earth two superman
New member
FrozenMind;913049 said:
so ur family was making 76 dollars a week? Damn.
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I almost cried reading this.....a sad but true article on America's slow, dying dream
so ur family was making 76 dollars a week? Damn.
Swiffness!
New member
lol, who is this random ass blogger
"In real terms, the average American is poorer than the poorest ghetto dweller in Manila, because at least they have no debts."
LMFAO @ this hyperbole bullshit. Seriously? I'm surprised this nigga didn't just go all the way and say Port-au-Prince instead of Manila.
If anyone seriously believes that, plz read this article called "An American in the [Manila] ghetto"
---------------------
From the bustling main road outside you walk down a small side street, past lines of motorized tricycles and bicycle pedicabs. Uncollected garbage sits piled high in an empty lot surrounded by flies and several mangy dogs. A couple more quick lefts and rights and the road narrows and this is where the real ghetto comes in to view. The single lane road here is actually paved in what looks like one giant solid slab of concrete. Basic homes and tin and scrap-wood shacks line this road, but they're just a front for other perhaps even more squalid homes going back behind, in an impossible maze of dark squalor careering in infinite directions.
He lives in what could best be described as a hovel. More like a small room inside of a hovel. It's a small hallway with about 10 rooms. Each room is occupied by a different family and is divided off by plywood walls that do not go all the way to the ceiling.
My friend, his wife and their one-year-old son sleep on a mattress on the floor. Several suitcases filled with their belongings are stacked in one corner. A karaoke stereo machine sits against one wall. Right next to it stands a large new refrigerator. A two-burner gas stove sits on a table. Next to the table stands a wire rack containing plates and utensils. The lack of complete walls and the proximity of every room means you can hear everything that goes on. Every discussion, every domestic dispute, every time a man and woman make love. Nothing is private in the ghetto.
The 10 families share a common toilet, which is just down the hall. The toilet is more like an outhouse. The actual toilet looks like a concrete anthill. You squat over the anthill and do your thing. It is everyone's duty to keep the toilet clean, which they seem to do quite well.
I noticed many of his neighbors have karaoke machines. They don't have much else but they have karaoke. Got to be entertained. Singing sad love songs takes people out of their misery, for a few moments anyway.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/EC01Ae03.html
=============
LOL, dirt ass poor people in American ghettos be havin flat screen TVs, Xbox 360s, broadband internet, digital cable, air conditioning, cars, and oh yeah, GUNS.
Have Mexicans stopped risking their lives everyday to come to America?
I don't have to educate anyone here about America's problems and failures but God DAMN let's keep things in perspective, eh?
Motherfuckers that say they too black/
Put 'em overseas they be begging to come back/
- Ice Cube, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
"In real terms, the average American is poorer than the poorest ghetto dweller in Manila, because at least they have no debts."
LMFAO @ this hyperbole bullshit. Seriously? I'm surprised this nigga didn't just go all the way and say Port-au-Prince instead of Manila.
If anyone seriously believes that, plz read this article called "An American in the [Manila] ghetto"
---------------------
From the bustling main road outside you walk down a small side street, past lines of motorized tricycles and bicycle pedicabs. Uncollected garbage sits piled high in an empty lot surrounded by flies and several mangy dogs. A couple more quick lefts and rights and the road narrows and this is where the real ghetto comes in to view. The single lane road here is actually paved in what looks like one giant solid slab of concrete. Basic homes and tin and scrap-wood shacks line this road, but they're just a front for other perhaps even more squalid homes going back behind, in an impossible maze of dark squalor careering in infinite directions.
He lives in what could best be described as a hovel. More like a small room inside of a hovel. It's a small hallway with about 10 rooms. Each room is occupied by a different family and is divided off by plywood walls that do not go all the way to the ceiling.
My friend, his wife and their one-year-old son sleep on a mattress on the floor. Several suitcases filled with their belongings are stacked in one corner. A karaoke stereo machine sits against one wall. Right next to it stands a large new refrigerator. A two-burner gas stove sits on a table. Next to the table stands a wire rack containing plates and utensils. The lack of complete walls and the proximity of every room means you can hear everything that goes on. Every discussion, every domestic dispute, every time a man and woman make love. Nothing is private in the ghetto.
The 10 families share a common toilet, which is just down the hall. The toilet is more like an outhouse. The actual toilet looks like a concrete anthill. You squat over the anthill and do your thing. It is everyone's duty to keep the toilet clean, which they seem to do quite well.
I noticed many of his neighbors have karaoke machines. They don't have much else but they have karaoke. Got to be entertained. Singing sad love songs takes people out of their misery, for a few moments anyway.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/EC01Ae03.html
=============
LOL, dirt ass poor people in American ghettos be havin flat screen TVs, Xbox 360s, broadband internet, digital cable, air conditioning, cars, and oh yeah, GUNS.
Have Mexicans stopped risking their lives everyday to come to America?
I don't have to educate anyone here about America's problems and failures but God DAMN let's keep things in perspective, eh?
Motherfuckers that say they too black/
Put 'em overseas they be begging to come back/
- Ice Cube, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
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BethlehemBill
New member
well then i guess this person is happy that he got to exercise his right to leave. does he know there are countries that dont allow people to do this? has he written letters to the heads of this country? were this any other place on earth, such ranting would never be allowed to see the light of the day. however, this america, the only place on earth where even the most insane view can be heard, unfiltered. while i disagree greatly with what was said, ill be here to fight to the death (until the libs destroy the 2nd amendment is, of course) to make sure that this is still a place that it can be said.
unfortunately, obama and his ilk remain annoyed that other americans dare oppose him and speak out with alternative view points. the nation that he swore on his life to protect has sure become annoying for him lately , hasnt it?
unfortunately, obama and his ilk remain annoyed that other americans dare oppose him and speak out with alternative view points. the nation that he swore on his life to protect has sure become annoying for him lately , hasnt it?
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Swiffness!
New member
BethlehemBill;932041 said:well then i guess this person is happy that he got to exercise his right to leave. does he know there are countries that dont allow people to do this?
Dissing the Gov't on internet forums is NOT ALLOWED in China.
If the SL was a Chinese forum, and somebody made a thread titled "Hu Jintao is f*ckin up", Janklow would delete that shit ASAP.
And if he didn't, Jank would get a phone call from the cops......
I mean, imagine living like that.
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in fairness, i would also delete that here because Hu Jintao is the fucking manSwiffness!;938405 said:If the SL was a Chinese forum, and somebody made a thread titled "Hu Jintao is f*ckin up", Janklow would delete that shit ASAP.
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kingblaze84
New member
BethlehemBill;932041 said:well then i guess this person is happy that he got to exercise his right to leave. does he know there are countries that dont allow people to do this? has he written letters to the heads of this country? were this any other place on earth, such ranting would never be allowed to see the light of the day. however, this america, the only place on earth where even the most insane view can be heard, unfiltered. while i disagree greatly with what was said, ill be here to fight to the death (until the libs destroy the 2nd amendment is, of course) to make sure that this is still a place that it can be said.
unfortunately, obama and his ilk remain annoyed that other americans dare oppose him and speak out with alternative view points. the nation that he swore on his life to protect has sure become annoying for him lately , hasnt it?
You have valid points, but the reality is that the American dream is dying. We are slowly becoming a third world nation, not because of Obama, but because of many years of de-regulation, tax breaks for the wealthy that ADD to the deficit (fuck you Reagan and Bush), endless wars that destroy our budgets, and greedy companies who love shipping jobs overseas.
I still love this nation, but many mistakes are being made in in its name. Obama is NOT helping by letting these endless wars continue, but if you want to blame Obama, blame Reagan and the Bushes as well.
