Englishmum

I have to admit, I was in tears when I saw this report from the '60 Minutes' TV programme about homeless families in the Orlando area.

I honestly feel that we Brits are so fortunate in having a safety net, unlike these poor souls:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7358670n


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/...in;cbsCarousel

scrubbedexpat091

Its always sad. Its not much better in Canada, services and safety nets are minimal and can't be relied upon.

I will experience this first hand in a couple weeks, no work, no savings left and you can't stay housed, people dont think it can happen to them, but it can happen to anyone and at anytime.

Sally Redux

I agree with the comment under the item about cutting the military budget. I cannot understand why this is sacrosanct.

All the best JSmith.

Giantaxe

Nor can I understand why it's ok to extend tax cuts to the wealthiest 2% of the country at this point in time. Sometimes I feel very ill at ease in this country.

Sally Redux

Absolutely.

Derrygal

You're not alone feeling that way - I think it is appalling. The rich get richer and poor get poorer. I always make a point of watching "60 Minutes". Last night's program was heart-breaking - poor kids - one of them even mentioned she felt that she was part of the problem - if her parents didn't have her to take care of they wouldn't be so poor. It just broke my heart hearing a child talking like that. So much for the world's richest country.

Trixie_b

I recently did some child protection training here in California, and children living in a car is NOT reason for them to be removed from their parents, however, children can never be returned to a car as a home....

Lothianlad

Well, at the present time we do, but for how much longer will the State be the Great Provider here in the United Kingdom? It certainly doesn't look as if it will be anything like as socially benevolent as it has been in the past when things go a wee bit pear shaped for those in need financially.

Increasingly things will be starting to bite from this coming April and the forthcoming Budget due later this month will be a clear indication of this and future plans for economic restraint.

Already I have heard pronoucements made in the UK broadcasting media that this country will eventually become more like the USA in this regard but I hasten to add these have been confined to the bloody awful BBC, the mouthpiece of the Labour Party who, in turn, are responsible many of the causes leading up to the massive national deficit the UK has now been saddled with, not that the BBC itself would ever place any emphasis on this in the first place.

It's an absolute disgrace how shamelessly biased to the left the Beeb now is in its political reporting. It studiously avoids any such mention of any relative past culpability on the part of the Labour party in any of its programs, but what would you expect of an Organisation whose staff is recruited entirely through the medium of the Guardian newspaper and other left wing publication!

Giantaxe

Boring, predictable and irrelevant to this thread.

Trixie_b

Ever thought that it's not the BBC that are moving left, but you who's moving right?

Kaffy Mintcake

Interesting fact for you that I have not checked for accuracy. A coworker the other day told me that the top 400 people in the US earn as much as the bottom 50% of the population, combined. While I haven't verified that, I don't find it hard to believe.

cluedweasel

I know Mr. Moore may not be this most impartial of people, but this may be of interest, especially considering the top 400 figure.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michae..._b_832006.html

bevinva

There is a large population of homeless families at the resort area of Virginia Beach in the winter when motels are cheaper. They live next to prostitutes. The city decided you couldn't stay in a place for more than 30 days so people have to move around. School buses take the kids to the local school here too.

HumphreyC

I dunno - there were a few 'torpedoes of truth' in there..

State being rolled back -true

Things starting to bite -Unfortunately true - there are still something between 400,000 and 500,000 job losses still to work through the system and the economy seems to be languishing at the moment. Hopefully it will improve next quarter.

Labour responsibility for putting us in a bad spot during the financial crisis - partially true. We rescued the banks but before that the UK's structural deficit went from second best in the G7 in 2000 to the worst in 2007

BBC bias - true on occasion but not it's fault. The idea you can have an unbiased state news provider is simply mistaken.

fatbrit

Misinformation. A large proportion of the uninformed of the US (such as my FIL!) will happily tell you that military spending is only 4% or so. It is, of course, 4% of GDP, not 4% of government spending! But when you listen to the Faux voices all day, who are quite consistent with this figure, it's easy to see why they fall for it.