1.3 Million. 1.3 Million. Let that sink in.

[Scuba]

[bigwillq]

1. All the money we spend overseas

Imagine what it could do to end homelessness and poverty if we spent it in the USA?

[theHandpuppet]

4. But we need that money for WAR!!

Consider just the F-35 fighter jet...

But the program's costs have snowballed, for an estimated 68 percent increase over its initial price tag. The Pentagon now plans to spend $391.2 billion on 2,443 aircraft, with each plane costing a staggering $160 million.

When taking into account the cost of flying and maintaining the F-35 over the course of its life, the program could surpass a trillion dollars, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/f-35-cost-2014-2#ixzz3J39M2VZs

That's for ONE PLANE. Just think if all the money we spend on war was spent on improving people's lives.

[bigwillq]

5. Such a shame what the USA's priorities are.

Sad.

[zeemike]

13. Wow...391 BILLION dollars.

If my math is right that is 391,000 million dollars..and you could give a check for 100,000 dollars to 3,9 MILLION people instantly solving the homeless problem.

The Military Industrial Complex is bleeding us to death.

[Initech]

46. Yup the worst thing that has ever happened to this country.

And Eisenhower warned us ahead of time.

[Arugula Latte]

26. But we ARE improving peoples' lives by spending massive $$ on worthless wars --

the lives of the top executives a the corporations that profit from this murderous racket.

[riversedge]

28. whow. thanks for the details

[grahamhgreen]

56. War first, last and forever!!!!!!

[SomethingFishy]

17. Shit, imagine what we could have solved with the money spent on TV commercials

this past election cycle.

This country is seriously broken. All I hear from both Dems and Republicans is "there is no money". Fuck you, there is plenty of money, just not for for the peons.


Thanks Scuba, needs to be said over and over.. K&R

[bigwillq]

19. This post is spot on.

[a kennedy]

2. this should be the Dems battle cry, but as we all know......

NO ONE CARES ABOUT THE POOR.

[nilesobek]

6. And the poor who do survive,

like my family, end up with battle scars. We are hardened and angry. We hate all religion. We don't believe a single thing a politician tells us. We don't even bother to go to the doctor, even for serious injuries. We have perfected the art of living beneath corrugated tin and homemade shower stalls of duct tape and plastic. All of us can walk 20-30 miles per day if we have to, because, we have to. We can eat foods that most people would throw into the trash because our bodies and metabolisms are used to it, used to the extra bacteria and whatnot.

You might think we are uneducated but nothing could be further from the truth. 3 of our 8 children are college graduates. We raised our kids on reading, they were all reading very well before kindergarten.

Its not about education, its not about Wall Street, its not about training, its about capitalism, elitism and money. We will never bow down to the cult of capitalism and the god of consumerism. We just want to find ways to enjoy the rest of our lives without the bullshit pressure of, "success."

[Dont call me Shirley]

11. They have usurped our communities and hollowed them out. They have replaced them with their

phoney community substitutes, ie churches, which are neither real community nor truly helpful.

It's time to change the entire system. Create a new tribalism, a tribalism based on mutual respect, equality and cooperation.

[nilesobek]

31. The faith based charities don't really help that much.

You can get a half rotted sandwich for throwing yourself upon an altar and swearing fealty to Jesus and other phantoms that don't exist. Of course, while the altar call is going on they are busy condemning you at the same time, because, they are sure you are evil and deserve every bad thing that happened to you.

The lady that runs the local Goodwill drives a nice, new Lexus and there are rumors swirling about that she goes through all the costume jewelry and picks out the overlooked gold in them. Remember when all the TV networks recommended that we give to the Red Cross? Well, it turns out the CEOs and administrators take an inordinate amount of donations for their salaries, which are enormous by my standards.

Its been 7 years since we sought any help. We don't want their help. How does another sandwich help a family that has had its back to the wall for 3 decades? The things we need help with they are unable or unwilling to provide.

