(no subject)
Hiya
Today is blog action day. The topic? Poverty. Ceser Chavez seemed like a good icon for today.
I haven't talked much about the election, or the economy, in my blog. I think most of you know where I stand on the election. So let us talk about the economy.
Our economy is rapidly going down hill. No one denies this. The rich like to blame the poor, about taking loans that they couldn't pay for. The poor like to blame the banks about giving them loans without checking. The banks like to blame everyone about trying to support the American life and giving everyone a chance at the American dream.
Bad loans were given. Bad loans were then RESOLD and when people defaulted, we started to have problems. This is a piece of what got us into this mess. Of course, rarely stated, the fact that everyone is living beyond their means, the fact that colleges are raising tuition at a rate faster than inflation and cost of living, the fact that states are cutting programs for the middle class and poor also contributed to this problem.
During the course of the election, McCain has used scared tactics about one of the 'dirty' words in politics: "Socialism".
Socialism became a dirty word because of its association with Communism. Without getting into my believes, or anything else, with regards to it, Communism is an EXTREME form of Socialism. Most Socialism is GOOD and BENEFITS everyone, except, maybe, the super rich.
Of course, during all this panic, it has rarely come up that things ARE socialist in the US. The example I like to use is the Police and Fire departments. We all pay into a common fund (see: Taxes). When we are robbed, and the police are called, it doesn't matter if we can pay or not (unless you are raped in Alaska). They do the best they can to help you. In fact, if two calls come in at the same time, one urgent and one less urgent, the ability to pay does NOT influence who they help and in what order.
In fact, on the EXTREME ends of the US wealth system, things are even more socialized. Food Stamps, which neither candidate is talking about getting rid of, are a socialism idea. There are examples for the Rich too, but I can't think of them at the moment.
Poverty in the US is a major problem that isn't going away. Unfortunately, it probably won't go away in the lifetime of any us reading this. Poverty, in the US, seems to be caused by a number of problems.
First off, if you are born into poverty, then the odds are good, you are going to wind up in poverty. Access to better schools (oh wait, there is another bastion of Socialism, the public school) is denied because the better schools are in better neighborhoods which cost more to live in. Access to health care is a joke. Therefore when people get sick, they don't go to a doctor and eventually wind up in the ER. This often leads to loss of jobs or bankruptcy because, take it from me (and I *HAVE* Heath Insurance) ER visits are expensive. Even when they are for legitimate Emergencies.
Second, there is NO incentive for those at top to help those at the bottom. Oh sure, lots of rich people will donate to causes, but ultimately? They are only hurt when people at the bottom start crawling up. They don't gain anything, and can lose some of their 'hard earned' gains. Now this isn't true across the board, but it is true enough. After all, if those at the bottom organized they could over throw the elite.
Third, the job market is a joke. No one can live on minimum wage. The IL min wage is $7.75. Assuming one works 40 hours a week, that is only $16,120 BEFORE taxes, Medicare, SSI, etc. That’s for the YEAR. Most minimum wage jobs are NOT 40 hours a week either. They are 20 or 30 hours. People can't live on that. The only jobs that are available tend to be minimum wage jobs.
So how do we fix it?
First we make sure people can eat, and are eating healthy things. How? We fix the broken Food Stamps system. At the moment, if you are poor, you can get food stamps. This is good. However, the amount of food stamps you can get depend on your income and how many people are in your house. Sometimes it is as low as $28 for a month. There is also no control over what you can and can't buy.
I think they need to take a page from WIC. First off, they need to provide nutrional counseling. The shit people buy on food stamps because 'it's free!' is amazing. Then they need to give incentive to buy healthy food. Maybe more money, or a voucher or something. At first, I had thought about restricting what could be bought, ala WIC but then I decided that would be dumb.
It also needs to be expanded. In Alaska, you can get food stamps if you make less than $50,000 a year. This isn't true anywhere else in the NATION (though Hawaii also has a similar low threshold). With the economy in the toilet, expand food stamps to cover the lower end of the middle class.
Second, fix jobs. Make the minimum wage around $10. Put in to law rules about hiring/firing/quitting. Make it easier to get Unemployment, but not so easy people can exploited it. Give benefits to companies who attempt to retain employees and who work with their employees instead of against them.
Third, the Health Care system. Stop being afraid of Socialized Medicine (we clearly aren't afraid of Socialized Banking) and just make it happen.
Fourth, make the FLMA law better and wider. Right now, the law states that if you have worked for a company for ONE YEAR, and worked 1250 hours in that year, you get 12 weeks off to care for a new baby, sick family member, etc. However, this time is UNPAID. You can't lose any health benefits, but the company can make you pay your premiums. You also can't lose your job, but if the position is eliminated, then you can.
