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RE: The Homeless Book Club - 3/2/2008 11:13:39 AM

Level

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Padriag
Anyway, I have company arriving, a beautiful day outside to enjoy along with what's left of my weekend. So this will probably be my last post on the topic. Thanks for an interesting thread Level... kinda gave me a chance to vent about some things that have been on my mind lately.

Thanks for your input, Padriag. I think I'll find something to get into today as well, too much time in front of the pc.

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RE: The Homeless Book Club - 3/2/2008 11:24:33 AM

Lockit

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I heartily agree with domi and Level here! We live in an instant gratification society. Fast food, not a lack of good education... but a poor educational system, poor parenting... and on and on. This is in part why I said that homelessness is not easy to define or understand. I do believe in spankings and many other things that some um's need and are not getting because they are so darned cute that parents are permissive or because of some idiot confusing abuse with parenting. It results in what Padriag has experienced in trying to find decent employee's and many other things. I was an employer and I really relate to Padriag's experiences. Sometimes you want to give people a chance and you can't. You almost have to have a no tolerance attitude.

I once took over a crew for my ex. I had to pick those guys up every morning, drag them out of bed and wait until their sluggish bodies were in the truck and ready to go. After about three mornings of this insanity, I decided I wasn't doing it anymore, I didn't care how understanding my ex was because he partied with them. I told them that if they weren'r ready the next morning when I pulled up, I was leaving, heading right to the welfare office and would find single mothers that wanted their ten dollars an hour and who wanted the work to support their families. (Ten dollars an hour was a lot of money back then.) I never had to wait again.

We have to take a tough stand on people who won't be accountable, but there are so many things in society that have brought all of this about. It is just too complicated for my brain today... but as domi says... we need to start with education... in the schools and in society in general.

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Post #: 102

RE: The Homeless Book Club - 3/2/2008 11:40:57 AM

KatyLied

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I attended a meeting last week where it was revealed that a local employer had trouble getting people to work for them. They had plenty of applicants with the necessary skill set, but the problem was in the final stages of of the pre-employment process. 7 out of every 10 potentials failed their drug screen. I was astounded by this statistic.

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Post #: 103

RE: The Homeless Book Club - 3/2/2008 1:03:45 PM

TheHeretic

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quote:

ORIGINAL: KatyLied

7 out of every 10 potentials failed their drug screen.

This is another important aspect. We drug test people before allowing them to work, but not before giving them benefits.

I think we need to be trying a wider variety of things to see what will really work. My pilot program would be at the county welfare level, imposing much tighter time restrictions and permanent termination for fraud. Recipients not able to get back off within say, 18 months, would have to either move up more quickly to the SSI permanent disability system, or drop into a greatly expanded system of funded non-governmental organizations. NGO's have the advantages of being able to place restrictions on behavior gov't cannot. I would love to see a program like Job Corps massively expanded, or better yet, 40 other programs that seek the same overall goal doing things in different ways for people with different needs and aptitude sets.

< Message edited by TheHeretic -- 3/2/2008 1:06:45 PM >

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RE: The Homeless Book Club - 3/2/2008 1:07:42 PM

Sinergy

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quote:

ORIGINAL: kittinSol

Any of us could lose everything tomorrow and become homeless.

Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt. Went from a six figure income as a computer expert to scratching a subsistence life, couch surfing, trying to get into the longshore union on $20k or less a year.

What was so amusing was most people said I would do better on unemployment, and they were probably right in a short-term sense.

Now I am back up making six figures again because I never stopped trying to get back up.

I dont care how much a person knows or how talented they are, doggedness and persistence determine success or failure.

Sinergy

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