Political Ramblings

[newfoundland]

We have just this weekend had a telefon to raise money for 'Children in Need' in this country. It is hard to stomach that in this twenty first century, we have children who sleep on the floor, covered with coats as they have insufficient blankets, and go to school hungry. I have worked in schools in the poorer parts of London and know first hand the grinding poverty that to our eternal shame still exists in one of the world's biggest capital cities. I have met mums of my own age looking ten years older, worn down by the relentless worry of keeping their heads above water. I have worked with little children, wizened by failure to thrive, due to inadequate food in early infancy. I have met many, unemployed for years, moving like shadows, all the life seemingly sucked out of them by the hopelessness of their situation. Unemployment and poverty are twin evils an d it behoves each and every one of us to alleviate the suffering however and where ever we can. We can start by not condemning those who find themselves in this situation. Have some of you not heard the saying,
'There but by the grace of God, go I'?

 

[MamaRoo]

That 'poverty level' is an interesting concept. As my unemployment is getting close to running out, and I still have no job prospects, I've been investigating what's available.

It's just me, so all the aid for people with children is out.

There's help for heating costs - but you have to apply at the beginning of the heating season, and my income needs to be less than $1000 per month. So I was too 'wealthy' while on unemployment. You also need to bring in a bill so they know how much to set you up for. Ummm...I haven't turned the heat on for most of the time. Only when my hands are too cold to function do I heat one room.

SNAP requires that I earn less than ~$1000 per month, so again I'm not eligible while receiving unemployment. If I do end up applying I can expect ~$200 per month. Not so bad, but since I have food allergies, no cheap pasta for me. Instead I'm shopping the 10 pound bags of potatoes on sale. Dented cans. Windfall apples from the neighbor's yard. I'm currently shopping this way, because unemployment doesn't really cover the mortgage AND food. I eat nothing pre-packaged (ok, sometimes a box of gluten free stuff is on the half-priced "damaged" shelf and I'll splurge). Today's breakfast - russet potatoes cooked in the drippings from the chicken I cooked last week. Wait! You say, didn't you have that for dinner last night? No, no, no, last night was RED POTATOES cooked in chicken juice.

I have a cell phone, but no land line. Internet for job hunting, but no TV. I get movies from the library to watch from the couch while I'm snuggled under cats and blankets.

I have an 18 year old paid for truck. Fortunately my bf is handy and he's done a number of repairs for me recently, otherwise I'd either be without a vehicle, or have put out a few thousand to get it fixed. There's no aid for transportation or car repair.

Tried a garden. Things don't grow well here.

Fortunately I'm heading into this from having had a job, so I have things like clothes and shoes, otherwise I'd be hoping for something reasonable at Goodwill, which, of course, is 35 miles RT from my house. So add in gas to the cost of the shoes.

Also fortunate that my Dr renewed my prescription without requiring a visit or blood test, otherwise I'd be out another $100 or so, plus the cost of the meds. Hospital charity care? Not eligible since I own a house and have an IRA. When you're on the street, or sleeping on a friend's couch you can apply to the charity care program.

A lot of other programs I'm not eligible for if I own property and have a retirement account. So sure, when I have no home, no way to care for myself, no safety net for old age, I can apply for assistance. A terrifying prospect.

I would disagree with anyone who says that being poor is easy. It requires planning, juggling, and a whole lot of stress. I could not even imagine what this would feel like to someone who had a child to care for as well.

 

[MamaRoo]

Quote: ........not really clear what your case was....

If you add in the cost of commute, clothing, and taxes, that $1000 per month job is considerably less money. My commute costs previously were $100-$150 per month on public transit. Unless you already own clothing suitable for employment, that's a chunk of money you have to lay out. SS and federal taxes come out of that. Depending on your situation, possibly also union dues or other work fees.

Other small things that come with working - haircuts. shoes. your turn to bring treats for the meeting. having to pay for a meal because you're working late. and so on.

Working is not free.

 

[RHRanch]

So your solution to most of the homelessness would be to lock them up somewhere that they cant leave ? Because there's programs that they could get in to and probably most have tried them and chose to leave.

