Update From Baltimore

Nick your point is well made. But Thomas’s counter is also valid. Until there is a more even distribution of wealth, there is no resolution to the problem. With less then 1% holding almost all of the wealth there cannot be a fairness to the battle of ending poverty. Ending this issue doesn’t come through government social programs or giving someone an extra $20 a week for groceries. It comes through education of future generations… I live in NY which is ground zero of the common core reforms and my wife is a public school teacher in a “testing” grade. I can tell you first hand that the government is wasting a great deal of money on their current efforts.

As Nick pointed out, it’s hard to learn when you are starving. That’s a problem that many kids face on a daily basis. My wife is always buying food for her class so they can have snacks. She’s also bought many coats in the winter for those that didn’t have one. Or hygene products for those that needed them. My wife teaches in a school district that is a mix of mid sized town and rural communities, most if asked locally would think it’s a decent school district. But it has many children in need.

You want to fix society? Fix the family unit. How do you achieve this, I don’t know. I think it’s a mind set that you have or don’t have. As a father of 4, I can not imagine making my children endure some of things that I’ve witnessed other parents putting their children through. The resolution isn’t as easy as saying we should elect this person because they will make it right. The mind set of a society has to be changed and that’s not something a president, congress or any other governemental agency can do. This is something that people on a individual basis need to accept and fight for. Each parent should be fighting for their child to receive a great education, learn as much as they can or learn a trade. Parents across the country need to become more engage in securing the future of their children. As the old saying goes " every parent wants a better for their child". Guess what, part of your struggle as a parent is to assist in putting your child in that position.

And $5 Trillion in redistribution later and things are worse. Get a clue. Leftist policy doesn’t work. It rewards the wrong people.

See above. Damn lefties never wake up.

When are we going to START condemning hoodlum / criminal activities, back the police and STOP blaming everything on white America. Obama says we need to invest in cities like Baltimore … guess what we did invest over $1.8b through Obama’s economic stimulus (that over $1.8b is just in Baltimore) … what has it done?

Re-distribution of wealth … come on … didn’t work in Communist countries. How do we think the wealthy got that way … luck … NO HARD WORK and Risk …

We have raised a society where kids are taught everyone’s a winner … no losers … not life …

The Federal Reserve’s printing to cover Obama’s borrowing is re-distribution of wealth. It takes the purchasing power of the dollar which the poor rely on for survival and the purchasing power of the elderly on fixed incomes. The rich don’t store their wealth in dollars and so couldn’t care less if the cost of a loaf of bread and the building they own double in number of dollars.

I mean - more even distribution by earning/working for it. I don’t condone what social assistance has turned into.

Good.:smiley:

Wasn’t looking for approval. Just wanted to clarify myself. But apparently you approve my position…

You want to fix the ills of society? Show the next generation a better path. Children learn from what they see. Stop people from haveing 5 kids with multiple people. Give kids a stable home environment where they are read to, played with, nourished, loved, taught the importance of education, protected. And guess what - that becomes their reality and that’s what they will give to their children. The move to the suburbs came at a huge cost to the cities of the area. Who cares about the cities anymore?? Not many people in my area, that’s where the poor people have to live… But can’t they have better then that? But it is an individual’s decision to want to provide better. It’s a question of pride! What fuels your pride if you are not doing right by your children??

Quick story - 8 yrs ago I had a great job in construction. Working for my father, making good money, working hard, working toward taking over some day. When he and I had a disagreement that made our continuing to work together any longer impossible. Part of the story is the 4 month old baby that I had at home with my wife that had stepped down from her teaching position to be a stay at home mom. So not the best time to be unemployed… I lost the insurance I had( was paying $900/month now), my vehicle was a company vehicle,lost that(took almost 2 yrs to replace). Times were tough. The economy was horrible at the time, not a lot of options as far as jobs go that could support my family(I don’t have a college degree, so that narrows my field). I could have rolled over,pulled the covers over my head, reached out to the government for help. But I didn’t, I took a job in property management (after looking for a few months) that I was over qualified for, for a lot less then I was making. Took every second of overtime I could get. Took every scrap of side work that I could find. My wife went to work a few nights a week waiting tables, even though she has a Master Degree. Point is we put our heads down and worked ourselves through it. We probably could have applied and received social assistance. But our pride in ourselves would not allow that. What if everybody looked at life like this??

Family is key.

Its why I am disgusted by liberals.

They seem intent on destroying families and the institutions that hold them together.

Welfare was never meant to be a permanent lifestyle. Stable two parent families would solve many many ills in our society.

I agree. I’m just not so quick to point the blame, I’m sure each side of the table has their share if it. Now “we” all have to play a role in changing it.

I agree Chip, like I said earlier, I don’t have an answer to our societies ills but they exist and I just hope the discussion continues on a national basis to what is one of the most challenging problems we face.
Of course really it’s a problem we haven’t been facing and thats part of the problem.

I’m completely uninterested in the conservative vs liberal BS.

Thats just another way of sweeping it under the rug.

Unfortunately it’s an easy problem for most of the nation, myself included to not think about. It’s easy to discount when you’re not seeing/living it. I’m sure unfortunately it will take a much larger, most likely deadlier time of civil unrest before Main St America really questions what the issues are and works to solve them.

Thomas - on a personal note, glad to see you are ok and your beloved city quieting down. Still don’t like the Ravens, go Steelers!!

Baltimore has been in the grip of Democrat leftist control for way too many decades.

How’s that working out?

Would Republicans have done any better?

Who knows. They sure couldn’t do any worse.

Cities and states are a great places to develop real leadership and solutions that work.

What is happening in Baltimore is is getting systemic.

That is cause for concern for the entire country.

Thanks Chip!

Go Ravens, we did pretty good in the draft so look out! :wink:

Thanks Chip, and btw the Ravens were pretty successful in the draft
so look out Steelers!! :wink: