America's poorest kids
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Last night Auntie showed a documentary on Beeb 2 called America's poorest kids. It reported on the lives of three families from the perspective of the young children facing endless homelessness, poverty, and the queues for food banks. One family of three and their pet dog were moved into a motel room and they'd fill the sink with ice to keep what fresh food and milk they had reasonably fresh as there wasn't a mini fridge or anything else. Another family were sheltered in a very worn-down house and they had no furniture and the kids bunked down on the floor. What I found startling was that this could happen in the world's so-called super power and economy and millions of yanks are dependent on food banks and the number is expected to keep growing. It was absolutely heart-wrenching to watch and to see those young kids still able to laugh and play and express their hopes for the future kicked any problems I've been through way into touch. :)
If there is one thing more dangerous than getting between a bear and her cubs it's getting between my wife and her chocolate.
PHS241 wrote:
What I found startling was that this could happen in the world's so-called super power and economy and millions of yanks are dependent on food banks and the number is expected to keep growing.
For those of you who don't live here let me let you in on some secrets: * The roads are not literally paved with gold. Some of the cooler parts do have cobblestones, but they're bumpier. * Just living in a powerful country does not mean you get a lot of money by showing up. See: every other powerful country in history. * There has been a conscious effort by a very vocal minority to relax or change regulations and rearrange the tax code with the goal being to pour more money into the richest 2% of the population at the expense of everyone else. This strategy has been working since the Reagan administration, and is accelerating. * The last time we had a budget surplus - at the end of the Clinton administration 13 years ago - the government mailed checks to everyone in the country. $750 I think we got? The economy collapsed shortly thereafter, the surplus wasted on what was essentially a PR stunt. Not causation, but all part of the same bubble that EVERYONE knew was going to burst. Because they always do. See: every other economic boom in history. If you have a magic bullet to pull these poor kids out of poverty, let me know. All this talk about "we give money to other countries" blah blah blah is meaningless. The amounts we're talking about there are drops in the bucket of what the government spends - very largely on the military, which somehow never gets mentioned as a wasteful government program, even though it is the most expensive, most wasteful "program" we have (I'm not saying get rid of it, but good god look at the numbers). The government cares more about bombers than schools, more about Wall Street than schools, more about getting re-elected than schools. And so too, it seems, does most everyone else.
Look at me still talking when there's science to do When I look out there it makes me glad I'm not you
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Last night Auntie showed a documentary on Beeb 2 called America's poorest kids. It reported on the lives of three families from the perspective of the young children facing endless homelessness, poverty, and the queues for food banks. One family of three and their pet dog were moved into a motel room and they'd fill the sink with ice to keep what fresh food and milk they had reasonably fresh as there wasn't a mini fridge or anything else. Another family were sheltered in a very worn-down house and they had no furniture and the kids bunked down on the floor. What I found startling was that this could happen in the world's so-called super power and economy and millions of yanks are dependent on food banks and the number is expected to keep growing. It was absolutely heart-wrenching to watch and to see those young kids still able to laugh and play and express their hopes for the future kicked any problems I've been through way into touch. :)
If there is one thing more dangerous than getting between a bear and her cubs it's getting between my wife and her chocolate.
I don't know, fifty-percent of my income goes towards taxes. Fifty! Yet I meet people everyday with no sense of tomorrow, no care what the future brings, and willing to make selfish choices instead of the right choices. There are places in America where a person can, actually, pay rent while working full-time at a fast food place. In fact, you can have two jobs! Some even have three. And they work so hard that their children are taken care of and they slowly change their lives around them and achieve the American dream. And then their are others who choice to live in an Inner City, complain about cost of living and lack of jobs, and wonder why no one has given them the dream yet. Only slightly related, but the price of freedom is letting others make poor choices. Of course, for more perspective, how many of those American children on the docu-drama were vaccinated, didn't have access to Pre-k, Free school breakfast, free school lunch, and the under 5 crowd get WIC and Food Stamps, or how many are toting tot, sized Ak 47's? Did the documentary focus on how the parents traded all the government assistance for cash to spend on other things or just polite close-ups of an adult crying with an impassioned speech about how hard it is? I'm not a cold heartless S.O.B. but too many people just plain out lie for me to believe or have sympathy for anything I see on T.V.
Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost "All users always want Excel" --Ennis Lynch
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PHS241 wrote:
What I found startling was that this could happen in the world's so-called super power and economy and millions of yanks are dependent on food banks and the number is expected to keep growing.
For those of you who don't live here let me let you in on some secrets: * The roads are not literally paved with gold. Some of the cooler parts do have cobblestones, but they're bumpier. * Just living in a powerful country does not mean you get a lot of money by showing up. See: every other powerful country in history. * There has been a conscious effort by a very vocal minority to relax or change regulations and rearrange the tax code with the goal being to pour more money into the richest 2% of the population at the expense of everyone else. This strategy has been working since the Reagan administration, and is accelerating. * The last time we had a budget surplus - at the end of the Clinton administration 13 years ago - the government mailed checks to everyone in the country. $750 I think we got? The economy collapsed shortly thereafter, the surplus wasted on what was essentially a PR stunt. Not causation, but all part of the same bubble that EVERYONE knew was going to burst. Because they always do. See: every other economic boom in history. If you have a magic bullet to pull these poor kids out of poverty, let me know. All this talk about "we give money to other countries" blah blah blah is meaningless. The amounts we're talking about there are drops in the bucket of what the government spends - very largely on the military, which somehow never gets mentioned as a wasteful government program, even though it is the most expensive, most wasteful "program" we have (I'm not saying get rid of it, but good god look at the numbers). The government cares more about bombers than schools, more about Wall Street than schools, more about getting re-elected than schools. And so too, it seems, does most everyone else.
Look at me still talking when there's science to do When I look out there it makes me glad I'm not you
David Kentley wrote:
The amounts we're talking about there are drops in the bucket of what the government spends - very largely on the military, which somehow never gets mentioned as a wasteful government program, even though it is the most expensive, most wasteful "program" we have (I'm not saying get rid of it, but good god look at the numbers).
I brought this up to a Republican coworker once... Needless to say, he was not pleased... Now he just goes on and on about entitlements. :|
The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative. -Winston Churchill America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. -Oscar Wilde Wow, even the French showed a little more spine than that before they got their sh*t pushed in.[^] -Colin Mullikin
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So poor and with a hopeless future, but still deciding to breed. It is sad for the children, and yes I feel genuinely sorry for them, but I am aghast at the thoughtlessness of the parents. Why bring a child into this world for it to suffer hunger and poverty? If you cannot provide for your children why have them? It is a fact that poverty breeds poverty, you cannot breed your way out. This is the problem seen in any parts of the world where the religious nutters encourage people to breed. We should be educating the poor to limit family size, not breed themselves into starvation, and whether this is the plains of Africa, or the streets of Detroit, the principle holds true.
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^]
Dalek Dave wrote:
with a hopeless future
There's no such thing.
Dalek Dave wrote:
but still deciding to breed
Happiness is about people and having people you love and who love you; it has absolutely **** all to do with your financial situation. If the kids are happy and loved, and work together through troubles, they're better placed than a lot of smug b*st*rds who have an easy life.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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What you're saying is true, but you're missing the point. The OP is wondering how there can be such poverty and hunger in a country which can spend a TRILLION (yes, trillion) dollars on unjustified wars, and hundreds of billions more every year to maintain it's super-power status. Poor people having many children are definitely careless, but blaming them for having just 1 or 2 children because they're poor is unjustified. The government should provide at least the basic level of food and shelter for people who weren't lucky enough to get a decent education and head start in life.
Amr Abdel Majeed Software Developer
Amr Abdel Majeed wrote:
The government should provide at least the basic level of food and shelter for people who weren't lucky enough to get a decent education and head start in life.
They do, look up Section 8, food stamps, cash assistance. http://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=30371[^] Why these people aren't in the program, I do not know. I do know that these programs exist, plenty of people use them, I've seen where they live (nice places, fiancee worked at a place that rents to them), I've seen them blow foodstamp moneys on soda and chips at 1 am at a 7-11.
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There are several agencies that were created to "fix" the problem. They do not. We have people that are third and forth generation on the dole. They have kids because they get more money for each. The government builds housing for people then the people wreck it and the government rebuilds. In the thirty plus years I have been working the government as rebuilt the housing three times. I mean the raise the site and start over. Then you have the families like were presented in the documentary. If the agencies did there job, these people would have a home.
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I don't know, fifty-percent of my income goes towards taxes. Fifty! Yet I meet people everyday with no sense of tomorrow, no care what the future brings, and willing to make selfish choices instead of the right choices. There are places in America where a person can, actually, pay rent while working full-time at a fast food place. In fact, you can have two jobs! Some even have three. And they work so hard that their children are taken care of and they slowly change their lives around them and achieve the American dream. And then their are others who choice to live in an Inner City, complain about cost of living and lack of jobs, and wonder why no one has given them the dream yet. Only slightly related, but the price of freedom is letting others make poor choices. Of course, for more perspective, how many of those American children on the docu-drama were vaccinated, didn't have access to Pre-k, Free school breakfast, free school lunch, and the under 5 crowd get WIC and Food Stamps, or how many are toting tot, sized Ak 47's? Did the documentary focus on how the parents traded all the government assistance for cash to spend on other things or just polite close-ups of an adult crying with an impassioned speech about how hard it is? I'm not a cold heartless S.O.B. but too many people just plain out lie for me to believe or have sympathy for anything I see on T.V.
Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost "All users always want Excel" --Ennis Lynch
Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
Did the documentary focus on how the parents traded all the government assistance for cash to spend on other things or just polite close-ups of an adult crying with an impassioned speech about how hard it is?
I'm not a cold heartless S.O.B. but too many people just plain out lie for me to believe or have sympathy for anything I see on T.V.Thank you. I have witnessed this first hand. I have been at the local grocery, on many occasions, a "needy" person has tried to sell me food stamps to pay for my food (they get cash). It seems like now the government cuts out the middleman and gives cash assistance: I was in a 7-11 at 1am on the first of the month after a comedy show. A couple rolled into the place, grabbed about 5 2 liters and 5 bags of chips. They were completely stoned. They payed with an ilink card (government cash assistance). When they left, the clerk said, "Guess how much they had on the card? $1000. They waited until after midnight to get the munchies. Why the fuck should I even show up to work here when I see that all day?"
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PHS241 wrote:
What I found startling was that this could happen in the world's so-called super power and economy and millions of yanks are dependent on food banks and the number is expected to keep growing.
For those of you who don't live here let me let you in on some secrets: * The roads are not literally paved with gold. Some of the cooler parts do have cobblestones, but they're bumpier. * Just living in a powerful country does not mean you get a lot of money by showing up. See: every other powerful country in history. * There has been a conscious effort by a very vocal minority to relax or change regulations and rearrange the tax code with the goal being to pour more money into the richest 2% of the population at the expense of everyone else. This strategy has been working since the Reagan administration, and is accelerating. * The last time we had a budget surplus - at the end of the Clinton administration 13 years ago - the government mailed checks to everyone in the country. $750 I think we got? The economy collapsed shortly thereafter, the surplus wasted on what was essentially a PR stunt. Not causation, but all part of the same bubble that EVERYONE knew was going to burst. Because they always do. See: every other economic boom in history. If you have a magic bullet to pull these poor kids out of poverty, let me know. All this talk about "we give money to other countries" blah blah blah is meaningless. The amounts we're talking about there are drops in the bucket of what the government spends - very largely on the military, which somehow never gets mentioned as a wasteful government program, even though it is the most expensive, most wasteful "program" we have (I'm not saying get rid of it, but good god look at the numbers). The government cares more about bombers than schools, more about Wall Street than schools, more about getting re-elected than schools. And so too, it seems, does most everyone else.
Look at me still talking when there's science to do When I look out there it makes me glad I'm not you
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The government outsources the housing now, they got rid of a lot of the "projects" and pay the landlords the section 8 funds directly from the government. I know people who rent to section 8.
I have nothing against the government trying to help but what I do not like is when a percentage take advantage of the helper. I would continue but that would be for the soapbox.
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I have nothing against the government trying to help but what I do not like is when a percentage take advantage of the helper. I would continue but that would be for the soapbox.
Why else would people build brand new, nice condos, in neighborhoods with horrible murder rates? They know they can get 1600 a month in rent for a 2 bedroom condo. The builders/slumlords are the ones profiting, and local government that get the property taxes essentially subsidized.
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Last night Auntie showed a documentary on Beeb 2 called America's poorest kids. It reported on the lives of three families from the perspective of the young children facing endless homelessness, poverty, and the queues for food banks. One family of three and their pet dog were moved into a motel room and they'd fill the sink with ice to keep what fresh food and milk they had reasonably fresh as there wasn't a mini fridge or anything else. Another family were sheltered in a very worn-down house and they had no furniture and the kids bunked down on the floor. What I found startling was that this could happen in the world's so-called super power and economy and millions of yanks are dependent on food banks and the number is expected to keep growing. It was absolutely heart-wrenching to watch and to see those young kids still able to laugh and play and express their hopes for the future kicked any problems I've been through way into touch. :)
If there is one thing more dangerous than getting between a bear and her cubs it's getting between my wife and her chocolate.
not so many years ago(about 6 years when it started), I lost my job in construction as a crane operator. This was when the economy first crashed. I could not find work. any work, anywhere. In two years I put in over 5000 applications and got exactly zip in response. I applied for warehouse work, sweeping the floor work, if it was any kind of monkey work I applied for it. The responses varied around, over qualified(to lift boxes), under-qualified to work in a warehouse(to lift boxes) you name it. We actually were homeless for 6 months during that time. moving from living room floor to living room floor with friends relatives and whatnot. Stay for a couple of weeks until everybody's nerves were worn out and frazzled then go to the next one. This is what drove me back to school to be a programmer in fact. I know extremely well what it feels like to have hungry children, after they have eaten the last of the food and me and mom have went without that day. I know the gut crushing despair of it all not knowing what will happen the next day. The shame of standing in food bank lines and begging for help and whatnot to make sure that my kids could eat regardless of anything else. And now, after all that, so do my kids. But they, as you mentioned, laughed through it all, kept their heads higher that I did on most days and are frankly the only thing that got me through. They are tough as nails now, and hopefully have the motivation to not wait until they are freakin 40 to do something with their lives. We did not hide to much from them during that time. They were fully aware of how bad things were. Now with only an associates degree in programming from a diploma mill, barely over two years since I graduated from it, I have been IT manager for well over a year already. I tell my story to people in hopes that somebody out there, barely holding on to that last shred of hope, not telling anybody and trying to just survive another day, can know that it is possible, it can happen. It's not promised, but possible. And my kids march to that tune every day because of that history and if it made them strong enough to face the world no matter what comes at them, then it was worth my pain. Even though things are much better now, we still struggle a little bit while trying to repair all the damage from those 3 years of total hell. (I will admit to kind of being perpetually tired though...)
Treat stressful situations like a dog, if you can't eat it, play with it or screw it, then
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Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
Did the documentary focus on how the parents traded all the government assistance for cash to spend on other things or just polite close-ups of an adult crying with an impassioned speech about how hard it is?
