So is this about Kenya in crisis, or Memphis in crisis with the homeless people?

Hell, I don't know. I'm just typin'. ;)

America is a stratified society, no matter how much we try, there will always be people on the bottom.

I don't like generalizing off personal stories because it is such a small sample size that doesn't necessarily represent society as a whole. You probably could find just as many stories that go the other way.

My point in this totally off subject thread was addressing the several people who were faulting the US for having poverty, and several posts in which multiple people stated more or less "if you look at other countries their poor are better off" (in response to a post that our poor have it better off). Too hard to quote everyone verbatum. Bottom line - the US government has programs and has aid organizations. We don't have a homogenous society like Japan where families take care of their own and it would bring shame on a family to have a homeless uncle. Each developed nation government tries to cope with their unique poverty issues. Sweden is different from the UK which is different from the USA. Its inaccurate to say a government better addresses poverty when there is not a common baseline to start from and compare to. An apple tree produces more apples than a pumpkin plant produces pumpkins, but are you going to insult the pumpkin plant and imply the pumpkin plant isn't doing his job?
Personal stories are a sampling of society. Everyone has their own stories. And no ones story is worth more than the next. Something can be garnered from, learned from, everyone's unique story.

Only if the pumpkin plant is a homeless alcoholic. :lol: Just a little levity there.

No, the pumpkin plant isn't a homeless alcoholic. He's working on it, but its too cold for the pumpkins to make the pumpkin alcohol inside their shell. But the apple tree keeps trying to walk to the bus stop to hitch a ride to New York (he heard all about the bright lights in the Big Apple). However, his roots just won't let go! lol
Ok, I'm not the best joke maker ever born...

You did a fine job! It's been great talking to you.

Thanks!
Well, the latest news headline from MSNBC is "Protesters riot after Kenya cabinet announcement"
Looks like the violence will continue there.

Ok, back on topic now everyone...

Fuck Kenya.

Did you think it was going to suddenly stop for some reason?
Please enlighten us.

Yes. To be fair though, I will stick out my neck and say that "the bottom" is found in every country of the world - not only America. But, from your earlier post on the relativity of what constitutes "poverty" (in various societies), I think you will agree with me that the important factor is not so much that there exists a "bottom" but at what standard of living do these "bottom people" find themselves. ie. are they destitute or are they millionaires living in a country of multi-millonaires?

I was just trying to get us back on topic... No, I didn't think it would magically stop.

If I may offer a friendly suggestion: don't worry about trying to keep "on topic". Thread drift is allowed here, and I love it. It throws up some amazing links. There's a thread about avocados in which we ended up discussing drinking bhong water and the nature of Aliantha's arse. :lol:

Yes, there is a "bottom" in every society except for true far left societies, none of which exist today or for the past 300-400 years. But when it comes to it, I would rather have a lower standard of living for the lower class but a greater opportunity for class movement than a higher standard of living with very little opportunity for class movement. The United States does allow for class movement, but it is limited by social factors and education standards. In both poor white and black schools, they expectancy of moving on too college is extremely low, along with very badly funded and run schools, so it is much harder for someone in the lower class to move up than in a place where lower class public education is closer in quality to middle and upper class public education.

But going to the standard of living for the "bottom" in the United States, we do have many people living at third world standards. A lot of the people on American Indian reservations have no running water, no electricity, and live in broken trailers. So even though the majority of the poor are better off than many parts of the world, there are still a few that live in absolutely horrible living conditions. But this is caused by a combination of corruption in both the "white" and Indian power class, neither care about the average person on the reservations.

Hmmmm...thanks for reminding me. :rolleyes: