Where do you think the USA could improve?

[ThisIsDaAccount]

I'm gonna change the topic of the conversation a bit and say I'm not a fan of the US's approach to international relations, specifically in things like the Iraq war. We need to strengthen security inside our borders, not mess with those outside. In Iraq and Afghanistan we bit off more than we could chew and it was a mess.

I also think we need tax increases and spending cuts, our debt is a mess. We're paying off so much interest already, and we still continue to borrow. Doesn't make much sense mathematically.

Also, we need to stop encouraging the President to say dumb things on twitter. It just makes us hate each other more.

 

[Thirty3Three]

Did you even read what I said? The people would be working for pay.

If people are making a living then it is no one's business what it is spent on. Also, having a phone is pretty necessary and is a catch 22 when it comes to poor people trying to get a job or to retain employment. Landlines cost about the same as a Straight Talk, etc. plan now.

Once again, the blame is put on the poorest people while the rich get a pass because they might just trickle down on everyone else (they do but in a different way). Since the corporate/rich welfare is hidden away as tax cuts this is the best way to show what is happening:

Also, more burden is put onto social welfare programs by corporations by creating class of the working poor. Walmart has been the face of this due to the amount of workers it employs and the wages they pay. The majority of those on welfare programs are actually employed and some hold multiple jobs that aren't even able to make ends meet.

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I agree with you on Pence but the trade-off of having someone stable in control is evergrowing.

Obama wasn't the greatest. He did some good things (didn't go far enough on healthcare), but he also did a lot of shitty things like upping NSA spying, upping unilateral strikes on foreign countries under the Patriot Act via drones, let banks off the hook, TPP, etc. He just did it in a more charismatic way and (sometimes) under the radar.

IDK I just feel like Pence would do FAR more harm, as he's infinitely more professional and incredibly more well-spoken, and that's terrifying. Especially when still, a lot of the people on this planet follow Biblical teachings to the key (again, I don't mean anything rude by this to those who are religious, here!).

He wasn't the greatest, I know. He did some awesome things though, which made me really happy. And on a non-political note, he's a REALLY good guy, who does at least seem to understand the people. How about another Reagan?

 

[Noctosphere]

something that annoys me is americans who think Canada is just a part of USA

 

[TotalInsanity4]

Until the money those people get is used for worthless things like alcohol or iPhones, and then they ask for more money.

May I ask why you see iPhones as worthless to a homeless person? Most jobs require you to have some form of constantly reachable communication, and last-gen iPhones are pretty dang cheap with a contract on most networks

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Get rid of the damn welfare state/UBI etc. People need to take ownership of their lives.

I get the idea you didn't actually watch the video I linked last time this came up

 

[CallmeBerto]

May I ask why you see iPhones as worthless to a homeless person? Most jobs require you to have some form of constantly reachable communication, and last-gen iPhones are pretty dang cheap with a contract on most networks

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I get the idea you didn't actually watch the video I linked last time this came up

I did I just don't agree. There are not an infinite source of resources that we can just simply give people money, fiod, water, health care etc. just for existing. Since resources are finite how do we ration them out? We do this via those who produce more then others ago money.

We already knows what happens when we give people money for doing nothing we get more of them.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Stop the struggle from within, is our huge weakness that ruins things. Crime, economy, law, other stuff.

 

[330]

I find the costs of college education and healthcare without insurance to be extremely disturbing.

 

[Stepperer]

I think the "mind your own business" way is the best way of improvement for USA as a country

 

[TheRedfox]

We already knows what happens when we give people money for doing nothing we get more of them.

Xenophobic people like you are the reason stuff like healthcare there won't improve.
The gov should take care of people in their basic needs(shelter; education; food; healthcare), only then they can develop themselves and eventually get a job. Nearly noone wants to be jobless and live off welfare, give them chances! But you won't find any chances in a country where you literally get kicked out of a hospital to just die, only because you don't have money at that moment.

 

[330]

Xenophobic people like you are the reason stuff like healthcare there won't improve.

I'm sure that people like you that have to put racism everywhere are much better instead. Where has he written anything about race? Can you really say that 100% of the people requesting government assistance actually need it?
Do you even know that you can buy soda and live lobsters out of stamps? How is that necessary or a race-driven issue?

 

[TotalInsanity4]

I did I just don't agree. There are not an infinite source of resources that we can just simply give people money, fiod, water, health care etc. just for existing. Since resources are finite how do we ration them out? We do this via those who produce more then others ago money.

We already knows what happens when we give people money for doing nothing we get more of them.

How is that fair to people who are either born into wealth or poverty?

And what do you mean "we get more of them"?

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Do you even know that you can buy soda and live lobsters out of stamps? How is that necessary or a race-driven issue?

Soda is very cheap and easy for welfare programs to reimburse. I'd bet my right hand that the live lobster thing only applies to east coast states where stuff like that is literally part of the base level economy

On top of that, I find the whole "poors shouldn't be allowed to have nice things" mentality kind of disturbing and borderline hateful, if not uneducated and lacking empathy

 

[TheRedfox]

I'm sure that people like you that have to put racism everywhere are much better instead. Where has he written anything about race? Can you really say that 100% of the people requesting government assistance actually need it?
Do you even know that you can buy soda and live lobsters out of stamps? How is that necessary or a race-driven issue?

I never talked about racism; but just pointed out the hate Berto is showing to foreign immigrants("we get more of them."). I think he watched a bit too much of Fox news and actually thinks you get raped on street in Sweden >_>

 

[330]

I never talked about racism; but just pointed out the hate Berto is showing to foreign immigrants("we get more of them."). I think he watched a bit too much of Fox news and actually thinks you get raped on street in Sweden >_>

He was obviously talking about people requesting government aid, not immigrants.

