What is your advice?

[Mare Tranquillity]

What society has ever accomplished the total eradication of poverty or other social ills?

I don't think anyone disputes that being homeless is miserable, but there will be homeless in any society.

No society has ever succeeded at eliminating all poverty and homelessness but many of them are doing better than we are. You sound like a person who has given up.

 

[Lagboltz]

Why are we living in this kind of "no win" society imposed by laws made solely by the elites?

That is a good question. Probably because congressional campaigns of both parties are paid largely by the elite. There are also union and AARP funding but it is miniscule in comparison.

This is a country of the lobbyists for the lobbyists and by the lobbyists.

 

[BigRob]

It's like: Your kid is hungry. If you steal to feed him, you will go to jail, and he will starve.

If you don't steal, he will die.

Nice choice!

Nice false choice more like...your kid is hungry, what are the reasons?

Assuming this is really the only choice available, if you go to jail, your child will not starve.

 

[Mare Tranquillity]

That is hardly my attitude...I regularly give money to homeless shelters and even go volunteer in them.

Additionally, what does it mean to "experience homelessness"?

The government defines homeless as:


This means you can be homeless, yet sleeping in a shelter, eating at the shelter, and seeing a doctor at a shelter's clinic.

Let me ask you this...do you think the government is capable of eradicating homelessness?

No, but they SHOULD BE TRYING TO DO SO.

 

[BigRob]

You would send a mother to jail for stealing food for her child, thus removing any chance of her raising that child, and adding that child on to the rolls of Americans on the dole.

That really sounds like a lose-lose-lose to me.

The rest of the world seems to get by with a very different prison system, and their crime rates, recidivism rates, and prison rates make our rates look barbarian.

In many European countries prisoners have the weekends and holidays off from prison, and are sent home to be with their families. If that were suggested here the howls of laughter would rock the rafters, yet their results make our results pale by comparison.

I would not laugh at such a proposition...I have heard of such things in the US actually.

I would support it most likely, assuming they are not violent offenders.

Maybe, just maybe, America needs to be learning from others.

Put another way, there is something wrong with a society that would force a mother to steal to feed her child. Especially a society that is so strong in its belief that every child should be born.
Its almost hypocritical, wouldn't you agree?

Society did not force that mother to steal. The mother made that choice all on her own. She can blame whatever she wants, but at the end of the day, she committed the crime.

This is hardly the norm as well, so revamping a system based on what seem to be outside the norm is a bad road to be on.

 

[BigRob]

That is a good question. Probably because congressional campaigns of both parties are paid largely by the elite. There are also union and AARP funding but it is miniscule in comparison.

This is a country of the lobbyists for the lobbyists and by the lobbyists.

Let me assure you, as someone who has run multiple political campaigns, union contributions are not "miniscule."

However, it is true that money drives politics in most cases.

 

[BigRob]

No, but they SHOULD BE TRYING TO DO SO.

I would argue that we are.

 

[Lagboltz]

That is hardly my attitude...I regularly give money to homeless shelters and even go volunteer in them.

Additionally, what does it mean to "experience homelessness"?

The figure I gave refers to the number of distinct people that have been homeless in the period of a year. The number of homeless at any given time is about 650 thousand if I remember correctly. In my state there are currently 57 thousand homeless.

Let me ask you this...do you think the government is capable of eradicating homelessness?

Nope. Especially not the US government.

 

[Lagboltz]

Let me assure you, as someone who has run multiple political campaigns, union contributions are not "miniscule."

However, it is true that money drives politics in most cases.

Are you saying they are not miniscule? or not miniscule in comparison?

 

[ProudLefty]

Let me assure you, as someone who has run multiple political campaigns, union contributions are not "miniscule."

However, it is true that money drives politics in most cases.

With unions, its not the money. Its the manpower. This is significant because when its crunch time it comes down to workers on the phones and in the streets. The unions provide that manpower, and the Koch brothers can't match it.

