Reply to Was Paul Ryan's remark inarticulate or racist?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]First, a generalization would have been to characterize "all" - perhaps you are not familiar with the difference between "all" and "some"?

Second, the nearly 20% unemployment rate in Ward 8 is  absolutely dismal and is many times higher than the unemployment rates in several other wards.

Third, don't you agree that it's a problem when people don't have the crucial life skills for getting or keeping jobs?  That's what keeps people poor.  Wouldn't you agree that this needs to be fixed if the issue of multigenerational poverty is ever to be addressed?[/quote]

I did not take issue with the problem of people lacking life skills, education, or job training.  Since neither the Republican nor the Democratic party is against education and training, I saw no reason to debate it.

But the fact remains that when 80% of a community is doing a thing, you can't say the culture is against that thing.  It is just an absurd notion that 83% of Ward 8 goes to work and yet work is not part of the culture.[/quote]

Where did I say it was the culture of all of Ward 8?  You're far more guilty of making broad sweeping statements here than I am.[/quote]

You seem to have forgotten the subject of this thread. Reread please.  [/quote]

I think it is you who has forgotten about the subject of this thread.  Where was Paul Ryan specifically talking about DC's Ward 8?  And where are those supposed broad, sweeping generalizations being made here?  Since when is 20% equal to 100%?  Where was any such claim ever made here?

Look, I'm a bleeding heart liberal Democrat who would be the last person on Earth to side with Paul Ryan but all that seems to be happening in this thread is deflection and it's not really productive or germane, let alone anything that will ever get any of us any closer toward solutions. [b] All I care about is solutions.  I have enough of the following a.) decades of history that don't show change and b.) empty talk which does not propose any meaningful solutions.  What are the solutions?[/b][/quote]

The solution begins with investment in poor communities. To be specific, massive investment in:

Health care, including committed and federally-coordinated public health efforts (so that some states, e.g., WV and Mississippi, can't opt out) on lead exposure, teen pregnancy prevention, health/education screening and early intervention services for children, and both emergency and long-term mental health services. Also, a huge investment is needed in drug education and detox services throughout both rural and urban America.

Improved education so that we don't raise yet another generation in which the only way to get a decent, non soul-sucking education in the US is to have the $ to move to a rich neighborhood or pay for private school.

Affordable housing so that people can actually afford to live in places where there are jobs.

The reverse as well: job-building strategies--including moving some federal operations to more remote communities--and a federal change to a living minimum wage so that we begin to see livable-wage jobs in places where housing IS affordable.

Of course, Republicans oppose all of these efforts, which shows you how committed they are to solving the problems of the nation's poor. It has long benefited Republicans to ignore the poor, but as more and more of their own strongholds fall to the scourges of meth, joblessness, and dire educational systems, they will reap what they have sown. My own hometown in Appalachia has one place to go for a job these days: the military recruiting center. Yes, the community still votes against its own interests (Republicans every time), mostly b/c of NRA $$, but it will change.

[/quote]

Most states have medicare options for the poor but I do agree on early intervention, lead, mental health services.  Teen pregnancy is a huge cultural issue - and again, it cuts across race to white as well.  As for schools - the issue isn't so much school resources (at least not in DC, as the schools serving the poorest demographics get more money per student than the schools serving the richest do) - the issue again is cultural - extremely high dropout rates (40% plus in many DCPS schools) as well as kids who habitually show up late, sneak out early, don't do their schoolwork, don't pay attention in class, disrupt in class, disrespect the teachers, disrespect other students, disrespect, damage and destroy school property...  That's stuff that needs serious, directed, concerted human intervention on - magical thinking about "oh, we just build a school exactly like Deal in Anacostia" isn't going to solve it.

As for "affordable housing" one of the biggest employers in DC is the Federal Government - yet there are tons of young professionals in federal space, GS-7s, GS-9s et cetera who can't even find affordable housing, and they don't qualify for anything in DC.  Meanwhile, the folks who mop the hallways and empty the trash in those federal buildings are mostly latinos who commute in from places like Falls Church because they can't afford to live here either.  Why aren't those who live in DC taking those jobs?  Given 20% unemployment rate in places like Anacostia, it begs the question.  Why can't those who work here live here and vice versa?  Good question.  Also, there are huge residentially zoned areas in DC that are low income, but which use plans from the early 1960s that are massively inefficient in terms of land use.  They can and should be rebuilt - but that would mean bringing in folks like the recent grads who are coming to DC - and the political establishment hates that and throws out a vilified version of the word "gentrification".  Push federal offices out into remote communities?  Sounds like an awful idea to me - as it would destroy DC's tax base along with making federal government a lot more dysfunctional (government has enough problems already, thank you...)[/quote]

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