Start by making this PAID Leave, even something like 60% pay is better than nothing, and if that's still an issue, have the government subsidies. Make it so you don't have to be there a year or have an hour requirement attached (as a note, I'm just BARELY going to make the hour requirement), but there does need to be something so you can't just show up knowing that you are a month from giving birth. Also make the leave longer. Most countries get 6 months, so bring us in line with that, even if it is like 60% pay for 12 weeks, no pay for the rest or some such.
Along the same lines, do something about sick days. If I get sick, it'd be nice to call off and know that I'm not going to lose my job. That said, I know people would abuse this too much. But it would still be nice to have some protection.
Fifth, expand Section 8. Make it so that no landlord can REFUSE a housing voucher. Then people can move, and live, where ever they want. It also means that limited housing becomes a thing of the past. That said, I would put in something like "if they would qualify in every way EXCEPT that they had a housing voucher, then you have to accept them". In other words, they have to still meet the minimum requirements to rent an apartment as any other renter, except the income.
Sixth, distribute money to schools based on population, not tax base. If you've paid attention to Chicago News, then you might know that at the start of the school year, there was a ruckus because preachers were asking parents to keep their kids home on the first day of classes to prove a point. In fact, they wanted people to enroll their kids in the Rich, Suburban Public Schools.
See, the way it works now is money is decided based on how much the local population pays in taxes. If you live in a rich area, more money goes to the local schools. If you live in a poor area, then less money does. Some of it is also dished out by government. FIX THIS. A school that only has a population of 500 kids should NOT be getting more funding then a school that has a population of 2500. Repeal "No Child Left Behind" as well.
Seventh, make PUBLIC college affordable. Either with full subsidition from the government, or where a portion of private college funds have to go to the local public school. Make it so everyone can go to college. Right now a lot of people have to trade off, and that just isn't right.
And yes, most of this will involve slightly raised taxes. But if it is raised on the RICH and kept steady on the poor and middle class, we should be able to get significant amount of funding. Plus if we stop spending trillions of dollars in Iraq, that will help as well.
I don't know if any of these will FIX the poverty issue in the US, but it'll be a start.
Later
~Shadow
Today is blog action day. The topic? Poverty. Ceser Chavez seemed like a good icon for today.
I haven't talked much about the election, or the economy, in my blog. I think most of you know where I stand on the election. So let us talk about the economy.
Our economy is rapidly going down hill. No one denies this. The rich like to blame the poor, about taking loans that they couldn't pay for. The poor like to blame the banks about giving them loans without checking. The banks like to blame everyone about trying to support the American life and giving everyone a chance at the American dream.
Bad loans were given. Bad loans were then RESOLD and when people defaulted, we started to have problems. This is a piece of what got us into this mess. Of course, rarely stated, the fact that everyone is living beyond their means, the fact that colleges are raising tuition at a rate faster than inflation and cost of living, the fact that states are cutting programs for the middle class and poor also contributed to this problem.
During the course of the election, McCain has used scared tactics about one of the 'dirty' words in politics: "Socialism".
Socialism became a dirty word because of its association with Communism. Without getting into my believes, or anything else, with regards to it, Communism is an EXTREME form of Socialism. Most Socialism is GOOD and BENEFITS everyone, except, maybe, the super rich.
Of course, during all this panic, it has rarely come up that things ARE socialist in the US. The example I like to use is the Police and Fire departments. We all pay into a common fund (see: Taxes). When we are robbed, and the police are called, it doesn't matter if we can pay or not (unless you are raped in Alaska). They do the best they can to help you. In fact, if two calls come in at the same time, one urgent and one less urgent, the ability to pay does NOT influence who they help and in what order.
In fact, on the EXTREME ends of the US wealth system, things are even more socialized. Food Stamps, which neither candidate is talking about getting rid of, are a socialism idea. There are examples for the Rich too, but I can't think of them at the moment.
Poverty in the US is a major problem that isn't going away. Unfortunately, it probably won't go away in the lifetime of any us reading this. Poverty, in the US, seems to be caused by a number of problems.
First off, if you are born into poverty, then the odds are good, you are going to wind up in poverty. Access to better schools (oh wait, there is another bastion of Socialism, the public school) is denied because the better schools are in better neighborhoods which cost more to live in. Access to health care is a joke. Therefore when people get sick, they don't go to a doctor and eventually wind up in the ER. This often leads to loss of jobs or bankruptcy because, take it from me (and I *HAVE* Heath Insurance) ER visits are expensive. Even when they are for legitimate Emergencies.
