Why are the number of poor people increasing?

[glide625]

O.k., that’s not a very good title, I apologize. Please don’t take this as a “silly” question, I am an adult and life long Roman Catholic. Two weeks ago our Pastor asked us to vote on doing away with the rule our Church had in place that those who come to the pantry for food can do so only once a month. (We’ve traditionally been a rather small Parish with limited resources). He pointed out the extent to which our Parish has seemingly quadrupled in size in the last few years. At any rate, we voted down that “informal” rule and are now bringing bags of food to the church each week. (There are 52 of those weeks in a year ).

My questions are, and I’ve seen this explosion erupting over the course of the last five years in our area, where are these impoverished people coming from? How is it possible that so many can’t cope in a society where the economy has expanded over the past 12 years, in a country where practically anyone can secure some type of employment? I pray for these people daily, but I can’t begin to understand this phenomenon. They walk the streets and roads of our area, (North of Houston) like displaced people. I’ve even wondered if somehow we aren’t being scammed by slackards, but by the same token, I see young and old alike, waundering lost in the suburban sea. Is it the “drug” scene? Is there some vast, unseen reservoir of hoplessness out there?

What have you in your experience found?

 

[Charitychick]

In my limited experience, poverty is caused by divorce and single parenthood. Very few two parent families are destitute. Our parish works with homeless families, and while a few are two parent families (usually coping with an illness), most are single/divorced moms.

But, I also wonder about the number of illegal immigrants using your pantry. I have the impression that illegal immigrants are often given very low wages since they operate outside the law.

 

[pyropam]

The drugs in this country have contributed to the divorce rate. The divorce rate has contributed to poverty.

I have seen true poverty in this counrty and I was so heart broken to see it. A family not 1 mile from my nice home, I took home a little girl (one of my daughters friends) and she asked me to drop her off at the end of the road, I refused because it was raining. When we pulled up to her house, I fought to hold back tears. There were pie-pans and peices of particle board and cardboard covering holes and broken glass in her home. I found that the father was an alcoholic and the mother was not very well educated.

My grandparents lived on Social Security and SSI with a combined total income of $502 at the time of their death in 2007.
They were only given $22 per month in foodstamps. This is a shame.

At the same time, being a business woman, I have seen a great deal of laziness, cheating, lying, and theft.

I have a lot of temporary, seasonal employees due to the nature of the fireworks business. Most of these employees are the same ones over and over. For 8 months out of each year, they are not working, and return to us twice a year for two months. They are good employees, and I see laziness as the only reason that they are out of work the rest of the year.

As a society, we are often enablers. Unemployment benefits combined with reduced housing and foodstamps will cause a person to clear more money than the rest of us who are going to work and paying a baby-sitter.

I have watched women who make more money than I do, go and line up to get free food and toys. Even after I have talked to them about this, they still insist on going and say something like “Well, if we don’t get it then somebody else will, and they don’t need it either.”

Who are we to decide who does and does not receive? If we don’t know each one individually, then we cannot make the decision. So, we continue to collect food and money for these families and let God sort them out.

 

[iamscifimike]

I think too, that we are losing our middle class (the key to the success of our nation) too many people are not content with a modest living. Though the economy is growing, the strength is going to fewer people. I don’t mean to take away from the negative impact of divorce.

Aside: My wife recently was curious about divorce rates in Italy because the emphasis Italians put on food and a commitment to families sharing meals. I just saw an article on CWN discussing rising divorce rates in Europe. Italian and Irish rates were under 20 %( I guess the Irish drink together )

 

[Newbie2]

Dittos.

Also, what is the definition of “poor”? Not to minimize the problem, by any means, but “poor” in this country is doing very well by third world standards.

 

[TraditionalCath]

O.k., that’s not a very good title, I apologize. Please don’t take this as a “silly” question, I am an adult and life long Roman Catholic. Two weeks ago our Pastor asked us to vote on doing away with the rule our Church had in place that those who come to the pantry for food can do so only once a month. (We’ve traditionally been a rather small Parish with limited resources). He pointed out the extent to which our Parish has seemingly quadrupled in size in the last few years. At any rate, we voted down that “informal” rule and are now bringing bags of food to the church each week. (There are 52 of those weeks in a year ).

