Solutions to Poverty in the United States

[Slide]

How do we create a solution for poverty in the United States?

 

[Bunyip]

Simple. You give the poor and the rich access to money at the same rates and conditions. A poor man pays his rent to a rich man who owns his house because the rich man can structure his taxes that way.

If you are rich and want to buy a house it will cost you nothing, poor people will pay through the nose for the privilege of living in it. Poor people either are refused finance or if they can get it will pay rates that mean they can not compete with the rich purchaser.

 

[oldbadger]

If enough people will vote for it, then it will happen.
Higher levels of investigation into tax evasion could produce enough money to self-fund the detectives and support a better standard of social-benefits-support-service.

Until then, the best way to cope is to discover ways of not needing, not wanting.
We live a very simple life, without expensive cars, trappings, holidays, etc....... and over the years this has turned our humble incomes into vast reserves.
I notice that a high % of poor benefits-only Americans who appear on television in progs like '#Judge Judy' are extremely fat. In some countries this is a sign of extreme wealth.

We live on two part-time jobs and a little pension, and yet can (now) snap our fingers and replace anything that breaks, instantly.

 

[Sunstone]

You won't end poverty in the US so long as over 95% of the new wealth generated each year in the US goes to the top 1% of the socioeconomic ladder.

 

[JustCallMeNick]

I notice that a high % of poor benefits-only Americans who appear on television in progs like '#Judge Judy' are extremely fat. In some countries this is a sign of extreme wealth.

This is a function of the fact that in the modern U.S. some of the cheapest food on the market is extremely unhealthy and causes obesity.

 

[oldbadger]

This is a function of the fact that in the modern U.S. some of the cheapest food on the market is extremely unhealthy and causes obesity.

What food would that be?
Be careful..... !

 

[JustCallMeNick]

What food would that be?
Be careful..... !

Fast food is the most obvious. But there are also plenty of things like Top Ramen, Mac 'n' Cheese and other artificial, preservative-stuffed crap you can buy at the grocery store. (Did I mention soda?

We've literally inverted the social order of body type. Used to be that the rich people were overweight and the poor were scrawny. Now the rich are skinny and fit and the poor are obese. (I'm generalizing of course, but that's the trend.)

 

[Smart_Guy]

Apply the third pillar of Islam, zakat, or something similar. It tells the financially capable only to pay a very small percentage of their wealth to the poor. This means the more rich the more payed.

Where I live, poverty is greatly minimized with it.

If I lived in USA, I would pay it to the poor over there. I can't do it from here since there are poor around me already and my income is not good enough to give many.

Oh wait, it is part of Sharia law, and people hate Sharia law. It must be a bad thing just because of that, right?

 

[Bunyip]

Fast food is the most obvious. But there are also plenty of things like Top Ramen, Mac 'n' Cheese and other artificial, preservative-stuffed crap you can buy at the grocery store. (Did I mention soda?

We've literally inverted the social order of body type. Used to be that the rich people were overweight and the poor were scrawny. Now the rich are skinny and fit and the poor are obese. (I'm generalizing of course, but that's the trend.)

Interesting point mate.

 

[Dream Candy]

Create a base environment and from there that goes upwards and an unfortunate aspect that goes down only if you try hard to go down.
EDITTTT: What's wrong with allowing people and providing people a certain X variable and then seeing what happens?
Create a set amount for all, a base a foundation, and those that do not wish to participate towards society at all, then theyve chosen to be poor.

Seems simple enough, right?

 

[YmirGF]

How do we create a solution for poverty in the United States?

Given that far brighter minds than you will find on RF have had this supposed solution elude their thinking for as long as there has been civilization I rather doubt that you will find any workable ideas generated from the RF hoards. Due to the nature of our current global economy I don't believe there is any workable solution.

 

[Bunyip]

I would love it if everyone got a cheque every year for their part of the sale of national resources - mining, fisheries etc. They do in in some Skandinavian countries. You get a cheque from the logging industry for your share of the profits.

I think that there is an essential lie at the base of this inequity - that the rich will manage the poor's money better on their behalf than they could do themselves. This is false, micro-finance in 3rd world countries proves this.

 

[oldbadger]

Fast food is the most obvious. But there are also plenty of things like Top Ramen, Mac 'n' Cheese and other artificial, preservative-stuffed crap you can buy at the grocery store. (Did I mention soda?

