"Poverty in America"... mostly rhetoric

And WHO paid to rebuild Europe after the wars? The US paid for every kind of property it destroyed, Tracks, bridges, roads, buildings, farmland, animals, EVERYTHING. We paid damages, Europe decided how to rebuild, with our dollars.
The aggressors were also charged to pay reparations.

 

They did pay much of this money back. It was also mutually beneficial for the United States. The economic prowess of the Western Europe and even the U.S. today has a lot to do with the positive work everyone did following the war. It's not fair to say that Europe "owes" the U.S. because of that.

 

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Of coarse
If you are poor in the good old USofA
You must be Fat, Black & drive a Cadillac to pick up your Welfare Check
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So - you will not be satisfied until Poverty in America matches
in every respect, the Poverty in the Third World, before you call it Poverty ?

Such myopic, self imposed, & self righteous Ignorance will Betray You

Your preconceptions are like a 'gated Community of the Mind'
Sorry Delusions, that you hope will protect you from Harsh Realities
Harsh Realities that especially NOW are taking a terrible toll
when so many are becoming jobless, disposed & marginalized

You suffer from the stereotypes you portray and
....... the self imposed IGNORANCE they project

YOU KNOW NOTHING OF POVERTY & ARE NO DOUBT, THE LAST TO PERCEIVE YOUR OWN

Evil is simply A Lack of Empathy ​

 

Please do not paint me with your 'guilt brush,' I made no claim of "owes." I simply stated that Europe rebuilt the way Europe choose to rebuild. And the money was not for America's "benefit." The money was to pay legal damage claims. That is was beneficial to the US as well as much much more beneficial to Europe, is happenstance, not part of a plan. Things like the Marshall Plan took in those ideas.

 

The "living space" referred to is not land mass, rather exisiting home units, meaning poor Americans have more square footage of inside home living space than those living in Europe.

In addition to the highlights, we also have to remember that the "poor" have both land line and cell phone service for free or nominal amounts, food, housing, educational grants unavailable to the middle classs, school breakfasts and lunches, cars in many cases, and of course TV and cable service. All too often, inner city conditions that appear run down and crime-ridden have little to do with the creature comforts listed above not being had or accessible by the "poor".

If one truly wants to see poor in the U.S., go to Appalachia and other rural depressed areas. That's poor, and very little help due to their lack of visibility among the media and politicians. Check out the film "Winter's Bone".

 

The parts where there are admittedly some marginalized folks who need help. And if they really need help, I am all for it, and we ahve more than enough.

The problem (which is somewhat suggested in the article) is that we have a lot of folks, most of them in fact, that only have themselves to blame for their position, or are simply looking for a free handout when in actuality they can work.

 

Part of the problem is that "poor people" are almost invisable.

Indeed -- America's poor can e.g. can have a roof above their heads, A/C, television, even a swimming pool!

This, of course, means nothing and is only brought up in attempt to get our eyes of the ball: structural poverty. People can be living in a motel -- and then they have TV, A/C, swimming pool, etc.

In Orange Country (!) there are app. 22,000 homeless children! This is outright unacceptable.

You Americans even need Europeans to feed the children over there, e.g. Bruno Serato.

America of today:

 

There are not 22,000 homeless children in Orange county.

 

This might come as a suprise -- but there are + 22,000 homeless children in Orange County, CA, USA for sure.

This is outright unacceptable, untolerable and barbaric according to European ethics and morals.

​

 

NO!

Poverty in America is grossly understated!

 

If you don't think the American government and American investors didn't realize the potential gain that the Marshall plan would bring the U.S. you're completely wrong. It's not coincidence that Japan and Germany morphed into economic powerhouses that traded heavily with the U.S. following WW2. The U.S. knew it couldn't buy or sell goods from a continent that was just rubble.

 

Homeless doesn't mean living in the streets in the U.S. Most of the time it means living in shelters, friends houses, cars, or hotels/motels.

 

One would have Hope

That with the known, & ever growing depth of the present Depression

And with all the Off-Shoring ,
Collapsing Economy & Irrevocable Loss of Manufacturing Jobs

People would stop blaming the Victims of Poverty
& would instead, look to the root cause of the Problem



That being –
A co-opted & corrupted Economic System built upon
.......................... the self destructive VICE of Greed
.



.

 

...

Well, IgnoranceIsBliss, that makes it just swell -- doesn't it?!

Indeed -- don't think so.

At least it provides a large pool of about 25 million young potential recruits for the US Army. The only chance for lots of them to provide social mobilty -- as you and iAwesome are good examples on the forum. But not necessarily so, 5 days ago a piece was broadcasted on the national newsbroadcast here in Belgium about the 250,000 veterans living on the streets -- especially the young ones coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Organizations expect an explosive growth of homeless people because of this group...

Segment can be watched here (mostly in English). This again is outright unacceptable! Take Danielle -- 5 years of active service in Iraq. Or James. They don't look homeless, but they are.

 

Because you can't see them?

 

Because they do not want to see Them

Yoh, our Bros. caught in Revere
May we be so bold as to disturb your BLOODY BLISS ?
http://www.gchope.org/22000-homeless-children-in-orange-county-my-day-at-one-school.html

 

Haha, you think the military recruits mostly from the homeless? The homeless problem for Vets does certainly exist. A lot of it stems from PTSD and alcohol problems. Guys do multiple deployments then come back to a country that is completely and utterly blissfully ignorant of the realities of the world that he's experienced. It's hard to go from Afghanistan to a Corporate America that is incredibly sensitive to political correctness and an American population that cares more about the mall and American idol than people dying in third world countries. A lot of guys can't make the transition and fall off the edges. From my experience it's hit or miss. Most guys will get out, go to college, and become great members of society. But a small minority will just never be able to make it.

Again, homeless doesn't mean living on the streets. Most cities have homeless shelters just for vets. There is A LOT of support out there for them. Unfortunately convincing them to use it is difficult.

 

Uhm, I never said that the military recruits from the homeless -- I said, or at least made an attempt, that those young Americans that grow up in poverty make an excellent pool of potential recruits. I think it's fair to say that, in general, rich kids don't join the military.

 

Poverty rate of those YOUNG PEOPLE with high school diplomas 6.1%
The military requires a high school diploma since it became all volunteer. There would be very, very few homeless that would qualify for enlistment.

I don't know the homeless rate, but since 93.9% of those with diplomas don't live in poverty, I doubt many, if any, are homeless.

 

By thew way, even your modern housing is smallish. Your average flats are like studio apartments here.

 

But we are comparing to all of Europe, which is smallerm but uis still a large land mass, especially with eastern europe back in the fold.

 

Make no mistake though, the UK is still an impressive ecomic and geoplitical power.

 

What a bunch of uber-liberal drivel... "whaaaah, whaaah, I'm stressed because I'm poor!"

Well, perhaps if you made better choices in life such as getting an education, avoiding meth, and avoiding ten pregnancy, maybe you would not be paying the piper now.


Because 95% of the "stress cases" have no one but themselves to blame, and it is certainly not just for me to bankroll them.

 

Right because you propogate social welfare, an unjust redistribution of earned income.

 

Write like an adult and I will read your submissions.