How San Antonio Can Beat Poverty (student loan, high schools, university)

[Azure110]

Originally Posted by TexasRedneck

You want to "fix" poverty? Invest in Trades Education, and encourage manufacturing jobs here in SA. Tourism pays VERY poorly.

It is all about Tourism and Call Centers here.

[Azure110]

Originally Posted by aab7855

I´m not seeing that connection, honestly. San Antonio actually has a low foreign-born population, compared to other Hispanic majority cities like El Paso, Laredo and McAllen for example. A lot of monied Mexicans create businesses and thereby get permanent residency in places like the RGV, they certainly don´t need any economic help. Now is there a reliance on welfare, food stamps and other assistance among US Citizen Mexican-Americans in San Antonio? Perhaps. But that public charge idea won´t do a damn thing to change that culture, we´re not even talking about the same demographic.

I have heard this often as well but it doesn't feel that way. I know quite a few people here "born in Mexico" and not all of them are poor but some of them are. Of course what I know and see doesn't represent the big picture here so I could be wrong.

[TexasRedneck]

Originally Posted by Azure110

It is all about Tourism and Call Centers here.

And you can lay that square at the feet of the city council and mayor. When's the last time they called for the formation of Trade Schools - or told the EDC under NO uncertain terms to focus on manufacturing businesses?

[elnina]

Originally Posted by Zone Read

If you need to work 2 jobs and struggle, maybe you shouldn't have kids? Why would you bring kids into this world when you can't provide for them? How is that fair to those kids and the rest of the population that has to support them with inefficient social programs? What laws could you possibly enact that would help people get educations and be better parents?

You know... There could be many reasons why they have many kids: poverty is the one, lack of sex education, Catholic upbringing, family violence, drugs, alcoholism, unemployment, no health insurance, medical bills, some might be dependent on welfare /food stamps etc. depression and other mental illness, hopelessness, single parents struggling, sudden disability/loss of a job/ loss of health/loss of a house, high percentage of teen pregnancies? I could go on and on...
Maybe some with many kids - how many kids are too many?? - weren't poor when they started family?

Housing in San Antonio isn't cheap (see the other thread), bottom level jobs are unstable and pay little. Public transportation is quite poor in SA, so one needs a car and insurance to get to work.

Sad to say, there are neither enough good jobs nor enough good husbands to provide every American woman with enough money to support a family.
Are you saying that perhaps poor women don't have the right to bear children?

[Zone Read]

Originally Posted by elnina

You know... There could be many reasons why they have many kids: poverty is the one, lack of sex education, Catholic upbringing, family violence, drugs, alcoholism, unemployment, no health insurance, medical bills, some might be dependent on welfare /food stamps etc. depression and other mental illness, hopelessness, single parents struggling, sudden disability/loss of a job/ loss of health/loss of a house, high percentage of teen pregnancies? I could go on and on...
Maybe some with many kids - how many kids are too many?? - weren't poor when they started family?

Housing in San Antonio isn't cheap (see the other thread), bottom level jobs are unstable and pay little. Public transportation is quite poor in SA, so one needs a car and insurance to get to work.

Sad to say, there are neither enough good jobs nor enough good husbands to provide every American woman with enough money to support a family.
Are you saying that perhaps poor women don't have the right to bear children?

What you listed aren't reasons for poor women to have kids, they are reasons to not have kids. If you can't take care of yourself adequately, why compound it by bringing kids into the world to end up with the same problems that you have? It's not a matter of poor women having the right to bear children, its the right of people like me to not have to pay for your poor life choices. Having been involved for many years in the criminal justice system, I have observed that most people at some point in these situations make decisions, and sometimes a series of them, that they knew at the time were wrong and chose to do them anyway. Why should the rest of us pay for that?

[WilGar]

I am in Minneapolis looking out the window of my hotel. From the 25th floor , I count ELEVEN buildings that are taller. That is only out of my window.

