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Originally posted by SaturnFX
Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by DZAG Wright
You're right. There will still be a disparity in wealth, but perhaps the disparity will be less apparent. Ideally, I think we need as large of a middle class as possible, and historically the middle class has taken the vocational route. We need to grow the middle class and shrink the top and bottom. We need to rebuild the Bell Curve of wealth distribution.
Welcome to liberalism 101...
So, now the question is, how to do that...not sure cutting the poor off of food stamps because they have a old playstation will somehow accomplish that..however, tariffs, progressive tax rate, and other such liberal ideas at least conceptually deals with that aspect.
I totally agree that our educational system needs to be retooled and rebuilt. It isn't everyones destiny to earn a BA. As you say some are better suited for vocational routes.
Originally posted by getreadyalready
There are plenty of areas where a liberal agenda can be tweaked to satisfy the Conservatives in the population.
Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by SmArTbEaTz
I don't believe a person can maintain a household and raise a child on $22k. Kudos to you for trying. If you read my earlier story, I had to do it for awhile with 2 kids and a wife on $24k! I know it is next to impossible to do!
But by the same token, a single person making $30k is not poor. They might think they are poor, but they are not poor.
In reality, neither one should be living on their own. They should be combining resources with friends or family and raising everyone's standard of living.
Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by vkey08
Figures: it was approximately 1 out of 5 that I had that was a family just trying to keep safe from the elements, still working etc.
My capacity was in trying to employ the homeless. Offering them small huts/cabins and construction or handyman work. We would visit the homeless shelters and homeless camps and offer room and board + pay for work. It was rare for us to find people willing to work. When we did find anyone willing to work, they usually wandered off in a day or two. We had one (1) very good success story. We had a handful of temporary success stories, and we had a whole lot of frustration. Maybe I am jaded as well.
What we didn't ever see was a family, in a shelter, willing to work.
I wonder.....the working families that you saw, were they long term residents in the shelter, or was it just a few nights of transition between other arrangements? I'm sure you became intimately connected with your regular residents. Were there families that were regular residents?
Originally posted by dolphinfan
I doubt that most tax payers would consider satellite TVs and cell phones vital components of the social safety net. Most would consider food, medical care, clothes and housing a safety net.
Originally posted by haarvik
reply to post by SmArTbEaTz
Call it what you want, it's a free? country. As long as we have TV and internet that can beam to us the stories of the wealthy and affluent, there will ALWAYS be those who sit back and say "dang, I am so poor because I can't buy that". Take solace in the fact that when everything collapses, you have been trained how to survive while those in the ivory tower will fall far below you. History is full of our scenario. It never goes away, it never changes. It is an argument as old as man. There will always be poor, there will always be affluent. It is our nature to want to be equal with our peers, yet we are not created in the same way and can never be equal. It's our Achilles heel. Posting on forums and voting for who you think will distribute the wealth the best is an illusion. It never gets spread and never has.