daredtowork
daredtowork's JournalPWN GOP Program Cuts with Mincome
Remember the idea of instantly eliminating poverty, hunger, homelessness, etc. through Mincome:
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/msnbcs-krystal-ball-we-could-eliminate-poverty-with-a-mincome/
Guess what else that would eliminate:
- The stress (and perhaps mental illness) and physical illness induced by poverty and the monstrous, absurd, and often contradictory bureaucracies surrounding that.
- The costs and frauds of the middlemen of all the programs targeted to specific needs and all their specific "means-testing" and all their specific fraud investigators and all their separate opportunities for bureaucratic waste and graft. There would be no more "disability", "welfare", "unemployment", etc. - just how much is your current livelihood, and is that adequate? This would even replace roome/board for college.
- The restoration of dignity for thousands, if not millions, of people who would be endowed with autonomy and freedom of choice.
- A renaissance in rural America where the value of Mincome would be higher than a survival amount in urban areas.
- Congressional appropriation, debate, and thus grandstanding hijinks would be simplified and reduced a great deal.
- Policing and accountability would be reduced to who is a US citizen and eligible to receive Mincome.
If we don't want to see children go hungry, if we don't want to see homeless families, then we should literally put our money where are mouth is. Why are we giving $6000 every year to our Oligarch Overlords when we could be setting up a Mincome instead?
Well we all secretly know the reason: racism. White southerners vote against "redistribution" because they think it means urban blacks will get away with not working and brown "immigrants" will invade for the free money and obliterate the lily white race in a "genocide". This is the "truth" (or the truthiness) that gets suppress by the pressures of political correctness, and in a way it's unfortunate because it comes back to haunt us when the truthers vote our Oligarchic Overlords into political power.
There has to be a way to break this cycle, or at least break the boil and let the pus run out on this ugly suppressed conversation that has been inflaming political and economic inequality through the refusal of "redistribution" for decades now. This conversation is what blocks the idea of Mincome.
My other thought in terms of funding it is that the Mincome that goes to the wealthy would be 100% recoverable back into the general fund through terms of taxation.
For years the GOP have been terrorizing the poor with cuts that threaten them with homelessness and starvation at every turn. This one move - the Mincome - would PWN all those petty, cruel GOP moves that have gone before.
Welfare: Being Investigated by "Program Integrity Division" (CA)
I couple of weeks ago I attempted to bring up a rather paranoia-inducing problem during Oakland's "Moving Toward Change and Crafting Solutions" Town Hall. I wanted to use that unique opportunity to address two rows of State and local political representatives to let them in know - in front of public "interested party" witnesses - that Social Services has been frightening everyone on General Assistance welfare by telling them that they were being surveilled by investigators, and this would involve interviewing their neighbors, etc.
If you think that was just an idle threat to keep people on welfare "scared straight", I've already received my letter. Perhaps it has something to do with me publicly pointing out that $336/month that goes directly to your landlord with no direct cash for basic necessities raises the question of A) where are you going to get a place that cheap and, B) how are you going to get basic necessities? (click my sig for details) This is especially a dire problem for people caught in the eternal application for SSI process.
How much do you suppose these Investigators make? Around $60k/year? And their job is to intimidate and terrorize people who literally aren't allowed to have money for basic necessities.
The Social Services supplicants were not even allowed to interact with their caseworker directly to ask questions or make personal appeals. They could only turn in their documents - and some vague threats were issued regarding documents that were imperfect or incomplete. The only phone number for the caseworker that people receive goes to an automated phone tree. When I received my acknowledgment letters, they indicated the exact same problems as last year: Social Services had no medical paperwork on file for me (how did they lose this two years in a row?) so they were threatening some rollback to 2012 unless I scramble to obtain whatever they need. It's always something, and the stress and time-consuming legwork is always shifted to the poor person.
Well I've been dealing with this crap for years, I'll deal with this. I just have to wonder if the social contradiction of this policy, attempting to "save" money by paying Investigators to drive people who are on the edge over the edge, isn't a basic ingredient in the current social unrest in Oakland.
Two rows of local and State politicians could have heard this at the Oakland Town Hall, and Keith Carson, the county Supervisor in charge of Social Services, saw me and cut my voice off.