I'm not a cold heartless S.O.B. but too many people just plain out lie for me to believe or have sympathy for anything I see on T.V.Thank you. I have witnessed this first hand. I have been at the local grocery, on many occasions, a "needy" person has tried to sell me food stamps to pay for my food (they get cash). It seems like now the government cuts out the middleman and gives cash assistance: I was in a 7-11 at 1am on the first of the month after a comedy show. A couple rolled into the place, grabbed about 5 2 liters and 5 bags of chips. They were completely stoned. They payed with an ilink card (government cash assistance). When they left, the clerk said, "Guess how much they had on the card? $1000. They waited until after midnight to get the munchies. Why the fuck should I even show up to work here when I see that all day?"
wizardzz wrote:
I was in a 7-11 at 1am on the first of the month after a comedy show. A couple rolled into the place, grabbed about 5 2 liters and 5 bags of chips. They were completely stoned. They payed with an ilink card (government cash assistance). When they left, the clerk said, "Guess how much they had on the card? $1000. They waited until after midnight to get the munchies. Why the f*** should I even show up to work here when I see that all day?"
Been there seen that. While I buy the basics only to feed my family and work 90 hours a week to do it..A tsome point when do I just say hell with it and live on the tit like the rest? Yes I have been in the food stamp line(see below post), but the minute I could afford my own damn bills I quit applying for them. I'm not cold and heartless as I have been accused because I DO understand needing it, truly needing it. What I have issue with is these fat ***@****@* that sit around eating t-bones, have not applied for a job in 5 damn years and have no intention to do so. What is pathetic in a way, We ate better with barely any(read.. one part time minimum wage job between us) income living on foodstamps than we do now with my Salary(its not huge for this business, but I'm certainly nowhere close to minimum wage here).
Treat stressful situations like a dog, if you can't eat it, play with it or screw it, then just piss on it and walk away. Be careful which toes you step on today, they might be connected to the foot that kicks your butt tomorrow.
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Last night Auntie showed a documentary on Beeb 2 called America's poorest kids. It reported on the lives of three families from the perspective of the young children facing endless homelessness, poverty, and the queues for food banks. One family of three and their pet dog were moved into a motel room and they'd fill the sink with ice to keep what fresh food and milk they had reasonably fresh as there wasn't a mini fridge or anything else. Another family were sheltered in a very worn-down house and they had no furniture and the kids bunked down on the floor. What I found startling was that this could happen in the world's so-called super power and economy and millions of yanks are dependent on food banks and the number is expected to keep growing. It was absolutely heart-wrenching to watch and to see those young kids still able to laugh and play and express their hopes for the future kicked any problems I've been through way into touch. :)
If there is one thing more dangerous than getting between a bear and her cubs it's getting between my wife and her chocolate.
What surprises me is that you are surprised ... to learn that the US is a country with great inequality in the distribution of wealth, and a great increase in the disparity of wealth distribution (in other words: more rich getting richer; more poor staying poor; less upward migration into the middle-class; more downward migration into the lower middle-class, or poverty) in the last twenty years, with many people living below poverty level, with inadequate access to health care, with (compared to many other "developed" countries in the world) a much lower-quality health system ... for those who can't afford to pay, or cannot afford high-quality health insurance), with high unemployment, particularly among the young (even among recent college graduates ... admittedly not as shockingly high a rate of youth unemployment as in many Euro countries today). I say these words neither to demonize, or deprecate, the country I was born in. It is still a place where many migrants from many countries can and do, through hard-work and sacrifice, attain themselves, or are able to enable their children to "live the American dream." It is still a place now (compared to even fifty years ago) where "official corruption" often does not intrude into the daily lives of most citizens (which I can't say about other countries I have lived in). But, it is, also, not the Disneyland image of "social equality," and "equal opportunity," that has been so effectively propagandized for countless decades. Children going hungry, and pregnant mothers not getting access to effective pre- and post- natal care, ... for certain groups ... is as American as cherry-pie, as is ... for everyone ... violence, freely available access to assault weapons, etc. But, there are "many Americas," and the reality of a big-city like Chicago is quite different from small towns, or rural farming areas. And, there are no countries in the world today not struggling with most of the same economic and social issues that the US is struggling with, with the average standard of living of many Americans quite high, with many Americans getting access to quality public education. The USA is not "Heaven," and it's not "Hell;" and it is, sometimes, indeed, Disneyland incarnated, or "corporate-occupied-mallburgerland," as I like to call it. Love it I do, understand it I do not, live there: I don't wish to, at this point in my life. yours, Bill (no longer residing in the US, but still a US citizen)
