I doubt that most of those living on the street started living on the streets willingly and voluntarily gave up all their worldly possessions except for their bankaccount in which they had millions. I've helped out at a shelter once on christmas day while visiting friends in Sacramento and the people that came there for lunch were not looking like they wanted to live on the streets, I can tell you that much. I've never seen so broken people.

You imply the possibility that those who live on the streets just choose to be there and could get off it if they wanted  to. I think life as a homeless person is pretty harsh and that most really don't want to be there but don't know how to get out of it or don't know whom to ask for help. Getting off the street is probably alot harder than starting to live on it. It's a viceous cycle and escape is not that easy, especially in nation with such a calvinistic work ethic mentality and where hard work is not enough sometimes and those who need welfare are stigmatized as lazy despite working 2 or 3 jobs in some cases.

Generalizsations in either direction are always prejudicial and cause me to lose sight of the individuals, and that is bad thing because every homeless person had a home once and a life story (now I sound like lifetime melodrama  ) but it's true nontheless.

I know what you mean with the panhandlers.. I grew up in very touristy town in Germany at the lake of Constance and we had this homeless guy who came every summer and had a few dogs and just begged - and he must have made alot of money. During wintertime he was in his house in southfrance. Freiburg, where I currently live, has a lot of homeless punks who just sit around all day and drink and do drugs. Public drinking is not forbidden here.. so they have their orgies right in the middle of the pedestrian precinct. There is broken glass all over the place all the time during early morning hours. They get welfare and beg and make more money that way then they would working or making an apprenticeship for a trade (those take 3 years) and they feel cheated because they get less money working than living on welfare lol *hmpf* (that is really a crappy mentality) It annoys me as hell, because they truly leech from society because Germany has a very tight social net. Then there is the problem with organized begging by gypsie crews who come every few years like a plague. They beat up their kids and mistreat their wifes so they look horrible and pityful and make more money. Thank god Romania is the EU - free travel for everybody ey

From what I have heard that is not so much the case in the US. If you lose your job and house because you can't pay the mortgage anymore and your car etc. you're really screwed. Everything relies on people having a car, not being able to drive is almost like being crippled.

I believe that life on the streets changes you as a person.. those normal ways of behaviour don't exist anymore. You're on your own and have to look out for yourself and nobody will care if you die or have enough food or need help - except some social workers or cops. Going from that violent existance back to normal must be really weird, and even if they could theoretically go back to their families and old jobs some just don't fit into that society anymore - can't handle normal. I am pretty sure that is why so many don't make it back, but I am also pretty sure that love for ones family is strong enough to help overcome the obstacles in others.

Politics loves sentimental stories, especially in the US. It doesn't surprise me in the least that it is picked up as an issue.

Economical reasons are one of many reasons, and I'd be surprised if that could be dismissed out of hand as having no importance at all. 

Read Barbara Ehrenreichs book on minimumwage. She tried to live off it as an social experiment and wrote a book about it. She said it is impossible to pull it off, and I am inclined to believe her. Maybe if you are single and have no children and very low living standards and never get sick, then you might get by. Otherwise I doubt it is as easy to make ends meet as you make it sound.

I've always shared apartments to reduce costs. It is pretty common here. And I had a lot of crazy roommates lol sheesh.

Ahh poverty.. another issue of huge political impact. If what you say were true, then nobody should live in poverty - which is not true. Even people that work hard from early to late in the evening are poor and stay that way in the US (and in the rest of the world). Reasons for that are manifold, I think it's mostly due to a poor education. In order to fight poverty one has to make sure that everybody has a solid education. Every dollar spent on education will reduce costs spent on welfare programms. That's what PISA is all about, a survey of skill in math, reading and writing, and logical solution finding among 15 year old students in different countries around the world. Industry needs skilled workers and experts in their field so education is a question of economics. And since more and more jobs become computerized and more technical, the need for skilled workers rises. Unlearned people are needed less and less.

In order to work as a forklift driver in Germany you have to finish an apprenticeship as a warehouse clerk. That takes 3 years. Same goes for construction workers, builders, painters, electricians, carpenters etc. have to have a finished apprenticeship before they are employed by any construction company. Administrative workers have to do that - basically every trade required it.

Germany doesn't have minimum wage, did you know that? We have very powerful workers unions in many different fields, like service jobs, metal industry, chemical industry etc. and they negotiate tarifs. Wal mart actually withdrew from Germany because the union was too strong for their liking.

Utemia, I don't know about Germany, but are you aware that in America, "poverty level" begins at $25,000/year? That obesity is considered a disease of the  very poor? That to be considered "hungry" in America, all you have to miss is one meal a month?