The problem with building coalitions among the poor is the flake factor. For instance, on election day my small coalition walks to the polling place which is right close by. We've been doing this since 2004 and our little trailer park boys/ fight club coalition is growing. Three of our people, one of them a main guy didn't even show up this year.

[Dont call me Shirley]

42. Food, water and shelter security are sorely needed in this country! Education. Job training with a

living wage job. Single payer healthcare including wholistic healthcare. Communities where these are in close proximity to public transportation. Adequate free and rest time, including vacations. All these are human rights, not priveledges. We must begin to demand these of our legislators! And refuse to work for those who refuse these rights.

Good luck with you. Continue speaking up. Continue organizing your wonderful community.

[Orsino]

22. We have to shout louder than money this Congressional term.

We have to shout louder than vote suppression.

We have to shout louder than pundits.

[hifiguy]

34. Unfortunately it is not possible to shout louder than money,

which does not talk, it swears. And 35-40% of the population would vote to liquidate themselves if the Repigs, .1%ers and their preachers told them to.

[MannyGoldstein]

3. As always, Bernie hits it right between the eyes

Horrible statistic.

[Octafish]

7. Once, America was led by people who understood that.

Now, the nation is led by the likes of Goldman Sachs who bestow austerity as a way of making the rich get richer, faster.

[lonestarnot]

15. You'd think people would wise up.

[Octafish]

23. ''No one reads anymore.''

Allen Dulles, describing the Warren Commission Report.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Brothers-Foster-Dulles-Secret/dp/0805094970

[hifiguy]

35. I have seen it estimated that around 40% of the US populace

is functionally illiterate. I do not doubt this for a nanosecond. Combine that with zero critical thinking skills and you have Madison and Jefferson's nightmare come to life.

[YoungDemCA]

49. "Once, America was led by people who understood that."

Stop. Pining. For. The. Good. Ole. Days. They. Never. Existed.

[Octafish]

53. Maybe not for you, but I remember them.

So. Please. Stop. Telling. Me. Otherwise.

[Paper Roses]

8. AMEN!

I wish Bernie was younger. He, Elizabeth Warren and a few others are speaking words we want to hear. Things cannot go on as they have been.

Too many Americans are on the brink or beyond. We need help, a powerful voice with the power to make things work for all of us, not just the monied few.

[99Forever]

9. Again, this is why Bernie Sanders will be...

... our next President.

Say it.

Believe it.

Shout it from the rooftops.

[Dont call me Shirley]

10. End militarization of everything. Redistribute wealth to everyone.

[mountain grammy]

12. end childhood poverty..

[Autumn]

14. We can fix this by sending more troops and wearons to Iraq. Go team USA!

[mb999]

18. And more tax cuts for the Job Creators™

That's the solution to everything.

[woo me with science]

43. Working on making these "others" profitable:

[font size=3]Poor minorities are worthless to corporations on the street. In prison they can bring in $40,000/yr
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023368969[/font size]

Poor Land in Jail as Companies Add Huge Fees for Probation
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014158005

The Caging of America - Why do we lock up so many people
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002226110

The Obama administration is aggressively growing private prisons
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022568681

Obama's 2013 budget: One area of marked growth, the prison industrial complex
http://sync.democraticunderground.com/1002392306

Obama selects the owner of a private prison consulting firm as the new Director of the United States Marshals Service (USMS)
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2010/12/mars-d03.html

Private prison corporations move up on list on federal contractors, receiving BILLIONS
http://www.nationofchange.org/president-obama-s-incarcernation-1335274655

Federal Private Prison Populations Grew by 784% in 10 Year Span
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4362184

Prison Labor Booms As Unemployment Remains High; Companies Reap Benefits
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/10/prison-labor_n_2272036.html

Private Prison Corporation's Letters to Shareholders Reveal Industry's Tactics: Profiting from Human Incarceration
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022665091