In 2012 though we have a different element at work. This comment is directed only at the result, not the reasons. Two Mormons are in the fray, and if there is any more organized, disciplined, and youthful energetic on-the-ground movement in America than the Mormon Church, I have not heard of it. If either Romney or Huntsman get the nod, their Get Out the Vote organization will shake the Earth with their enthusiasm.

 

[PLC1]

A whole lot of our financial and social ills boil down to our medical care system.

If employers didn't have to pay for medical insurance, they would be able to hire more workers, thus lessening unemployment.

If employees could break away from the corporate world and start small businesses without having to spend 15K or so a year on health insurance, there would be more small businesses and thus more jobs.

If people who lose their jobs and get sick could get well again, they'd have a better shot at getting back to work and becoming productive citizens.

If we didn't have to pay more than any other nation on Earth for health care, there would be more available for other things.

Health care, public and private, accounts for 16% of our GDP. The federal government currently accounts for just over 17%, but about 9% of that is health care. So, the entire cost of the federal government, excluding health care, is just over 8% of the GDP, while health care accounts for 16%.

It doesn't take a financial genius to figure out that we must reform our health care system drastically and soon.

 

[BigRob]

Are you saying they are not miniscule? or not miniscule in comparison?

Well, it will depend on the race, but Unions, and perhaps I should say special interests in general, do give a ton of money to campaigns.

For example, the last campaign I ran, our opponent (a Democrat) was basically funded by the local unions and other Democratic PAC's. Many of those PAC's were also union funded.

Certainly Republican groups do the same thing, but Unions, depending on the race, can often equate to the largest donors.

In terms of overall political contributions in general for all races, I am not sure where unions would rank.

 

[Openmind]

A whole lot of our financial and social ills boil down to our medical care system.

If employers didn't have to pay for medical insurance, they would be able to hire more workers, thus lessening unemployment.

If employees could break away from the corporate world and start small businesses without having to spend 15K or so a year on health insurance, there would be more small businesses and thus more jobs.

If people who lose their jobs and get sick could get well again, they'd have a better shot at getting back to work and becoming productive citizens.

If we didn't have to pay more than any other nation on Earth for health care, there would be more available for other things.

Health care, public and private, accounts for 16% of our GDP. The federal government currently accounts for just over 17%, but about 9% of that is health care. So, the entire cost of the federal government, excluding health care, is just over 8% of the GDP, while health care accounts for 16%.

It doesn't take a financial genius to figure out that we must reform our health care system drastically and soon.

I totally agree! I bet if any of us look around us, we will find out that we know MANY people who are staying in a job they hate because they are afraid to lose their health care!

 

[BigRob]

With unions, its not the money. Its the manpower. This is significant because when its crunch time it comes down to workers on the phones and in the streets. The unions provide that manpower, and the Koch brothers can't match it.

This is not always true...Unions can funnel a ton of money into a campaign through themselves and other union funded PACs.

You are right about the manpower however, in some campaigns I have run, union volunteers have followed us around and picked up signs etc after we put them out. I have also had people tell me they supported our candidate (the Republican), but were afraid they would lose their job if they openly admitted it.

Unions are a big player in campaigns....

In 2012 though we have a different element at work. This comment is directed only at the result, not the reasons. Two Mormons are in the fray, and if there is any more organized, disciplined, and youthful energetic on-the-ground movement in America than the Mormon Church, I have not heard of it. If either Romney or Huntsman get the nod, their Get Out the Vote organization will shake the Earth with their enthusiasm.

I think it depends on how organized they are. There are campaigns I have run where we won a race we should have had no business being competitive in simply because our GOTV effort beat our opponents.

When you look at traditionally Democratic precincts, and find that in high turnout years that a McCain won it, you can win simply by getting your people out to vote who otherwise wouldn't, because it is a "democrat" area and they see no point.

That is not always the case, but it can be.

 

[Openmind]

Yes.



Maddoff is in prison...not a luxury penthouse.

After how many months in "house arrest" in his luxury penthouse?

And, you really believe that this mother has done as much damage to society by stealing that pound of beef to feed her kid than Maddoff?

Even his own son couldn't live with the reality of what his father had done!

Sorry, I have a hard time believing that!