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Lorenzo de Medici
New member
*looks at list of richest people in world*
*sees 80% Americans*
*looks at America's GDP*
*looks at closest neighbor nation*
*disregards article*
America spends more on its military than some of these countries have in their entire budgets. This shit ain't goin' nowhere.
*sees 80% Americans*
*looks at America's GDP*
*looks at closest neighbor nation*
*disregards article*
America spends more on its military than some of these countries have in their entire budgets. This shit ain't goin' nowhere.
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kingblaze84
New member
Lorenzo de Medici;947133 said:*looks at list of richest people in world*
*sees 80% Americans*
*looks at America's GDP*
*looks at closest neighbor nation*
*disregards article*
America spends more on its military than some of these countries have in their entire budgets. This shit ain't goin' nowhere.
Disregard the article all you want, but tent cities are increasing along with homelessness. The economy is not getting any better, and young people are struggling now more than ever to get a job, ESPECIALLY college grads. America is better than about 90% of all nations across the world without a doubt, but there's not much security for the middle class and poor these days. I'll post up some articles proving my point.
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americans have more opportunity to succeed bottom line you can accomplish anything in this country first black president in any western nation proves that point. we don't have any censorship we have freedom of religion i work hard watch what i eat and i'm about to cop a 3D tv lol i'm not going anywhere.
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kingblaze84
New member
http://www.alternet.org/economy/147..._less_than_2000_banked_for_their_golden_years
The Retirement Nightmare: Half of Americans Have Less Than $2,000 Banked for Their Golden Years
With declining earnings and a culture of borrow-and-consume, America's workers face a future of uncertainty and little money to pay for their retirement.
July 16, 2010 |
The days of quietly retiring with a nest egg built up from years of savings from a long career on the verge of disappearing. For tens of millions of Americans, facing rising costs, shrinking incomes and growing debts they already have disappeared.
"One out of three working Americans does not have retirement savings beyond Social Security, and about 35% of those over 65 rely almost totally on Social Security alone," Dallas Salisbury, president of the Alliance for Investor Education and the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) , explained to AlterNet. "Of the remaining two-thirds of working Americans that have some retirement savings, 27 percent report less than $1,000, 16 percent between $1,000 and $9,999, 11 percent between $10,000 and $24,999, 12 percent between $25,000-$49,999, and 36 percent $50,000 or more." Perhaps the most shocking number is that half of Americans have $2,000 or less saved for retirement.
Crunch the numbers and you end up with a retirement myth, rather than a money-maker. We face a colder economic reality: Not only are there no astronomical retirement returns coming down the financial pike, but what nuts and nest-eggs families have set aside for their futures have been mostly sucked dry.
"Individuals need to follow the advice of the ages," said Salisbury. "Spend less than you earn by 25 percent, and save for your future. This keeps your lifestyle from getting ahead of your income."
While saving 1/4 of our shrinking incomes sounds nigh on impossible in this economic climate, many are watching their savings getting squandered by bad fund managers. One retirement Ponzi scheme starting to worry the Senate Special Committee on Aging, according to an aide who asked not to be named, are target-date funds, a financial instrument . They're basically mutual funds that try to play equities and stocks in their early years before settling into more conservative investments like cash and fixed-income before maturing, so as not to give their investors heart attacks on the date of their retirement. As imagined, given our wheezing global economy, target-date funds are leaking money to managers who are charging insane fees before the house of cards crashes. In July, the SEC proposed new rules to make target-date funds more transparent, but lately the SEC has been proposing much while the banksters and executives that really run the country have continued to fund everything from Barack Obama's election to the Republican Party itself.
In related news, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are free to spend, pardon the pun, as much as they want to buy political candidates In other words, even if your target-date fund survives the banksters' scams by the time it finally matures, there's no guarantee it can't be downsized by them at a moment's notice. To quote Wikipedia, "almost all target date funds do not have any guarantee." The banksters and the SEC know it, and now so do you.