I know lots of "poor" people; heck, I'm one of them, by wage standards. Between the two of us, my wife and I make less than $50,000 a year, yet we live very comfortably, and well. Sometimes the wolf howls, but that's life; it's crazy to think everyone should get to live like a king, just because, and without having to work at it.

Thanks to a recent inheritance, we've purchased a house; up til now, however, we've rented, both houses and apartments.

All the "poor people" I know have cars or access to transportation, homes of one sort or another, more than one TV, and cash for things like junk food, fast food, cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana.....but by the standards of the day, they're "poor".

And you're right....it often IS due to a poor education. But there have to be efforts made on both sides of that issue. Here, even people with a high school diploma often can't identify historical figures, do basic math, read or write at adult levels; the educational system is geared toward overall testing results, rather than basic, "three-R's" learning. My wife's cousin is a fine example of the modern American educational system; he can neither read nor write, yet he accepted a HS diploma in 2005. He works as a janitor....however, he does get paid pretty well, from what I've heard.

The area I live in has a very strong union mentality. The unions dominated the steel mills and smaller industries for years, and dictated to managment and the business owners what they would and wouldn't do, what concessions they would make, which weren't many.

Well, aftr many years of union thuggery, we now have a lot of idle, rusting steel mills; we have lots of Brazillians, Japanese and Koreans doing what people like my dad used to do, and for a whole lot less. 

We have a lot of retired steelworkers who've lost their pensions and their medical and life insurance, because when the good times were over, it turned out the unions had ultimately screwed them over all during the 60s, 70s and 80s.....and have had to give in now.

Yet, the union leaders live in $300,000 houses and drive BMWs.

The union mentality is so pervasive, however, that most union members still blame management and the businessmen, rather than the unions themselves. Talk about brainwashing.

I am reminded of a conversation I had with a classmate after I scored really well on a test...

Her: "tal, how are you so smart"

Me: "what do you mean? I just study hard, today I spent four hours reading the textbook"

Her: "Oh man, I can never get myself to read the textbook"

... the day before she told me that:

1. She is failing the class

2. she will not withdraw, because withdrawing you don't learn anything and you admit failure, instead she will push to the end.

3. she is poor and is trying to get an education to get out of it.

I don't think she is gonna succeed in this... she is failing the classes because she will not read. She just doesn't have the patience to spend on reading the textbook and it shows. You cannot FORCE a person to learn, you can only offer them knowledge.

I am kicking you off for your OWN GOOD, by writing about your suffering many people will be angry and supportive of my political beleifs, resulting in you receiving their magical vibes of good feeling.

that was sarcasm.

Which is a big problem. This basically results in children being forced to attend indocrination facilities, but instead of indoctrinating them with responsibility, being hard working, and morals, they are indocrinated with laziness, unfairness, working the system, and entitlement.

it is called social evolution, instead of indoctrinating everyone in the country from early childhood, let people educate their own children in such manners. The result is a hetrogenous society where failed ideologies are allowed to fail, and successful ones thrive.

This evolution of cultures is why incest and canibalism is taboo in our current society. Societies that values those things have all failed.

Did you expect that I Would have no answer, or that my suggestion would be to indoctrinate everyone to MY way of thinking?

All the problems that you describe are enabled by our stupid laws. eliminate entitlement and you will see a lot less family breakdowns.

HA... major... I major in molecular biology, but I have enough knowledge and experience in education to fill books. Studying and "major" are not necessarily the same. You can read a book outside of class, and if all your knowledge comes from mandatory lectures and not from voluntery reading, then you are truely ignorant.

Not educating your children IS a failed ideaolgy that will fail and result in unachieving children who are unlikely to reproduce without entitlement.

The constitution requires us to indoctrinate children with the current fad? where exactly?

Oh; heh....I get it, now. Sorry. Little slow on the uptake, there.

I agree with this, and individual teachers do deserve more than what they get, but here, they DO get three months paid vacation every year. They only work nine months out of the year. 

America's students score lower and lower against other nations all the time, even though the government keeps throwing truckloads of cash in their direction. Let me point out that this is same institution which produced many scientists and engineers which helped earn us the moon; which made us one of the greatest world powers in history, and in less than 150 years, at that.

What's happened? The American public school system has, over the last 30-40 years, become a discipline-free zone, and a cesspool of Leftist and touchy-feely, secular-humanist indoctrination. A place where good self-esteem is valued over high grades and accomplishment; therefore, everyone is rewarded equally, no matter how dismal their performance.

Also, you don't understand how the Teacher's Union works over here. They're more concerned with getting teachers this perk and that perk, than with educating kids. They're a HUUUUGE supporter of the Democratic Party, as are ALL unions here, even though the Dems hardly ever do anything but throw them a meager bone at election time.