My questions are, and I’ve seen this explosion erupting over the course of the last five years in our area, where are these impoverished people coming from? How is it possible that so many can’t cope in a society where the economy has expanded over the past 12 years, in a country where practically anyone can secure some type of employment? I pray for these people daily, but I can’t begin to understand this phenomenon. They walk the streets and roads of our area, (North of Houston) like displaced people. I’ve even wondered if somehow we aren’t being scammed by slackards, but by the same token, I see young and old alike, waundering lost in the suburban sea. Is it the “drug” scene? Is there some vast, unseen reservoir of hoplessness out there?

What have you in your experience found?

alot unfortunately!! take a look at the post i made on my blog. it deals with this exact same issue!!! once you read it, you’ll understand that the working poor go to food banks because they cannot afford the rent where we live!!! and after you read that post, tell me, why do you think cities are in such a crisis state even when there is adequate employment such as there is in our city?

see this: divinemercyinmysoul.blogspot.com/2007/10/city-where-i-live-has-got-failing-grade.html

 

[SoCalRC]

Dittos.

Also, what is the definition of “poor”? Not to minimize the problem, by any means, but “poor” in this country is doing very well by third world standards.

Actually, no. It means children going to bed hungry and heading off to school the same way. It means doing without health care, basic dentistry, the works.

The sad truth is that poverty is principally driven by public policy. Our child poverty rates, infant mortality rates, etc. are pathetic by industrialized nation standards (the W.H.O. puts us at 37th). This is solely a matter of choice and priorities.

Just look at our history, poverty drops when we adopt policies that encourage fiscal mobility and soars when we adopt policies that encourage the concentration of wealth. In the days of westward expansion the conservative idea was to sell off land to help pay down national debt. Instead, we offered land grants and ended up generating huge amounts of wealth. Similiarly, there was a lot of screaming about the GI bill post WWII, but the mood and the gratitude of the nation won out and we launched one of the largest entitlement programs in history. In return, we essentially created a the modern middle class. Old age used to be largely synonymous with poverty prior to Social Security…

Now, compare that with a tax policy that encourages outsourcing jobs and overseas investment over domestic investement…

The ideas of blaming the poor for being poor and minimzing their plight are not new. Jesus directly addresses them both in the Gospels.

 

[dafalax]

I think that in addition to the above mentioned causes of poverty, feminism and socialism are helping contribute to a shrinking middle class. Radicalized feminism encourages divorce instead of working things out, which leads to single parent households and poverty. It also teaches society that men are not important, so it’s no longer shameful when a man isn’t responsible for his family, it’s just par for the course. A woman doesn’t need a man, and fatherhood is unimportant to a child. This encourages all those alcoholic or deadbeat fathers who always have money for cigarettes and drugs while their kids go to school hungry.
When i say socialism, i mean the social programs politicians set up to get elected because they sound good, but they actually tend to entrench people in cycles of poverty. When i was growing up, my mom had problems getting off welfare because any time she got a job that didn’t pay enough for us to live, they cut her benefits to where it didn’t pay for her to work. Eventually she enrolled in college and took the maximum amount of student loans out each semester and we lived off that.
I believe firmly that the government needs to overhaul many of its social services and eliminate some altogether. I think people need to help the poor in their own communities because when you are helping a neighbor personally, you can actually see what they need and give them a hand up, not a hand out. It’s also actual charity that way. Paying taxes to support the welfare program is not charity and it also doesn’t work. If government run programs worked, then poverty would have gone down since LBJ’s great society implementations, not up. We’ve gone the opposite direction of “ask not what your country can do for you” and it’s creating a nation of dependents primed for a socialist takeover.
I think food pantries are fine, but i think it’s better to seek out ways to help people turn their lives around. Short term solutions keep people alive, but we need to also be looking to the long term and we need to, as Christians, be doing it ourselves instead of just expecting the government to do it. Sorry to be so long winded, but if we want people helped, we need to stop doing what’s not working. The Sacred Heart League in northern Mississippi seems to be working at things like helping people start their own businesses. I don’t know much else about them, but i think similar ministries should be investigated in any area that needs it.

 

[SoCalRC]

To be fair, poverty did go down. Not just in response to LBJ’s programs, but FDRs as well.

Remember, we are talking about things like rural electrication (1936) and telecommunications infrastructure (1946). Social Security (1935) and Unemployment Insurance (1935).

There seems to be some conservative talking point that welfare systems demotivate people from improving their lot. But the standard of living that can be maintained on such programs is incredibly low compared to other industrialized nations.

