And they say America is the land of for the people!!!

Homeless Statistics
The most proximate cause of homelessness in America is poverty. Statistics show between twenty and thirty percent of homeless families surveyed in 1996 said they had gone without food for part of the previous month (Burt, Aron, and Lee*). The homeless also face persistent deprivation and constant threat of harm. They spend more time in the hospital and in jail than their poor counterparts. The majority are victims of violent crimes, and one fourth lack needed medical care (Burt, Aron, and Lee*). Children in homeless families do worse in school and have lower attendance and more long-term absences (National Alliance to End Homelessness*).

Although single men constitute about sixty percent of the homeless population, families constitute about one third of all homeless and are the fastest-growing group of homeless. The homeless elderly will also be an important group as America ages in the next decades (Rosenheck, Bassuk, and Salomon*; Burt, Aron, and Lee*). Although about seventy percent of the homeless live in central cities, rural homelessness is a hidden problem. The rural homeless are more likely to be families that are homeless for shorter periods of time, often as a result of domestic violence (Singleton et al.*). One of the hardest groups to reach, however, is the one fourth of homeless who have been homeless for at least five years (Burt*).

 

I just dont understand how we can have so many homeless people in our country and we help other countries with billions of dollars to rebuild theirs when we can build houses here for people or help them get on their feet. Tell me how that is right i just dont understand it.

 

Where exactly are you talking about ? in ref to money going other places, are you talking about Iraq ?

 

However, evidence before the committee suggests that senior American officials were unconcerned about the situation because the billions were not US taxpayers' money. Paul Bremer, the head of the CPA, reminded the committee that "the subject of today's hearing is the CPA's use and accounting for funds belonging to the Iraqi people held in the so-called Development Fund for Iraq. These are not appropriated American funds. They are Iraqi funds. I believe the CPA discharged its responsibilities to manage these Iraqi funds on behalf of the Iraqi people."

This is from an article in the Guardian ref the 12bn dollars sent to Iraq, apparently not U.S taxpayers money, Iraqs money badly managed by America.

Heres the link if you are interested in reading it,:smt017
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/feb/08/usa.iraq1

 

Yes i just understand how we can be pouring in money to iraq and not helping people hear in our own country.

 

I understand your point sweetangel, that people are held accountable for goverment mistakes, but when you make a mess in a country that has nothing to do with you, because lets be fair a mess has been made, then unfortunately it has to be cleaned up.

Well, we all have new leaders since the decision to go to Iraq, maybe things will change, i wouldn't bet my life on it though

But my post above actually tells you they did have money of there own at one point, mismanaged by the american authorities, they could have used that productively and saved themselves a few quid there :?:smt101

 

Francie, you can safely bet that President Obama will make enormous changes to our Iraq policy. He's been very straightforward in saying that we need to help the Iraqis stand on their own feet and that providing them with a U.S. exit strategy is essential to achieving this goal.

If you'll recall, when Obama went to Iraq this year, he was very well received. The Iraqi Government reviewed Obama's exit plan and gave it tacit approval. So, even Iraq believes there will be a much smarter government in Washington when compared to the disastrous, catastrophic Bush years.

Francie, you have to understand the African-American community and how it has had to witness sheer stupidity in our government for over a century. "We" can empathize with the suffering of others as our parents and grandparents had to deal with institutions that intentionally refused to serve their interests (even though they were US citizens that went to war to defend America).

While Obama was too young to have lived through that period, he has still faced modern day discrimination and hatred. In short, he gets it.


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You're quite right. They were not a danger to anyone (other than themselves) when we invaded. And Iraq did have a working government and stable economy.

To be honest, this mess ruined a great Prime Minister that provided you with a healthcare system that we can only dream of in the U.S. Blair's govenment improved your standard of living and allowed for much greater class mobility (similar to what we've had in America).

Bush sacrificed Blair to get Saddam; the man that plotted to kill Bush Sr.

 

re

America is good

 

"The latest series of major donations, from the Office of Food for Peace at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) , bring total American contributions to WFP operations for the year to $670 million. The United States is WFP’s single largest donor."


http://www.wfp.org/english/?ModuleID=137&Key=2505


The US is also the largest national contibutor to AIDS in Africa.

Sweetangel all I can say is that a lot of people emigrate to the US constantly because this is the land of opportunity, but success is not guaranteed. Unfortunately there will always be some who are poor for various reasons. I would encourage you to talk to the next homeless person you meet, and ask exactly what led to their current circumstances. It could be enlightening.

 

I agree Obama has been well recieved all over, the man has an attitude of universal appeal, of course i still wouldn't bet my life on change as at the end of the day they are all still just politicians, lol

I do agree with your comment about Blair, he lost so much credibility when he made that decision in 2003, he looked like another american pawn, plus many scandals regarding keeping the facts hidden ref his justification for going in the first place.:smt085

Oh well, hopefully things will look up in future, but we have to tidy up our mess, thats my issue, you can't undo whats been done, there house has to be put in order B4 we all leave, otherwise a pointless situation really just ends up a kings folly, an embarrassment of grand magnitude.

