Looking at the reasons WHY would not produce the simple answer - It is the fault of the poor that they are poor. These storms have shown just how many poor there are in this country and how little these people have to meet the BASIC needs of life. We should to help all the poor except for the LACK OF WILL group. Even the people in the LACK OF WILL group need to be encouraged to change their outlook.

I am so shocked to say this, I basically agree with you, I'm sure as this thread moves on, our disagreement will be in the number of those that are in the lack of will group.

I agree that these hurricanes have ripped the welfare band aid off the poverty problem in america, and I agree that it's terribly sad.

However.....you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink, Gene.  You can offer people all the opportunities in the world, but THEY are the ones that have to take advantage of said opportunities and be willing to help themselves out. 

I'm not sure that raising the minimum wage of even having a living wage is going to help.  Making the menial jobs pay better isn't going to encourage people to better themselves....why bother going to school to become a nurse (for example) when you can make almost as much clerking at a grocery store?

Thank you SO much for not mentioning Bush in this post.  It's very refreshing....

Hear, hear GREAT post Col. and not one word of Bush bash. Frankly, I'm amazed. I am sorry to say though that I have no compassion for those with lack of will. The rest I would help in any way I could. I've been on that side of the fence. I didn't care for it so I made changes for the better.

Even those with "lack of will" have children. Are those children responsible for the poverty into which they were born? Hell no. But, unless targeted educational opportunities are provided, they will likely never learn that they can rise above the plight of poverty. I'm not talking about the public schools alone. Besides, it's no secret that public schools in inner cities and other poor areas are not equitable with schools in more affluent areas. Why? I suspect a whole bunch of reasons, including a poverty mindset, lack of good teachers in those areas, poor and dilapidated facilities, just to name a few.

As for the other reasons, a study was recently done that shows that half of all bankrupsies are filed because of the dire straits that a medical catastrophe has cost a family. But, the Congress could give a rat's ass. They pass legislation that does nothing to protect people from medical catastrophes, and instead come up with a bankrupsy legislation bill that only serves to protect the banks, who have made their money off the insane interest rates accumulated from people who maybe missed a payment or two. It's obscene.

Of course, this non-living wage thing is quite the controversy lately. The dubya assholes give most of the technical clean-up and repair contracts to their friends, ie Halliburton and Bechtel, withot bid requirements, I might add. The contracts are worth billions of dollars. Dubya, in all his insane glory, has passed a directive that the contractors no longer are bound by Davis-Bacon acts, thereby releasing them from paying prevailing wages, otherwise federally required in federal contracts. But, do you think that Halliburton, et al will get less money to undertake the contracts? Hell no. They just pay the workers less than a living wage, and of course they get to pocket the difference. What a corporate give-away that was. Let the workers starve.

And of course, there are natural disasters. Katrina exposed our poverty dirty secret to the world. But, people will always be poor. Now, they are not just poor, they are destitute. No jobs. No homes. No cars. No place to go, except for the fortunate few who managed to be taken in by some exceptionally giving soul. These people are now destitute, regardless whether the government gives em a $2K credit card. We all know that $2K is chump change in this society. It will not buy a house. It may provide a few months of rent. It will not provide anything lasting. Do some of them abuse their money? Of course. But so freakin' what? Most, I'm sure do not. They are just trying to figure out how to feed their families.

Col, most people don't choose to be poor. They are stuck with the situation. It sucks, and they get caught in the vicious cycle of poverty. And poverty begets poverty.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Who gets to go where? Who gets the flooded New Orleans lands? Who gets the contracts to rebuild? What will be rebuilt? How will it all get paid for?

Some other thoughts -

Lack of education. - It's hard to make a living without at least a high school diploma or GED.

Teenage pregnancy -

Childcare issues - If you are working a lower paying job and trying to pay for childcare it's almost a wash. I know there are some subsudized childcare programs but I do think this is a huge issue for single mothers.

Drug and Alchohol Dependency - The majority of jobs do drug testing now even McDonald's. If you have a drug addiction, it's hard to find a job.

