vincentML
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Joined: 10/31/2009
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quote:
ORIGINAL: jlf1961
Vincent, if I may point out something that evidently you are not seeing, or by pure good fortune, you have not seen.
As of the last statistics available:
600,000 families with 1.35 million children are currently homeless in the US.
14.5 million Americans are living at or below the poverty line as of 2015 (this number does not include the residents of Indian Reservations under the authority of the Bureau of Indian Affairs)
We still have a 4.9% unemployment rate, with a 8.9% estimated rate of those underemployed (employed but earning less than 30% of previous employment.)
So, if I may ask, would it not be a better idea to solve these issues before bringing in refugees?
While I am not going to blame Obama solely for these numbers, since it is my opinion that the lack of the ability for both parties to work toward the goal of what's best for America, it is something that needs to be addressed first.
You know, charity begins at home and all that.
Jeff!!
Where to begin?
The homeless and wretchedly poor have been with us since the establishment of British colonies in Virginia in the early 17th Century. The British openly proclaimed a policy of dumping their criminals, mentally ill, and desperately poor "waste people" onto the shores of the new world. Rather than accept indentured servitude the poor escaped southward into North Carolina and became squatters in the Dismal Swamp. There are books to be read about the migration of squatters and "crackers" into the western wilderness of the colonies. But today's homeless are not escaping; they are rejected for one reason or another. England had laws that put vagrants into stocks in the public square or branded them with a V or in some cases hung them until they choked to death. We do not have such laws today but some of that blame-the-victim attitude persists.
Causes of homelessness in the United States include lack of affordable housing, divorce, lawful eviction, negative cash flow, post traumatic stress disorder, foreclosure, fire, natural disasters (hurricane, earthquake, or flood), mental illness, physical disability, no family, substance abuse, lack of needed services, no unearned income (such as pension, Social Security, stock dividends, reverse mortgage, or annuity), poverty (no net worth), gambling, unemployment, and low-paying jobs. Homelessness in the United States affects many segments of the population, including families, children, domestic violence victims, ex-convicts, veterans, the aged, and others. See the Wiki article.
Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty" never got funded because of Vietnam War expenditures. In FY 2016 however the Federal budget allocated $14.9B in grants to school districts and $2.25B to the Department of Housing and Urban Renewal to assist the homeless.
Seventeen Billion dollars annually may not be a sufficient level of aid. I don't know. But you cannot seriously suggest the problem of homelessness is ignored and I cannot accept that taking in refugees causes a serious dent in our concern for the homeless.
We disagree.
_____________________________
vML
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. ~ MLK Jr.
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RE: Why doesn't Australia just let them live in Australia? - 
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