eggzettera
Rufus I totally agree with you except (knew that was coming, I bet....2 things)....
1.) That it is corporate greed that did us in, not unions. Unions brought us safer working conditions, wages you could survive on. Corporations serve the shareholders only, their only mandate is profit, not human rights, not the environment.
Corporations are needed to make things cheap. Why do they have to be cheap? So we can afford them, we can't afford them to be expensive cause we don't make enough $. It is a circle, for example Mac Donald's has cheap food cause they pay the majority of their employees minimum wage.
There is no place in a de industrialized society for the uneducated and unskilled.
2.)My philosophy is EVERYone can be a contributing member in society.
Our problem is knowing the difference between needs vs. wants or quality vs. quantity.
No one needs to be a millionaire, but everyone needs food, shelter, clothing & a decent fundamental education
You both have gotten what I was ineptly driving at on page 5 of this thread. We have lost clarity on what is really needed for life verses everything else that is a "want" that make life more comfortable. We all must be able to access to the "needs" and we should not expect that others provide the "wants" when we cannot.
We are provided with a free education thru high school. We already have safety nets in place for short term interuptions in our ability to earn adequate money (unemployment, welfare, WIC, FoodStamps, ect.) There is a safety net for those who physically can no longer earn an income (SSI). It seems to me that the bases are pretty well covered with safety nets. There will always be someone that will fall thru the cracks in government programs and that is where the local, church and charitable organizations take over.
Unfortunately I hear alot about "the disenfranchised" who feel that the government and the rest of us are not doing enough. I believe, under normal circumstances, a year should be enough for for people to get back on their feet. They may not be making as much money as they had been and they may have to down size their "stuff" but within that year they should be able to provide for at least their "needs". Providing for the wants will come with time. If, due to a medical condition, you are unable to work at any job, that is a different situation. Those are the people that need to be cared for by society. Unfortunatly, SSI is used more and more by those who do not necessarily fit that criteria. I know 2 people with ADHD that are on SSI (relatives) who function just fine with some effort. They would rather make no effort and still get paid. I also know someone who has been missing her hip for over 6 years due to a MRSA infection because of hip surgery. Her hip has been in and out 3 times (counting the original hip). She has not been able to walk in all that time and has been in and out of convalessing homes. She has been on big time pain meds (oxycontin and others as well as now methadone) as her doctors have tried to rid her of the infection. She was on AFDC for her daughter and tried to get SSI for herself and was denied. Only thru her persistance did she finally get SSI LAST YEAR! She needed the SSI not the 2 young adults (28 and 29) with the ADHD.
When this nation was founded, it was to give everyone a chance at "Life, Liberty, and the Persuit of Happiness" not to guarentee it. As in life, there was no guarentee that everything was always going to be equal. Some people get dealt better hands than others and, as in poker, you can still win with a bad hand. It is all in how you play the hand you are dealt. Look at Oprah, she once was a poor molested black female child. She is now one of the richest people in the world. Donald Trump has been at the top of the world, then bankrupt and then back on top. Senator Obama was born to a poor mother and his father was missing for much of his life, yet he was able to go to an ivy league school and now has a chance to become President. Even though I do not like his policies, I have to admire his spunk and drive to have made it this far. You have to make your life better and not depend on others to do it for you. We here in America, still can make a good life for ourselves if we have a plan, work hard, and if we do not wail for others to do it for us. It is much more difficult to make it to your goal if you are carrying alot of others on your back to theirs. As someone who has worked 60 or more hours a week for much of my working life (32 years working, worked two jobs for 15 of those years) I do realise that we need to give help to those truely in need. The others need to get to their goal on their own two feet.
