Many Of You Will Not Believe Some Of The Things Americans Are Doing Just To Survive

Originally posted by tem88
its nothing new there are just more people

We are pretty spoiled here in the US. It is a very small percentage of people that go hungry compared to the rest of the world. When rats, cats and dogs are scarce, then we have a big problem.

Democracy

Translation - robbing the poor to give to the rich

There are millions of Americans who can retire right now from their City, County, Municipal, School, Police, Fire Department, State, Military, Federal jobs. They have plenty of time in and can retire right now.

They won't. They are making LOTS of money. If Chicago style politics was done on them to.....convince....them to retire....there would be millions of newly employed people across America right now.

The country needs to make some changes.

reply to post by lordnightstalker


Sorry, but diet and exercise is not going to fix a child who has asthma or a person with congenital heart defects or someone with hereditary hypertension or kidney disease or diabetes. Or cancer, or cystic fibrosis or Lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. And unfortunately, the pharmaceutical companies who produce the medications to help these folks live a "normal" life charge so much for them that unless you have health insurance, the cost is daunting.

When people lose their jobs due to no fault of their own and are unable to find employment, the cost of health care is unbelievable. Our ER's are flooded every day with people who cannot afford to go the the doctor and because of the EMTALA law, they cannot be turned away and denied treatment. The hospitals end up eating the cost of their care, which puts a financial burden on them, which in turn causes those institutions to lay off massive amounts of employees, who likely end up in the same ER for treatment because now unemployed, they have no insurance, and on and on and on it goes.

Probably one of the most devastating impacts of joblessness in our country is the inability to pay for medical care. There are programs out there to help people with housing and food, but medical care? Not so much. Never mind the chubby kid having to eat a rodent...that should never be happening with all the food banks, etc. out there...but what about those kids who have serious medical issues and cannot get treatment? It is a real issue and people are actually dying because they have no access to medical treatment or don't buy their maintenance meds because their first priority is making sure their family doesn't starve because they lost their sole means of providing for them.

It would be awesome if just getting out and riding a bike or something would magically cure all illness, but it doesn't. And I find it sad that you would suggest something like that when there are millions of people out there suffering from diseases that they have through no fault of their own, unable to have the medications that would help them. It is a horrible reality, but a reality nonetheless. Brainwashing has nothing to do with it.

I know that alot of people have alot worse living conditions than me, but my situation still sucks. I make $10/hr, have no car, rent a crappy room and walk/take bus everywhere. I dont know how people survive on minimum wage or welfare. It is impossible to save money for a car when you take home $290/wk. My credit and past checking account issues are so screwed up I cant get a loan. Being a responsible adult isnt something I am good at.

reply to post by bwj2012


Well at least you are man enough to admit to your mistakes and believe me you are doing just fine young man. Just keep on working at improving your situation and learn from your past mistakes.

I wish more people were like you. This is a very important topic because most of us are just a few paychecks away from the same fate. The "American Dream" is just slavery. Trust me. I bought into it for my whole life. Once you think you have achieved the dream you find yourself a slave to the banks. The poverty stricken people who are eating garbage werent always there. I mean unless you are born into poverty It was just a generation or so back our families were living the dream. Now the collapse of the economy we face could put us ALL in the same situation.

Yes, I'm quoting myself - because the following video interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson, explains this even better...

Originally posted by SquirrelNutz
Yes, this is sad. S & F for raising awareness.

And, yes, we need to do something about the disparity in wealth in this country.

Top 1% own 50% of this (used to be great) country's wealth. Bottom 50% have 2%.
[Read that, again (let it sink in)]

Keep in mind folks, this is all a result of another big wig agenda: the systematic dumbing down of America(ns).

All of this is a indicator (and result) of this fact:
- a generation ago, the U.S. was #1 in college graduates, today we are 16th.

(to all the people in the 'you don't need a piece of paper to be educated/intelligent' camp - I agree with you. But, it IS an indicator, overall)

- and, it's not a matter of just dropping, we have flatlined, letting 15 other countries, pass us by.
- there are 2 million jobs out there that cannot be filled because people don't have the educated workforce
- our consumption of goods and services knows no bounds, but our ability to actually produce anything (cheaply) is gone
- 2.5 MIlLLION students are dropping out if high school every year. (there are only so many Wendy's jobs)

Am I saying all poor people are stupid? Of course not. But, we have created a society (and, monetary system - but, that's a whole other can o worms) that cannot possibly continue to exist in its current form(s).

We could educate our way out of this #ty economy, of we wanted to, but we're hamstrung.

The only reason we are still 'the greatest (read, 'wealthiest') nation on the planet' is because we have the baddest ass, and most sophisticated military on the planet - we have so few smart people pursuing higher education (in terms of the sciences(!)), that ALL of our smart kids are lured straight into the military - why? So we can continue to be the bully on the playground, and play that card until we no longer can!

Sad, but it is what it is.

Sorry. Rambling.

Here is the FoxBusiness news link to the video - less than 4-1/2 minutes.

He gets to the meat of the problem at the 3:30mark: The Costs of cutting NASA's budget.

Originally posted by SquirrelNutz
Yes, I'm quoting myself - because the following video interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson, explains this even better...

Originally posted by SquirrelNutz
Yes, this is sad. S & F for raising awareness.

And, yes, we need to do something about the disparity in wealth in this country.

Top 1% own 50% of this (used to be great) country's wealth. Bottom 50% have 2%.
[Read that, again (let it sink in)]

Keep in mind folks, this is all a result of another big wig agenda: the systematic dumbing down of America(ns).

All of this is a indicator (and result) of this fact:
- a generation ago, the U.S. was #1 in college graduates, today we are 16th.

(to all the people in the 'you don't need a piece of paper to be educated/intelligent' camp - I agree with you. But, it IS an indicator, overall)

- and, it's not a matter of just dropping, we have flatlined, letting 15 other countries, pass us by.
- there are 2 million jobs out there that cannot be filled because people don't have the educated workforce
- our consumption of goods and services knows no bounds, but our ability to actually produce anything (cheaply) is gone
- 2.5 MIlLLION students are dropping out if high school every year. (there are only so many Wendy's jobs)

Am I saying all poor people are stupid? Of course not. But, we have created a society (and, monetary system - but, that's a whole other can o worms) that cannot possibly continue to exist in its current form(s).

We could educate our way out of this #ty economy, of we wanted to, but we're hamstrung.

The only reason we are still 'the greatest (read, 'wealthiest') nation on the planet' is because we have the baddest ass, and most sophisticated military on the planet - we have so few smart people pursuing higher education (in terms of the sciences(!)), that ALL of our smart kids are lured straight into the military - why? So we can continue to be the bully on the playground, and play that card until we no longer can!

Sad, but it is what it is.

Sorry. Rambling.

Here is the FoxBusiness news link to the video - less than 4-1/2 minutes.

He gets to the meat of the problem at the 3:30mark: The Costs of cutting NASA's budget.

Here is where I disagree with you. Our ability to make things CHEAP???? Huuh?

That Made in America stamp was a badge of HIGH-QUALITY not ONLY mass production!

Our quality was job #1 then we multiplied production!

Which America are you in? Are you sure it is NORTH AMERICA?

You must not be AMERICAN....just saying

reply to post by maestromason

Which America are you in? Are you sure it is NORTH AMERICA?

You must not be AMERICAN....just saying

How could you possibly come to that conclusion? I must've used 'our' & 'we' a dozen times.