RE: Over 35 million Americans faced hunger in 2006

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meatcleaver -> RE: Over 35 million Americans faced hunger in 2006 (11/15/2007 11:22:08 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: popeye1250 quote: ORIGINAL: pinksugarsub From the dim days of my college poli sci classes, i think You are referring to Communism, not Socialism. Remember the slogan "from each acccording to his abilities, to each according to his needs"? That's Leninist doctrine. i have several friends who are currently facing homelessness and hunger, people with skills and motivation and solid resumes who just can't find work. If 35 million people are in similar shape here, we need to address it systemically, because something isn't working properly. pinksugarsub "Political Science." Why do they still teach that in colleges/unis? "What's your major?" "Political science." "Ah, so you're going to be a waiter, eh?" In Boston kids with degrees in English work at McDonalds. Colleges are like Pubs in Boston, there's one on every corner. "So, you have a degree in political science eh?" "Yup." "Good, do you have a driver's liscense?" "Yup." "Good, then you can start out by driving that mop on the floor." Education is not job training, it is about learning to think critically and make sense of experience. This is why poverty is usually more than a lack of money. Of course the last thing politicians and people with money want is people understanding why there are so many poor and they certainly don't want poor people understanding why they are poor.

NorthernGent -> RE: Over 35 million Americans faced hunger in 2006 (11/16/2007 1:57:59 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Sanity So if you work too hard and generate too much wealth / food / housing, etc you're punished with "progressive taxes" under your system Yet anyone who says they're too sick, and wants to hang out in Mum's basement all day is rewarded That the right recipe? What am I missing. As per usual, you take the two ends of the spectrum and attempt to pass them off as the rule. You should practice what you preach in your earlier post: think this through. People are unemployed or on low income for all sorts of reasons, ranging from recovering from mental illness, to low self-esteem, to a career move, to a sub-standard education etc, but what is undeniable is that the poorest socio-economic groups in society, i.e. many of your 36 million, are not contributing to the economy. In many ways they are a drain, due to welfare, crime, drugs etc. So, you can take the short-sighted approach and see the whole thing as a natural order taking shape, or you can attempt to incentivise these people to contribute. Now, I can't believe that most people do not want to work hard and earn a living; it all depends on how you view human behaviour, of course, but I think we all share a range of emotions and our life experiences take us in different directions: we all need work for stability and well-being. It follows that a concerted effort towards helping people back into work is the first step towards a life of contributing to the economy and furthering economic growth, rather than acting as a drain. Where are the funds going to come from? No one wants to dampen enterprise. We have problems with the likes of Murdoch paying no tax on billions of pounds of profit, you have problems with corporate welfare: making sure those people pay their dues is not dampening enterprise. There's a good example in your own country of what can happen with a concerted effort towards investment in deprived areas - Durham, North Carolina. In terms of Gross Value Added, it shot up the list after a concerted effort from the private and public sectors to generate innovative business in what was a previously struggling local economy. Together, they turned the situation 'round. I'm sure you'll be able to find it on the internet somewhere.

pinkme2 -> RE: Over 35 million Americans faced hunger in 2006 (11/16/2007 9:49:28 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Level quote: The U.S. government said the number of Americans who went hungry in 2006 was held in check at 35 million people from the prior year, but food advocacy groups said on Wednesday more needs to be done. The U.S. Agriculture Department said a total of 12.65 million households were "food insecure," or 10.9 percent of U.S. homes, up from 12.59 million a year ago. The USDA defines food insecurity - its metric for measuring hunger - as having difficulty acquiring enough food for the household throughout the year. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071114/ts_nm/usa_food_hunger_dc;_ylt=ApT8a.njF3u2iddSgqNleKhg.3QA Were they dieting?

luckydog1 -> RE: Over 35 million Americans faced hunger in 2006 (11/16/2007 11:23:30 AM)
From what I have seen there is a huge correlation between severe drug/alchol abuse or Mental Illness and Hunger in America. As other people were pointing out, you have to try to starve in America. Or be the Child of a crackhead who doesn't care if you eat, have a safe place to sleep, go to school, get the local brand of SCHIP, or drown in a hurricane. And we do have to do something to help those kids, reagrdless of how we feel about the adults. The real problem is that Parents steal the aid from thier kids. Giving money to a crack addict to buy food for thier kids does not feed the kids. There is a black market for Food stamps/ electronic credits. I have been approached to buy food stamps many times, you can get a dollar of food for 30-50 cents. You can trade food from shelters for drugs/alcohol. You can rent out space in the subsidised apartment for daily drugs, and crackheads hanging out all day. And this stuff happens every day.

meatcleaver -> RE: Over 35 million Americans faced hunger in 2006 (11/17/2007 1:20:04 AM)
So all America's poor are drug addicts and nutters? Rightwingers always conveniently brush social problems that question their ideology under the carpet.

seeksfemslave -> RE: Over 35 million Americans faced hunger in 2006 (11/17/2007 1:53:05 AM)
quote: Now, I can't believe that most people do not want to work hard and earn a living. I can. It has been my experience that almost without fail those who advocate the virtues of hard work usually dont practice what they preach. I am extremely sympathetic to the undeserving poor whether their difficulties are caused by racial discrimination or lack of any appropriate skills. That is why economically I tend towards the left point of view. Unfortunately we experience in the UK the dire consequences of this with our "out of control" welfare state. Its not all bad but absolutely zillions are wasted on the irresponsible from across the social spectrum. ie from pregnant teenagers "proles" to unproductive adminstrators with useless degrees who have been taught how to "think". ie How to wangle a pseudo job at the tax payers expense.

camille65 -> RE: Over 35 million Americans faced hunger in 2006 (11/17/2007 4:11:13 AM)
I just hope, hope hope that I can get some venison from a hunter this year to supplement me. I even stop and check the state of roadkill, if it is fresh enough I'm calling the cops for a processing permit. So far none have been very fresh though.. ick. Heh.

TankII7871 -> RE: Over 35 million Americans faced hunger in 2006 (11/17/2007 5:19:06 AM)
1 question if so many people are hungry then why do i have such a hard time filling jobs that pay $50,000 + a year? Eric

meatcleaver -> RE: Over 35 million Americans faced hunger in 2006 (11/17/2007 5:21:40 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: TankII7871 1 question if so many people are hungry then why do i have such a hard time filling jobs that pay $50,000 + a year? Eric Lack of an educated poor?

Sanity -> RE: Over 35 million Americans faced hunger in 2006 (11/17/2007 6:47:09 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: meatcleaver So all America's poor are drug addicts and nutters? Rightwingers always conveniently brush social problems that question their ideology under the carpet. Left wingers always use sweeping generalizations.

Sanity -> RE: Over 35 million Americans faced hunger in 2006 (11/17/2007 7:00:06 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: camille65 I just hope, hope hope that I can get some venison from a hunter this year to supplement me. I even stop and check the state of roadkill, if it is fresh enough I'm calling the cops for a processing permit. So far none have been very fresh though.. ick. Heh. If you can skin and butcher a deer, then maybe we should talk! South of me is high desert, and the mule deer there have a bit of a sage taste to them. To the north is mountainous forest with white-tailed deer as well elk, bear, moose, upland game birds, cougars,... we might even be able to hunt wolves and grizzlies pretty soon. . I went to help a buddy roof the new shop he's building on his mountain property a couple of weeks back and I found a great new hunting area - his back yard! There are deer everywhere up that way. I've never done it, but there are special permits available to take deer right out of alfalfa fields and corn fields around the Snake river valley / Treasure valley area here too.

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