Usa Thread

[jitagawn]

"If you're not ashamed to be American, you should be."

 

Well well aren't t we f---sanctimonious...

 

Ii am the first one to criticise certain policies but shame? Not a chance.

 

There is good and bad in every government and society.

 

Fuck off

[Bangkoktraveler]

I wish I could get paid NOT to work...........

[Steve]

Not ashamed either. Very proud to be an American even though I'm not proud of some of its history. Brainwashed from years of civics class? Perhaps but I look at America in its own context as a world leader in its era. Comparatively speaking to other nations who ruled its era or were one of, America stacks up pretty damn well Apples to apples comparison.

 

That said, the truth about work is not so simple. Look at areas that have high unemployment and social welfare when any business or agency has job openings. Lines around the block. Yes, some don't want to (and I'll touch on that later) but people want to feel good about themselves. When I lived in LA, I used to flirt with the girls at this call center in Santa Monica. They were paying 14 bucks an hour and Compton residents and east LA residents would get on a bus at 6am morning to get there by 8. There are no livable wage jobs in the inner city or rural America any longer. Jobs that support a family simply aren't enough of them in West Virginia, Kentucky where there are decades of generational poverty and the jobs in the inner city have dried up. During WW2 tens of thousands of Blacks migrated from the deep south to Chicago, Detroit, etc. for the relatively high paying war tme jobs.

 

Lets look at being paid not to work. No one asks why there are such programs. Certainly poor people didn't devise these plans or had input in them. Blacks have been the face of welfare but social welfare was not a demand from the civil rights era. That struggle was simply about societal equality. In fact, when Johnson created a panel to look at the high poverty rate amongst Blacks, the Moynihan report as well as other independent studies said, if you want to stop the increasing single motherhood, teen and youth pregnancy, etc. that started to increase, keep the Black family intact and the Black male working. Jobs are needed for the Black male. It will cut crime, single motherhood, etc. basically a panacea. When the riots occurred in northern cities in the late 60s across America a panel investigated and found one common demand: Jobs.

 

So what did the government do? It made AFDC where the woman gets the money and said if a male over 18 is on the premises you do not get paid. It did the exact opposite of all the studies. One has to ask why? A cycle of poverty was created and I hate to sound cliche'd but we blame the victim these days of wrong government policies.

 

Its very easy to solve inner city crime, drug abuse, teen pregnancy. Not a panacea but this will reduce it dramatically. Infrastructure spending. The cities need it, very good paying jobs, tens if not hundred of thousands of jobs. All kinds of jobs. American jobs, and they will spend in that community which in turn creates a tax base for the schools, local economy better housing, etc. One has to ask why Congress doesn't want to pass it?

[Steve]

...there seems to be a systemic program of class and ethnic/race warfare in America. Its the divide and conquer tactic. The poor white guy in West Virginia has the same issues as the poor Black guy in South Central LA but vote opposite parties. I may sound like a conspiracy theorist but I think the goal is to keep us all battling while the elite pull the strings, keep power and use all of us for their own personal gain.

[Flashermac]

It certainly seems that way, much more than it used to be.

[cavanami]

Here we go again...

[King Kung]

He is an embarrassment to Americans everywhere. The ghetto America has become is nothing to be proud of.

[Steve]

We were in great shape in '08? lol...near financial collapse, embroilled in two wars, one of whch was totally unecessary. Yep, the good 'ol days

[Steve]

http://jezebel.com/man-says-southwest-airlines-kicked-him-off-plane-over-t-1609982375?utm_campaign=socialflow_jezebel_facebook&utm_source=jezebel_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

Man Says Southwest Airlines Kicked Him Off Plane Over Tweet Complaint

[Steve]

Obama has done worse than I expected. The OB