Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Stop Blaming America’s Poor for Their Poverty

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 387 posts

Re: Stop Blaming America’s Poor for Their Poverty

#181

Post by avip »

CalRobert wrote: post #117
hestipod wrote: post #33

I was disabled by bad surgery and lost my career. No system that ostensibly should have helped, did. Denied. Denied. Denied. YEARS of adversarial, not default helpful, meetings and challenges and interviews. I saw people worse than me refused help. I saw real time as people who knew me for years or life, who respected me and my career choice helping others, decided I was a lazy mooch who wasn't trying hard enough, wa…

"get out of you don't like it" Nobody saying this has actually researched it. Too many people in the states are under the impression you can just up and move to a European country, no problem. One friendly-but-clueless acquaintance got flown back from Heathrow for asking the immigration officer about where to find jobs when she landed. If you don't/can't: * work in tech or medicine * go to university in Europe in a h…

What makes you think someone who can "work in tech or medicine" is somehow EU immigration eligible?

Re: Stop Blaming America’s Poor for Their Poverty

#182

Post by disordinary »

wozniacki wrote: post #165
Sharlin wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes? Nobody's denying that it's easy to get very good medical care very quickly if you have enough money! That's of course, completely irrelevant to the topic of this discussion, or, if anything, emphasizes the inequality inherent in the American system.

Just adding context that when it comes critical medical care involving specialized care, the United States almost has no equal - not even close. Whether that is Level 1 trauma facilities, oncology facilities, cutting edge research laboratories or doctors with deep expertise in such fields, the United States is second to none. This is not an oft brought point when discussing the merits of the U.S system despite its fa…

There's also a scale that the United States has over all other OECD countries. It's by far the largest in population and therefore has more specialist equipment. A country like Canada with almost a tenth of the population will have less facilities.

Re: Stop Blaming America’s Poor for Their Poverty

#183

Post by rexgallorum2 »

barry-cotter wrote: post #91
username90 wrote: post #73

I think the question should not be "Why are there so many poor in USA", but "Why does it suck so much to be poor in USA". I believe that the urban layout and exorbitant healthcare costs are the main issues. If poor neighborhoods were walkable and had cheap supermarkets with fresh produce then you wouldn't need a car, and the density would mean that you have plenty of potential friends within walking distance so you w…

> If poor neighborhoods were walkable and had cheap supermarkets with fresh produce I don’t know about walkable but poor neighbourhoods full of recent immigrants have cheap supermarkets with fresh produce in the US. The poor neighbourhoods with no fresh produce don’t have it because the people living there don’t want it. https://web.stanford.edu/~diamondr/AllcottDiamondDube_FoodDe... > THE GEOGRAPHY OF POVERTY AND NU…

Spear son of Dread?

The food desert thing is a big problem in areas populated by the native-born American poor.

Re: Stop Blaming America’s Poor for Their Poverty

#184

Post by Mountain_Skies »

username90 wrote: post #73

I think the question should not be "Why are there so many poor in USA", but "Why does it suck so much to be poor in USA". I believe that the urban layout and exorbitant healthcare costs are the main issues. If poor neighborhoods were walkable and had cheap supermarkets with fresh produce then you wouldn't need a car, and the density would mean that you have plenty of potential friends within walking distance so you w…

Once again the rural poor get ignored and have their existence denied.

Re: Stop Blaming America’s Poor for Their Poverty

#185

Post by AdrianB1 »

Poverty is a moving target; no matter what we do, there will always be the bottom 10% that will be considered poor by comparison. Double the income of everyone - bottom 10% will remain there. Triple the income of the lower half of the population: you still have a bottom. So what exactly is the measure of the problem and how to measure it was solved, when it will eventually be solved?

Re: Stop Blaming America’s Poor for Their Poverty

#186

Post by idighkwjt »

hestipod wrote: post #33

I was disabled by bad surgery and lost my career. No system that ostensibly should have helped, did. Denied. Denied. Denied. YEARS of adversarial, not default helpful, meetings and challenges and interviews. I saw people worse than me refused help. I saw real time as people who knew me for years or life, who respected me and my career choice helping others, decided I was a lazy mooch who wasn't trying hard enough, wa…

Okay, so I’ll assume that you have good and valid reasons for not liking all these things about America.