The problem most likely isn’t the lifeboat, but the investment in alternatives. Post WWII, you could drop out of high school (many did) and get a factory job that paid enough to keep a family of four well above the poverty line. We have encouraged the removal of those jobs, but do little to invest in the people left behind.

Look at the military. Lower income individuals are dramatically over represented because the military offers a path of training and self improvement. But even it is a pale reflection of our post WWII GI bill. Even so, we are loath to pay them:

wcsh6.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=71741

All the evidence we have is that people will pursue options to poverty if they are available. So the problem isn’t motivation, but availability.

 

[Newbie2]

Actually, no. It means children going to bed hungry and heading off to school the same way. It means doing without health care, basic dentistry, the works.

Hmmm. In many third world countries they don’t have beds or schools, and live in areas which are rampant in diseases that we don’t have here.

So I’d have to disagree on that specific point, although I agree with you in general.

What I wonder is why, with the availability of government and private aid in this country, why any kid would have to go without food or medical care? Parents inability/apathy to seek out the help? Lack of logistical delivery services?

I hate to say it, but my wife’s aunt used to give us part of her surplus government cheese and peanut butter that they would give her, so it wouldn’t go to waste. They had so much surplus that they’d give her way more than one person could possibly eat.

Not to mention that part of the problem with medical services is that many poor use the (costwise, very expensive) emergency rooms for treatment for clinic-treatable conditions, and some routinely call 911 to get an ambulance lift to the emergency room for non-emergency conditions. Emergency rooms are required to treat them there.

But, many have little choice. Seems to me that resources would be better used with subsidized urgent care and preventive care clinics.

Methinks the bottom line is that there are plenty of resources available, but there is so much corruption, waste, and inefficiency that the people who really need assistance don’t get what they need.

 

[puzzleannie]

OP is asking about the number of persons seeking assistance at his parish food bank, and the reasons why that number is growing. He is talking about a specific area, name Houston TX, and a specific part of Houston, and about the population he, personally, and his parish have the opportunity to serve. Broad global generalizations or references to past public policy by past presidents are not going to be very relevant to his specific question.

Houston is a city like Seattle or Detroit that has a much more volatile economy than the country as a whole, where people can be doing very well even when the general economy is depressed, or where they can quickly drop to general misery even when the economy of the rest of the country is not that bad. There are economic cycles that move up and down more sharply than with the country as a whole, and where the misery of some rapidly translates into the misery of many due to the interdependence of its key and subsidiary industries. So a lot of people can drop into poverty rather quickly, and a lot can move up just as quickly.

Houston and the rest of the gulf coast is still home to a lot of hurricane refugees from Rita and Katrina who have still not found permanent employment and housing. Other cities like Beaumont are experiencing the same thing. Since the disaster has dropped off the rader, so have those still in need. It is also common in our part of Texas for those here illegally to seek assistance (reluctantly) at private rather than public institutions where inconvenient questions will not be asked.

 

[Corki]

OP is asking about the number of persons seeking assistance at his parish food bank, and the reasons why that number is growing. He is talking about a specific area, name Houston TX, and a specific part of Houston, and about the population he, personally, and his parish have the opportunity to serve. Broad global generalizations or references to past public policy by past presidents are not going to be very relevant to his specific question.

Houston is a city like Seattle or Detroit that has a much more volatile economy than the country as a whole, where people can be doing very well even when the general economy is depressed, or where they can quickly drop to general misery even when the economy of the rest of the country is not that bad. There are economic cycles that move up and down more sharply than with the country as a whole, and where the misery of some rapidly translates into the misery of many due to the interdependence of its key and subsidiary industries. So a lot of people can drop into poverty rather quickly, and a lot can move up just as quickly.

Houston and the rest of the gulf coast is still home to a lot of hurricane refugees from Rita and Katrina who have still not found permanent employment and housing. Other cities like Beaumont are experiencing the same thing. Since the disaster has dropped off the rader, so have those still in need. It is also common in our part of Texas for those here illegally to seek assistance (reluctantly) at private rather than public institutions where inconvenient questions will not be asked.

I was just about to mention Katrina. I live in another direction from Houston but the Katrina effect is still quite large. Not only are those families themselves having a hard time, in some cases, because of the public interest, they were hired into jobs that had often been held primarily by (legal and illegal) immigrant workers. While the “undocumented” workers can often get day labor jobs that pay quite a bit above minimum wage for manual labor (under-the-table and without benefits) those jobs are not accessible to workers who only speak English.

I also think that the way churches and community groups reacted to the Katrina refugees took some of the stigma from asking for assistance at food pantries and other local assistance sources. This is a good thing.

 

[jc-servant]

Don’t forget that Houston has a nice warm climate. When I was a police officer I found out that some homeless or semi-homeless people would migrate during the year. They would spend certain months farther north and then head into Texas for the winters. I say semi-homeless because a lot of people have no permanent address like an apartment or house. They live in camp grounds in tents or little trailers, etc that are not technically made for long-term living. We used to see more people using the food pantries and applying for emergency food stamps when the semi-homeless population would seasonally migrate.

I was also working in law enforcement in the 1980’s when large amounts of federal funds were cut for in-patient mental health. We had a huge uptick in the numbers of mentally ill people living on the streets in our area when we previously had very few homeless people. I have not noticed it improving since that time.

I think that many people are only one paycheck away from being on the streets or needing outside help. An unexpected illness when someone has no health insurance or ability to take medical leave can ruin the budget. I have noticed in recent years that it seems like more jobs are not offering health coverage or it is so expensive that people don’t use it.

 

[marci]

I live in west texas and I believe we have one of the highest poverty rates in the US. I believe the greatest reason for poverty in this country is the breakup of families. When women are left to raise children alone due to divorce, death, or desertion, the vast majority will end up on some form of public assistance. The reasons for poverty here are very different from third world nations.

Also, mass immigration of low skilled, poorly educated people will also increase the numbers seeking public assistance.

 

[SoCalRC]

What I wonder is why, with the availability of government and private aid in this country, why any kid would have to go without food or medical care? Parents inability/apathy to seek out the help? Lack of logistical delivery services?

Simple, we spend less on many services and waste more. The latter is easy to see. We spend dramatically more than any other industrialized nation on health care, but the WHO puts us at 37th in results. Canada, which spends dramatically less, comes in at 30th. This is even more amazing when you realize that Canada’s system is really just government provided insurance (10 small plans no less). Doctors are still in the private sector and there is no rationing or metering of care ala an HMO in the US. Just cutting out insurance company ‘for profit’ and providing some national infrastructure lets relatively small insurance pools of a few million people out perform our giant money pit on all the metrics that would seem to matter.

Our emphasis on for profit structures also shows up in other ways. It is hard to look at Katrina or Iraq and not be dumbstruck by the massive amounts of corruption and waste.

Not to mention that part of the problem with medical services is that many poor use the (costwise, very expensive) emergency rooms for treatment for clinic-treatable conditions, and some routinely call 911 to get an ambulance lift to the emergency room for non-emergency conditions. Emergency rooms are required to treat them there.

You use the option that you have. Everyone would prefer more timely, less costly, preventive care, but millions of Americans cannot afford private insurance. Back in '04 Malkin wrote a scathing piece about her own inability to afford decent private insurance. Now she is stalking a 12 year old whose family was in similiar prediciment, but utilized a government program for the kids…

Also, this again ties into our for profit mentality. In vetoing s-chip, President Bush has been countering with his own, tax credit based plan. But even conservative think tanks all note that the benefits would primarily go to people with insurance, and at least half would go to families making $75,000 a year or more. Doing basically nothing for the 47,000,000 uninsured.

Methinks the bottom line is that there are plenty of resources available, but there is so much corruption, waste, and inefficiency that the people who really need assistance don’t get what they need.

Our over reliance on the free market does result in tremendous waste, but we still spend way too little on some key areas. For example, we spend just a tiny percent of what Germany spends on job training. We have emerging job growth areas, like my aging baby boomer generation is in need of more medical technicians, but connecting the poor and unskilled to those jobs takes investment.

We also spend too little on general infrastructure. I employ several disabled individuals. They are incredibly loyal and love their jobs. But they have a horrific time simply getting to work on time because we have no serious transportation infrastructure for people who are too poor (or otherwise unable) to drive.

Which reminds me that our treatment of the mentally ill is also just appalling. We quite literally dump them on the streets. Very sad, and not something I am going to enjoy answering for when the Son of Man comes into his reign…

 

[BlestOne]

Well… if you don’t mind a few thoughts from my end…

First, the biggest rising segment of the population that is poor is single moms… from divorce! I went through this a few years ago and I am still digging myself out. Yes, I remarried 2 yrs ago, but after 7 years as a single mom… it will take alot longer.

So here is my sob story… I was too proud to get food stamps and state aid until I was desperate (divorced, then laid off 6 mos later). When I did, I also lost my license at the same time because I had to make a choice whether to pay my insurance bill or feed the kids… So after a year of not driving I was able to finally afford car insurance again… then ex had run up hospital bills and the insurance was in both our names and guess who they came to for that money? I told them to go after him, they said that since I was the primary caregiver for the kids I had to pay then sue him… I asked them how I was supposed to do that considering I couldn’t get him to pay the court ordered child support… so they took me to court… I lost and I have to pay almost $5000 before I can see a doctor in their clinics.

I got a new job… included a car and they pay for my car insurance. Great!!! Now my kids got medical cards but my food stamps stopped because I no longer qualified when I got married. Things were getting on track… trying to pay off bills until I had a miscarriage the day my new medical insurance took affect (Thank you God for waiting until then). So in one day, I pretty much hit my limit for the year… the miscarriage cost about $10,000 and the insurance company paid about $9700 of it. Around the same time, I had broken my leg, son had ankle surgery (Thank God for a medical card) and the dog got very ill and ended up in a vet hospital.

OK… so DH’s car blew the engine (5 mos later we got a recall notice) and we needed another vehicle fast… Boss talked me into not buying the van I was going to buy for $5000 and instead bought that same vehicle at auction for $3100… Wow, I saved $1900! So I had to finance it through my work (No interest) but they require full coverage insurance… very expensive!

When I registered dd for school, there was a balance due from last year and tuition went up $1000… Wow! And DS’s registration to public school… $120.

At this point, I think it will take years to pay off all the debt incurred during my single years… It wouldn’t be bad if new expenses didn’t keep cropping up, but that is life!

I don’t live extravagantly in the least… we used to cram 6 people in my little 2 bedroom house… now we have 5 since my oldest moved out. DD’s have the big bedroom… DS has the small one and DH and I sleep in the 4 seasons room… with a total sq footage of 1200.

One of our biggest expenses has been for my step dd. Mom took us to court and doubled the child support AND moved 3 1/2 hours away… and we have to pay a butt load in gas to get her and take her back! Not to mention, on those days/nights… we are pretty much forced to eat out because we will be in the car at least 3-5 hours going there and back.

Anyway… My dd is required to do community service work for her school… so she works every year on a back to school thing for poor people. The kids that are qualified get new sneakers, socks and underwear… and used other clothes. Then they get backpacks and school supplies. You cannot imagine how many of these kids show up with brand new sneakers and their moms demand to get new ones from us. One lady walked around with a bluetooth stuck in her ear talking the entire time, yet she was getting free stuff??? I can’t afford toys like that!!! Another mom insisted we give her shoes for a child that wasn’t there (we require kids to be there so we can fit the shoes) and threw a fit because we “OWED” her the shoes. Same lady got smart with my bosses wife (she organizes this event) and finally my bosses wife said… well your kids (ones that were there) don’t need shoes anyway, the ones on thier feet are brand new! These same folks are recipients of another one of the bosses wifes charities… and annual Christmas party that dd always works too… same kids, same parents… same trouble!

Does anyone here get their kid a new backpack every year? My kids get them about every 3rd or 4th year…

 

[marci]

QUOTE=SoCalRC;2834491]Simple, we spend less on many services and waste more. The latter is easy to see. We spend dramatically more than any other industrialized nation on health care, but the WHO puts us at 37th in results. Canada, which spends dramatically less, comes in at 30th.

That may be, but somehow I still feel that if I get really sick, I’ll be glad that I’m in the good ole USA.

Our emphasis on for profit structures also shows up in other ways. It is hard to look at Katrina or Iraq and not be dumbstruck by the massive amounts of corruption and waste.

Are you referring to the thousands of trailer homes provided by FEMA? Is anyone actually living in them yet, or are they still rotting in a lot somewhere?

Our over reliance on the free market does result in tremendous waste, but we still spend way too little on some key areas

.

Don’t you mean that our over reliance on government results in waste? Private does it cheaper, more efficient, and better any day of the week. Just look at our school system. How is it that private schools can do a better job of educating with fewer resources? They have half as much to spend per pupil sometimes even less and they still do a better job.

For example, we spend just a tiny percent of what Germany spends on job training. We have emerging job growth areas, like my aging baby boomer generation is in need of more medical technicians, but connecting the poor and unskilled to those jobs takes investment.

