The root of the problem is the struggling economy and lack of decent jobs, we could solve a lot of our problems if people could find work that pays a living wage, get home loans, get a decent affordable education (and not be in debt into their 40's) and affordable health insurance. As the rich keep doing their thing "getting richer" people have been forced to rent as home loan requirements have severely tightened since 2008 and the rich buy up single family homes, duplexes, condos and apartments and keep raising rents while wages are at all time lows. In 1986, I was paying $300 a month for rent making $10 an hour, now as I continue to look for work, if I have to settle for a $10 an hour job, that same apartment costs $750-850 a month.
"But what about all those lazy bums that just sit on their ass and collect welfare and food stamps"? Yes there are some people that will always take advantage of the the system and it needs reform. But I say, people have a natural desire to work, grow, learn and progress in an encouraging vital environment. This is also why a good education is very important if we want to progress as a civilization and not just a society of a select group of elitists and all the rest be damned (as our middle class becomes extinct like the dinosaurs).
Also regarding forcing people to work volunteer jobs to get on SNAP (food stamps), what I am wondering is, how are these people in need suppose to travel to these volunteer jobs (spend what little money they have on transportation), is the government going to send a private driver and car to pick me up if I get on this program (myself I prefer a black Lincoln Town car stocked with Evian bottled water)? And are these people even physically or mentally able to do these volunteer jobs or does that matter? Do people believe sending someone to do some kind of humiliating work like picking up trash on the side of the road will teach them a lesson or punish them somehow for being poor?
epilogue/about me: I am partially disabled with chronic pain/back injury degenerative disc disease, sacroiliac joint dysfunction and osteoarthritis, I am looking for work and could do some kind of office/computer work part time. I get no financial family support or government assistance. I walk everywhere and have not owned a car since 2006 and live off my savings from being self employed for 25 years. I have no health insurance and live overseas in Thailand because I can't find work in America that pays a living wage with health insurance benefits. It's much cheaper to live in Thailand, medical care is very good, less expensive (but not free or cheap) and the only way I can conserve what remaining savings I have left with no income and huge losses in my savings to pay medical bills and living expenses.
One factor that may continue to provide tailwinds to US housing recovery is the rental market. Rents are rising faster than inflation, widening the spread between housing costs and wages.
Read more at http://pragcap.com/the-dark-side-of-rising-rental-costs-in-the-us#ADZAECv8o2tXEFOz.99O
the above text was in reply to this story:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/19/food-stamp-work-requirements_n_3949716.html
The top 10 percent of earners took more than half of the country’s total income in 2012, the highest level recorded since the government began collecting the relevant data a century ago, according to an updated study by the prominent economists Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty.
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/10/the-rich-get-richer-through-the-recovery/?_r=0
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