say well they were living above their means... How do you go from a $50,000 a year job to burger king and still make ends meet over night? It happens and that sucks. How do you get a job when you put on your job application under home address "My Car" ? Or the woods out behind the old furniture factory.
Many vets are homeless. Some due to drugs etc but many because the war they served in has totally fried their brains. I have been in action.. I try hard not to think about many of the details. Not all of us can bury the memories or make light of what they experienced. We as a just society need to find ways to help these people. Thats not to say carry them for life. It means help them off their knees to become productive citizens.
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