 

[J-Machine]

I'm sure that people like you that have to put racism everywhere are much better instead. Where has he written anything about race? Can you really say that 100% of the people requesting government assistance actually need it?
Do you even know that you can buy soda and live lobsters out of stamps? How is that necessary or a race-driven issue?

just because they can get lobster does not mean they will but as a side note... lobster is $6 per pound here and beef is $8 and chicken is $10.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

He was obviously talking about people requesting government aid, not immigrants.

You can't just request government aid, you have to meet some pretty stringent criteria to qualify for it. It could really afford to loosen up, actually

 

[CallmeBerto]

How is that fair to people who are either born into wealth or poverty?

And what do you mean "we get more of them"?

Life isn't fair. Some people are born with everything and some are born into nothing. That really doesn't matter what really matters is class mobility. Example lets say someone is born poor then if this person works hard or is just really luck and ends up in middle class or rich then I see no issue with it. During most of out lives we tend to move from different classes. I'm sure most of us were poor when we were in our teens however after college or a a trade school or whatever we moved to middle class. After a few decades if we work hard we could end up in the upper middle or lower rich etc. A lot of people when they retire go back to middle or lower middle class.

Wealth Inequality is in fact a good thing as it shows how rich a nation is. If everyone had the same amount of money then in that case everyone is poor.

On the "we get more of them" a good example would be the single motherhood problem. When the welfare state grew what happened? More single mothers not less. The reason for this is that they knew they ALWAYS had a safety neat agro there were no real consequences for their actions. In fact there are many cases where having a welfare state hurt people a lot more then help. The fear of starvation is a great motivator to do something.

 

[SG854]

Wealth Inequality is in fact a good thing as it shows how rich a nation is. If everyone had the same amount of money then in that case everyone is poor.

Not always. Some countries have extremely high GDP per capita, yet have poor wealth distribution where 80% of the population is making less then 2 dollars a day. This is where everyone doesn't have the same money and the majority are poor.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

Life isn't fair. Some people are born with everything and some are born into nothing. That really doesn't matter what really matters is class mobility. Example lets say someone is born poor then if this person works hard or is just really luck and ends up in middle class or rich then I see no issue with it. During most of out lives we tend to move from different classes. I'm sure most of us were poor when we were in our teens however after college or a a trade school or whatever we moved to middle class. After a few decades if we work hard we could end up in the upper middle or lower rich etc. A lot of people when they retire go back to middle or lower middle class.

That's great and all but without some sort of foothold, that's how you get slums where people are funneled into low-cost housing targeted specifically to put them in low-income neighborhoods, so that there's virtually no way to break the cycle. There is a very large portion of our nation for which it simply isn't feasible for someone to "just put in some hard work" and magically move up a class, most of the poverty class put in exhausting work on a daily basis and either earn just enough to get by or finally start to earn too much to keep their welfare benefits and get the feet knocked out from under them.

Wealth Inequality is in fact a good thing as it shows how rich a nation is. If everyone had the same amount of money then in that case everyone is poor.

http://www.visualcapitalist.com/wealth-inequality-problem-one-chart/
You can't ACTUALLY believe that, can you?... obviously there should be classes, but I don't think you actually have a grasp on just HOW MUCH money the richest earners in this nation have compared to the lowest

On the "we get more of them" a good example would be the single motherhood problem. When the welfare state grew what happened? More single mothers not less. The reason for this is that they knew they ALWAYS had a safety neat agro there were no real consequences for their actions. In fact there are many cases where having a welfare state hurt people a lot more then help. The fear of starvation is a great motivator to do something.

That's due in part to the fact that divorce is now more widely accepted, which I dare say is a positive thing because that indicates that more women are discovering that there is an out to abusive relationships. Will there always be people who take advantage of a welfare system? Yes. Is our welfare system broken? Yes, but not for the reasons that you think it is.

And Jesus Fuck "The fear of starvation is a great motivator to do something" is not a sentence I EVER want to hear come out of anyone's mouth ever

 

[MaverickWellington]

stop taking capitalism too far; you guys need some socialism.
get infrastructure; healthcare and such in gov hands again, capitalist competition with private companies isn't going to improve service

also get rid of these death machines called guns

there's always that one commie

 

[gamesquest1]

(from a uk standpoint, idk how much of this mirrors over to America, but I would imagine it isn't too different)
while I do think the welfare system has its flaws, from a UK perspective healthcare seems like a basic right for major/life threatening issues, that said I do feel like corporations have corrupted the system to the point were welfare is necessary, by creating laws and taxes designed to actively discourage and price individuals out of the market, mega corporations have gained a monopoly over peoples lives, I have a friend who used to run an independent game store and he said he witnessed the change and how it was instigated by big chains, and the things that looked like they were designed to improve consumer rights were effectively just designed to majorly effect small/independent businesses but be insignificant to big chains

there was even a point where he received a letter from a major chain effectively saying that they were planning to run new sales tactic and it was his last chance to join them before he would pretty much be priced out of the game, this ended up being the case and it was in the news at the time that chains were actively planning to sell at a small loss for a year to speed up the loss of independent stores

many people often claim big business always good business, but I would argue independent small businesses drive real positive change, pandering to mega corps by penalising smaller business is where most of the western world went wrong imo, where politicians will accept backhanders to introduce a law that they know will negatively effect the independent stores and customers in the long run, not to mention having local communities only be able to shop at businesses that don't pay tax or pay tiny amounts of tax compared to what a small independent should would be expected to pay to compete for the same customers, this is probably the biggest problem to me and is what really needs to be changed to encourage people to be able to grow for themselves and bring about their own better future on their own terms and not becoming a slave to a mega corp or scraping on welfare with no optimism of making something for themselves