Not so much as too lazy to work, but too depressed - it's a psychological issue. Think about it a sec. You're a woman girl and a guy's come into your life. You make the mistake of getting pregnant by him, and at some point he just up and leaves you because he does not want to support you or your child - he just wants to party. (Believe me, I'm familiar with the type because my sister's been through a few of them.) Suddenly, all your dreams of raising a happy family have been shot to hell. This hits a girl pretty hard because this is what they instinctively desire - it's a rare girl that does not want this at some point in their life or another. This is when depression sets in. If help in the form of good friends or family is not at hand, then substance abuse is the next step when the depression deepens.
Very rarely does a girl suddenly grow up and pull herself up by her bootstraps... not without help anyways, and even then in some cases all the help in the world would not be enough to make them independent.
Worsening the problem is the size of the generation gaps in these slums. They can be as small as twelve to fifteen years, making things worse like missing payments on a loan with compound interest.
And then you have certain other differences between the US and all the other countries listed. You gave percentages of GDP. Check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... _(nominal) The USA is at second place on two of those lists, and first at the other. And I don't really count the EU since we're talking about individual countries and not some conglomerate (in fact, I just took a second look and these lists don't even assign the EU a numerical placement). And in each of those lists, the USA's GDP is almost triple that of the next country... Which happens to be the PRC. Funny, huh?
What does that mean? It means your argument is invalid. This is not about how much of your tax money goes to what budget. This is about fixing a broken economy. Like it or not, the US, as a culture, has a very unique mentality - one that generates problems that are unique from any other country in the world. We need to come up with unique solutions. We can take inspiration from what one country does, but like the melting pot the USA has become, we must do something that takes a bit from everyone else, and put our own spin on it.
That said... in America's 'glory days' the natural resources found here were not the only bountiful resource. What really empowered the nation was the workforce. It was this workforce that put more supply ships into the Atlantic than the German U-Boats could sink. It was this workforce that bridged two halves of a country whose size was rivaled only by Russia with iron and steel, making it possible to go from the east coast to the west in days instead of months.
For America to recover, we need to resurrect this workforce. Part of that can be done by giving the welfare riders the choice: work the job we assign you or go without welfare. (Of course, exceptions apply like the physically disabled. Even then, a man with no legs can work a desk job.) Another part is providing opportunity to immigrants with a provisional visa system and a more robust naturalization process. Labor laws need a thorough work-over and Unions need to be rehabilitated. We need to crack down on DoD contractors for price gouging. (Testing, schmesting - half of that is BS if the civilian market can get better gear for a lower price. I think the only thing on my ship that was genuinely guaranteed to never break given proper maintenance was performed were the main reduction gears for the turbines... and we lease those bastards.) We must reform the medical care system from top to bottom - insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, the doctors themselves... everything. Medical fees here are far too out of hand and they are killing our welfare system more than the welfare riders themselves!
We do need to continue to build bridges by providing humanitarian aid where it is desired. We also need to maintain our military presence in the world as it was prior to 9/11. The heart of Al Qaeda has been crushed and we have more to worry about with the corruption in Pakistan's government than anything else. And you don't want us to make drastic cuts. That means pulling out of Japan, and then Australia will have to help pick up the slack there. Kim Jong Il has already recently proven that he'll be more than happy to let his dogs off the leash if he thinks no one's paying enough attention.
There are so many things wrong with my country - so many that they cannot all be addressed in just one thread.
Very rarely does a girl suddenly grow up and pull herself up by her bootstraps... not without help anyways, and even then in some cases all the help in the world would not be enough to make them independent.
Worsening the problem is the size of the generation gaps in these slums. They can be as small as twelve to fifteen years, making things worse like missing payments on a loan with compound interest.
And then you have certain other differences between the US and all the other countries listed. You gave percentages of GDP. Check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... _(nominal) The USA is at second place on two of those lists, and first at the other. And I don't really count the EU since we're talking about individual countries and not some conglomerate (in fact, I just took a second look and these lists don't even assign the EU a numerical placement). And in each of those lists, the USA's GDP is almost triple that of the next country... Which happens to be the PRC. Funny, huh?
What does that mean? It means your argument is invalid. This is not about how much of your tax money goes to what budget. This is about fixing a broken economy. Like it or not, the US, as a culture, has a very unique mentality - one that generates problems that are unique from any other country in the world. We need to come up with unique solutions. We can take inspiration from what one country does, but like the melting pot the USA has become, we must do something that takes a bit from everyone else, and put our own spin on it.
That said... in America's 'glory days' the natural resources found here were not the only bountiful resource. What really empowered the nation was the workforce. It was this workforce that put more supply ships into the Atlantic than the German U-Boats could sink. It was this workforce that bridged two halves of a country whose size was rivaled only by Russia with iron and steel, making it possible to go from the east coast to the west in days instead of months.
For America to recover, we need to resurrect this workforce. Part of that can be done by giving the welfare riders the choice: work the job we assign you or go without welfare. (Of course, exceptions apply like the physically disabled. Even then, a man with no legs can work a desk job.) Another part is providing opportunity to immigrants with a provisional visa system and a more robust naturalization process. Labor laws need a thorough work-over and Unions need to be rehabilitated. We need to crack down on DoD contractors for price gouging. (Testing, schmesting - half of that is BS if the civilian market can get better gear for a lower price. I think the only thing on my ship that was genuinely guaranteed to never break given proper maintenance was performed were the main reduction gears for the turbines... and we lease those bastards.) We must reform the medical care system from top to bottom - insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, the doctors themselves... everything. Medical fees here are far too out of hand and they are killing our welfare system more than the welfare riders themselves!
We do need to continue to build bridges by providing humanitarian aid where it is desired. We also need to maintain our military presence in the world as it was prior to 9/11. The heart of Al Qaeda has been crushed and we have more to worry about with the corruption in Pakistan's government than anything else. And you don't want us to make drastic cuts. That means pulling out of Japan, and then Australia will have to help pick up the slack there. Kim Jong Il has already recently proven that he'll be more than happy to let his dogs off the leash if he thinks no one's paying enough attention.
There are so many things wrong with my country - so many that they cannot all be addressed in just one thread.