Thread Article: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us

No. I simply believe that if someone wants change in their own life, they've got to make the change.
This. The world is full of unsuccessful people waiting for their big break. Grow up and take the initiative.

Please note that I did not read the rest of the thread in any way.
 
Any idea how many people do get a job. The only job they can find, selling drugs? I love how you equate having a criminal record with stealing. there are 1.5 million drug arrests in the USA every year, half for marijuana. Guess what, by and large it's the poorer parts of society that are stopped and searched and then arrested for a bit of weed. Life isn't so easy after that and your mistake can marr your life from a very early age then. Being all smug and superior and talking about mowing lawns and clearing driveways ( like there are loads of people in low rent areas wanting to pay for those things) is condescending and TBH a tad ugly. I guess it's just that poor people don't want to be President or something. I mean anyone can be can't they?

Superior? Condescending? Ugly? Fuck you. You've labeled them as helpless you pompous ass.
 
Superior? Condescending? Ugly? Fuck you. You've labeled them as helpless you pompous ass.

I've recognised how much more difficult it is if you are born into poverty and how easy it is to hold out little or no hope of becoming middle class. My view is supported by the evidence. If your father is poor then you will almost certainly live and die poor. You're the ass for simply saying they should just get their act together as if it's that simple. Your views are abhorent to me as they show no compassion for less fortunate people than yourself.
 
i've only made it halfway through this thread, so i have more catching up to do, but i just HAVE to say this...

STOP COMPARING.

look how much wasted time and energy is in this thread alone simply COMPARING stuff...comparing one thing to another, be it skin color, class status, countries, etc, will get you NOWHERE. you will always find better, you will always find worse. comparing is mostly ineffective and a waste of time.

people should stop and consider WHAT the problem is. U.S. health care.

WHY is it a problem? it's currently ineffective, expensive, and complicated.

is it a NEED or a WANT for society? a need.

because it is a NEED for all, WHAT should it do? it should be affordable, efficient, obtainable, and available for all.

HOW do you make it that way? ...


...


...


this is where the US is. and it's gotten so...messed up tangled dirty that it's like a game of pick-up-sticks...it's urgent to get to that last stick and yet we CANNOT get to it without messing up the layers of sticks before it. it's impossible to touch one factor without touching at least one other one.

ideas and suggestions are great -- but when dealing with masses of people who RANGE from healthy to sick, man to woman, young to old, yaddayadda...you have to BEGIN on COMMON ground. you have to define the very words you use -- what is privileged, for example? because everyone has his or her own idea of privileged, there needs to be a definition established of privilege so when you USE the word, regardless of if people agree with it or not, at least everyone can focus on the same meaning.
definitions need to be established. a focus needs to be determined, defined, and CONSISTENTLY observed throughout the process of building and changing a system. samples from as many groups of society as we can find need to be chosen and paneled together. and society needs to have a bigger part in the establishment of structures which affect society, whether it is GIVEN or DEMANDED.

we are not loud enough...therefore we will never be heard. i am guilty of this myself. at this point, it's my opinion that things get further and further out of the people's control...and as a result, the people are going to be further and further removed from rule-making. additionally, the people are going to have a harder time crossing the widening gap between rule makers and the society the rules run.

people who profit from an established system, no matter how corrupt or broken it may be, will not stop and try to change it. add to that the lack of responsibility and the benefit of remaining anonymous and you have a comfy pocket-stuffing system for one slant of society. change will not come at this point in health care very easily, i don't believe...and it's going to take us as peons standing up and fighting for ourselves. it's going to take name-calling, assignment of responsibility, firm, visible rules and a strict punishment system that is obvious and utilized.

in other words, it's going to be hard, upsetting, dirty, angry, and difficult to change the current US health care system. in my opinion.
 
I've recognised how much more difficult it is if you are born into poverty and how easy it is to hold out little or no hope of becoming middle class. My view is supported by the evidence. If your father is poor then you will almost certainly live and die poor. You're the ass for simply saying they should just get their act together as if it's that simple. Your views are abhorent to me as they show no compassion for less fortunate people than yourself.

We both agree the current system is broke, your evidence proves it. You want to continue on with the current system though? Expand it and give them more entitlements?
 
We both agree the current system is broke, your evidence proves it. You want to continue on with the current system though? Expand it and give them more entitlements?

I think that people in a society should be entitled to whatever that society deems are necessities. That means enough food, shelter, education and medical help to live. I just loathe this view that everyone who is on welfare is a lazy good for nothing who is stealing your hard earned money.50% of the population have below average IQs. Is that their fault? No. So why is it a surprise that a portion of society doesn't function well? It doesn't sit well with me to simply pretend that these people somehow choose to be less able, motivated or whatever. Society plays it's part in demotivating people.
 
I think that people in a society should be entitled to whatever that society deems are necessities. That means enough food, shelter, education and medical help to live. I just loathe this view that everyone who is on welfare is a lazy good for nothing who is stealing your hard earned money.50% of the population have below average IQs. Is that their fault? No. So why is it a surprise that a portion of society doesn't function well? It doesn't sit well with me to simply pretend that these people somehow choose to be less able, motivated or whatever. Society plays it's part in demotivating people.