I won’t look to Europe as the model on which to structure our system of government. Unless of course I become a socialist in the near future.

We also spend too little on general infrastructure.

Have you been outside the US recently? Grant it we need to work on some bridges here and there, but try visiting Mexico, Italy, or France sometime soon. They have sewage and water issues that we haven’t even dreamed of yet. When they say not to drink the tap water, believe them.

Which reminds me that our treatment of the mentally ill is also just appalling. We quite literally dump them on the streets. Very sad, and not something I am going to enjoy answering for when the Son of Man comes into his reign…

MANY of the people on the street with mental problems are there because they want to be. When I say that I mean that the state cannot commit them to an institution unless they are found to be a serious threat. Since we don’t live in China or Soviet Russia, we can’t make them go somewhere they don’t want to go.

The US is full of the most kind, giving, compassionate people on the face of the earth. We do more charitable giving than any other nation on earth. I’m so sick of hearing about how terrible we are and how wonderful everyone else is. If that’s what everyone thinks, then maybe relocation is in order. We’re not perfect, but we are the best hope that ever was.

 

[Gingerfish]

most ppl spend alot of their money on drugs/achohol

 

[SoCalRC]

That may be, but somehow I still feel that if I get really sick, I’ll be glad that I’m in the good ole USA.

Old beliefs die hard. I definately would not want to be seriously ill and uninsured. You get dumped on skid row (see the LA Times last month).

Are you referring to the thousands of trailer homes provided by FEMA? Is anyone actually living in them yet, or are they still rotting in a lot somewhere?

Rotting, but just one example. As an ex Vietnam Medic my wife and I felt strongly about the body armor and helmet liner situation. We’ve raised and spent quite a lot, but the stories I hear and the paper purshers we have encountered just make my blood boil.

Don’t you mean that our over reliance on government results in waste? Private does it cheaper, more efficient, and better any day of the week. Just look at our school system. How is it that private schools can do a better job of educating with fewer resources? They have half as much to spend per pupil sometimes even less and they still do a better job.

Actually, we have no evidence to suggest that privatization every works. We’ve tried it with prisons, schools, you name it. The VA system had the cheapest drug costs to consumers, forcing a conversation to the private based Plan D nearly doubled costs.

Schools we privatize are a disaster. Private sector schools work because they can cherry pick. No problem students, no costly disabled students (my daughters went to Catholic schools through high school, my disabled son had to go to public schools, since Catholic schools can’t accomodate). Private shools also don’t have to have bussing, and other infrastructures.

The idea of half as much to spend is also a misnomer. If you normalize the costs (remove transportation, federally mandated IDEA for the disabled, etc.), it was actually more expensive to send my daughters to Catholic High School than is spent per similiar student at a magnet school. I believe that the tuition at their high school is now $18,000 per year, plus mandatory fund raising and volunteer hours, private book purchases, etc.

I won’t look to Europe as the model on which to structure our system of government. Unless of course I become a socialist in the near future.

Uh, OK. Still, we spend 16% of our GDP on health care. 30% of that is administration. That means that one nickle out of every dollar we generate goes to someone pushing health care paper. If you think that protects our national identity, OK. But it is killing our competitiveness in world markets. GM is the largest buyer of prescription medication on the planet, is it any wonder they can’t compete with foreign made cars when those governments can exist with a dramatically more efficent health care system and burden distribution?

The US is full of the most kind, giving, compassionate people on the face of the earth. We do more charitable giving than any other nation on earth. I’m so sick of hearing about how terrible we are and how wonderful everyone else is. If that’s what everyone thinks, then maybe relocation is in order. We’re not perfect, but we are the best hope that ever was.

Catholic giving has been in steady decline for decades. We are the wealthiest nation in the history of man and children starve to death, right here, in our own country, every day.

I’m not worried about national pride or global respect. I’m worried about the Son of Man’s reign. The Gospel tells us the standard on which we will be judged as a nation.

 

[marci]

Old beliefs die hard. I definately would not want to be seriously ill and uninsured. You get dumped on skid row (see the LA Times last month).

Is it worse than waiting months or years on a list in Canada for a transplant. Or, worse than being told your too old to receive a heart transplant in Brition?

Actually, we have no evidence to suggest that privatization every works. We’ve tried it with prisons, schools, you name it. The VA system had the cheapest drug costs to consumers, forcing a conversation to the private based Plan D nearly doubled costs.