(x-posted from CA group: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10408831)
Being Investigated By Program Integrity Division
I couple of weeks ago I attempted to bring up a rather paranoia-inducing problem during Oakland's "Moving Toward Change and Crafting Solutions" Town Hall. I wanted to use that unique opportunity to address two rows of State and local political representatives to let them in know - in front of public "interested party" witnesses - that Social Services has been frightening everyone on General Assistance welfare by telling them that they were being surveilled by investigators, and this would involve interviewing their neighbors, etc.
If you think that was just an idle threat to keep people on welfare "scared straight", I've already received my letter. Perhaps it has something to do with me publicly pointing out that $336/month that goes directly to your landlord with no direct cash for basic necessities raises the question of A) where are you going to get a place that cheap and, B) how are you going to get basic necessities? (click my sig for details) This is especially a dire problem for people caught in the eternal application for SSI process.
How much do you suppose these Investigators make? Around $60k/year? And their job is to intimidate and terrorize people who literally aren't allowed to have money for basic necessities.
The Social Services supplicants were not even allowed to interact with their caseworker directly to ask questions or make personal appeals. They could only turn in their documents - and some vague threats were issued regarding documents that were imperfect or incomplete. The only phone number for the caseworker that people receive goes to an automated phone tree. When I received my acknowledgment letters, they indicated the exact same problems as last year: Social Services had no medical paperwork on file for me (how did they lose this two years in a row?) so they were threatening some rollback to 2012 unless I scramble to obtain whatever they need. It's always something, and the stress and time-consuming legwork is always shifted to the poor person.
Well I've been dealing with this crap for years, I'll deal with this. I just have to wonder if the social contradiction of this policy, attempting to "save" money by paying Investigators to drive people who are on the edge over the edge, isn't a basic ingredient in the current social unrest in Oakland.
Two rows of local and State politicians could have heard this at the Oakland Town Hall, and Keith Carson, the county Supervisor in charge of Social Services, saw me and cut my voice off.
Did We Set the Next Generation Up for Fascism?
We often cry "fascism" when we feel oppressed by an evil policy, but I'm talking about fascism in terms of the total delegitimization of democratic politics, and the turn to some form of arbitrary rule dressed in sham constitutional clothing.
This article made me think:
http://www.salon.com/2015/01/12/angry_rights_secret_playbook_how_it_uses_a_good_story_to_peddle_an_agenda_america_hates/
The suggestion is that Democrats (the party) "win" by becoming more "truthy" and putting slogans and heartening stories that will grab the masses before critical thinking about the real situation. Um, heil?
But that's not the only thing that's been bothering me. Has anyone else noticed that the widespread lack of trust in the mainstream media as well as government? At this point it's almost an assumption the news is either not covering the real story or its feeding us some false story paid for by our Corporate and/or Oligarchic Overlords. This leaves room for charismatic leaders with "alternative history" narratives to creep in.
The fact Congress has been perceived as "doing nothing" for YEARS is highly problematic for democracy. I don't know about anyone else, but I personally feel that NONE of my my local political representatives do anything for me - I don't interact with them at all. I am the receptacle for their spam email shakedowns for donations - that's it. My political representatives don't bother to respond when I ask for help, and they don't conduct policies that directly help people in my situation. They may in fact be potential enemies, depending on whose interests they actually serve. By the way, they are all Democrats.
When it looks like the political process does "nothing", it becomes logical to think about ways around it. Some of this emerged during the Berkeley protests. Some (supposedly "fringe"
groups vandalized property as their way of refusing capitalism. Some protesters wanted to "overthrow" a democratically elected city Mayor. Protesters all over the country have a switched from teach-ins to marketing training: they are capturing hashtags and doing symbolic die-ins. This is all about capturing "hearts and minds", but does it ultimately lead to engagement with the political process and running the country?
Finally, there is Obama. He's finally taken the stage and being the President we've waited for all these years. I'm all for free Community College, and I hope that's not the only thing he has up his sleeve. But it worries me that he essentially waited until after all the "Congress crap" was over to go into the action. The message he is sending is the President had to go around Congress because Congress just doesn't do anything and/or mucks things up - i.e. the politics gets in the way.
The democracy gets in the way.
We have taught the next generation that social change happens by media manipulation of the masses and getting around "the politics" of Congress. We have taught them that democracy gets in the way.
That's a cold, bleak wind blowing.
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