#systemic poverty

[bitchesgetriches]

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How to Pay Hospital Bills When You’re Flat Broke

[ofdinosanddais1]

One thing I really hate about people who are like "the problem to solving homelessness is giving people homes" and no the fuck it's not because yet again people don't give a single thought to disabled people.

1): Giving someone a house does not cure addiction. It might make it easier to treat but if there is no treatment for it, then they're going to be financially screwed over and, sure, they'll have a roof over their head but when they spend all their money on drugs because addiction is a very expensive disease and you can't just quit cold turkey because you could fucking die so until they have medical help, they're just fucked.

2): What about wheelchair users? Yeah, there's a fuckton of vacant homes they can move into but what the fuck is the point if they can't even enter their house? Do they just live in the garage or are you going to expect them to spend thousands on making the home accessible? Or if you do manage to get them inside, what happens when there's a fire and they can't leave? Yes, ambulatory wheelchair users exist but that's not every wheelchair user. Not to mention, if they get out safely but their wheelchair is burnt to shit, what are you gonna do then?

3): What about people who need part-time or full-time caregivers? Sure, they have a roof over their head but that won't matter if they have to shit themselves because no one's there to take them to the bathroom. That won't matter when they starve to death because they can't cook.

4): It's not even just disabled people. What about families with young children? Are the homes you give them in a safe neighborhood? Are the homes themselves safe? Are they supportive of families of varying age ranges or is Jessica the teenager going to be sharing a room with Bobby the toddler or will she have privacy that she'll need as a developing teenager?

5): How close are these homes to public transportation? A lot of homeless people either can't drive for a variety of reason or they can't afford a car or gas. Will they have five minute, thirty minute, or a two hour long walk to the bus?

Giving homeless people a house is only one problem that an unhoused person will face. If you don't think about the other problems people will face, then your view of the solution to homelessness is very shallow and ignorant.

I'm not asking these questions to imply there's no solution. I'm asking them to get YOUR mindset in the right place to actually help people. If you are serious about helping solve the issue, expand your thinking and truly embrace diversity outside of having an ally sticker on your car.

[datharlequinoni]

The right thrives on the idea that its government taxes that are gouging americans financially, and not the staggering costs of living versus incredibly poor wages. Of buying groceries, of paying utilities, of paying for gas, and of seeking healthcare. of vital medication, of hospital and doctor visits while working dead end jobs that pay jack shit. The truth is, if americans weren't so goddamn poor on average we'd have enough not just to pay taxes, but to live comfortably while doing so. And those taxes could contribute to lifting other people out of poverty onto our level. Instead, americans are getting paid less, getting gouged on every expense, and the rich ass elite among us aren't paying jack shit in taxes or anything really. But if you broker the idea of universal healthcare to a right-aligned person they'll say"BUT THAT WOULD MEAN PAYING TAXES" Bitch, those taxes wouldn't even remotely approach the fiscal cost of a single hospital visit or a dose of insulin without insurance. Most people wouldn't even be concerned with taxes if they had fucking money to begin with. All this before mentioning that you could have a national universal healthcare structure financially supported off 10% of Amazon's fucking wealth in taxes alone.

[z4howard]

We have more work to do

[merpuccino]

"Eat the rich" is unfortunately misquoted. I first saw the full quote this week actually. It's attributed to Rousseau, one of the founding members of the French Revolution (which inspired our own American Revolution). The full quote is something like "When the people have nothing else to eat, they will eat the rich."

The first time I heard "eat the rich," I rolled my eyes. I grew up poor so I get feeling derisive of rich people. I have for a number of years - despite being personally very liberal - tried to give people the benefit of the doubt.

But in it's full context, the quote points to the nature of a corrupt system. Yes, some rich people are good and try to donate their money to good causes. Some establish scholarships and funds. But an unjust system is still unjust and that there are nice rich people doesn't change the fact that there is a system in place that ensures only a smaller percentage of the population can afford things like sufficient health care.

So when people say "eat the rich," they're not necessarily saying "screw rich people." It's a reminder that some people are rich because of corruption and greed. Poverty is cyclical and even in a capitalist system that supposedly offers everyone equal opportunity, if the majority don't have access to basic healthcare or other things to meet their needs, that system is deeply flawed.

[ooops-ididitagain]

Doctors be like "I know a place" while you're chillin in the womb and then send you to hell

[tabitha1917]

[dragoni]

Opinion | Blackface Is the Tip of the Iceberg

The structural problems we need to solve lie at the roots of American society.

“We should care about racist imagery, but we should care even more about our still-segregated society.”

It’s easy to focus on the racist of the day. We The People must uproot institutionalized racism of Voter Suppression and Segregation — each and every day — each and every election — each and every piece of legislation.

It took almost 16 years for House Republicans to reprimand Steve King of Iowa for his frequent expressions of explicit racism, by stripping him of his committee assignments. The catalyst? An interview with The New York Times in which he expressed sympathy with racist ideas. “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” King said.

Compare that slow-moving response with the quick dismissal of Michael Ertel, the Republican secretary of state in Florida, who resigned the same day that photos of him in blackface were revealed to the public. Taken at a Halloween party in 2005, they show Ertel with a painted face and a costume that make clear he was mocking survivors of Hurricane Katrina.

If racism is principally a problem of power and resources — of race hierarchy and the denial of life, liberty and opportunity to blacks and other nonwhites — then our political culture ought to expand the offenses that earn the kinds of swift condemnation we’ve seen over the last few days. 

“Voter suppression and the lawmakers who back it deserve the same contempt we save for open racial bigotry; officials behind policies rooted in prejudice, like the travel ban or child separation, ought to be forced from office.”

American society is still structured by color. Your health, your wealth — your ability to live and act freely — still turns to a large degree on whether you were born white. Like Ertel, Northam should resign. Virginia’s history with racism is too fraught to allow this association with blackface (to say nothing of the Ku Klux Klan imagery) to stand unaddressed. But any collective reckoning with racism that comes out of this moment must go beyond the personal and offensive to the unequal depths. 

A vote for a Republican or a DINO is a vote for

#SystemicOppression #SystemicInequality #SystemicPoverty #SystemRacism  #WhitePrivilege