mntleo2
mntleo2's JournalPoverty Is an Institution it is NOT a "choice"
What is an institution? It is anything that is embedded within our society that we base our laws and policies upon. Websters Dictionary defines an institution as.”… a well-established and structured pattern of behavior or of relationships that is accepted as a fundamental part of a culture, any established law or custom…” The institution of poverty feeds upon racism, sexism (including LGBTQ), classism, ageism and those with disabilities in order to keep it in place.
In spite of the terrible damage this institution causes, as did the Institution of Slavery and racism has for 100s of years, institutions remain in place because they benefit someone. It will remain in place because those in the upper classes depend on this embedded institute for their own benefit, so eradicating poverty is *not* what any upper class people could accept. Instead they like to pretend that poverty is a ”choice’” rather than accepting that fact they enjoy many benefits because poverty is embedded in our society. They prefer to think they do not benefit from an institution that is like a giant spider’s web ensnaring those in poverty while continuing to benefit those “above” them.
What the middle class does not seem to get while they enjoy their dependence on the poor is that this Poverty Institution uses the poor as “canaries in the mine” for making policy and laws. So if the upper classes ~ especially the middle class ~ ignore these laws and policies because they think it will not affect them, they do not seem to get that those same policies and laws can also be imposed on them ~ or that they can be affected and benefit off the suffocating of others.
I can name some ways that the upper classes depend upon the poor, but it would be long and wonky. Suffice it to say many industries make big money off those in poverty, whether it is because of their dependence on cheap labor, gate keeping positions for those who "serve" the poor, our taxes (the poor make the greatest sacrifice for paying taxes than any other class, paying upwards of 12-17% of their meager incomes), tax breaks for the rich who "contribute" with their donations (when actually they contribute nothing because they use mega-nonprofits as their private Cayman Islands), our prison industry, government fees and penalties, rental housing, the medical industry, the list goes on and on...
So in truth while we pretend the poor depend on the upper classes, the reality is that the upper classes depend upon the poor, the institution of poverty for their own benefit. Nobody is going to speak for the poor because if anybody with a shred of morals recognized their own dependence upon "the least among us" and the suffering that dependence causes, then they would actually have to do something about it.
My (more than) 2 cents
Love, Cat
We tried to tell them 20 years ago this would happen
...when they pushed through Welfare Reform. We knew it would lead to more poverty, not less. It is not rocket science here but the hatred for the poor was thick as mud then and still is in many places. Hate to say it but they were right here on DU screaming they shouldn't, "have to support other people's kids..."
News flash here folks about those kids: whether or not you choose to have kids, they are the ones who will pay YOUR Social Security, YOUR Medicaid, fight in YOUR wars, manage YOUR infrastructure, and take care of YOU when you are no longer able to care for yourself. Sooo these families are supposed to be "on their own" while those who "did not want to support other people's kids" feel entitled without paying to line up with their hands out demanding what they think they are entitled to without paying anything. What if these unsupported families said, "Ok you freeloaders, since you did not want to support us, we should be the only benefactors, we don't feel we should have to support those who did not support us. C'mon kids and grandkids, help me only, ~ and as for you you useless deadbeats, you are on your own sucka!"
Before Welfare Reform over 70% of people used welfare for support in order to get training and go to college (since the the other parent could or would not pay child support). Thanks to Welfare Reform they were jerked out of school and forced to find a McJob that would not even pay the rent, plunging them into lifelong poverty. 80% of those women were on welfare from fleeing domestic violence situations ~ and still are. And only 1/3 of those on welfare were and still are people of color ~ but the "face" of welfare used women of color as "demons" to stoke more hate for the poor.
Punish 'em, take way what little support they had and hit the road ~ who cares about the devastation of families, the kids who were left without a home, without decent adult guidance, the lack of decent jobs with decent wages??!! So instead they jacked up the prices for housing, while people rolled in the dough selling their high priced housing to move where the housing was cheaper ~ only to jack those prices up too. Now we have a "housing crisis" and now the prices are still not affordable for anyone.
The Clintons and their supporters cheered on idiots like Judi Gulliani who forced the poor into working for less than $.50 cents per hour"working off their welfare grants" ~ while undermining good union jobs to displace workers with livable wages in NYC (so much for feminism unless it applies to upper income women or women in other countries, forget low income women here). They gave corporations large grants and generous tax breaks for "being so nice" as to exploit these low wage workers who have been forced into lifelong poverty. With HUD money they gentrified inner city neighborhoods so that only the upper classes can afford that housing.
