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/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl General Category >> Politics, Religion (Tall Table) >> Sad /cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1345696132 Message started by Midnightrider on 08/22/12 at 21:28:51 |
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Title: Sad Post by Midnightrider on 08/22/12 at 21:28:51 http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/going-hungry-america-distressing-humbling-scary-011618014.html |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by Serowbot on 08/22/12 at 22:40:11 Monday,.. in front of Cycle Gear.. located in a strip mall,.. a woman approached and asked for food money... I could see she's sleeping outside,.. skin like leather, dirty clothes stuck to her with days of sweat... She got a buck from me, and a buck and change from my buddy... .. about 2 years ago,.. a guy approached and bummed some change from me in front of a 99 cent store... I asked " Why don't you bum in front of a better store?,.. someplace where people have money?"... He said,.. "They don't give,.. they pretend they don't hear me"... These people are out there at nearly every strip mall and street corner in town... Honestly,.. I turn most of them away, I can't afford to give to every one... It didn't used to be like this... If anyone thinks this from some upsurge in laziness,.. try spending a day walking a parking lot in full Arizona summer sun... then, sleep under a bridge and do it again, every day for a month... It shouldn't be like this... I doubt if Romney has ever seen a 99 cent store... |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by splash07 on 08/23/12 at 06:37:36 99 cent store for the 99%........ I wonder if there is a 1 cent store for the 1%? |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by WebsterMark on 08/23/12 at 06:41:42 I asked " Why don't you bum in front of a better store?,.. someplace where people have money?"... He said,.. "They don't give,.. they pretend they don't hear me"... Oh please….. It didn't used to be like this... Yes, it was always like this. If anyone thinks this from some upsurge in laziness,.. try spending a day walking a parking lot in full Arizona summer sun... then, sleep under a bridge and do it again, every day for a month... No, it’s not laziness in that sense. Homelessness is almost always caused by alcohol or drug addiction, mental illness, the bad luck of having crappy parents, or extremely poor choices along life’s way. Assuming she didn’t fit the first 3, I’ll bet if you actually sat down and spoke to that woman you could find choices she made that ended her up where she’s at. Don’t sit there and try to blame this on Bush and Repubicans which is what you’re doing. That’s how the next generation never gets help. You never address the real issue, only the one’s you can use as a foil. I doubt if Romney has ever seen a 99 cent store... Okay, I laughed at that one. Maybe never been in one, but I bet he owns a couple hundred of them. By the way, on food: Tue Aug 21, 2012 2:40pm EDT (Reuters) - Americans throw away nearly half their food every year, waste worth roughly $165 billion annually, according to a study released on Tuesday. "As a country, we're essentially tossing every other piece of food that crosses our path. That's money and precious resources down the drain," said Dana Gunders, a scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council's food and agriculture program. The NRDC report said Americans discard 40 percent of the food supply every year, and the average American family of four ends up throwing away an equivalent of up to $2,275 annually in food |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by srinath on 08/23/12 at 07:35:02 Just anecdotal observation, there has been an increase in working poor. As in they have a job but cant make it ... My welder is in this category. He was unemployed for 3 months about 9 months ago and that seemed to have turned him from just about making it, to just about not making it. There has been an increase in people who are getting turned away from charities. They are out of food and shelter sooner and sooner. There also has ben an increase in immigrants Illegal mostly availing of the charities. And yet, there has been a huge increase in boarded up bank owned houses built or sold during the bubble that banks prefer to keep on their books @ loan value and claim they have more in assets than the actual street value of their assets. There also has been an increase in the working rich - these are CEO's and other top level executives, not business owners who rake in millions. The top tier of income earners these days is the employees @ the top - not business owners, employees. Not job creators, not even investors, as simple as the rest of the populace. They get the job and get their pay assigned by their cronies, then they in turn set the pay rates for their cronies. It comes out of the company's bottom line in the good times. It comes out of the tax payers pocket in bad times. If times get real bad and the company fails, they walk away with their golden parachute. Like the CEO of Goldman sachs said, "It is god's work" ;) God helped hide Greece's debt before joining the euro zone, god helped retiree funds and other investors buy home loans from the people that bought dozens of houses for millions and then let em all go back to the banks ... Cool. Srinath. |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by Savage_Rob on 08/23/12 at 08:03:19 WebsterMark, I know a few people who are now out of work and have been looking for many months without luck. One friend/acquaintance and former co-worker looked