Financial growth of private prison industry...Profiting from caging humans.

http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/BshteP8i282pcaeH8pdUsA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTUyMA--/

We heard about private prisons...but do you know of the private probation industry?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025380204

NYT: Probation Fees Rise, Firms Profit and the Poor Go to Jail
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002893040

No Safe Place: How Cities Are Making It Illegal to be Homeless
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101699724

Thrown in jail for being poor: the booming for-profit probation industry
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024603515

The exploitation of Ferguson I: In 2013 the town issued over 24,000 arrest warrants..
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025404667

The exploitation of Ferguson II: The Seamy Underbelly Of Ferguson Starts To Appear
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025416747

The exploitation of Ferguson III: Ferguson Feeds Off the Poor: Three Warrants a Year Per Household
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025428157

[Scuba]

58. Thank you woo. As always you've contributed favorably to the conversation.

[WillyT]

16. HUGE K & R !!! - THANK YOU !!!

[LWolf]

20. They don't learn well,

but their teachers are still blamed, and evaluated, on their test scores.

My school, and my community goes an extra 10 miles to try to help our homeless families. It's still never enough. We need to remove the soul and resource-sucking tentacles of the MIC and the neo-liberals and pour our focus, our energy, and our resources into making poverty extinct.

[woo me with science]

21. We are ruled by criminals and sociopaths.

Corporate Democrats and Republicans are not just another flavor of politician. They are a menace to democracy and to humanity.

They must be stopped.

K&R. Thank you for this OP, Scuba.

And thank you, Bernie.

[bobduca]

24. $8 million per day in Iraq

K&R

[Avalux]

25. on what, specifically?

We really don't know and should demand an itemized list of every penny of OUR MONEY spent "in Iraq". It's going to have a lot of line items to contractors.

[jtuck004]

36. Freedom. For the people getting the money.

Also known as contractors.

[JDPriestly]

27. K&R.

How can anyone claim that ours is a Christian nation when we have a statistic like that"

Matthew 25: 31-46

Jesus Standing

31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' 37 Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' 40 And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.' 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' 44 Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' 45 Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

http://gbgm-umc.org/cam/mt25.html

There is no excuse for hunger or homelessness in a country that has as many resources as ours does. No excuse. That goes for adults as well as children.

[Stargazer99]

33. For this nation to be Christian it would take honesty

As long as our god "mammon" is worshiped only a living hell is allowed the poor

[me b zola]

29. K&R

[Kablooie]

30. Only if those children can outspend large corporations will this become reality.

[840high]

32. k/r - we don't take

care of our own.

[Indydem]

37. Nope. Wrong.

Since everyone else so far is just cheerleading this nonsense because it fits their preconceived notions, I'll stand up and point out the facts.

In America, on any given day, there are approximately 650,000 homeless. Not all of those people are permanently homeless, and not all of them are homeless because of poverty.

The statistic that Ole' Bernie is trying to cite is that 1 in 50, or 1.5 million children will be homeless at some time during the course of a given year. That doesn't mean permanently homeless. That doesn't even necessarily mean poverty is the cause.

This is pure, unadulterated bullshit pandering.

Homelessness in America is far more about mental health and drug addiction than it is about poverty. But conflating the issue "for the children" is great for ole "not a Democrat" Bernie, so it will get many recs and much agreement on DU.

DU, where not actually being a Democrat, or being a former republican makes you the two top choices for President in 2016.

[democrank]

38. What a troubling response, Indydem.

You`re certainly entitled to your own opinion, but even if I accept your number of 650,000 homeless on any given day, isn`t that a number we should be ashamed of? You state that "not all of those people are permanently homeless, and not all of them are homeless because of poverty." Does that really matter? Homeless is homeless.

I`m curious, have you ever been homeless? I`m almost 70 years old and have been homeless twice in my life. Once as a child....because of poverty and once as an adult when a catastrophic illness led to my losing my home.

