We can eliminate poverty in the USA

hey GL nice to bump into you again. 

I think that is a nice ideal, the opportunities are there for some. However, I think the issues run a little deeper than that.  

'32 million adults in the U.S. can't read. That's 14 percent of the population. 21 percent of adults in the U.S. read below a 5th grade level, and 19 percent of high school graduates can't read.'

European system is not necessarily a good role model to follow. Sure, there's less inequality but there's also less opportunites and, while there's more security, there's also more taxation. This is why a lot of Europeans get a good education at home, come to the US to work and embrase opportunities to enrich themselves. Once they do that, they may either settle down in the US, or move back home to enjoy better social benefits while preserving their capital. And, historically, people moved to the US because of the open frontiers, to take their chances against great odds to enrich their lives.

Also note that back in the days of the Cold War, it was the people from the Socialst camp running away to the Capitalist West and not the other way around. These days, it's the North Koreans who try to escape to the South, and not the other way around. So, Capitalism may be an ugly beast, but, like it or not, it's the best practical system there's for now.

just reading all this , im an anarchist , but this is a good forum piece isnt it

heres a few points ive read that i would agree with

a national maximum wage , i back that alot why should any person be worth 100s if not 1000s or in extrem billions more than another , and yet the richest without doing any work seem to think thats the way it should be ,

the lack of equality in education is a good point too , i think that would certainly help in making folk have more equal chance to fulfill their potential

you rightly point to the insanity that is the armaments industry as most militarised countries have adequate equipment to destroy us all 10x over already

stopping the rich stashing cash in offshore tax havens that should be paid in taxes for the benefit of all makes sense

as i said im an anarchist i offer no apology for this its just what ive matured into after a life of asking for a fairer world

capitalism is a failure it promotes poverty and will never eradicate it

i wish communism had never been usurped by stalinism but it was and tainted that philosophy so now communism is a dirty word and not what it was meant to be

I know of a few family of immigrants who have come to the USA/T's (w/ children !) and have both worked hard & saved and are well ontheir way to their first $1MM.

They could not read nor write English. In fact, many years later ?....they barely can.

I don't feel that education and accumulating $ are dependent (tho' it can help). I have seen too many living-breathing examples that are otherwise. 

I'm just saying that (for most people) the opportunity is there. You're not asking for the impossible (like becoming a movie star or something). You're just asking for discipline outta yourself.

IDK, maybe that in itself is asking too much (shrugging).

Ask yourself. If everyone was frugal w/ $, do you think prices of stuff would be as high.

He!! No !!....Go to China & see a society where nearly all people are very frugal. Then look at the price of things. Crazee low.

I say to have the World live like the USA/T's ?....you'd need 10 Planet Earth's worth of natural resources to do so.

If your goal is to save a million bucks in twenty years, you'd have to stash away 50 grand every year.

Sure, no problem, anybody can do that.

There's a Chinese woman (you go Girl !!) who picks up everyone's recycled throwaways on the Mainland USA, ships them back over to China, reprocesses it all, and then sells it for packaging for stuff "Made in China" that's shipped back over here !

And they say we pay her to take it from us !

She has about $5 Billion and she's the Queen of Trash. Her name is Zhang Yin.

BP, my point is you don't need $1MM to live comfortably. But you do need to get yourself outta the poverty zone.

And I believe that nearly everyone in the USA/T's can 'cuz they're being given the opportunity. They just choose not to. Substance Abuse, laziness, pride, etc.

And that's what makes America the Land of Opportunity. And I think it's hilarious that a woman from a faraway country made America her Land of Opportunity !

No matter how  I feel about the way wealth and power are distributed among people and corporations

The share the wealth crap is a joke, The way it works if i work 80 hours a week and you sit on your ass i should have more. The lazy people in this country that feel they are entitled to everything are bleeding this country dry, Welfare was supposed to be an assistance not a life style. I already pay enough to take care of the cell phones and other crap they get. I don't know about the rest of you but i am getting pretty sick and tired of working my ass off to pay my bills and still have to take care of the lazy ones.I drag myself to work even when i am feeling bad while they sit around all day

....yes ?....keep going.

Markle, entitlement was borne outta my parent's generation (America's worst ever generation....the Baby Boomer) & we can't get ridda this mindset in the USA.

I'm more interested in the sociological reason as to why. Why do people feel entitled ? Is it a derivative of so much freedom & 1st Amendment ? Was it all too good after WW2 ? Does it come from Imperialism and how the USA makes the headlines across the world today ?....what exactly is it ?  

Who in the he!! do we think we are ? 

Dear Lola,  

                    C.c s word processing software SUCKS.

....so right.

How's that "Land of Opportunity" working out for these Chinese women?

The multi-national coroperates & the 'greed factor' is part of the problem. Inequality is being pointed to from my perspective not entitlement.

The 'gap' between this: 

I've been told that the over 50% of Americans have a mental disorder that's been not only by nature (born w/ it) but nurtured. Keyword here: nurtured. You know, brought about by one's surroundings. That's separate from this 25+% mental illness you're showing.

And you're right Nik, maybe socialism is our progressive path as we burst at the seams of overpopulation. Overpop not from not enuf land but from a capitalist system strained to the spaggetti noodles.

This  is a hell-hole.  I'm glad no one comes here anymore.