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aimeecc · 01-08-2008, 09:09 AM

Are the poor better off or are the poor hidden?
Even in areas of high unemployment, you can gaurentee McDonald's is highering. Although minimum wage isn't enough to 'make it on your own' (nor is it intended to), there's always a way to make money. My brother supported his family working at Taco Bell taking every single shift offered to him and working his way up to management when he and his wife were first married and they had their 1st son, all on a GED. They lived in a cramped one bedroom apartment on the bad side of town, but guess what, they made it. They didn't starve, they had a roof over their head and clothes on their back. Today they have 2 pre-teens, my brother has a decent paying job in construction, and his wife is able to home school their kids (not because they're right wing, but because the older boy was asked not to return to school... a fight after the teacher called him stupid in front of the class for being a slow reader).
My sister was a single mom and used welfare and student aid so she could get training in radiology. Although not rich today by any means, she has a job that allows her and her daughter to live in a modest 2 bedroom home, and to have some of the 'necessities' for a teenager (x-box, ipod, cell phone).
Seeing the error in the ways of my siblings, I enlisted in the Marine Corps. Not only did the pay allow me to get a BA degree, but I also was able to get a MS. I work in policy today. My point - if you want to support your family in the USA, you'll find a way. The homeless you see on street corners are there by choice. Most can make over $100 a day at a good intersection. And the mentally ill, although sad, cannot be forced into hospitals because then were taking away their freedom.
Poverty will never be eliminated. But the governments in the UK and USA and other western states all TRY. By varying degrees, and differing programs, but the fact is every developed nation has programs to address the poor and homeless. What works in one nation will not always work in another. You cannot compare two nations just because they are both "developed". Japan has a lower homeless rate because it would bring shame on a family for one of their family members to be homeless. They take care of family. The same is true in most developed nations that have a homogeneous population. In a melting pot like the USA, where family ties are much weaker and there is no societal pressure to 'take care' of family, and families are often quite physically distant, you do not have the family support, of lets say, Japan or Norway or Sweden. Its easier for a government to take care of the poor when the families pick up most of the burden.

01-08-2008, 09:09 AM	#87
aimeecc Super Intendent Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 249	Are the poor better off or are the poor hidden? Even in areas of high unemployment, you can gaurentee McDonald's is highering. Although minimum wage isn't enough to 'make it on your own' (nor is it intended to), there's always a way to make money. My brother supported his family working at Taco Bell taking every single shift offered to him and working his way up to management when he and his wife were first married and they had their 1st son, all on a GED. They lived in a cramped one bedroom apartment on the bad side of town, but guess what, they made it. They didn't starve, they had a roof over their head and clothes on their back. Today they have 2 pre-teens, my brother has a decent paying job in construction, and his wife is able to home school their kids (not because they're right wing, but because the older boy was asked not to return to school... a fight after the teacher called him stupid in front of the class for being a slow reader). My sister was a single mom and used welfare and student aid so she could get training in radiology. Although not rich today by any means, she has a job that allows her and her daughter to live in a modest 2 bedroom home, and to have some of the 'necessities' for a teenager (x-box, ipod, cell phone). Seeing the error in the ways of my siblings, I enlisted in the Marine Corps. Not only did the pay allow me to get a BA degree, but I also was able to get a MS. I work in policy today. My point - if you want to support your family in the USA, you'll find a way. The homeless you see on street corners are there by choice. Most can make over $100 a day at a good intersection. And the mentally ill, although sad, cannot be forced into hospitals because then were taking away their freedom. Poverty will never be eliminated. But the governments in the UK and USA and other western states all TRY. By varying degrees, and differing programs, but the fact is every developed nation has programs to address the poor and homeless. What works in one nation will not always work in another. You cannot compare two nations just because they are both "developed". Japan has a lower homeless rate because it would bring shame on a family for one of their family members to be homeless. They take care of family. The same is true in most developed nations that have a homogeneous population. In a melting pot like the USA, where family ties are much weaker and there is no societal pressure to 'take care' of family, and families are often quite physically distant, you do not have the family support, of lets say, Japan or Norway or Sweden. Its easier for a government to take care of the poor when the families pick up most of the burden.