fatbrit

There's medicare/medicaid, social security and the military to choose from. They're each around the same oom, and together account for around 2/3rds of spending.

Why should the military be sacrosanct?

Giantaxe

I don't see it as being "anti-US military" to suggest that we can't afford the current level of defence spending.

Nor me. But I do have to question the priorities of this country when the military budget is seemingly untouchable whilst at the same time we are laying off, for example, tens of thousands of teachers and extending tax cuts for the highest wage earners.

Sally Redux

Why is it a great post? Keep spending on the military, no matter what the cost and who else suffers?

Anian

The big US base in Germany is mostly used as their stepping stone to the middle east. It can't just be shut down, an alternative would be needed.

To get back the intent of this thread, I was very surprised when I first came here about how many food banks there were. The very idea of people relying entirely on the goodwill of the public in order to just eat, it just sounded wrong for a developed country like the US.

cluedweasel

It will never happen, but I would like to see publicly funded elections. Sadly, it looks like things are moving in the other direction.

SDDep

No...Defense spending could certainly afford to go down...lets just not spend all the extra $$ on welfare and social programs..

Whatever happened to standing on your own feet, if you can, working, paying taxes, not living off the state, and raising your family with minimal state interference.

Sally Redux

I don't know, ask the kids on the TV programme

SDDep

I think its rare that anyone relies entirely on the goodwill of the public, by choice..

There are foodstamps, EBT cards, WIC, healthy families etc etc. Shelter and placement for the homeless and work assistance.

If you are homeless, sorry, most people will help you up and out as long as you are willing to help yourself.

SDDep

Well come on then sal, solutions?

Giantaxe

I would suggest that that is what a very overwhelming majority of people want. However, the reality of life is that crap happens to some people that is beyond their control. Additionally, children are often the innocent victims of their parents' poor life choices. In both those cases, some kind of social safety net needs to be in place. Unfortunately, it's spending on this that's getting decimated as states struggle to balance their books.

SDDep

I concur, but there is a net in most states, but you will also find that some families stay off the radar, or slip through the net...nothing unusual there...

I do feel terrible for the kids..

Mummy in the foothills

Yah cause we all know that all those kids being raised by parents in motels who used to have a decent job and a house, did it all on purpose and enjoy having the kids get on the homeless kids bus to school and living hand to mouth and fighting the cockroaches for dinner.

SDDep

So? Solutions?

Is there a homeless kids bus?

Mummy in the foothills

If you watch the clips given the OP you'd see what was being talked about.It was on 60 minutes the other night. The family that the kid get the homeless kids bus and lives in the motel seemed to be trying very hard. He did find a job at the local Uni and is working again now, but still not enough to move himself and the wife and two kids into a house or flat. Before this recession many of the motel dweller were slackers with only a few who have fallen on hard times or lost it all with medical problems etc. Now it's regular every folk who maybe don't have a degree, but were working and had their own home (owned or rented) and the kids were in school everyone doing well. This time around once they lost it all, and blew through the savings, which is need to get any government help they end up in cars/tents/or motels, or couch surfing.
There but for the grace of God go I. We should all have a little more compassion in life, you never know what is going to be around the corner.
Solutions? who knows, all I know is till there are jobs for normal people it won't improve, just get worse as they come to the end of unemployment benefits, but then they won't be counted so it'll look like the unemployment rate went down.

us4now

I feel very sorry for the young lad who had lost his scooter and his stuff when theu couldn't pay for the self-storage. Don't know why, just something about the way he said it made my heart break. When I think of my kids, if they were deprived of their PS3 etc, they would be gutted...but this young lad was just so accepting almost