The Retirement Nightmare: Half of Americans Have Less Than $2,000 Banked for Their Golden Years
With declining earnings and a culture of borrow-and-consume, America's workers face a future of uncertainty and little money to pay for their retirement.
July 16, 2010 |
The days of quietly retiring with a nest egg built up from years of savings from a long career on the verge of disappearing. For tens of millions of Americans, facing rising costs, shrinking incomes and growing debts they already have disappeared.
"One out of three working Americans does not have retirement savings beyond Social Security, and about 35% of those over 65 rely almost totally on Social Security alone," Dallas Salisbury, president of the Alliance for Investor Education and the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) , explained to AlterNet. "Of the remaining two-thirds of working Americans that have some retirement savings, 27 percent report less than $1,000, 16 percent between $1,000 and $9,999, 11 percent between $10,000 and $24,999, 12 percent between $25,000-$49,999, and 36 percent $50,000 or more." Perhaps the most shocking number is that half of Americans have $2,000 or less saved for retirement.
Crunch the numbers and you end up with a retirement myth, rather than a money-maker. We face a colder economic reality: Not only are there no astronomical retirement returns coming down the financial pike, but what nuts and nest-eggs families have set aside for their futures have been mostly sucked dry.
"Individuals need to follow the advice of the ages," said Salisbury. "Spend less than you earn by 25 percent, and save for your future. This keeps your lifestyle from getting ahead of your income."
While saving 1/4 of our shrinking incomes sounds nigh on impossible in this economic climate, many are watching their savings getting squandered by bad fund managers. One retirement Ponzi scheme starting to worry the Senate Special Committee on Aging, according to an aide who asked not to be named, are target-date funds, a financial instrument . They're basically mutual funds that try to play equities and stocks in their early years before settling into more conservative investments like cash and fixed-income before maturing, so as not to give their investors heart attacks on the date of their retirement. As imagined, given our wheezing global economy, target-date funds are leaking money to managers who are charging insane fees before the house of cards crashes. In July, the SEC proposed new rules to make target-date funds more transparent, but lately the SEC has been proposing much while the banksters and executives that really run the country have continued to fund everything from Barack Obama's election to the Republican Party itself.
In related news, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are free to spend, pardon the pun, as much as they want to buy political candidates In other words, even if your target-date fund survives the banksters' scams by the time it finally matures, there's no guarantee it can't be downsized by them at a moment's notice. To quote Wikipedia, "almost all target date funds do not have any guarantee." The banksters and the SEC know it, and now so do you.
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kingblaze84
New member
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/us/26tents.html
Not just a Haitian Problem.....The Almighty Rise Of Tent Cities in America
Like a dozen or so other cities across the nation, Fresno is dealing with an unhappy déjà vu: the arrival of modern-day Hoovervilles, illegal encampments of homeless people that are reminiscent, on a far smaller scale, of Depression-era shantytowns. At his news conference on Tuesday night, President Obama was asked directly about the tent cities and responded by saying that it was “not acceptable for children and families to be without a roof over their heads in a country as wealthy as ours.”
While encampments and street living have always been a part of the landscape in big cities like Los Angeles and New York, these new tent cities have taken root — or grown from smaller enclaves of the homeless as more people lose jobs and housing — in such disparate places as Nashville, Olympia, Wash., and St. Petersburg, Fla.
In Seattle, homeless residents in the city’s 100-person encampment call it Nickelsville, an unflattering reference to the mayor, Greg Nickels. A tent city in Sacramento prompted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to announce a plan Wednesday to shift the entire 125-person encampment to a nearby fairground. That came after a recent visit by “The Oprah Winfrey Show” set off such a news media stampede that some fed-up homeless people complained of overexposure and said they just wanted to be left alone.
