The Crisis At Home

The Crisis At Home

counterpunch.org

36% of the homeless consist of families with kids. Almost 1.5 million American children spend part of their year without living in a home. Some find shelters; others exist in cars or abandoned vehicles and in city parks and untended green areas. Almost 7 million kids had no health coverage in 2007, the year Bush vetoed the Children’s Health Coverage bill. These kids join 47 million more Americans who have no health coverage.

The Census Bureau lists some 37 million Americans living in dire poverty, deprived of health care, shelter, and sufficient food; 12.3 percent of the population.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Boy is this ever a timely article. My guess is that these figures are quite conservative. With the housing crisis and millions of homes going into foreclosure, the crisis of homelessness is about to magnify 5 fold. 50 million people with no health coverage. Nearly 40 million living in dire poverty.

And yet here we have our treasonous gov, carrying on these profiteering wars, trying to start MORE wars--Sending billions upon billions overseas to corporate contractors and the M.I.C...

The priorities here are absolutely sickening...

Congress will soon approve another monstrously large bill to support the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and shell out some $700 billion for overall defense. Don’t most voters think that the priorities of those running the country and aspiring for office might have gone very wrong? Has the time come for the public to demonstrate in the streets, through emails and even letters, that the campaigners should stop their puerile nonsense: the poor people are in crisis that has little or nothing to do with Iraq, Iran or Islam.

counterpunch.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

Why do folks always dump on Defense spending when it comes to budget issues?

Why not pull from other programs instead? Is Defense the only part of the budget that can be cut?

Why is it that noone ever calls for cuts in any other part of the budget? Why not take money from foregin aid?

reply to post by COOL HAND

Is Defense the only part of the budget that can be cut

No. But it is the the one part of the budget that SHOULD be cut.

Maybe instead of giving billions to Pakistan so they can buy more death the US could give some aid to her own...Your tax dollars at work

Depressing, really.

The military budget takes a huge slice of spending, and is extremely wastefull, especially the procurement process.

Meanwhile, the infrastructure is falling apart, people are dying from lack of healthcare, people are being evicted from their homes, people are living on the streets, social issues are ignored, a good education is extortionate.

And the fat cats sit back, have a little giggle and another brandy and light up a big cigar whilst they plot how to manipulate the populace so they can make another billion or 2.

[edit on 14/5/2008 by budski]

[edit on 14/5/2008 by budski]

reply to post by COOL HAND


Are you kidding? They just keep asking for Billions and Billions there is nowhere else to take from....they have bled our country pretty dry (well of course except their pockets).

Regardless, I dont see the gov't doing anything about the homeless problem in this country. It's interesting that this topic was posted today because I was just talking about this earlier today. A lot of the homeless problems start at the mental health level, which brings me into health care. So this is a compound problem that won't be fixed by one thing or the other. We have to start at the source. And with the gov't dissovling the middle class that only will leave a lot of poor homeless people, so why would they want to actually fix the problem? This is what they want, right?

Originally posted by Merigold
No. But it is the the one part of the budget that SHOULD be cut.

Why should it be cut? Do you support a weakened international image, just so that we can cut defense spending to give to other programs?

Are you serious? Do you remember what happened last time we did that?

Have a look at the 2008 budget

* Mandatory spending: $1.788 trillion (+4.2%)
o $608 billion (+4.5%) - Social Security
o $386 billion (+5.2%) - Medicare
o $209 billion (+5.6%) - Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)
o $324 billion (+1.8%) - Unemployment/Welfare/Other mandatory spending
o $261 billion (+9.2%) - Interest on National Debt
* Discretionary spending: $1.114 trillion (+3.1%)
o $481.4 billion (+12.1%) - United States Department of Defense
o $145.2 billion (+45.8%) - Global War on Terror
o $69.3 billion (+0.3%) - Health and Human Services
o $56.0 billion (+0.0%) - United States Department of Education
o $39.4 billion (+18.7%) - United States Department of Veterans Affairs
o $35.2 billion (+1.4%) - US Department of Housing and Urban Development
o $35.0 billion (+22.0%) - State and Other International Programs
o $34.3 billion (+7.2%) - Department of Homeland Security
o $24.3 billion (+6.6%) - Energy
o $20.2 billion (+4.1%) - Department of Justice
o $20.2 billion (+3.1%) - Department of Agriculture
o $17.3 billion (+6.8%) - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
o $12.1 billion (+13.1%) - Department of Transportation
o $12.1 billion (+6.1%) - Department of Treasury
o $10.6 billion (+2.9%) - United States Department of the Interior
o $10.6 billion (-9.4%) - United States Department of Labor
o $51.8 billion (+9.7%) - Other On-budget Discretionary Spending
o $39.0 billion - Other Off-budget Discretionary Spending


That's 626.6 billion spent on warfare - more than 3 times that spent on childrens health.

That's a disgrace.

A few people are getting very, very rich, whilst the services which should be provided out of taxes raised are cast callously aside.

It's revolting that a country should spend so much money on war, when it has homeless people living on the streets, millions without healthcare and all shrub can think of is more guns, more bullets, more weapons of death, to pursue an "enemy" not even proven to exist.

That truly sickens me.

Originally posted by ATruGod
reply to post by COOL HAND

 

Are you kidding? They just keep asking for Billions and Billions there is nowhere else to take from....they have bled our country pretty dry (well of course except their pockets).

Yeah, well we've also spent trillions on entitlement programs, but the homeless are still there and they also keep asking for more. Ironic, but it seems to me that the homeless problem exists, in part, because of our strong defense, because having peace and stability here at home allows "marginal citizens" to survive. If times get tough or the muslims (for example) take over, the homeless would be the first to go.

[edit on 5/14/2008 by centurion1211]

Originally posted by COOL HAND

Originally posted by Merigold
No. But it is the the one part of the budget that SHOULD be cut.

Why should it be cut? Do you support a weakened international image, just so that we can cut defense spending to give to other programs?

Are you serious? Do you remember what happened last time we did that?

If you are talking about the effect of Carter's military cuts, they probably are not old enough to remember. And I'm sure their teachers are not including that in their curriculum, since it doesn't fit fit with their agenda for indoctrinating our youth.

Originally posted by budski
That's 626.6 billion spent on warfare - more than 3 times that spent on childrens health.

That is only what the government is spending on heathcare. Did you forget about insurance companies?

It's revolting that a country should spend so much money on war, when it has homeless people living on the streets, millions without healthcare and all shrub can think of is more guns, more bullets, more weapons of death, to pursue an "enemy" not even proven to exist.

Boo frickin Whoo.
There are plenty of programs out there to help folks in need. They choose to not use them for various reasons. I can't help that, can you?

Budski, are you even American?

You know. I thought everyone wanted the big bad government to butt out of our lives. However, now it seems that many want the government to butt back in and take care of each single person - money, food, home, healthcare.

I mean, really. Cant have it both ways.

And how do we determine who is REALLY needy and who is lazy and wants to live off the government? Because honestly, I see a number of families all the time who are just that - lazy and taking handouts because they can.

But for the ones who are really in dire straights: What are you all doing for all of these poor Americans? Are you taking them into your homes and helping? Are you feeding them by donating food and volunteering at shelters and food banks? Are you going thru your clothing on a weekly basis and donating all the clothing you REALLY dont need? Are you volunteering to pay for a doctor visit for some needy sick child?

Really. What are YOU doing to help your fellow citizens? Until you are willing to help out, I dont thnk you should be expecting the big bad horrible governement to help out. Because really, at the end of the day. Dont we want them out of our personal lives?


Just some food for thought.


Also, I dont want my defense to be cut. I do however, want aid to other countries to be cut. As they probably dont even appreicate it anyways.

Originally posted by greeneyedleo
You know. I thought everyone wanted the big bad government to butt out of our lives. However, now it seems that many want the government to butt back in and take care of each single person - money, food, home, healthcare.

I mean, really. Cant have it both ways.

Excellent point, and one that helps point out one of the key differences between liberals and conservatives. To most liberals (although paradoxically they love to complain about "big brother"), the government IS the answer to everyone's problems, and the more government takes on (and takes over) in our lives the better it will be. Most real conservatives and libertarians would prefer that the federal government stick to its more constitutionally defined role of looking outwards towards other countries rather than inwards towards us.

