Text 1986, 50 rader
Skriven 2006-06-07 14:09:00 av Robert E Starr JR (2432.babylon5)
Ärende: Re: Atheists: America's m
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Josh Hill wrote:
> I for one see no reason why we couldn't reduce the poverty
> rate to zero or as near to it as we would care to come (since I don't
> believe in subsidizing the lifestyles of winos, junkies, crackheads,
> and able-bodied people who refuse to work).

If you look at the statistics, my understanding is that contrary to the
popular image of people living in poverty, the _majority_ do not stay
on public assistance longer than 3 months, are considered "white" in
their ethnicity and work full time but are having difficulties and/or
are between jobs which are usually minimum wage.

Interestingly, poverty levels are figured by calculating anticipated
cost of food that would allow a family to get 15 RDA's (I think that's
right) and multiplying that amount by 3 to get to the poverty level
(the government has determined that food is a third of a family's
expenditures.)  Unfortunately, the nutritionists who calculate the
price of foodstuffs are instructed to use the cheapest method available
to achieve the RDA's so they do not use "real" foods... they price out
flour, eggs, yeast, salt and figure out how many loaves of bread you
can bake vs. taking the actual price of a loaf of bread.  People are
talking about adjusting this tactic to include the purchase of common
"processed" foods.

I once met this little girl who was about 1 1/2 years old and her
dad... she was bawling piteously and I asked the dad if she were
alright.  He answered that she was hungry and I happened to have a
banana in my pocket so I offered it to her.  To this day I tear up when
I relive this memory... she clutched at it like a starveling and
crammed it into her mouth, swallowing each bite as quickly as she could
as if she were afraid it would disappear.  She looked up with a sad
expression on her face when she realized there was nothing left.  The
dad was working 2 part time jobs and trying to feed himself, his wife
and 2 children but was running short that week.

Though I have indeed seen abuse of the system (people on welfare
driving around in a mercedes, sporting "bling" and yakking on a cell
phone) many of the "junkies, crackheads, winos"  I have encountered do
not have the wherewithal to file the paperwork...
                                                                               
    
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