for the better part of a year and went through his family's savings in the process. He's now in a good job but his family's lives have been seriously impacted by this. Another has been looking for full-time employment for over a year now and has found some part-time work but it doesn't pay all the bills and he doesn't have any benefits. He's already lost his house, his land and his savings. Another thought he was getting to be within just a few years of being able to retire. He's now been looking for nearly a year now and I'm pretty sure any thoughts of retirement are history. These folks are not lazy and aren't addicts. They are hard workers who are victims of deregulation and unbridled greed. Now some of them may wind up becoming some of those you're calling "crappy parents" because they don't have the resources to do what they otherwise would for their kids. I don't know what you base your assertions on, whether it's published verifiable statistics or just your personal beliefs. I can't speak to the statistical majority because I don't know them personally and haven't seen enough actual data to make the call. However, when I see what it's done to some good people that I know, I can feel sympathy for them and help where I can. While I accept personal responsibility for most of both the good and bad in my life, there are things outside my control. "There, but for the grace of God, go I." is something I think about more these days than ever before. |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by Serowbot on 08/23/12 at 10:33:02 675552434455427D51425B300 wrote:
Oh, please?... Really?... .. and I don't care why they are there... They are there... ...and no,.. it wasn't always like this... I don't know where you live Web,.. but it's a very "Let them eat cake" attitude you have... You make it sound as if it's okay for people to live in misery, if you can justify it with some life circumstance that led them there... How does that make anything right?... Because they had bad upbringing, or a mental problem or an addiction, that makes it okay?... Because you see no way that it could be you?... Romney is definitely your man... |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by srinath on 08/23/12 at 10:48:41 IMHO, We have been in recession since 2005 atleast. Till 08 we were denying it cos the bushies didn't want to be called the 2 recession president. In 08 when we finally had to admit it (and McCain tried to deny it and got egg on his face when it looked like he was clueless) the economy may have actually bottomed. The stimulus actually prevented the pent up demand from getting pent up. In a way letting Lehman bros fail was a smart thing. A smarter thing would have been to let every troubled institution that we bailed out as a proxy via AIG (and that was dont to prevent Goldman Sachs from getting a hit to its bottom line cos they were the biggest backers of the bushies as well as have their ex employees @ the treasury and fed) fail. Every subsequent failure of an investment house will have wiped out most of the rich people to the tune of 30% of their assets and saved the tax payers 3 trillion. Recessions are best if they are short, recoveries are best if the recessions are sharp and well, they clear out the dead wood. The reason the recession is still going on is because the dead wood is still standing and sucking up resources. The problem is systemic, Obama has nothing to do to it that wont make it worse, Bush started the bail out and spent 1.5 trillion before Obama released the last 800 billion, and by then it was too late to reverse course. However Obama's extension of unemployment and other benifits has helped quite a few but not me, I would have like to have had that extension in 05 and 07, I didn't need it since 08. Cool. Srinath. |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by srinath on 08/23/12 at 14:07:04 2137203D25303D26520 wrote:
Y'know Ann said Her and Mitt were so poor @ one time they had to sell some of their stock. Yea, y'know I was giving some good advice to this homeless guy when he was asking for $ ... why dont you just sell some of your stock dude ... Yea ... good advice. Cool. Srinath. |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by arteacher on 08/23/12 at 14:55:22 I used to joke with the cashiers at the local grocery that it seemed to me groceries were $10 a bag, because if I walked out with three bags it would cost around $30 etc etc. Now it's $20 a bag. A loaf of bread costs $3.29? when did that happen? Why is food costing so much? |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by Savage_Rob on 08/23/12 at 15:02:41 353E3E373B34352F2E5A0 wrote:
And why do they leave food and energy (not to mention healthcare) out of cost of living calculations? Because otherwise the results would not be something they were comfortable with. |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by Midnightrider on 08/23/12 at 16:40:47 Its never been like this in my lifetime. My family has never been out of work until now. Mitts probably paid more than $2,275 for one meal. |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by WebsterMark on 08/23/12 at 16:51:25 I don't know what you base your assertions on, whether it's published verifiable statistics or just your personal beliefs. I can't speak to the statistical majority because I don't know them personally and haven't seen enough actual data to make the call. However, when I see what it's done to some good people that I know, I can feel sympathy for them and help where I can. While I accept personal responsibility for most of both the good and bad in my life, there are things outside my control. "There, but for the grace of