There has been a big debate and movment over here, for quite a few years now, over providing government vouchers for lower-class children to be sent to private and/or Christian schools, getting them out of the public school system. The union hates this, of course, because it takes money away from their public schools, and exposes how inept and inadequate their influence has made our school system, as the kids who do get out and go to private schools tend to thrive academically. The Dems, thanks to the money they get from the teacher's union, don't support it.

In his first speech, Obama praised the teachers union for their superb job and the quality education they provide America's kids; yet, his own daughters attend an exculsive private school, as do most other politicians in DC. It's okay for their kids, I guess, but not for mine.

No, it isn't tricky at all.
"Poverty" is not a relative term. Many people who live in Third World countries run by rich, self-aggrandizing dictators (many of whom describe the movements which installed them as "People's Revolutions" and such....) live in "poverty"; they live in shacks made of old, dirty plywood and tin, with a dirt floor and beds made of whatever soft materials they can find. They have to scratch and scrabble for food, and they rarely have running water, heat, electricity (much like Iraq, until we invaded, toppled the dictatorship and provided such amenities) or vehicles. That's poverty.

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, we were somberly told, time and again, that these people were the "poorest or the poor"; living in "poverty", and Katrina had taken even their meager possessions. 

Yet, in the news reports, as the camera panned across the crowds of refugees, we saw many, many well-dressed (before the looting started), morbidly obese people. Katrina taught the world that if "extreme poverty" produces anything, it's 350-pound poor people in $130 basketball jersies, $200 sneakers, and draped in gold chains and rings. That's not to say they were living it up; many may have, indeed, had crappy apartments in the Public Housing Projects, or rented crappy houses with absentee landlords. They may have had crappy cars and 10 kids (by 10 dads) they had trouble feeding. Hey; we make our choices. Do better for yourself and your family......

"Healthy" food isn't expensive; there are "no-frills stores" like Aldi, for example, where good food and vegetables are readily available, and pretty cheaply, too. Wal-Mart is another great place to get fresh veggies and meat, pretty much on the cheap.

Organic foods are always more expensive here, however, simply because, without using things like chemical fertilizers, pesticides and preservatives, they're harder to grow, and don't last as long on the shelf.

In America, there's no need to be hungry, homeless (or even jobless, really) for very long, even in a bad economy. It's still possible to work your way from a tenement to a mansion, if you try and are careful with your money.

There has been reform; as I said, American education used to be one of the best in the world. The "reforms" of the last few decades have undermined that, and weakened the system. Study now concentrates on political correctness, i.e., Multiculturalism, gender/race studies, situational ethics and moral relativism. All this combines to weaken moral and cultural resolve in the people. Our culture/civilization is coming apart at the seams, and our educational system is one of the primary factors in the collapse. When they took God out of the schools, the decline began. Believe it or not, the American public school system used to start their day with prayer; now, you're lucky if they say the Pledge of Allegience to the Flag.

"...are endowed by their Creator with certain, inalienable Rights...."---Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence

America was founded on Christian values, by men who were Christian believers. Unfortunately, too many of us HAVE forgotten that.

Sure good self-esteen is important, and one of the best ways to bolster that is through accomplishment. However, accomplishment is often downplayed in our schools, because kids who, perhaps, aren't as smart as others, or as talented as others (which are just a fact of life, so...just deal with it) might feel bad about themselves. So, instead of working with the students, and encouraging them to work harder, tests are often dumbed down, everyone gets a blue ribbon, and exceptionality takes a hit.

Also, tests are often dumbed down to make the teachers look  better; students in one school district I read about some time ago were not as adept at math and spelling as in other, surrounding districts. Instead of concentrating on those subjects, however, the subjects/tests themselves were simply made easier, so the teachers in that area wouldn't have to work so hard, or look so bad in comparison. Thank the Teacher's Union and the local school boards.

I understand that; and that's what I'm saying.....what they live in, in those areas, is poverty. I feel sorry for them. "Poverty" in America is not having two TVs with cable. That's ridiculous; yet, we're expected to feel shame because Little Johnny can't watch his favorite show in his bedroom. I don't feel sorry for "poor" people in America, because there's no reason to live like that here.

Over half of Baghdad, I know, was without electricity and running water. The UN, through the "Oil for Food" program (bribery scandal) had given Saddam millions to upgrade the system they had in place, and to expand it. The money was never spent for this, of course. Saddam simply took it and ran, like the soulless, psychopathic weasel he was. This was discovered after we invaded, to Kofi Anan's embarrassment (if indeed he was capable of such a thing) and was downplayed by the soulless, sociopathic weasels in the UN, who enrich themselves on the suffering of the world for which they're supposed to be providing.

In 2005, I read an article in the local paper, about a locally-born Army engineer, who worked on projects bringing both water and electricity to the rest of the city. That was just one of the many good things the world--and most shamefully, our own--media ignored about our efforts in Iraq.