Are they new things? Has America been all about this for a couple hundred years? It that how she was founded and how she survives?

If you disagree with the foundational principals of the nation, you can leave. As you say, there are other countries that do things the way you want. You don’t have to fight against our way of life.

Re: Stop Blaming America’s Poor for Their Poverty

#187

Post by avip »

godzillabrennus wrote: post #151
CalRobert wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"get out of you don't like it" Nobody saying this has actually researched it. Too many people in the states are under the impression you can just up and move to a European country, no problem. One friendly-but-clueless acquaintance got flown back from Heathrow for asking the immigration officer about where to find jobs when she landed. If you don't/can't: * work in tech or medicine * go to university in Europe in a h…

I have heard it is pretty easy to become an Israeli citizen if you are jewish. They have socialized healthcare.

Here's how it looks from the inside: https://www.israeltoday.co.il/read/israels-universal-healthc...

Israel has good public healthcare, but it has been severely under-funded for years.

Re: Stop Blaming America’s Poor for Their Poverty

#188

Post by atq2119 »

mschuster91 wrote: post #155
Sharlin wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh my god, I just read news about some "centrist" Democrats arguing against universal single-payer healthcare on the grounds that some segment of the working population already gets a nice healthcare package as a benefit, and somehow it would be unfair to those people if everyone was eligible to reasonable medical care. I mean, with Democrats like that, why do you even need Republicans?

The core problem at hand is FPTP and the Electoral College. The presidential election is decided in the swing states and with the current system the centrist Democrats do have a point - even if the hardcore Democrat states love Sanders or Warren, their landslide victories in these states won't help anything if all the swing states go Republican. America needs two periods with Democrats: the first one won with/by cent…

The US had the period of centrist Democrats with Obama, yet none of the things you mention happened.

Re: Stop Blaming America’s Poor for Their Poverty

#189

Post by H8crilA »

idighkwjt wrote: post #186
hestipod wrote: post #33

I was disabled by bad surgery and lost my career. No system that ostensibly should have helped, did. Denied. Denied. Denied. YEARS of adversarial, not default helpful, meetings and challenges and interviews. I saw people worse than me refused help. I saw real time as people who knew me for years or life, who respected me and my career choice helping others, decided I was a lazy mooch who wasn't trying hard enough, wa…

Okay, so I’ll assume that you have good and valid reasons for not liking all these things about America. Are they new things? Has America been all about this for a couple hundred years? It that how she was founded and how she survives? If you disagree with the foundational principals of the nation, you can leave. As you say, there are other countries that do things the way you want. You don’t have to fight against ou…

FYI this was everyone's way of life in the past. There was no public health care nor public pensions. Then, some nations changed, and some didn't. Who's right - I don't know, but this surely is not an American thing. It's just an old thing.

Re: Stop Blaming America’s Poor for Their Poverty

#190

Post by michaelt »

EdSharkey wrote: post #143
Sharlin wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh my god, I just read news about some "centrist" Democrats arguing against universal single-payer healthcare on the grounds that some segment of the working population already gets a nice healthcare package as a benefit, and somehow it would be unfair to those people if everyone was eligible to reasonable medical care. I mean, with Democrats like that, why do you even need Republicans?

I don't think Democrats (or Republicans when they take power) are clever/smart/kind/honest enough to offer universal single-payer healthcare without rationing. Is there an intent to take my health care choices away, and is that intent benevolent or malicious? You paint a very abstractly wonderful picture, so let's assume yes and benevolent if rationing is to be expected given the finite tax base. I still need more de…

  my employer and I pay through the nose for my decent
  healthcare right now [...]
  Under your universal single-payer healthcare system,
  will I still be able to pay quadruple-through-the-nose
  to buy supplemental insurance
Here in the UK, the private health insurance arranged by my employer costs them $450 per year.

I don't know how much US insurance costs your employer, but I assume it's several times more, rather than several times less, than mine pays!

After all, in the UK private medical insurance doesn't have to cover ambulances or emergency surgery or pre-existing conditions or chronic illnesses or old age or organ transplants or childbirth.

Post reply on HN