God, go I." is something I think about more these days than ever before. My objections were over Sew’s typical hyper-liberal tone that this is all the fault of ‘rich guys’ ; whomever they are. The idea that Romney has never been in a .99 cent store… what business does that line have being in a supposedly sad commentary on the state of the economy today other than a shallow, class warfare based attack at ‘the other side’. (forgetting that his side’s been in charge for almost 4 years and responsible for the woman out of work) "There, but for the grace of God, go I." Don’t mistake my pragmatic attitude towards the economics of our day with a lack of love or empathy for our fellow man. As someone with, lets say a challenging childhood; I am first in line for those saved by ‘but for the grace of God’. If not for two elderly Aunts taking 4 kids to live with them on a moment’s notice, I would have been nothing but a statistic. My church volunteers at a food pantry which was specifically started to assist the flood of Bosnian refugees who came to St. Louis. It’s open to anyone who needs help, but in the beginning, it was almost entirely elderly Bosnians. Over the past 3 years or so, we’ve noticed the number of Bosnians has reduced while the number of people from the surrounding neighborhood increased. It’s a poor area of the city. What I see a lot of is more and more younger people showing up for help who are clearly in this bad spot because of poor life choices. Single women with multiple children and no man around. (Murphy Brown, where are you now?...) The younger men who show up are loud and obnoxious. They stand in line for their handout with a sense of entitlement that can be maddening to observe. Last time, I had to break up a fight. I don’t know if the number of older Bosnians has dropped off because they’ve gotten settled, jobs and learned the language or if they’ve been more or less intimidated away. Occasionally, a young man with a wife and child will show up obviously embarrassed to be there. I hope he’s embarrassed. I hope he’s mad as hell at himself. I hope he cries out of anger and frustration when he gets home. I see hope when they realize the choices they made earlier have lead them to this. Those people don’t show up but once or twice. The others have become regulars. They have no desire to improve themselves. They have become accustomed to a lifestyle of lower standards along with everyone else. No, this is not everyone one, but I believe it represents the majority. I think liberal policies and the line of thinking Sew expresses perpetuates the cycle of dependency. I want to bring shame back in vogue. |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by WebsterMark on 08/23/12 at 16:59:02 I don't know where you live Web,.. but it's a very "Let them eat cake" attitude you have... You make it sound as if it's okay for people to live in misery, if you can justify it with some life circumstance that led them there... How does that make anything right?... Because they had bad upbringing, or a mental problem or an addiction, that makes it okay?... Because you see no way that it could be you?... as I said above, I don’t have a let them eat cake attitude. And it’s not okay for people to live in misery. I’m afraid too many have become accustomed to lower lifestyles. Misery loves company, I guess it’s true. How does that make anything right?... Doesn’t make it right, but it’s not Mitt Romney fault. It’s not Bill Gates fault. It’s not some ananomous rich guys’ fault. In many cases, it’s their own fault. If all we had to deal with were the one’s where it really isn’t their fault, it would be no problem. Because you see no way that it could be you?... Absolutely could be me. I could lose my job tomorrow, my wife could lose her, have an accident or something and I’d be in a world of hurt. But I would not sit there and say Mitt Romney’s never been in a .99 store. I would never say a completely asinine line like this one: Its never been like this in my lifetime. My family has never been out of work until now. Mitts probably paid more than $2,275 for one meal. I don't have that jealous gene that seems to run through your veins. I don't blame others for my own screw ups and expect unlce sam to take money out of someone's wallet and give it to me. |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by Boule’tard on 08/23/12 at 17:32:32 I quit giving money to bums the day this happened: I pulled up to a stop sign in a rough neighborhood and this woman is jumping up and down trying to get my attention like it's an emergency. Oh gosh, her mother just had a heart attack and needed gas money to go see her right away! I fall for that and give her 5 bucks. Then I stopped about a block away to gas up, and another bum asks me for money. I start telling him about the other bum and before I can get two sentences out, he says "What, her mother had a heart attack? She's smoking crack every night." So I thank that guy for the information and gave him a buck, and think: Great, I just facilitated a crack purchase. So I went back to the first bum and started raising hell with her, trying to get my 5 bucks back. It soon became clear that nothing short of a physical assault was going to make her cough it up. This bum REALLY wanted her fix. So I moved on, lesson learned. Now for the sad story. I'm on my bike and see this NON-bum hustling with a squeegee at a stoplight, you know, cleaning windshields for whatever tip he can get. I really like that kind of guy, who offers you something in exchange.. and seeing that, would give him some pocket change even though I had no windshield to clean. The timing of the light didn't work out, and I didn't