General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat should be done for the poor?
Pope Francis tells us we need more social programs. Bernie Sanders says more wealth redistribution is the answer for the poor. Is there a better way or do they have it right?
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)And welcome to DU!
bemildred
(90,061 posts)RadiationTherapy
(5,818 posts)They are owed a great deal of slack. Slack can be provided and permitted in a variety of ways. I prefer we start with minimum housing and minimum income and see what happens.
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)Skittles
(153,160 posts)it's a matter of FAIRNESS
why do repukes scream about the minimum wage but think giving tens of millions of dollars to CEO's is just A-OK?
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)I am so damn sick of these greedy pigs pushing for more tax cuts (only for the very wealthy, of course. Not for the middle class) and whining about every little scrap thrown to the most disadvantaged in society. It's truly revolting.
Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)There will always be ill/disabled, and social programs work well for them.
But for people who are completely able to work, the crappy economy is causing life-devastating consequences, and social programs alone aren't that much of a help over the long run. They want a real life, not another social program.
And then some people end up poor because they are poor. They don't have the money for transportation to get to the job that would give them the money for transportation. We ought to have more grant programs that get people the resources to have a life.
Warpy
(111,255 posts)Increased wages mean increased demand and increased demand creates even more jobs as well as revenue for various levels of government, which then do infrastructure programs, creating more jobs.
Poor folks aren't stupid and they're not lazy and they don't need caretakers. They need jobs that pay the bills with a little left over for fun now and then.
At the same time, raise taxes on the richest--by a lot--the only way to escape them by investing in industrial infrastructure, providing seed money to bring manufacturing back to this country. The loss of so many key industries is a national security risk far greater than any imagined bogeyman from abroad.
Oh, and put the Pentagon on a diet.
Elderly and disabled people need help, as do suddenly abandoned women and children. However, anyone with the means to get off public assistance does so as quickly as possible. What everybody else needs are jobs at wages that make work worthwhile.
moosemike
(14 posts)"God helps those who help themselves". Therefore they judge who they deem worthy of receiving money. If you're rich you obviously worked for it and therefore you deserve more. If you're poor its because you're a lazy a$$ and you deserve to starve. Red state mentality.
REP
(21,691 posts)The WPA and CCC not only built parks and roads, they employed historians, researchers, archivists, artists and many others who helped preserve and restore our nation's history, along with numerous other significant projects. They provided real, meaningful work at living wages to all kinds of workers. Our infrastructure is crumbling; our parks and other community spaces need improvement; there is always a need to perserve and restore historical documents and other records; new murals need to be painted; new dances need to new feet, etc. These won't solve every problem but it would be an enormous step forward.
There will always be a certain small percentage of people who just can't manage but are legally competent. We need a system of social care support workers to help them manage their basic living expenses (and meds, if applicable) and a cash and voucher benefit to keep them housed, fed and clothed.
ruffburr
(1,190 posts)Cal Carpenter
(4,959 posts)without first asking why we have so many poor people, why this number is growing as our so-called civilization 'advances'.
The fix can't work if you don't first identify the problem...
When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist. -- Dom Helder Camara
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)Thanks!
MH1
(17,600 posts)We have a lot of social programs that are essentially inaccessible to many who need them for various reasons. Maybe someone would need a car to get to wherever they need to go to apply. Maybe they just need an understanding of the process that they don't have.
Also we need to figure out how to make nutritious food and basic health services (like dental) accessible.
It takes more than money. Throw money at someone who doesn't know any better what to do with it than get stoned, or get the crappy food that's the only thing available locally, that's all that will happen and it doesn't really help the person much in the long run. (Although it's better than throwing them in jail.)
rug
(82,333 posts)moosemike
(14 posts)....since Obamacare became law. It's hard to find full time unskilled positions.
Kingofalldems
(38,454 posts)Skittles
(153,160 posts)GET WITH THE PROGRAM, Kingofalldems!!!
Kingofalldems
(38,454 posts)Skittles
(153,160 posts)*NOT*
hunter
(38,311 posts)Affluent and wealthy people don't know shit about being poor and have no business telling the poor how they should live.
How to pay? Tax the uber-wealthy out of existence. They made this mess. They own it.
frizzled
(509 posts)Make it a criminal offense to have over a certain amount of wealth, say two million dollars.
Tax everyone at about 80% and put it into foreign aid.
Start taking over countries where we can with a view to forming world government. Yeah, it sounds a bit imperialist, but capitalism is killing people.
Throd
(7,208 posts)romanic
(2,841 posts)I have a relative who got laid off back in 2012 from her manufacturing job and now work part-time in retail. She gets food stamps to help for her child (she's a single-mother, not by choice. Her baby daddy is a fucking deadbeat loser whose in jail on child support charges - they broke up before she found out this douche had two other kids by another woman -_-) and lives in a Section 8 apartment. She hated the process of getting food stamps and hates being at the mercy of constant threats of it glitching or her food stamps getting cut; she also hates the area she lives in because it's full of crime and the regular visits from her landlord who views her openly with disdain despite the fact she keeps her apartment spotless from ceiling to floor. She goes to school full-time to become a nurse and pays for daycare in the morning and sends her son to relatives in the afternoon and is working herself to death because she doesn't want to depend on the government or social services or whatever anymore. It's a long and draining process to get these services and she hates it.
Point is, all these programs may lend a hand but it's degrading to the person who WANTS to work and make a living for themselves without feeling like they're judged for getting the help in the first place.
To help the poor, we need to stop sending our jobs overseas, stop letting China/India/whatever manufacture all of our goods and invest in manufacturing here in our country, invest more into trade schools and bring these services to high schools (especially in low-income districts), raise the minimum wage while addressing inflation, stop cutting social security, and tax the wealthy while relaxing taxes on the middle-class.