Now they are all surprised the the poor moved where there is more affordable housing ~ where the upper income no longer want to live because it is too far from their jobs, no decent public transportation, no jobs close by, and industry has polluted what was once pristine property.
Listen we told them, we TOLD them what was coming and they refused to listen to us. In every state we told them with little or no media support, no consideration from those in power, or few legislators who supported us (Yea Patsy Mink, RIP!). I myself stood in both US and state legislator's offices with ministers, nuns, priests, teachers, social workers, low income people, students, low income supporters, and so many others ~ but we were laughed off the stage. We were called "idealistic, unrealistic and bleeding heart libruls..."
So now Detroit and many other cites are being devastated because people are too poor to afford housing and are fleeing to the suburbs where no upper income people want to live anymore because their housing is subsidized with HUD money that should be allocated for low income housing but often is not... well surprise, surprise!
My 2 cents,
Cat in Seattle
Been there!
I am also the daughter who has seen the same disgusting crap. My mom and dad were married 42 years when she died of cancer rather suddenly (she did not know she had it until a month before she died). Dad immediately married ~ the exact year after my mother died. We wanted Dad to be happy and in spite of our doubts tried to be as nice to his wife and as supportive as possible. But things began to turn for the worse when she began to lie about us and tell people we were "crack addicts" and other various lies, eventually cutting us completely off from our dad.
Furthermore this harlot was a drunk and pretty much screwed anything that moved. She drunkenly tried to seduce my brother-in-law by rubbing his crotch and looking toward the bedroom. He said he wanted to vomit and refused. So she flew into a rage and told vile lies about him too for months, even claiming she saw him take drugs (NOT!) and that he had tried to seduce her. Besides the fact he is a decent man and would never do such a thing, if you ever saw this old hag, you would immediately know she would be the last person a younger man would want to screw.
We also discovered she had mysteriously "lost" two other husbands in sudden deaths as a "nurse" who promised to take care of these lonely old men. My daughter finally rescued her grandfather, my dad, after his wife had abandoned him to starve, freeze, and die, of course taking all my father's resources with her. He did not know she has gone and he was so scared of her he had stayed in the front room on a bare couch shivering in his underwear for days. This bitch had been withholding his medicines, she has been so psychologically abusive he was in a fetal position on the couch in tears when my daughter and her husband found him, terrified to move for fear she would scream at him unaware she has been gone for more than 2 weeks ~ to live on his dime in a luxurious senior community.
Once Dad got into a warm loving home, he began to think more clearly and filed for divorce,which freed up half of his assets so he could at least be cared for the last few months of his life. He arranged and paid for his grave site to be beside my mom with part of it. My daughter and her husband cared for him until he died ~ unfortunately before the divorce was completed. When my cousin called Wifey to tell her he had passed away she crowed triumphantly, "I got it allllll!" Meaning that she would take all his assets, much of which my mom had inherited from her relatives since the divorce was not completed before he died.
We found out later that the neighbors had called emergency over 20 times the last year of my dad's life, concerned for his safety and her abuse. Adult Protective Services did nothing. They let it happen, and never so much as contacted us, his children. Turns out all they are concerned about is institutions, so whatever horror happens in an elder's home is just fine with them. Hey they get their nice paychecks, their benefits, their retirement, who gives a flying damn about the hell and torture being inflicted on a helpless elder in their own home while being leeched of everything they earned?
APS not only did not do a single thing to help my dad, they could not even take 5 minutes to make a phone call to me his daughter who lived within 2 miles or to find out what I knew. We had been cut off from any communication for years except for a few furtive times when we called him in secret to let him know we loved him and missed him. In desperation to know how he was, we also kept in touch with relatives who were allowed to see him ~ of course because they were not a threat to Wifey's inheritance and it shut Dad up when he was lonely for his family. We knew something was wrong but whenever we had this precious stolen contact, he always put on a face that he was just fine. We found out later his brave face was because she or her son were listening in on the other line unbeknownst to us.
I am glad Mr Kasem's daughter tried to step in, this also happened in WA state to my dad. I suspect Wifey tried to get him to this state because she knew APS nor the law would not do anything to protect abused elders living in their own homes ~ and she would get all his assets, to hell with the suffering she caused just as long as she took over those bank accounts.
If I were married to a man with kids, I would *never* do this to my husband or his family because I know of the agony it causes for the loved ones and for him. I know how to be decent because I was taught the right things by decent parents, and while they also taught me not to brag about my qualities, it helps to know I am a better human being that anything those creeps have in their little finger!