The problem in Fresno is different in that it is both chronic and largely outside the national limelight. Homelessness here has long been fed by the ups and downs in seasonal and subsistence jobs in agriculture, but now the recession has cast a wider net and drawn in hundreds of the newly homeless — from hitchhikers to truck drivers to electricians.
“These are able-bodied folks that did day labor, at minimum wage or better, who were previously able to house themselves based on their income,” said Michael Stoops, the executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, an advocacy group based in Washington.
The surging number of homeless people in Fresno, a city of 500,000 people, has been a surprise. City officials say they have three major encampments near downtown and smaller settlements along two highways. All told, as many 2,000 people are homeless here, according to Gregory Barfield, the city’s homeless prevention and policy manager, who said that drug use, prostitution and violence were all too common in the encampments.
“That’s all part of that underground economy,” Mr. Barfield said. “It’s what happens when a person is trying to survive.”
He said the city planned to begin “triage” on the encampments in the next several weeks, to determine how many people needed services and permanent housing. “We’re treating it like any other disaster area,” Mr. Barfield said.
Mr. Barfield took over his newly created position in January, after the county and city adopted a 10-year plan to address homelessness. A class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of homeless people against the city and the California Department of Transportation led to a $2.35 million settlement in 2008, making money available to about 350 residents who had had their belongings discarded in sweeps by the city.
The growing encampments led the city to place portable toilets and security guards near one area known as New Jack City, named after a dark and drug-filled 1991 movie. But that just attracted more homeless people.
“It was just kind of an invitation to move in,” said Mr. Stack, the outreach center manager.
On a recent afternoon, nobody seemed thrilled to be living in New Jack City, a filthy collection of rain- and wind-battered tents in a garbage-strewn lot. Several weary-looking residents sat on decaying sofas as a pair of pit bulls chained to a fence howled.
Northwest of New Jack City sits a somewhat less grim encampment. It is sometimes called Taco Flats or Little Tijuana because of the large number of Latino residents, many of whom were drawn to Fresno on the promise of agricultural jobs, which have dried up in the face of the poor economy and a three-year drought.
Guillermo Flores, 32, said he had looked for work in the fields and in fast food, but had found nothing. For the last eight months, he has collected cans, recycling them for $5 to $10 a day, and lived in a hand-built, three-room shack, a home that he takes pride in, with a door, clean sheets on his bed and a bowl full of fresh apples in his propane-powered kitchen area.
“I just built it because I need it,” said Mr. Flores, as he cooked a dinner of chili peppers, eggs and onions over a fire. “The only problem I have is the spiders.”
Not just a Haitian Problem.....The Almighty Rise Of Tent Cities in America
Like a dozen or so other cities across the nation, Fresno is dealing with an unhappy déjà vu: the arrival of modern-day Hoovervilles, illegal encampments of homeless people that are reminiscent, on a far smaller scale, of Depression-era shantytowns. At his news conference on Tuesday night, President Obama was asked directly about the tent cities and responded by saying that it was “not acceptable for children and families to be without a roof over their heads in a country as wealthy as ours.”
While encampments and street living have always been a part of the landscape in big cities like Los Angeles and New York, these new tent cities have taken root — or grown from smaller enclaves of the homeless as more people lose jobs and housing — in such disparate places as Nashville, Olympia, Wash., and St. Petersburg, Fla.
In Seattle, homeless residents in the city’s 100-person encampment call it Nickelsville, an unflattering reference to the mayor, Greg Nickels. A tent city in Sacramento prompted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to announce a plan Wednesday to shift the entire 125-person encampment to a nearby fairground. That came after a recent visit by “The Oprah Winfrey Show” set off such a news media stampede that some fed-up homeless people complained of overexposure and said they just wanted to be left alone.
The problem in Fresno is different in that it is both chronic and largely outside the national limelight. Homelessness here has long been fed by the ups and downs in seasonal and subsistence jobs in agriculture, but now the recession has cast a wider net and drawn in hundreds of the newly homeless — from hitchhikers to truck drivers to electricians.