Actually, there has been plenty of research into what kinds of things work and what does not for the treatment of the mentally ill. Since de-institutionalization, hospitals and prisons have had to try to fill the void left by mental institutions. While many abuses happened in mental institutions, they did provide a place for non-functioning mentally ill people to live or to become stable. now hospitals can only keep people about 48-72 hours. So a lot of mentally ill people go to prison and live on the streets. One of the things that does work (mostly seen in Canada), are group housing where mentally ill people live in a home with a small staff that makes sure that they stay on track, take their medicine, do their personal hygiene and even go to work in the case of those whose meds work well. The reason we don't have much of that here is that there is almost no funding for it. Prison and homelessness will continue to be the only option until society acknowledges that we have some responsibility to those who cannot care for themselves: the disabled (mentally and physically), children, the elderly and those living in poverty. I have no idea where you got the idea that I was advocating locking up homeless people and the mentally ill, though.... We do lock them up - prisons are the new institutions for the mentally ill. I do think that my position was that people like you look for ways to label these people as bad somehow so you can go on your merry way and ignore the problem.

here's a link to an interesting program that i am certain that you will ignore or only watch excerpts from: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/asylums/view/

 

[ChickensRDinos]

Whilst I agree that education is important for any individual, it's not a guarantee of an improved 'station', if by that you mean material wealth. There are educated people who don't want material wealth or whose job doesn't attract it and there are illiterate people who are very wealthy.

'Success', if again you mean acquired material wealth, may be a drive or skill learned in ways other than through formal education.

I completely agree. But, on the whole, education gives you options. You have choices. You have access. A lot of people on this thread seem to be arguing that a majority of lower income people are deciding to be lazy and abuse the system and that they should just decide to pick themselves up. I do not think the option is so easy as it sounds.

Of course there are examples of people doing this. I know some. And of course you can list examples of people who genuinely abuse the system. I also know one of those. But, I think these are both extremes and don't represent the whole. There are a wide variety of circumstances in which one may need government assistance and a lot of factors that contribute to who is poor and why.

The sad truth is the in order for some people to make more money others have to make less. If you look at wealth distribution in the US, that is certainly the case. To then turn around and blame the poor for their poverty is an impressive piece of political PR, and a really depressing one.

 

[MamaRoo]

Speaking of CEOs, just saw this on Snopes. The workers were striking to not have their wage lowered at Hostess while the execs were giving themselves raises. The extra 1.5 Million dollars the CEO gave himself would have paid for a lot of benefits.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/hostess.asp

 

[ChickensRDinos]

I don't understand how Obamacare is the enemy and it seems perfectly fine to people that there seem to be so many businesses operating that are unwilling to give their employees health benefits. It is very clearly possible to do this and have a successful business whether you are a small start up or a huge corporation. There are numerous family restaurants that offer this. Buck up and treat your employees like people. Clearly reform is needed and I am hoping this forces it to start.

Everyone should be upset that there are working people in this country that have had no access to basic healthcare. This is ridiculous.

 

[ChickensRDinos]

When you go to work all you are entitled to is a pay check. When did it fall on to me as an employer to provide for your healthcare or anything else ? What you do with your pay is not any of my business.

The way our system was set up previously there really aren't a lot of other options to get health care. My fiance lost her spleen when she was six and when she was in school we tried to BUY healthcare not related to employment and the CHEAPEST quote we could get with a pre-existing condition was $1200 A MONTH. I make a decent living, but that is an LA apartment. And this was several years ago. I would hate to see what it was recently. This was for very basic coverage.

I think our system is terrible. I personally am for full on socialized medicine but I know that scares the socks off the same people who are arguing that companies shouldn't have to pay for healthcare. So, where is my family suposed to get healthcare?

Small businesses can survive and provide healthcare. There are tons and tons of them doing it right now. I have worked my entire career at small businesses (My current company is 2 people, total) and start ups and I have always had health insurance. But, I am a skilled, educated employee with an extensive resume and portfolio working a white collar job. There is the expectation that employers will have to provide this to me. I am very lucky. I feel like all workers and employers should have the same expectations. I provide a service that allows your business to success through which you ultimately stand to profit the most, in turn you provide these very basic things.

This is a business expense and if you can not afford all of your business expenses you need to rework your business model.

 

[cupman]

I actually saw some television clip with the CEO of Papa John's saying it's going to cost him 8 million a year extra to pay for insurance and he just had no idea where he could come up with that kind of money. Said he'd have to lay workers off and raise prices. Then you see a commercial with the CEO standing next to Payton Manning talking about giving away two million free pizzas. It is clear people like him are more worried about politics than their company. Gives away 20 million dollars worth of pizzas but heaven forbid he offer insurance to his employees. Partisan nonsense, nothing to do with business.

 

[Capvin]

Pretty amazing!! There has been almost no political talk about restricting the use of any type of weapons for quite a long time but we still have those who will spout the NRA mantra. The NRA spent all of their time and money over the last year warning about the perils of Obama and guns when, in fact, Obama did nothing that any gun owner could interpret as harmful to a gun owner. From thin air you guys predict the future of the USA and its gun laws. You must read tarrot cards.