give him any money. But after I went to the store and was passing the other way.. a goddamm COP was writing him a TICKET! For unauthorized solicitation or whatever. It doesn't get any sadder than that, folks. Now for the good story. I'm in Houston, I'm on foot and a NON-bum comes up and is selling beer. He has a cooler full of ice cold Budweisers and is selling them for $1. SOLD ;D |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by Serowbot on 08/23/12 at 18:36:17 Without a liqueur license?... ;D... |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by Midnightrider on 08/23/12 at 20:49:46 "I don't have that jealous gene that seems to run through your veins. I don't blame others for my own screw ups and expect unlce sam to take money out of someone's wallet and give it to me." Web have you ever read and comprehended anything I've posted. I made millions for the company I worked for for 37 years. I've told you that. When I signed on they promised me $50,000 a year retirement. It wasnt Mitt Romney but a greedy low life Republican SOB just like him stole my retirement and cut it to $15,000 a year. The retiement plan and the company had billions. The retirement plan was paying for itself off of interest. All I'm getting from the gov. is SS that I paid into over 40 years and I dont expect anything else! I dam sure aint jealous, I wouldnt trade places with that lying piece of sh!t Romney if I could. All I want is what the theiving Republican bastards promised me. The only mistake I made was voting Republican over half my life. |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by Paraquat on 08/23/12 at 20:57:43 Pick and choose your battles. In my younger days a seemingly homeless guy had asked me for money for food. I was smart enough not to give him money but offered to buy him a slice of pizza (as we were outside a pizzeria and he said he wanted the money for food). The short of it was that the second after I paid he wanted me to leave him alone, became very vocal, became physical in the middle of the pizzeria so I just walked out. Yea yea, but for the grace of God. I side with Web on this one. I'd be embarrassed and ashamed if I ever accepted a hand out. --Steve |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by WebsterMark on 08/24/12 at 05:39:09 midnight:I made millions for the company I worked for for 37 years. It wasnt Mitt Romney but a greedy low life Republican SOB just like him stole my retirement and cut it to $15,000 a year. The retiement plan and the company had billions. The retirement plan was paying for itself off of interest. Okay, I’m calling BS on this. Explain to me how you ‘made millions’ for your company. Explain to me what evidence you have that makes Mitt Romney a greedy low life SOB who steals money Explain to me how your retirement plan was paying for itself off interest. Explain to me specifically how your company had ‘billions’ but your promised payout was reduced. |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by srinath on 08/24/12 at 09:24:22 360403121504132C00130A610 wrote:
I am sorry I am not midnight but, I did make millions for the company I worked for - well I saved them millions. OK There is a fair assumption that anyone in that role I performed with a similar background would have done near about the same. I was in trading platform support for a big bank. However I got laid off (I was only 33 @ tha ttime) and right then I decided to work for today and if tomorow I need to repeat it, I gladly will. I have no problems with boredom, I have you guys and other sites to combat that. Companies dont know how to do anything other than pay their executives these days. I have drifted back to the major banks in the years following that stint, and I make sure I dont create anything of permanent value ... which they wont recognize and will throw it away anyway. Better to do the daily grind, daily ... you may have spare time today, you may know you need the grind tomorow, but you dont grind tomorow's grind today. you look @ savage website. They also have a massive tangled bureaucracy, often I get tripped up by it. So do the others, but I dont get bothered by it anymore. If they are foolish enough to get a bandaid solution thrown together by contractors and off shore developers and it barely works and shuts me out of things I need to do for days/weeks ... I dont worry about it, I open tickets to have someone fix it and get on suzukisavage.com ... hopefully soon I'll have an actual savage I can ride ... so be good then. Cool. Srinath. |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by arteacher on 08/24/12 at 10:22:56 I knew of a "bum" in Toronto in the early '70's that made $10-$15 an hour panhandling. He had a decent apartment and a car. :o |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by Midnightrider on 08/24/12 at 11:46:02 073532232435221D31223B500 wrote:
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Title: Re: Sad Post by WebsterMark on 08/24/12 at 13:13:05 I directly produced a product that broght in over $200, 000 weekly Something doesn't smell right. What do you mean directly produced a product? $200,000 in profit per week? that's 10,400,000 in profit per year. |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by Midnightrider on 08/24/12 at 13:27:04 Web I was an operator and mechanic on a cigaraette machine that produced 420 packs per minute. During my time there the best I can figure the average profit was around 40 cents per pack, profit varied over the years. That's around $200 per minute I was making for the company. I'm not a liar, we might disagree on politics and opinions but I will not lie about my life or my past. |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by Midnightrider on 08/24/12 at 13:28:44 635156474051467955465F340 wrote:
