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Level -> RE: The Homeless Book Club (3/1/2008 5:11:30 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Padriag
Kinda gives you the warm fuzzies an all...
... but the part the got me is the ending... nobody asked for a job or anything... they just read. So while this sounds like a really nice thing, and for these bums I'm sure its a sweet deal... I have to wonder what, if anything, it is actually accomplishing. Or is it just another program that has the appearance of doing something, but little practical value.
Its a problem I'm particularly aware of right now because its one I'm directly wrestling with. I moved to a small town that has problems... drug use, prostitution, homelessness, unemployment, crime. I came here with the intention of doing something about it. Initially I felt the problem was that there weren't enough jobs. The furniture plants which had been the mainstay of the local economy had closed their doors and gone to China. I became a strong advocate for creating new jobs, bringing in new industry... and I still am. But having been here awhile, I've discovered that's not really the real problem. There actually are jobs available, quite a lot of them. I know of two manufacturers and one other business here who are hiring... or at least they want to... if they can find applicants. The problem is not enough people are applying to fill the available jobs!!!
Much to my amazement, a significant portion of this lil town is living on welfare. And they don't want to give it up. Much of the rental properties have become HUD homes with the federal government (and ultimately the taxpayers) paying the rent. There's a thriving underground market trading food stamps for anything from cash to drugs to appliances to farm equipment. There's a local soup kitchen, run by a local church, which hands out free food daily to anyone who wants it... you don't even have to be homeless... hell, there are local construction workers who eat lunch there everyday. There's no requirement of ID or attempts to get a job (or even to be jobless) to get a free hand out. Welfare is killing this town, strange as that seems.
So I can just see it now... next we'll have these welfare bums spending all day at the local library reading, because why not... they've got plenty of time what with having no job, no reason to get a job, no ambition, and besides the drug dealers mostly don't come out til after 6 PM. Lovely. [8|]
But hey... they'll be literate, jobless bums!
Good evening, Padriag. There certainly are those that list "crushing their nuts" as a favorite hobby....a co-worker of mine has a son, he's 24, 25..... and will not hit a lick. Now, he's not homeless, but if he were, I don't think he'd change much. He just does not want to work. Our area is one of the few in the country that's booming at the moment, and if you want a job, they're out there.
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