"Good p
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What surprises me is that you are surprised ... to learn that the US is a country with great inequality in the distribution of wealth, and a great increase in the disparity of wealth distribution (in other words: more rich getting richer; more poor staying poor; less upward migration into the middle-class; more downward migration into the lower middle-class, or poverty) in the last twenty years, with many people living below poverty level, with inadequate access to health care, with (compared to many other "developed" countries in the world) a much lower-quality health system ... for those who can't afford to pay, or cannot afford high-quality health insurance), with high unemployment, particularly among the young (even among recent college graduates ... admittedly not as shockingly high a rate of youth unemployment as in many Euro countries today). I say these words neither to demonize, or deprecate, the country I was born in. It is still a place where many migrants from many countries can and do, through hard-work and sacrifice, attain themselves, or are able to enable their children to "live the American dream." It is still a place now (compared to even fifty years ago) where "official corruption" often does not intrude into the daily lives of most citizens (which I can't say about other countries I have lived in). But, it is, also, not the Disneyland image of "social equality," and "equal opportunity," that has been so effectively propagandized for countless decades. Children going hungry, and pregnant mothers not getting access to effective pre- and post- natal care, ... for certain groups ... is as American as cherry-pie, as is ... for everyone ... violence, freely available access to assault weapons, etc. But, there are "many Americas," and the reality of a big-city like Chicago is quite different from small towns, or rural farming areas. And, there are no countries in the world today not struggling with most of the same economic and social issues that the US is struggling with, with the average standard of living of many Americans quite high, with many Americans getting access to quality public education. The USA is not "Heaven," and it's not "Hell;" and it is, sometimes, indeed, Disneyland incarnated, or "corporate-occupied-mallburgerland," as I like to call it. Love it I do, understand it I do not, live there: I don't wish to, at this point in my life. yours, Bill (no longer residing in the US, but still a US citizen)
"Good p
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What you're saying is true, but you're missing the point. The OP is wondering how there can be such poverty and hunger in a country which can spend a TRILLION (yes, trillion) dollars on unjustified wars, and hundreds of billions more every year to maintain it's super-power status. Poor people having many children are definitely careless, but blaming them for having just 1 or 2 children because they're poor is unjustified. The government should provide at least the basic level of food and shelter for people who weren't lucky enough to get a decent education and head start in life.
Amr Abdel Majeed Software Developer
Amr Abdel Majeed wrote:
but blaming them for having just 1 or 2 children because they're poor is unjustified
No it isn't. They chose to do that. They chose to have them. They chose to keep them. Those are both choices in the US.
Amr Abdel Majeed wrote:
The government should provide at least the basic level of food and shelter for people who weren't lucky enough to get a decent education and head start in life.
The US Constitution says nothing about that. Citizens are allowed to pursue happiness but there is no mandated guarantee that they will obtain it. And it isn't incumbent on the government to insure that they even strive for happiness. That is up to each citizen. What is guaranteed is that the government won't put unnecessary roadblocks in their way while they attempt to achieve it.
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The thing I didn't mention was while poverty of that nature is to be found in every country, no matter how rich it might be, it was the scale of it in the US that surprised me. Perhaps every family in the world should be means tested? Then, if a family has a high risk of unemployment or whose income falls below a certain threshold then all women in the family group should be sterilised thus preventing further breeding. In a few generations only multi-millionaries would be left. I see a flaw; who'd then pick their crops, clear their garbage, clean their blocked sewers, recycle their tin cans, clean their Ferrari and Rolls-Royces? :rolleyes:
If there is one thing more dangerous than getting between a bear and her cubs it's getting between my wife and her chocolate.
PHS241 wrote:
it was the scale of it in the US that surprised me.