Second, there is NO incentive for those at top to help those at the bottom. Oh sure, lots of rich people will donate to causes, but ultimately? They are only hurt when people at the bottom start crawling up. They don't gain anything, and can lose some of their 'hard earned' gains. Now this isn't true across the board, but it is true enough. After all, if those at the bottom organized they could over throw the elite.
Third, the job market is a joke. No one can live on minimum wage. The IL min wage is $7.75. Assuming one works 40 hours a week, that is only $16,120 BEFORE taxes, Medicare, SSI, etc. That’s for the YEAR. Most minimum wage jobs are NOT 40 hours a week either. They are 20 or 30 hours. People can't live on that. The only jobs that are available tend to be minimum wage jobs.
So how do we fix it?
First we make sure people can eat, and are eating healthy things. How? We fix the broken Food Stamps system. At the moment, if you are poor, you can get food stamps. This is good. However, the amount of food stamps you can get depend on your income and how many people are in your house. Sometimes it is as low as $28 for a month. There is also no control over what you can and can't buy.
I think they need to take a page from WIC. First off, they need to provide nutrional counseling. The shit people buy on food stamps because 'it's free!' is amazing. Then they need to give incentive to buy healthy food. Maybe more money, or a voucher or something. At first, I had thought about restricting what could be bought, ala WIC but then I decided that would be dumb.
It also needs to be expanded. In Alaska, you can get food stamps if you make less than $50,000 a year. This isn't true anywhere else in the NATION (though Hawaii also has a similar low threshold). With the economy in the toilet, expand food stamps to cover the lower end of the middle class.
Second, fix jobs. Make the minimum wage around $10. Put in to law rules about hiring/firing/quitting. Make it easier to get Unemployment, but not so easy people can exploited it. Give benefits to companies who attempt to retain employees and who work with their employees instead of against them.
Third, the Health Care system. Stop being afraid of Socialized Medicine (we clearly aren't afraid of Socialized Banking) and just make it happen.
Fourth, make the FLMA law better and wider. Right now, the law states that if you have worked for a company for ONE YEAR, and worked 1250 hours in that year, you get 12 weeks off to care for a new baby, sick family member, etc. However, this time is UNPAID. You can't lose any health benefits, but the company can make you pay your premiums. You also can't lose your job, but if the position is eliminated, then you can.
Start by making this PAID Leave, even something like 60% pay is better than nothing, and if that's still an issue, have the government subsidies. Make it so you don't have to be there a year or have an hour requirement attached (as a note, I'm just BARELY going to make the hour requirement), but there does need to be something so you can't just show up knowing that you are a month from giving birth. Also make the leave longer. Most countries get 6 months, so bring us in line with that, even if it is like 60% pay for 12 weeks, no pay for the rest or some such.
Along the same lines, do something about sick days. If I get sick, it'd be nice to call off and know that I'm not going to lose my job. That said, I know people would abuse this too much. But it would still be nice to have some protection.
Fifth, expand Section 8. Make it so that no landlord can REFUSE a housing voucher. Then people can move, and live, where ever they want. It also means that limited housing becomes a thing of the past. That said, I would put in something like "if they would qualify in every way EXCEPT that they had a housing voucher, then you have to accept them". In other words, they have to still meet the minimum requirements to rent an apartment as any other renter, except the income.
Sixth, distribute money to schools based on population, not tax base. If you've paid attention to Chicago News, then you might know that at the start of the school year, there was a ruckus because preachers were asking parents to keep their kids home on the first day of classes to prove a point. In fact, they wanted people to enroll their kids in the Rich, Suburban Public Schools.
See, the way it works now is money is decided based on how much the local population pays in taxes. If you live in a rich area, more money goes to the local schools. If you live in a poor area, then less money does. Some of it is also dished out by government. FIX THIS. A school that only has a population of 500 kids should NOT be getting more funding then a school that has a population of 2500. Repeal "No Child Left Behind" as well.
Seventh, make PUBLIC college affordable. Either with full subsidition from the government, or where a portion of private college funds have to go to the local public school. Make it so everyone can go to college. Right now a lot of people have to trade off, and that just isn't right.
And yes, most of this will involve slightly raised taxes. But if it is raised on the RICH and kept steady on the poor and middle class, we should be able to get significant amount of funding. Plus if we stop spending trillions of dollars in Iraq, that will help as well.
I don't know if any of these will FIX the poverty issue in the US, but it'll be a start.
Later
~Shadow