I couldn`t care less if Bernie Sanders is an Independent, a Democrat, a Republican. The fact that he`s out front talking about homelessness causes me to stand up and cheer.

[Indydem]

39. Please, don't get me wrong.

650,000 is a number that is absolutely not acceptable in the richest nation in the history of the planet.

We should be expanding treatment plans to help those with mental health issues and drug addictions get their lives back on track. Those that don't want help should be left alone to do as they please (but that's sure as hell not 650,000).

But I am starting to get mighty tired of Bernie Sanders (not a Democrat) being quoted as if he's a wise sage on the DEMOCRATIC Ubderground. He isn't a Democrat and never has been. Yet if people celebrate Ralph Nader, they are turned into a pariah.

Bernie Sanders has a lot of things to say. He doesn't DO anything. He doesn't sponsor SHIT for legislation and doesn't have any workable solutions to anything.

Homelessness is an issue we should take seriously. Sanders is not.

[democrank]

40. Thank you for your clarification. I appreciate it.

You and I simply disagree about Sanders. I think he`s worth listening to....about homelessness or anything else.

[Bluenorthwest]

44. Part of what you say is not accurate.

"Homelessness in America is far more about mental health and drug addiction than it is about poverty."

Not at all the case. You can look it up. Among the chronically homeless it is a large contributing element certainly, but as you say they are only a small portion of the homeless.
The leading causes are financial and/or familial crisis. For family units injury, death and job loss are the emergencies that create homelessness. It is not 'chronic poverty' but is is about being too poor to fill the need. For young people, the leading factors are family neglect, rejection by their parents for LGBT kids, divorce or death of a parent or grandparent.
Most of the homeless on any given night are homeless for reasons that have nothing to do with their use of a substance or the state of their mental health. That's just how it is.

[Bluenorthwest]

41. Tonight, 58,056 people will sleep in NYC shelters.

By the numbers:

There are 610,042 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the United States.
Of that number, 222,197 are people in families, and
387,845 are individuals.
About 18 percent of the homeless population - 109,132 - are considered "chronically homeless,"and
About 9 percent of homeless adults- 57,849 - are veterans.

These numbers come from point-in-time counts, which are conducted, community by community, on a single night in January every other year. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires communities to submit this data every other year in order to qualify for federal homeless assistance funds. Many communities conduct counts more regularly.

The number one reason for homelessness is simple. People are not able to find housing they can afford. No human being should be without a place to call home for even a night. That's the bottom line.

[Nevernose]

51. Until you've given multiple children rides to homeless shelters

The rest of us will assume that you don't have the slightest fucking idea what you're talking about.

[IronLionZion]

45. Bootstraps!

Those billionaires will trickle down all over us, just wait for it.

[theHandpuppet]

47. Yeah, they'll trickle down on us all right

By pissing all over us.

[whathehell]

48. A fucking National Disgrace..

Not the America I grew up in.

[indepat]

50. Sadly, in this right-wing society, the Congress and the Supreme Court have scrapped the 'promote

the general welfare' doctrine in favor of a promote the welfare of large corporations and the plutocrats, gorge the MIC, and assert global hegemony.

[Iliyah]

52. they sent a few to warmer areas

and you don't hear lately about the ones who die huh.

[Rhiannon12866]

54. I can't tell you how many times this has crossed my mind.

When I hear how much treasure was squandered on the Iraq war or how many millions were spent by political candidates, I can't help wondering how many people that insane amount of money could have fed.

[colsohlibgal]

55. How About A Guaranteed Base Income?

There is a book out now, by a guy named David DeGraw, urging adoption of the US fronting everyone with $20,000 or so a year. This concept has been entertained by more than one president. It makes sense, it would really alleviate hunger, and it would free people to pursue jobs/careers they want to do rather than have to do. It would also lower health care costs by the reduction of stress.

[smirkymonkey]

57. K&R!

Our country's priorities are so far out of whack it's absolutely mind-boggling.