No social comment, just an observation.

[Cuero]

Originally Posted by elnina

Are you saying that perhaps poor women don't have the right to bear children?

They can have all the children they want, just don't expect the rest of us to pay for their upbringing.

Having kids when you're young and poor guarantees you will be locked into a lifetime of poverty. Those that are smart enough not to often times rise into the middle and even upper classes.

[Galvatron99]

Originally Posted by elnina

San Antonio has earned the dubious recognition of being the #1, the poorest US metro among the Top 25 most populous metropolitan areas, according to the 2018 American Community Survey. The Alamo City beat Detroit for the top spot of percentage of people living in poverty for 2018.
It was debated last week.

San Antonio was ranked second in 2017 - now
15.4% of greater area live in poverty and 30% of local residents ages 18 and under live in poverty.

We’ve heard a lot in the past years about the Texas Miracle, about Texas faring better from the recession than others and having relatively low unemployment rates, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that all Texans are benefiting equally from that economic prosperity

Ignorance and prejudice played unfortunate roles in the development of San Antonio from a frontier town to a modern city. Better public education opportunities for all the city’s children and youth can help rectify generations of inequity. One day, then, individuals like Martinez, Saldaña, and Pulliam will no longer stand out as exceptions.

https://therivardreport.com/in-poore...-beat-poverty/

What you think could and should be done to improve the current situation?

We can do all we want, but unfortunately until discrimination in the city is addressed, then nothing will change. I have worked in HR at several companies and for a city with a 64% hispanic population, you very rarely see them in positions of authority such as management or hr. Also, we have all these universities and I have met a lot of minorities with degrees that are just stuck in low paying, customer service, call center jobs. And im not talking about just crappy degrees either, but MBAs and JDs too.

Originally Posted by yukon

Better zoning laws. I really like San Antonio, but like ABQ, it's a somewhat ugly, drab city on first impression. Impressions count when trying to attract new companies and jobs, which is also needed to reduce or eliminate poverty.

I agree with this.

Originally Posted by TexasRedneck

You want to "fix" poverty? Invest in Trades Education, and encourage manufacturing jobs here in SA. Tourism pays VERY poorly.

No, just no. We need good white collar jobs here. I can't begin to tell you how many times I have heard horror stories about toyota. Not only are these jobs incredibly boring and meticulous, but if you get hurt on the job, then its game over. They just discard you like you are trash and move on to someone else. Amazon does it too.

[txbullsfan]

Interestingly, there a a TON of people in poverty that do NOT have children. Many. There are also a ton of single parents that are NOT in poverty. Many.

Having children does not guarantee poverty or that one will remain in poverty. That is a myth an an attempt by some to create a straw man argument. Its easier to blame the single mom and her "irresponsible actions" then it is to see and admit there is a bigger problem(s). Blaming the single parent requires less critical thinking and its easier because its more myopic thinking. When we look at the bigger picture we see quite the opposite is often true. Many single parents are motivated to better themselves and move up when they are responsible for mouths other then their own to feed. Sure, there are always outliers and specific people we like to publicly recall and point the finger at when making the strawman argument but when we actually work with this group of people we see different. Sure, we too see the outliers but we also see the majority. We see that there are multiple other factors at play.

[txbullsfan]

What is also interesting is the mentality of some in this country about paying for others childcare compared to other countries that do in fact pay for each others childcare. The mentality some have for paying for each others healthcare, education and other things. The mentality some in this country have for paying more taxes that actually goes towards paying for these things / the greater good.

What mentality to do some of us have and what mentality do other highly industrialized and democratic countries have in regards to these things? Sure these other democratic countries are paying more in taxes but are they happier overall in paying more in taxes to get more social programs the benefit the greater good? Willingness and happiness is all fine and dandy but what about where the "rubber meets the road" - What results do they have in each of those categories paying more in taxes for each others social programs compared to this country?