“These are able-bodied folks that did day labor, at minimum wage or better, who were previously able to house themselves based on their income,” said Michael Stoops, the executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, an advocacy group based in Washington.
The surging number of homeless people in Fresno, a city of 500,000 people, has been a surprise. City officials say they have three major encampments near downtown and smaller settlements along two highways. All told, as many 2,000 people are homeless here, according to Gregory Barfield, the city’s homeless prevention and policy manager, who said that drug use, prostitution and violence were all too common in the encampments.
“That’s all part of that underground economy,” Mr. Barfield said. “It’s what happens when a person is trying to survive.”
He said the city planned to begin “triage” on the encampments in the next several weeks, to determine how many people needed services and permanent housing. “We’re treating it like any other disaster area,” Mr. Barfield said.
Mr. Barfield took over his newly created position in January, after the county and city adopted a 10-year plan to address homelessness. A class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of homeless people against the city and the California Department of Transportation led to a $2.35 million settlement in 2008, making money available to about 350 residents who had had their belongings discarded in sweeps by the city.
The growing encampments led the city to place portable toilets and security guards near one area known as New Jack City, named after a dark and drug-filled 1991 movie. But that just attracted more homeless people.
“It was just kind of an invitation to move in,” said Mr. Stack, the outreach center manager.
On a recent afternoon, nobody seemed thrilled to be living in New Jack City, a filthy collection of rain- and wind-battered tents in a garbage-strewn lot. Several weary-looking residents sat on decaying sofas as a pair of pit bulls chained to a fence howled.
Northwest of New Jack City sits a somewhat less grim encampment. It is sometimes called Taco Flats or Little Tijuana because of the large number of Latino residents, many of whom were drawn to Fresno on the promise of agricultural jobs, which have dried up in the face of the poor economy and a three-year drought.
Guillermo Flores, 32, said he had looked for work in the fields and in fast food, but had found nothing. For the last eight months, he has collected cans, recycling them for $5 to $10 a day, and lived in a hand-built, three-room shack, a home that he takes pride in, with a door, clean sheets on his bed and a bowl full of fresh apples in his propane-powered kitchen area.
“I just built it because I need it,” said Mr. Flores, as he cooked a dinner of chili peppers, eggs and onions over a fire. “The only problem I have is the spiders.”
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The Lonious Monk
New member
I couldn't seem myself moving to a relative paradise as the writer suggests and then spending my time in that wonderful place writing a long ass manifesto about how bad America is. If it's that bad and you've escaped it, then why are you worried so much about it. The premise of the article is a sham anyway. Whoever believed the "American Dream" had any real basis in reality wasn't all that bright to begin with. America is a decent country with decent opportunity that has plenty of positives as compared to the rest of the world and a shitload of negatives to go along with those positives, nothing more nothing less.
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kingblaze84
New member
The Lonious Monk;965059 said:I couldn't seem myself moving to a relative paradise as the writer suggests and then spending my time in that wonderful place writing a long ass manifesto about how bad America is. If it's that bad and you've escaped it, then why are you worried so much about it. The premise of the article is a sham anyway. Whoever believed the "American Dream" had any real basis in reality wasn't all that bright to begin with. America is a decent country with decent opportunity that has plenty of positives as compared to the rest of the world and a shitload of negatives to go along with those positives, nothing more nothing less.
Overall, you're right. There are many opportunities in this country, and many negatives as well. I don't think the writer is bashing America just to bash it, I think he's just warning Americans of the hidden problems we have in our government and system in general. For all of America's problems, we're still better off than most of the world, but there's nothing wrong with pointing out hidden dangers in a society that too often is blinded by sports and rap beefs. Nothing wrong with spreading the knowledge that America is behind much of the world when it comes to holidays, healthcare, and the fact our debt is larger than most of the world's combined.
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