Postscript: The worst thing about this was this subhuman piece of crap and her greedy lawyer went after my daughter and her husband for "wasting" my dad's money on his care ~ and won over $40,000 they were required to pay. Of course Greedy Lawyer got a fine chunk of the estate too ~ that's right I am talking about YOU Jill Bliss, you sharking piece of s**t! My daughter had lost her job because of her care for her grandfather as well as being the mother of two kids.
Even more disgusting, Nurse Ratchet even went after my dad's corpse in an attempt to prevent him from being buried where he wanted to be for eternity and would have won that too except the funeral home refused to release his body to her saying he had expressed his wishes, paid for his burial and they would honor those wishes. Oh thank you Ballard Funeral Home for letting my dad lay with my mom where we can pay our wishes and know where he is!
When Wifey died of alcoholism a few years later, her son, who participated in this abuse, inherited all my mother's assets, and as far as I am concerned they can both fry in hell. As a matter of fact I am glad I do not know where she is buried or I would ...let my imagination go as to what I would love to do to her grave ...!
My 2 cents
(still crying after a decade of mourning)
Cat in Seattle
PeePeeEss: Not one person involved with this abuse has paid a single thing, this is how we treat our elders nowadays. No police investigation, no APS investigation, not one single thing when these criminals should have been frog marched to jail. Indeed they were rewarded with all the assets of their victim in exchange for their torture of an old man who had everything taken from him, even his own family. No wonder Mrs Kasem brought Mr Kasem to WA State. These "officials" and "law" people could care less unless they fear a bad media report for a rest home with a killer nurse on their state funded staff or something. Freaking pigs!
American Safe Families Act=Destruction of Families
The ironically named American Safe Families Act (AFSA) is not "safe" for kids and it is destroying families. Here are a few facts about the ASFA law and what it's consequences:
*AFSA is mandated funding taken out of Social Security. States receive on the average of $2 Billion of federal funding solely for the taking of kids from their families
*AFSA mandates say in essence: "The more kids you take, the more money you will make. If you return these children home, you will LOSE all future and present funding..."
* The cost for taking kids from their families brings funds into DSHS state agencies between $8,000-$10,000 per month per child. It will generate even more funding if the children are deemed "disabled"
*DSHS admits that less than 15% of the kids they take are truly abused. This means that 85% of these children could stay in their homes ~ but it would cost CPS some of that $8-$10,000 to give them services costing less such as energy assistance, affordable housing, food security and medical assistance. Many of these parents are low wage workers with no sick leave or family support and they have to choose between things like taking a day off for a follow-up appointment or making the following month's rent. Clinics and hospitals receive AFSA money for reporting those who do not make those appointments as well as other "abuses".
* At this time CPS case managers and contracted agencies are given immunity even if proven they have committed perjury, intimidation, deliberately overlooked the law, or any other violation that would fine other government employees, put them in jail for up to 20 years, and may even face the death penalty according to the US code, which is above any other laws: . Title 18, U.S.C., Section 245 .
* The most expensive cases of child abuse and neglect that states have brought have been proven as shams. Even the US circuit Court said that CPS is not trustworthy because they have no one to overlook their accusations ~ except within their own internal "investigations" which in essence is the fox watching the chicken coop. McMartin Case in CA, the Massachusetts and Wenatchee Witch Hunts that occurred in the 1980s and 1990s were THE most expensive trials in the histories of their states and all were proven to be utter shams. This is because officials used quack psychological methods now called "False Memory Retrieval" as legal fact. After using kids as their guinea pigs with using them for "studies" they had used kids for years to win their case by getting kids to make false statements in court, this method has since been considered unethical...