Now now! Let's not get all prejudiced about fast-food. Fast food standards are now extremely high because these huge franchise based organisations had to step up, many years ago, to meet the allegations which led to the term 'junk-food'. Over the years I have noticed that expensive restaurants often get nailed by our health inspection teams. We forget about those!
Cases of severe illness caused by uncooked food, especially meats, cannot be placed at the doorstep of fast-food outlets.

We've literally inverted the social order of body type. Used to be that the rich people were overweight and the poor were scrawny. Now the rich are skinny and fit and the poor are obese. (I'm generalizing of course, but that's the trend.)

Yes............ but the main reason is different from your suggestion. Yes, Fast-food does contain more nutrients per gram (on average) than more expensive diets, including fats. But fats are not auto-bad. The problem lies with eating culture and living culture. Look at these paras I just dug up off wiki:-
Diets_in_Economic_Classes_in_the_United_States
Each month the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) develops four food budgets: Thrifty, Low-Cost, Moderate-Cost, and Liberal Food Plans. Each plan or budget corresponds to different income levels. The USDA claims that despite the differences in total cost of the four plans, each provides a healthy and nutritious diet, suggesting that all Americans are financially able to live a healthy life [5].
People of different economic statuses place different levels of importance on their health. Although people of both low and high income tend to place great value in healthy eating, people of low economic status tend to devote less energy, money and time to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. [8] People's expectation of their future also influences their prioritization of healthy living. Generally, people with better education and higher income are more forward-looking and hold an optimistic view about their future, and are thus more willing to invest their limited resources in maintaining their own health. [9] In general, these socioeconomic factors alter people’s attitudes towards health and show that overall, a greater value is place on health in higher income groups. The higher value people put on health, the more they are motivated to keep a healthy diet.

 

[Sees]

Apply the third pillar of Islam, zakat, or something similar. It tells the financially capable only to pay a very small percentage of their wealth to the poor. This means the more rich the more payed.

Where I live, poverty is greatly minimized with it.

If I lived in USA, I would pay it to the poor over there. I can't do it from here since there are poor around me already and my income is not good enough to give many.

Oh wait, it is part of Sharia law, and people hate Sharia law. It must be a bad thing just because of that, right?

We already get heavily taxed by income percentage and pay for tons of low income people to live off of our welfare systems. I really do mean tons. The system just doesn't work well with so many wanting a seat at the table - way too many people means the resources allocated for low income folks are spread thin.

 

[Smart_Guy]

We already get heavily taxed by income percentage and pay for tons of low income people to live off of our welfare systems. I really do mean tons. The system just doesn't work well with so many wanting a seat at the table - way too many people means the resources allocated for low income folks are spread thin.

This is bad

 

[Sunstone]

There are solutions to poverty. There just are not many solutions to poverty that those in power like.

 

[JRMcC]

How do we create a solution for poverty in the United States?

Define poverty? I think we could take some of the money we waste on people who don't need it and the military, and put it toward building soup kitchen/homeless shelter-like places. Just imagine how big a step forward it would be if anyone could have a place to live and sustain themselves. It doesn't need to be enormously expensive.

 

[BSM1]

Given that far brighter minds than you will find on RF have had this supposed solution elude their thinking for as long as there has been civilization I rather doubt that you will find any workable ideas generated from the RF hoards. Due to the nature of our current global economy I don't believe there is any workable solution.

This. Even Jesus knew "...the poor will be with us always...". In many cases "poor" is more a mindset than a life sentence. Education will delete more poverty than any class-envy, open-ended, wealth redistribution plan. You give a man a Cadillac and soon he may demand a Bentley. Where does it stop?

 

[Revoltingest]

How do we create a solution for poverty in the United States?

Here are the components of (as I vaguely recall) something proposed by the Cato Institute.
- Every person in Americastan gets $10,000 per year just for existing.
- The income tax is lowered to a flat 17% (with no personal deductions).
- Remove barriers to operating a business.
- Stop the useless trillion dollar wars. (I added this one.)

Advantages:
- Everyone has enuf to live on.
- The low marginal tax rate encourages everyone to make money.
- Expensive & fraud laden government assistance programs are eliminated.

 

[Marisa]

How do we create a solution for poverty in the United States?

We could start by waging war on poverty, not the poor.

I heard that somewhere and it's always stuck with me.