Does society play any part in Motivating people to you? or is society just a bad thing?

& quit conflating people not making a change with people being unable to make a change.
 
Are we talking about blacks in particular, or minorities? I guess I'll focus on blacks as the spokesmen for minority struggle.

Blacks in America were born in a first world country
Being black is no where near as hard as it once was. Most young people outside of Alabama are blind to color now. Most of my friends are black, hispanic, or dot Indian. This isn't the 1950s. Much of the country is now some shade of brown.
Black males are male
Countless poor blacks have loving and supportive families
Countless poor blacks have roofs, water, and all have free education.


HEY!!!! I HEARD THAT!!!!!!!! :mad:

for your information, mister...to this DAY i do not describe ANYONE using skin color unless i HAVE to...as a result, my children didn't even know what "black people" meant until school. they were raised to see a person as a person, not skin color. we have studied many people and seen them as people with characteristics. sometimes my children would describe someone and their skin, adding that it was BROWN. just a couple of months ago, my daughter had a violin recital. before she played, there was a group who was showing off drum skills. my 5YO son commented that the group mainly had brown people in it. he was observing, not judging. he also commented on the two non-brown kids and the wheelchair dude.

but i feel proud when my children actually SEE people. they don't scan for color and move on. society has come a long way from the 50s/60s...but now we take it a step FURTHER. we've done the slave thing. we've done the women thing. we've done the "black" thing. now we're doing the gay thing. after that, some other slant from society will step up and fight for something. i'm hoping it'll be middle class this time. regardless, this is how we evolve. but in order to get effective, positive change we must learn from past mistakes, work together on maintaining a common focus, and work together on achieving said-goal.

we've just got to learn how to work together. :(
 
I think that people in a society should be entitled to whatever that society deems are necessities. That means enough food, shelter, education and medical help to live. I just loathe this view that everyone who is on welfare is a lazy good for nothing who is stealing your hard earned money.50% of the population have below average IQs. Is that their fault? No. So why is it a surprise that a portion of society doesn't function well? It doesn't sit well with me to simply pretend that these people somehow choose to be less able, motivated or whatever. Society plays it's part in demotivating people.

Which is why I proposed having them work for 4 hours to help clean up and improve society to get their handout, it'll also motivate them to you know... go do something else. This is how the system was originally set up and we have some awesome national parks to thank for it. Having it only part time gives them plenty of time to work on getting a better education and these work places can promote those opportunities. Everybody wins, except for those who now have to work for their entitlements.

50% have below average IQs? No shit, that's how IQ works. How many are into the mentally retarded category though? And why are we letting these types breed?
 
I've recognised how much more difficult it is if you are born into poverty and how easy it is to hold out little or no hope of becoming middle class. My view is supported by the evidence. If your father is poor then you will almost certainly live and die poor. You're the ass for simply saying they should just get their act together as if it's that simple. Your views are abhorent to me as they show no compassion for less fortunate people than yourself.

Are you suggesting that there is a glut of college graduates living below the poverty line here? Or are you suggesting that poor people are too dumb to get an education?
 
HEY!!!! I HEARD THAT!!!!!!!! :mad:

for your information, mister...to this DAY i do not describe ANYONE using skin color unless i HAVE to...as a result, my children didn't even know what "black people" meant until school. they were raised to see a person as a person, not skin color. we have studied many people and seen them as people with characteristics. sometimes my children would describe someone and their skin, adding that it was BROWN. just a couple of months ago, my daughter had a violin recital. before she played, there was a group who was showing off drum skills. my 5YO son commented that the group mainly had brown people in it. he was observing, not judging. he also commented on the two non-brown kids and the wheelchair dude.

but i feel proud when my children actually SEE people. they don't scan for color and move on. society has come a long way from the 50s/60s...but now we take it a step FURTHER. we've done the slave thing. we've done the women thing. we've done the "black" thing. now we're doing the gay thing. after that, some other slant from society will step up and fight for something. i'm hoping it'll be middle class this time. regardless, this is how we evolve. but in order to get effective, positive change we must learn from past mistakes, work together on maintaining a common focus, and work together on achieving said-goal.

we've just got to learn how to work together. :(

Madam, do you affirm or deny that the state of Alabama is a hotbed of racism and prejudice in this country?
 
Are you suggesting that there is a glut of college graduates living below the poverty line here? Or are you suggesting that poor people are too dumb to get an education?

The chick who cut my hair the other day has a Master's in Social Work and is currently unemployed (in her field). I congratulated her shitty choice of careers and tipped her $15. So, in a way, I enabled her lack of decision making skills. :(
 
The chick who cut my hair the other day has a Master's in Social Work and is currently unemployed (in her field). I congratulated her shitty choice of careers and tipped her $15. So, in a way, I enabled her lack of decision making skills. :(

Starbucks has made a multi billion dollar empire on the backs of her type.