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Title: Re: Sad Post by WebsterMark on 08/24/12 at 13:42:22 okay, never mind. |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by srinath on 08/24/12 at 13:59:08 Midnight - you should get what you're told you would ... but, I wont call your work really inventive - important yes but if you walk out, would have have been able to replace you ? OK how about find a close enough candidate and train ? If no, as in years before someone caught up to your expertise - That would be where I would say I did so and so for my employer. BTW I know of someone else @ AT&T in WS/G'boro who lost like 60-70g out of their 100K retirement when the market crashed. The guy now is a regular flea market and ebay seller and his wife works into his 60's. I have worked for banks most of my life, and I will not ever save in a 401k, I know it will be raided by the company that administers it. I keep checkign, I keep savings (small amounts to just get by in both) and the rest is spent on things I like and I may sell later like old audio, or things I will use to learn and sell parts and expertise on later like audio, or bike parts or bike repair. I will not trust a bank with a penny more than I have to, I trust banks and corporations even less than I trust the govt, and I would rather support the corner panhandling crack addict than the fat cat banker. If someone told me that me and my dependents and loved ones and every one I know and like are going to heaven (or hell) tomorow guarantees, I dont need $ or belongings I will actually distribute it all to the homeless, refi my house take that cash and leave it on my driveway for anyone to get ... max out my credit cards and distrubute the proceeds free to everyone I see ... and leave the banks with a huge red number. Another thing - Charities - do not ever give cash to a charity. They pay their executives several millions ... then they do charity with the left overs, and the actual volunteers get nothing, not even parking $. Give them food, preferably in cans but generally no $. I have dropped off huge quantities of food @ the local soup kitchen, several 100 lb worth. Never cash to a charity. Charities are just about the most top heavy organisation you can think of. 85% of their intake is spent ...you guessed it, on themselves. I'll take the govt over a charity anyday. I'll take the govt over a corporation any day. Cool. Srinath. |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by Midnightrider on 08/24/12 at 18:54:50 The company spent over $150,000 training me to operate and repair a 3 million dollar machine. It will take years of experience for a newb to diagnose problems and produce the numbers I put out. Sure I was replaced the next day after I left but production and quality suffered. The company I worked for is now losing major market share, having major quality problems and most of it is due to how they treat their employess. I still stay in contact with several employees and moral sucks. Everyone fears for their job and there's no future ahead because the company is losing market share.. Cigarette sales are down fom 10 years ago but the sales have stabilised and will probably remain where they are at now for years to come. Now the other major tobacco company who is unionised, takes care of their employees, provides a decent retirement, pays great wages, etc is kicking our a$$ in sales and market share and profits are good. There could be a lesson learned from this but there wont be. The corporate raider management will grab all thats left, stuff their pockets and drive the final nail in the coffin of a once great company. |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by Retread on 08/25/12 at 07:45:13 My family all knew the meaning of a hard days work, my Uncle was at Ludlow Colorado when the massacre took place. I can remember my father telling me "When you cross a picketline, you not only screw the guy on that line, but you screw yourself.".. As you see the working slobs are being separated by the 1%, we are being told "You to can become a millionaire, all you have to do is kiss my rearend." .. And many have bent over to begin the task... I got lucky, I stuck to a good job, invested, and paid everything off, all the while many of my co-workers were buying new cars, taking expensive vacations, and purchasing expensive homes. It was not easy, and I worked an average of 120 hours every two weeks, along with on-call 24/7/365.. So when I vote for a President, do I vote for a guy with a silver spoon in his mouth, who has never worried about a dollar? Or do I vote for the guy who has come from my neck of the woods? Pretty simple decision, and it has nothing to do with class warfare... Class warfare is a word that never even crosses my mind, if it did, I would say that "Yea, THEY won!" .. Amazing how many people will vote against their own best interests... |
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Title: Re: Sad Post by srinath on 08/27/12 at 17:26:29 57737E74737D726E68737E7F681A0 wrote:
This is common with lots of companies. I am repeating lots of work done by my predecessor, who left the $40/hr temp position when something better showed up. They trained him a month, now I have prior experience in the software they use, so I got there in less than 2 weeks much to everyone's surprise, but boy are they gonna be 2 X as surprised when I walk when I get to near the end. Anyway they will repeat it with another schmuck who would probably repeat the same. Cool. Srinath. |
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