When Poverty is Confused With Neglect

Yes. (3.80 / 5)

Given all the rhetoric we  heard this session about the "rights" of parents,

Selective "rights," as usual.

birch paper; on Twitter @deanbarker

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by: Dean Barker @ Mon Jul 11, 2011 at 10:42:05 AM UTC

The rights of parents to use and abuse their property (0.00 / 0)

with impunity.
There's a reason why the U.S. has not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

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by: hannah @ Mon Jul 11, 2011 at 10:55:02 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Foster care is one of the flavors of human husbandry. (4.00 / 2)

It avoids the risks inherent in pregnancy and birth (taking over the chicks after the eggs have hatched) and it comes with a stipend.  I don't know what it is in New Hampshire (certainly more than AFDC + food stamps), but in Minnesota, where Michelle Bachmann fostered over 20 children, each one comes with a monthly stipend of $600.
When Bill Clinton promised to "end welfare as we know it," I though he meant reform a system where teens were routinely taken to court and declared unruly so they would placed in (family placement) foster care and the monthly check would be larger, but, of course, what the child got to eat, wear and sleep in stayed exactly the same. What we got was women put to work at minimum wage and children placed in day-care, also one of the flavors of human husbandry. Regardless of who pays for it, the exploitation is the same. The child as meal-ticket has a long history.

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by: hannah @ Mon Jul 11, 2011 at 10:53:09 AM UTC

We don't care (3.00 / 1)

as a state these days, and as a society in general, about our children.  Maybe our own kids, sort of, because unless one is willing to preserve the only planet they will have to live on then that care is nothing but mouthing words.  Certainly not the kids of others, even though they will be the society that our children live in.  Somehow we have confused money with virtue, and come to believe that we can make it on our own with no need for an organized community (government) that pools some of our funds to do those things that we can't do as individuals effectively and efficiently.  
We have given up on the future.  The thing that makes us different from the other living beings on the planet, the ability to think about a future, to picture it, to set long-term goals and communicate them to others, that is what we somehow have lost in the chase for...I don't even know what we are chasing!

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by: Lucy Edwards @ Mon Jul 11, 2011 at 10:57:12 AM UTC

"High quality representation" = money in the pockets of (4.00 / 1)

lawyers, another example of human husbandry -- i.e. the exploitation of humans by their own kind to their detriment.

Parental poverty is not cured by giving money to lawyers.  Parental poverty is cured by insuring the parents, whose contribution of children is supposedly a social value, have enough money to provide for their rearing and education.  But, that's likely to be more expensive than having the next generation reared for free, via the blood, sweat and tears of their parents and then, to see if they're fit, having them sent off to battle for a bit.  Then when the next generation has been well tested, it can be put to work starting the cycle all over again.

We do have a cycle of dependence.  But, it's not the poor who are in it.  It's our incompetent freeloaders who like to give orders and pretend to know stuff by using fancy words, like "fungible" and "nabob" and "sovereign."

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by: hannah @ Mon Jul 11, 2011 at 11:06:41 AM UTC

I love that phrase (0.00 / 0)

"incompetent freeloaders."  Frank Guinta, are you listening?

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by: Lucy Edwards @ Mon Jul 11, 2011 at 11:15:59 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

http://www.npr.org/2011/07/11/137757912/brazils-president-desires-to-end-poverty-for-those-left-behind (4.00 / 1)

Brazil's President Vows To End Poverty For Millions today on NPR Morning Edition

Please listen to the Story on NPR about Brazil's economic success.. As a side bar to listening check out this stat:

Brazil's level of economic inequality is dropping at a faster rate than that of almost any other country.  Between 2003 and 2009, the income of poor Brazilians has grown seven times as much as the income of rich Brazilians.  Poverty has fallen during that time from 22 percent of the population to 7 percent.

So what have the Brazilians done? PAID THE POOR! Can someone share this with Lynch, O'Brien, Obama, Boehner...we are shredding the safety net, putting education out of reach, dismantling the justice system for the poor, but brilliantly protecting the rich - to what end? Destroy the American Dream.

How does putting millions of Americans in economic freefall restore stability? How come we cannot make this the national and state narrative?

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by: political chowder @ Mon Jul 11, 2011 at 12:42:44 PM UTC

It must be a national narrative, my friend. (3.00 / 1)

The state is constrained just as you and I are.  Without a national initiative to achieve these ends, the governor, legislature, and the rest of us are left fighting over table scraps.  This gets to the question of what is our monetary policy.

Not gonna hijack the thread but here's a very short article on full employment by respected economist L. Randal Wray.

http://www.thenation.com/artic...


In the immediate aftermath of Since the start of the financial crisis, the Fed/Treasury lent, spent, or guaranteed $28 $29 trillion to save the banking system.

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by: StraffordDem @ Mon Jul 11, 2011 at 14:28:10 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Only the federal government (3.00 / 1)

has fiat currency.  Gotcha.  

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by: Lucy Edwards @ Mon Jul 11, 2011 at 17:08:57 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Planned Parenthood Defunded In New Hampshire (0.00 / 0)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/11/new-hampshire-planned-parenthood_n_894991.html

Until July 1, a low-income New Hampshire woman paid an average of $5 to fill a birth control pill prescription at any of the state's six Planned Parenthood clinics. She might have even gotten the birth control for free, depending on her poverty level.

But since the New Hampshire Executive Council voted to cancel the state's contract with Planned Parenthood, a woman now has to pay anywhere from $40 to over $100 for birth control pills at a regular pharmacy.

Another attack on the poor, especially poor women.

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by: mevansnh @ Mon Jul 11, 2011 at 22:48:03 PM UTC

Simple solution (0.00 / 0)

Want less expensive contraception? Simple - get your girlfriend a job working for House leadership. State employees have prescription drug coverage, and access to a FSA so you can even use pre-tax dollars to pick up the tab!

Oh wait, we can't all do that?

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by: dooper @ Wed Jul 13, 2011 at 04:17:24 AM UTC

[ Parent ]