17 MAR 2015 :: BASIC NEEDS :: Balancing Everyone's Rights

Another Tuesday... It is really hard to choose which Basic Need to write about... how do we decide whether something is a right or a necessity or just something we are use to? 

If freedom is important, why do some people make it their life's work to violate everyone else's freedoms?  (Especially under the guise of fighting for THEIR human rights.)  It is a difficult challenge.  How do we find a way to BALANCE everyone's rights in a land of millions, and a world with billions?

As America, and the rest of the world, becomes more financially challenged, the idea of who's rights matter more is going to become a much larger issue.  We can see the grumblings already beginning to rise.  No one wants to pay for this, for that, for anything... or they want their priorities covered, but not everyone else's.

Tonight I heard a brief segment on PBS News Hour about the Republican budget being presented.  The reporter said it was going to save Trillions over the course of ten years.  It was also just an empty public statement, hopefully to be passed by the House and the Senate to make it part of the historical record, because "everyone" knows it is going to get vetoed by the President (because it calls for the elimination of the President's main legislation - Obamacare). 

The one thing, well, one of the things I noted, was that the Republican budget is meant to greatly reduce the deficit that is hampering every single funding conversation we have... but the Democratic side says that they have made the economy stronger and reduced the deficit already.  What is wrong with this word game?  I think one is talking about the TOTAL deficit, the other is talking about the YEARLY deficit... two totally different elements of our economic health. 

Obamacare is a financial liability to America because there is no ceiling to the debt it will cause as technology is reducing the labor force, and both personal and tax incomes, and a large group of seniors is on the horizon.  It seems logical to me that these conflicts are going to lead to a major financial meltdown someday, maybe within ten to twenty years.

 

I have been dealing with little to no income for many years now... all without the benefit of a credit card. Budgets are the only way low-income households can even try to survive.  Budgets always have to be flexible because something unexpected always happens. Think :: natural disasters, droughts, aging infrastructure, banking crisis....  When your money is gone, it's gone. There is nothing you can do to make more money no matter how badly you may want to.  Think :: government at all levels are trying to create new taxes, new fees, sell their "extra" assets....  Think :: what is the value of the dollar if the government creates the illusion of more money by printing as much as they can/want....  Some expenses just don't go away, and some bills are not flexible.  The economy is so deeply integrated that if one domino falls, the whole structure falls... and then it will be every man for himself.... Think :: government bailout of the BIG banks while all the small ones were left to die.

I am now a senior with health issues, I don't have a lot of options. I can't do the things I would have done in my younger body.  If the government crashes, what will happen to me -- and the other millions of seniors with incomes that are dependent on the government?

There was another report in the news program I happened to catch, about government "entitlements" that began as safety nets  --  welfare, food stamps, etc.  --  and then, in the same program, there was a report about BILLIONS of tax dollars being lost to FRAUD in government programs like Medicaid.  (I can't recall the other ones that were mentioned.)  Where are the moral foundations that would prevent these losses?  Does anyone think the world is going to get more honest as we get rid of GOD?  There's a problem here... and there isn't any way to "fix" it.  (Prophecy is true... it is just a matter of time.)


I have been trying to find out what the emergency payment process will be if there is an economic meltdown of  ANY size.  I haven't heard one news story about it.  Do you think that the high wages of our legislators will go unpaid?  Or will the seniors and disabled and poverty-stricken need to forego their meager survival incomes to make sure government employees will be paid?  This is a serious issue... millions of Americans are already dependent on the government, and some want to make sure we all are.  If you know the answer, please tell me... and where you found it. 

I have been fighting poverty and associated issues for all of my adult life.  I don't mind sharing my details as an example of how the government is going to care for you.  When you are outside the system, you think a lot of things are true, but they aren't.

I currently receive less than $400 for my early-retirement income, the ONLY income option I have right now.  And, I have depended on food stamps for most of my adult life.  It is my entire food budget.  I currently receive about $30/week, but the maximum allotment for one person is about $200/month.  What would you be able to eat with that much money? This is a small sample of "austerity measures" already in motion.

I just tried to find out the right phrase for government budgets and austerity... this is the small statement I found with a Wikipedia response in my search ::  "Austerity measures are typically pursued if there is a threat that a government cannot honor its debt liabilities." 

Does anyone think major entities like corporations, cities (Detroit), or countries (Greece?  USA?), go bankrupt in a moment.  I remember hearing that it took Detroit 60 YEARS to go bankrupt.  What do you think happened in those long years?  Did they tell everyone they were failing?  No. Instead, they keep a public face, and struggle behind closed doors.  You have to watch for the signs of financial demise, and you have to look very carefully, and search out the hidden pieces of their budgets... how they compensate for their struggles... what they do to survive.

I guess I am wondering who's rights will matter more...and I doubt they will be mine.