Where "scale" means what exactly? The 'representative' sample from the original post noted that the people had food and housing. Conversely, there are many people living in "poverty" in the US who have their own housing, have food, have cable TV, have a car and have enough money to entertain themselves. Which would be vastly different that those that live in poverty in other countries. Basic economics dictates that someone will ALWAYS be in poverty because regardless of what a society values there will always be some who have far less than others.
PHS241 wrote:
Then, if a family has a high risk of unemployment or whose income falls below a certain threshold then all women in the family group should be sterilised thus preventing further breeding
Excellent idea except the men should also be sterilized too. However although reducing the population of the world would solve a large number of problems, poverty is not one of them.
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Dalek Dave wrote:
or the streets of Detroit
Hey now, that's my home town you're smashing. And deservedly so. Around here, the kids are "made" for two reasons, both of which are rooted in stupid selfishness. 1) They're on welfare and having another kids raises the size of the check you get. So, once you get that check, you go blow it on drugs and cars. That's a smaller problem now that the state doesn't issue checks, but Bridge Cards. It's kind of like a debit card, but can only be used to buy certain things, like food and medicines. But, you're also not allowed to buy just food you want. It has to be on a list approved by the state of Michigan. Still, there are cracks in the system and there are plenty of people who will get around the limitations and buy anything they want with the cards, given the right person on the other side of the cash register. 2) Hump and dump. Some nieve teenage girl get played and believes every word coming out of some playas mouth. She gets pregnant and at the first mention of the "P" word, he's gone. She ends up on welfare and yet another fatherless child in the city of Detroit. It's a HUGE problem here. 70% of the kids born in Detroit are born to single mothers. In 1997, Detroit lead the nation in the percantage of kids born to single mothers. I don't know if that's still true, but we are still in the top of that list. There's a report called "Kids Count" that details all that stuff.
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Dalek Dave wrote:
with a hopeless future
There's no such thing.
Dalek Dave wrote:
but still deciding to breed
Happiness is about people and having people you love and who love you; it has absolutely **** all to do with your financial situation. If the kids are happy and loved, and work together through troubles, they're better placed than a lot of smug b*st*rds who have an easy life.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
Mark_Wallace wrote:
it has absolutely **** all to do with your financial situation.
Wrong. That is a 'Leave it to Beaver' and 'Brady Bunch" wishful thinking. The reality is that people are less than ideal. And thus they do want things. And they are disappointed when they do not have them and/or cannot give them (to those they love.) And that limitation over years and years can grind the average person down.
Mark_Wallace wrote:
If the kids are happy and loved, and work together through troubles, they're better placed than a lot of smug b*st*rds who have an easy life.
The is no guarantee that money will bring happiness. But for the average person more financial resources are more likely to lead to a happier life.
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Here's[^] a startling chart (from here). There are more people on food stamps in the US than the entire population of Argentina. Or, from this page[^]: 15 million children die of hunger each year. In this age of iPads, gigabit Internet access, YouTube, Facebook, etc., still 50% of the world lives in poverty. WTF. Marc
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We here in America seem to be able to help everyone else in the world but our own suffer and it's getting worse. The homeless, unemployed and disabled list is growing while the leader takes multi-million dollar golf trips and lavish vacations.
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Version 3.0 now available. There is no place like 127.0.0.1Mike Hankey wrote:
The homeless, unemployed and disabled list is growing
Compared to when exactly? There wasn't any homeless 50 years ago because the police would lock them up in jail, insane asylums or cart them off to the county line. Unemployment is based on various factors that vary with the economy. And there were a lot fewer disabled 50 years ago because there simply were fewer people that ended up that way (more likely to die than be fixed) and because now there are more ways to categorize people as disabled.
Mike Hankey wrote:
while the leader takes multi-million dollar golf trips and lavish vacations.
The current president is not personally that wealthy. And the "trips" are almost always state business and are not all that remarkable compared to what other world leaders do. And there isn't anything different versus what previous presidents have done.