Single Parent Households

Family Legacy - It seems to me that many of the poor were raised in a poor household and to them that is the normal way to live.

The causes are many, the question who is going to decide if someone has a "legitimate" reason for being poor or if they are just suffering from "lack of will".

I just hate to see poor people villified. Most of us would never want to be in their shoes. I would hate to have to live in the conditions they live in, buy groceries for a family using only food stamps, feel hopeless but know that other people are judging me as "lazy and useless" no matter how hard I work to change my circumstances.

I was holding my breath until someone mentioned the failure of Great Society, but my face was turning purple.

The United States is one of the only countries in the world where its poor are dying from obesity.

Why are so many people poor? For starters, an entire underclass is being imported from Latin America to underbid salaries. Then there is rampant substance abuse, low IQ's, and mental illness.

Besides, it's no secret that public schools in inner cities and other poor areas are not equitable with schools in more affluent areas. Why? I suspect a whole bunch of reasons, including a poverty mindset, lack of good teachers in those areas, poor and dilapidated facilities, just to name a few.

Do you have statistics to compare ghetto students who are bused to more affluent areas to those who stay in their own neighborhoods?

We define poor as being a certain % from the medium income.  There will always be "poor" just like there will always be "cold" weather because they are defined in relativistic terms.  Today's poor are rich compared to the wealthy a century ago.

Just like there are many reasons WHY people are poor there are many possible ways to help. The key for the future, now that the storms have shown us just how many are poor, WHAT will we do to help those that can not help themselves and how will we attempt to help people to change their attitude and provide more self help. I do know more tax cuts will do little for the poor since the poor pay no taxes. Free land without the money to build a home on the land will do no good. I do however support targetred tax cuts to help small business recover and help provide needed work. That will only help a VERY small percent of those in need. In a like mannor, although we must rebuild the infastructure, that will not eliminate or even reduce the numbers of the poor. I have not heard any effective suggestions to deal with the poor. That will be the real test of these natural disasters. Could GOD be asking us to do something for the poor?

Draginol

The issue is not the % that are poor. The issue is can that % afford to live, even though they fall into the bottom 25% . Today the answer is HELL NO.

I knew somebody had to bring up Halliburton. Typical.

I have not heard any effective suggestions to deal with the poor. That will be the real test of these natural disasters. Could GOD be asking us to do something for the poor?

The only people that can help the poor are themselves. Aside from people with physical or mental disabilities, being poor is a choice. People choose to spend what money they have on a 50 Cent cd, instead of food for their children. Or they continue to have children when they can't afford them.

Today's poor are rich compared to the wealthy a century ago.

Tell that to those who cannot afford health care for a sick child. Tell that to an elderly person who must decide whether to eat or take meds. Tell that to a parent who has no money to buy a decent meal for his/her kids. Tell them that they should not be bitching and moaning today because a century ago they maybe would have been worse off. Tell them that, and see how far you'd get, particularly given that the wealthy are also much more wealthy today than they were a century ago. Not to mention that the divide between the two is bigger today than it ever was. Yeah, draginol, tell em that.

Island Dog

You are DEAD wrong. Many of the poor can not help themselves. For many there is no work or the work that is available does not pay a living wage. People that are beyond their working years and have lost everything. It is FAR more then just the people with physical or mental issues that need HELP. Your response is the conservative attitude - It is the poor's fault thay are poor. It is time do follow through with the promises President Bush made to help the poor in his speech on September 15th, 2005 in New Orleans. The children of the poor did not ask to be born and are too young to work. They need our help.

It is time do follow through with the promises President Bush made to help the poor in his speech on September 15th, 2005 in New Orleans.

GWB trying to follow in the footsteps of the last Texan in the White House - Great Society Part II.
Col. Gene & Dabe...find a less pretentious way to absolve yourself of your (white) guilt.

And to all you advocates of the medically uninsured, round up all the god damn illegals in this country and you'll cut that figure by at least half.

GP, I have no "white guilt". Besides, I'm blue.

GP, I have no "white guilt". Besides, I'm blue.

Sorry. Your Marxist-Leninist-inspired Jew-liberal guilt.