[edit on 5/14/2008 by centurion1211]

reply to post by centurion1211


Not to be egotistical, but really it is a good point. LOL

Thread after thread of bitching about the horrible government butting into our lives. The government wanting to know EVERYTHING we do 24/7. However, if we want the government to support us and take care of us (roof over our heads, jobs, food, healthcare) then we are OBVIOUSLY welcoming it into our personal lives.......quite the opposite of what people really want.

And I do don't want more government controlling my life. I will support myself and I will do whatever it takes to survive. Unfortunately, the children suffer. But really, who's fault is that? Is it really all the governments fault.

Because I can tell you this. A few families down from me it is NOT the government's fault that the parents are lazy don't take care of themselves or their children and choose to live on welfare, etc.


More personal responsibility, less government.

Nice to see the gov-guys and gals out in full force today. Too bad you guys missed the entire point.

Instead of sending untold billions overseas to keep financing the war-profiteering death machine, and the multi-billionaire corporations that are stuffing their wallets with our tax-dollars "rebuilding" the places we're demolishing, how about investing that money HERE, and setting up more opportunities for DOMESTIC jobs and businesses, and cutting back on the encouragement of sending them all overseas?

I can't believe the amount of people who still swoop in on these threads, defend everything that's going on, and pat each other on the backs and give each other high-fives to keep it going.

Unreal.

Originally posted by DimensionalDetective
Nice to see the gov-guys and gals out in full force today. Too bad you guys missed the entire point.

If anyone is missing a point here, I think it is you.

Instead of sending untold billions overseas to keep financing the war-profiteering death machine, and the multi-billionaire corporations that are stuffing their wallets with our tax-dollars "rebuilding" the places we're demolishing, how about investing that money HERE, and setting up more opportunities for DOMESTIC jobs and businesses, and cutting back on the encouragement of sending them all overseas?

That is because Americans are no longer willing to do the difficult jobs that need to get done anymore. Nowadays the cheaper labor that is available can do it for them, with less risk.

This is why unions need to go away.

reply to post by DimensionalDetective

I can't believe the amount of people who still swoop in on these threads, defend everything that's going on, and pat each other on the backs and give each other high-fives to keep it going.

Oh DD, have no fear....soon, you will have LOTS of people swooping in and patting you on your back and us few little peons will be in the minority

reply to post by DimensionalDetective


Amazing, isn't it? And what the "conservatives" here always fail to realize is that for most of the people in these dire situations, it is NOT LAZINESS. These people have jobs, sometimes 2 or 3, and still can't make ends meet. Many of them were well-off but fell into poverty when America's manufacturing sector collapsed (thanks to Big Business writing its own legislation to do away with tariffs, creating its own tax breaks and loopholes, and generally tipping the scales in its favor through campaign contributions). The housing collapse is sending more people to join them every day.

Oh, but I forget, all those lazy people already working their butts off should just go to college and take out tens of thousands in student loans they may never be able to pay back, to get degrees in fields that won't even exist in five years when a Bachelor's won't be anywhere near worth the money and effort put into earning it. And they should do it all while under constant surveillance.

The Cold Civil War is heating up, and the militant Conservatives better watch their butts. Liberals aren't all tree-huggin' free-love hippies.

Originally posted by greeneyedleo
[
Thread after thread of bitching about the horrible government butting into our lives. The government wanting to know EVERYTHING we do 24/7. However, if we want the government to support us and take care of us (roof over our heads, jobs, food, healthcare) then we are OBVIOUSLY welcoming it into our personal lives.......quite the opposite of what people really want.

And I don't want more government controlling my life. I will support myself and I will do whatever it takes to survive. Unfortunately, the children suffer. But really, who's fault is that? Is it really all the governments fault.

Because I can tell you this. A few families down from me it is NOT the government's fault that the parents are lazy don't take care of themselves or their children and choose to live on welfare, etc.

More personal responsibility, less government.

You obviously get it. God knows why most liberals from ATS'ers on up to their presidential candidates don't see their ideological oxymoron.

I mean if you let the government in close enough to manage your healthcare - whether you live or die, in effect - then what could possibly be left of importance that you don't want them to see and manage?

These folks really need to go back and read or re-read Huxley's Brave New World and see if that's really the life they want.

Here's a link if anyone wants to read an excerpt and/or purchase the book.

link

Another great avatar, IMHO.