However not one counselor, law official, judge, or case manager has faced a single consequence for these false accusations that send hundreds of children scattered, many innocents to prison and destroyed thousands of lives. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mcmartin/mcmartinaccount.html https://www.vdare.com/articles/prosecutorial-abuse-the-wenatchee-witch-hunt-unravels-further Indeed many of these prosecutors and their CPS cohorts were elevated into higher positions ~ hate to say it but some of them are Democrats and have served in positions such as university department heads, policy committees, and Attorney General after "making their bones" on these witch hunts. Here is one such Democrat: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/addiction-in-society/201001/martha-coakley-and-modern-witch-hunting-ritual-child-sexual-abuse
False Memory Retrieval has produced numerous law suits from patients who were deliberately misled into thinking their own fathers were rapists using suggestive counseling. It was was an intense and invasive practice that had children make false accusations against their families and community members. It was also used with adults who were counseled into thinking they had been raped and molested as children. This kind of coaching is still used with kids today by CPS workers who can remove a child from a classroom or go behind closed doors with no recording, and interrogate kids of any age with no independent witnesses or any way to prove their allegations that they claim a child has made. They can twist the most innocent comment into a "fact" simply by stating they "felt" that the child was in "imminent danger". Imminent Danger means that even if they didn't find any abuse or any patterns of abuse, the child may be "in danger"" in the future with only the case manager's "feelings" that abuse "could" happen. These allegations are frequently used as fact in court for quick removal of the child, often using police to do so with case manger "concerns" that can later be proven as outright lies ~ but too late to have the child returned to their homes, of course.
* Thanks to ASFA therefore for any American, the use of "imminent danger" means that, regardless of how well loved and cared for a child may be all the time they have resided with the one who love them, any of these government officials can simply state in court that they "felt" the kid COULD be abused in the future in order to remove these kids and place them elsewhere, most often with strangers.
* There is literally no oversight as to whether or not accusations of abuse and neglect are valid. Indeed a case manager can simply point their finger at someone and put the accused on state public record lists for life next to convicted child rapists and murderers without so much as a trial or any way to revoke these accusations after 20 days. The 9th Circuit Court and Supreme Court stated in their rulings with Los Angeles County vs Humphreys that they had little faith in DSHS agencies that because of the lack of external oversight, these accusations were not founded because there was no one else but DSHS themselves to ensure integrity or accuracy. Yet thousands of falsely accused are still on these lists to this day without so much as a trial and these affect background checks for employment, housing and credit with no way of revoking them. http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/09-350.pdf
* According to DSHS' own estimates, over 6000 children die yearly while in state care. Legally kidnapped kids are 5-7 X more likely to be abused, raped, molested, and neglected in foster care and adoption than if they had been left in the home. They are more likely to become homeless, go to jail, become drug and alcohol addicted, become teen parents, than if they had been left in their family homes with services costing far less. Anyone can go to an inner city place where these kids gather (most of them are from foster and adoption homes) and hear stories of abuse, rape and neglect that would curl your hair. They will tell you they tried to report their abuse to CPs but since they have been put in chosen "forever homes, or foster homes, CPS will not hear their cries for help. You might also note that, while these kids are shivering in some doorway, DSHS agencies who do not care where these kids are or what is happening to them, are STILL collecting that $8,000-$10,000 per month for that shivering, scared, abandoned foster child.
* Low income families are being targeted for taking kids instead of giving them support that costs literally 1/10th of the cost of CPS invention. Also families of Islam where their kids are placed in Christian foster homes where their children are forced to eat pork and attend church. A dear Muslim friend of mine in MI is at this time trying to change the ASFA law with her Representative (Conyers). they have introduced a bill in the US congress that is garnering over 50% support at this time. Her child was killed while in foster care and she is on a mission that she hopes will change this horrible law, not only for her, but for others who are being targeted. Here is her FB petition page: https://www.facebook.com/events/509459582487595/. I support this dear woman because I personally know of the horrible consequences and corruption that this law creates.
* Entire low income housing communities are being routinely emptied of children, documented in CA, WA, GA, PN, MI, NV, FL, and AZ. This means that every single child has been taken from their parents, especially babies since they are the most adoptable and bring in the most adoption fees. Indeed many mega-non-profits who sponsor low income housing bringing in $millions in housing funds ~ also house adoption agencies generating $millions in government funding, these adoption agencies are "conveniently" located nearby within the same agencies (cough cough while saying "YWCA, Goodwill, and - choke - Salvation Army" ). In homeless shelters CPS worker hover while looking for these children to take, having offices right in the shelters. A successfully taken child can generate up to $5000 in bonuses given to case managers as a reward for taking a child as is written and allocated in the ASFA budget. so, according to those employed with AFSA funding every single parent within those housing units are "abusive and neglectful" and any other children they may give birth to are subjected to be snatched from their mother's arms hours after birth without so much as an accusation, since they now have a legal history of "abuse and neglect". I have seen 10 couples with adoption hopes circling the hospital maternity ward while the formerly accused mother is in labor, who has no desire to give up her baby but will be forced to by the state anticipating rich rewards ~ I am *not* making this up. Oh and screw the maternal or paternal grandparents who would take the child, they are not considered worthy of taking their grandchild, especially since removing the baby would generate $50,000-100,000 adoption funding like one of those 10 couples would bring to CPS and their affiliates.