 

I've always wondered the same thing, why do we help other countries when ours needs help as well. Why does the US have to help other coutnries. No one's helping us. If other countries have problems, let them deal with it.

 

Isn't there US money going elsewhere not only Iraq ?

 

well i was asking pacifically what area Sweetangel was moaning about, sooo i asked, off course i know money goes elsewhere, but i wanted to see what she was thinking, ok

 

Funny, I've just been building our government's new white paper on same. It's a massive problem.

Most of them have mental illness.

Suffer a severe mental illness, don't have a family to support you, combined that with a chronic shortage of adequate public care facilities (or no health insurance in the US of A) and you are pretty much guaranteed a one way ticket to the street.

Usually, the substance abuse comes after the homelessness, or after the mental illness (as a form of self medication).

Alternatively, you could be a hard working US Citizen living in a tent in a carpark because your home was taken away from you after you signed up to a gillion percentage loan with some hound that came to your door. As soon as I saw those photographs, I knew Obama would win, because to see it in bold color in what they say is the land of opportunity was just too much for most to stomach. It speaks of something going wrong.

I know some people will disagree with any interventionist policy of government, but I always say, there is a difference between intervention an inclusion.

It's a worldwide issue. This week our new government announced a massive package to ensure every single 'rough sleeper' has at least temporary accommodation by 2010, and has been discussing with the US transition team mechanics on implementing a similar policy in the US commencing end of 2009.

 

Oh ok, sorry for misunderstanding.

 

One of the factors you need to look into with regard to the US homeless is the change in in-patient care and government financed hospitals. When Regan was gov of California, he cut the funding of mental hospitals and dumped the patients into community centers and they eventually wound up on the streets. Then when he was elected President, one of his first moves were to nullify the Mental Health Act passed by Carter resulting in the nation wide shutting of mental health facilities. Right after this time, crack hit the streets and it was like a virus, robbing people of their faculties and families.

When I was a kid, you didnt see the nation wide epidemic of homelessness. I remember when Regan took office and the poor, sick and elderly suffered. Of coarse, you wont hear it from any of the republican revisionaries.

 

Well, I beg to differ about poverty being the main cause, I believe we have tried to outlaw poverty, and in so doing we have put people on the streets. You see, in countries where people know they are poor, and they are allowed to do the best they can with that, there's in no homeless problem. Mexico is a third world country, they have no homeless people. They allow for squatters rights, they allow people to work and sell things to make money without all the restrictions we have made on business, and they allow the poor to build their homes as best they can, without all the codes and building zone restrictions we have in America.

You see in AZ if you own an older mobile home, made before 1979, you cannot sell it as a home, in fact some counties make you demolish it, in order to sell the property. (That's insane because the sale of such a home would be low income housing in a free economy.) You are also not allowed ever, anywhere in the US to my knowledge, to build a lean to and dig an outhouse, and move in with out passing a million inspections. You are considered to be living in "unsafe" conditions if you have an outhouse, and no electricity, in fact if you raise a child that way, the government will probably take the child away from you. If you lived in a home where you had to carry water in from elsewhere, you would also be considered to be in "unsafe" living conditions.

There are millions of acres of unused government property, that could easily be alloted to these people to use as squatters, and let them build their homes as best they can, let them use card board and old tires, and refrigerator doors. It might not be pretty, but you would get communities involved real quick, if it were allowed. Similar communities spring up all over Mexico periodically, but if you go back 10 or 20 yrs later you will see, brick homes, running water, electricity, paved streets, sidewalks, and even parks and playgrounds.

People will be poor, and stay that way if all we offer is a government program to pay for a rental home, and to put food on their table for the month. These programs do nothing to end the problem, it's like putting a band aid on a gaping wound when a person is bleeding to death.

Give them something to own, put minimal restrictions on it, give them something to be proud of. They'll stop roaming, even the mentally ill would be able to do a lot of this, but they do pose another problem, and need a different style of attention.

You ask how we can "pour money" into Iraq and elsewhere, first of all the money we spend in Iraq would mostly be spent elsewhere anyway, because you are talking about housing our own soldiers, and paying their wages, as the largest portion of that money, Iraq has most of it's own money to rebuild, and even if we move the Army to Afghanistan, or America, we will still be taking care of them, so the so called, 10 billion per month that we "spend" there is not a realistic figure, but as I stated above, giving all that money to the American homeless, with our current programs in place would not solve the problem. There are already a lot of programs to help the homeless and they don't take advantage of them for very long at a time.

Immigration is an entirely other issue, but in my opinion we do not see many immigrants that are homeless, it's usually poor American citizens.