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Originally Posted by raytri";p="
Does the U.S. Conference of Mayors count?
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No. I'd say there's a conflict of interest if they're statists. They want a problem that they can demand higher tax revenue for in order to allegedly fix. Mayors: "The welfare roles are increasing, we have to raise taxes and regulate industry or people will starve without our benevolence!!!!"
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came to the conclusion that requests for food assistance was increasing -- 12 percent overall. Requests exceeded resources; 18 percent of requests went unmet. This was the latest in a string of annual increases in need.
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I'd like to know how they arrived at their conclusions. I'd also like a filter to show which of the people applying were (1) UNABLE to work and (2) that there isn't any type of fraud occuring.
As we've seen, welfare fraud can be rather rampant - costing billions of dollars every year. I wonder if the Mayor's study had all these folks calculated in:
http://www.politicalforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=23910
Anyone who says the government is doing a good job of administering the welfare program is just crazy...and/or gullible.
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about 1 percent of the population -- 2 to 3 million people -- experience at least one night of homelessness per year that has them seeking help from a service organization. This does not count people who do not seek organized assistance.
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ONE NIGHT OF HOMELESSNESS? Are you kidding? From 1 percent of the population? And that's a crisis???? Hardly. I was homeless for 3 months - you didn't see me running to the government to come save me. How the hell is someone having to sleep in their car for one night a crisis warranting higher taxes on the rest of the population? Taxes are the cause of this anyway.
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The percentage among poor persons is much higher, as you might expect -- 4 to 6 percent.
About 200,000 people are considered "chronically homeless".
On any given night, between 400,000 and 600,000 Americans are homeless.
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LOL. On any given night... Exactly what critieria are they using to determine this? There is no hard evidence. This is just guess work.
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As for "increasing", I'll refer you again to the mayoral report. Request for emergency shelter went up 6 percent, again exceeding supply, again the latest in a string of increases. And the length of time people remained homeless increased, too.
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The problems that we have COME FROM GOVERNMENT. Repeal the income tax and cut most other taxes and you will see the middle class rise. Get rid of fiat currency and people won't have the value of their savings destroyed.
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That's just ignorant. The number one cause of bankruptcy is not "living beyond their means" -- it's unexpected, and huge, medical bills.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news0...tcy_study.html
Other known contributors are divorce or the death of a breadwinner.
The share of people who simply spend themselves into bankruptcy is small, and while such exceptions should be dealt with, they are a poor -- if convenient -- example to build policy on.
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You gotta skew... Please note what I said again, A LOT OF PEOPLE DECLARING BANKRUPTCY SIMPLY SPENT BEYOND THEIR MEANS. I didn't state these people were the largest percentage of filers. It's true that they are a small percentage of overall filers, however, nationwide, that still equates to what I said - A LOT OF PEOPLE.
Again, I'd want to know the incomes of the parents whose children are applying. I'd also want the whole thing checked for fraud. I know quite a few kids when I was in high school who were on the program that didn't have an actual need. They had nicer cars than I did, yet were on the free lunch program. Go figure...
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Flood zone, I'll give you. Hurricane zone? Might as well depopulate the entire Eastern Seaboard.
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I would say it's fair for anyone living in a such an area is to have a plan in place in case of a hurricane or flood. If you don't want to deal with it, then don't live there. And don't complain if anything happens and you weren't prepared.