* In addition to the $2Billion of AFSA funding they are mandated to receive, most states allow CPS to also take 1/3-1/2 of the discretionary TANF (Welfare) budget meant for families needing services. They will take this funding for themselves including housing, cash assistance, child care, medical, housing and food benefits, gutting funding for family support. Then they will deny a family these benefits and can remove low income family's children for "abuse and neglect" This is because their DSHS agencies will receive literally 10 times the money for taking the children rather than the 1/10th it would cost for assisting the family. Even with drug and alcohol addictions, the amazing women at The Rebecca Project have shown a much less costly 80% long term success rate with women who have been in prison that go into in-house drug and alcohol treatment bringing their children with them who also receive counseling and support.
Taking kids from their families is not the answer. Assisting the 85% of the families who need services would, but because of AFSA this is not being done. Removing a parent's rights is like a death and IS a legal "death" for this child and their family. Never again will these kids know their grandparents, their siblings, their relatives, their parents or anything about their genealogy. In turn the birth parents and relatives are left to mourn the loss of their children for the rest of their lives.
I have more, much more that I could say, but this is long enough.
My 2 cents,
Cat in Seattle
Unpaid Work = $450 BILLION a year to replace
We first need to begin to respect and define unpaid work.
According to the AARP it would cost tax payers over $450 BILLION dollars per year if we were to replace the unpaid labor of care giving so women can go out there and make rich men richer saying, "Do you want fries with that?" You can find links and read their wonky report here: http://www.aarp.org/home-family/caregiving/info-10-2012/home-alone-family-caregivers-providing-complex-chronic-care.html
What does this replacement of this unpaid mean, you might ask? Well this is the labor (mostly) women have to do to take care of their children, their elders, and their spouses unpaid and without any consideration for the contributions they make to their communities.
How does this unpaid work contribute to my community or to me, you might ask? Well YOU would be expected to pay that $1/2 Trillion yearly more to build, maintain, and staff facilities in order for someone abandoning their loved ones in order to work for a wage.
(Mostly)women LOSE almost $400,000 over a work lifetime due to this labor according to the AARP and other labor studies.
Social Security calls those years of unpaid care giving "zero years" for the 3 to 5 times in their lifetime (mostly) women make the agonizing decision whether to care for a loved one or work for a wage. This means women who choose to care for this loved one will not be eligible for any pension or Social Security benefits.
If women choose this unpaid labor in order to care for their loved ones, they are most often forced to live off the income of the loved one for the 24/7 unpaid labor that gives them zero benefits such as sick leave, vacation, unemployment benefits, medical benefits or retirement. If they were compensated with a wage according to labor and this AARP study, she would be paid upwards of $137,000 per year for the various tasks she performs such as chauffeuring, cooking, house work, nursing,childcare, elder care, physical therapy, household shopping, and various other tasks that would cost far more of they were sourced out.
Welfare insists that women go back to work when their infant is 3 months old. For a women with a newborn to work for a wage at their McJob, she will make at most $1000 per month while the cost to taxpayers is over $2000 per month for infant daycare alone. Other Over 70% of the McJobs they are forced to work are off hours, evenings, weekends and the like when childcare is nonexistent and if it does exist (my city has ONE off hour daycare at this time) it costs much more. Additional daycare for older potty trained kids can cost from $500-1000 per child per month, also tax paid. For the paid worker, this does not include all the other extra costs they may need such as transportation to work, career clothing, etc. At this time taxpayers subsidize much of this while the McJob yields less than $1000 per month, in essence subsidizing corporations over $4000 more per month so they can pay this McWage.
In contrast if these women were given financial support in order to care for their loved ones, it would cost about $1200 per month, and this includes housing assistance, medical for herself and her kids, and food assistance. If her loved one is an elder or spouse who needs assistance so she can work for a wage, facilities costs could soar to upwards of $8000 per month.
The point is that we seem to "forget" all this unpaid labor that is saving us $Trillions and yet is often not even considered "work". If we were smart, which most of us are not if we do not see this work as worthy, we would realize we would not be burdened with these corporate subsidies, it cost less that 1/5th of what we are paying now to support unpaid labor and give far more stability to families.
My 2 cents (and I have more stats and information)
Cat in Seattle
Board member of P.O.W.E.R http://www.mamapower.org
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