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The Poor in America

Steve

Well-known member
CattleArmy
Ok so if you go with this theory then what is the answer for America's hard working poor?

there is no set solution for the working poor, ...

education..could help a few..

child care such as head start and preschool could help some...

low income housing loans would help others..

the hard part is to figure out what a person needs to get ahead,... instead of what the need to get by,... and provide help in getting to that goal.



but no matter what solution you get the poor will always be with us...

most government programs only "create" more recipients..
and some people no matter what you give them they'll be right back needing more, right after they blow the last opportunity you gave them...
 

nr

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
Well thats the reason few major charities get any bucks out of me...I'll give it to the ones used locally that I can keep my eye on-and make sure it goes where they say its going.... But I've seen too many churchs/charities are like the one your aunt was involved in- and that have "used" many an elderly person.... And by the time it was found out and I got involved the money was long gone.....

One of the biggest church/charity scams was several statewide lotteries by a gal that when we got looking into her background had about 5 convictions for prostitution (coincidence, but some were out of Minneapolis :wink: ) and a couple for fraud...Had married a very naieve, dumb, very religious farmer from a very religious community- and set up her charity....Had all kinds of church help selling her lottery tickets-several lotteries for years-problem is hundreds of thousands of tickets were sold- and the money all went into her pocket...Probably wouldn't even have ever been caught, but she got so greedy that she never awarded the Bronze Statue that was the first prize in her last lottery and someone got questioning who the winner was....

Problem I saw so many times was that if it was in the name of a Church or name of a Christian Charity so many think they can't be crooked....WRONG.....

Just like all the cheating and ripoffs Bill O'Reilly found with the all the charities and 9/11.....Someone has to keep people honest....

In cities there are many types of church-run helping groups run on a shoe string. The group we work with is made up of volunteers from about 20 local churches who have banded together to sort out the homeless problem in our town. No pay of course, we're all volunteers, and donations go to help provide survival services to the homeless or almost homeless. We have no building, just use a room in a church on Main Street. A trained social worker is present always and is a pleasure to watch since he knows how to solve many problems. It seems to be working on a very small scale open two days a week so soon we'll increase to 4 days.
 

Clarencen

Well-known member
Cal said: "Hope this doesn't turn out to be one of these cases where I try to help someone out and it turns out I wish I hadn't." From the experience that I have had I would bet 2 to 1 that it will.

Anyway after reading these posts, I don't feel like so much of a fool. A person has to give someone the benifit of the doubt. Most really do want to make things better for themselves and their kids. They need all the encouragement and hope they can get. Depression, discouragement and hopelessness destroys incentive and leads to alcholism and drug use.

Here, the breakdown of the family, alcholism and the lack of well paying jobs would be high on the list of causes. I don't see where raising the minimun wage would be much benefit here where we have a small economic base, it would just result in less jobs. Here on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, Government money far exceeds what the area can produce. Welfare pays better than working, but it is degrading.

Young Indian girls start having babies when they are about 17, sometimes younger. They may have 4 kids by the time they are 22. Often they do not know how to be a mother, because they never had a real mother. Often they have been pushed from one relative or another all their lives. Many have never finished high school because there was no one to encourage them to do so.

Many are reaching out for help, but I am not sure what would be real help, sometimes help just demands more help.
 

nr

Well-known member
Clarencen said:
... Here, the breakdown of the family, alcholism and the lack of well paying jobs would be high on the list of causes. I don't see where raising the minimun wage would be much benefit here where we have a small economic base, it would just result in less jobs. Here on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, Government money far exceeds what the area can produce. Welfare pays better than working, but it is degrading.

Young Indian girls start having babies when they are about 17, sometimes younger. They may have 4 kids by the time they are 22. Often they do not know how to be a mother, because they never had a real mother. Often they have been pushed from one relative or another all their lives. Many have never finished high school because there was no one to encourage them to do so.

Many are reaching out for help, but I am not sure what would be real help, sometimes help just demands more help.
If there were some way to break that cycle you've mentioned, Clarence, of girls having babies what a breakthrough that would be! There is a Girls' CLub in the next town to us and their mission is to help girls see their potential and open up their horizons to what they can achieve- without boys! Girls unfortunately often only see their worth through the guy their attached to.

Here again is an area the church could help by teaching the young that they were created by God for a reason, that he loves them each and their goal should be to find that path. Getting pregnant is the easy out (initially) but only leads to a deadend.

It surely would help if we could throw the sex-centered Hollywood culture into a lake of fire. On Judgement Day I do believe they'll each be shamed for all the youth they've lead astray.
 

Texan

Well-known member
Sounds as if some of you have the same problems with Indians that we have in the South with Blacks. (Obviously, some Whites and Hispanics also - but predominantly Blacks.) They have babies for a living - like it's their job - and expect the rest of us to pay for them.

Enough is enough. We can't continue to grow the welfare class like it is growing now - exponentially. Either get a job, or quit having babies. And since there's no incentive for them to do that, I would support a 'sterilization before benefits' plan.

Correct - I said sterilize them. Too drastic? Too damn bad! I'm tired of paying for the progeny of bums. And I'm gonna be even more tired of them when they get old enough to vote. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to be gone by then.
 

Clarencen

Well-known member
I don't want you to get me wrong, I am not singling out the Indian or any other race or group. The system is about the same almost anywhere. This is where I live and the problems I see. This is a low income area. To many are concentrated here on their reservation, with too little housing and few job opportunities. They are not forced to live on the reservation, although often they want it to appear that way and it can be used as an excuse. There are some who have lived of the reservation and have done fairly well but it seems that welfare is easier to obtain if they move back to the reservation.

More available homes might help, but so often the homeless are men who could or would not be able to maintain a home by themselves. These types of men move in with a willing girlfriend or stay off and on with relatives. This does not make for a good family setting.

I believe more effort should be placed on teaching family values, and I think many need more contact with people who can be models for stability. In fact, from my point of view anyway, it looks like many are reaching out for that kind of a person.
 

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