Mal-distribution of wealth?

SamCogar wrote:The WSJ is right, ...... the wife tells me she is dropping more and more of our Personal Income everytime she goes to the store to buy something.

Keli wrote:............................ reparations “don’t go far enough”.

ziggy wrote:

Keli wrote:............................ reparations “don’t go far enough”.

That is true in the same say that giving a man a fish does not go far enough. Teaching men how to fish for themselves is of more value to both the teachers and the ones taught than is merely giving a man a fish.

I have even a better idea. How about people taking the initative to learn themselves.

Friend, what have you ever learned "yourself", without inspiration and/or instruction from others?

ziggy wrote:

I have even a better idea. How about people taking the initative to learn themselves.

Friend, what have you ever learned "yourself", without inspiration and/or instruction from others?

1. I taught myself how to catch a rabbit in a steeltrap.

I taught myself to tie trout flys, I most of what I know about woodworking I've learned on my own.

ziggy wrote: And without any external inspiration / instruction form others, right? Yeah, sure.

ziggy wrote:

1. I taught myself how to catch a rabbit in a steeltrap.

I taught myself to tie trout flys, I most of what I know about woodworking I've learned on my own.

And without any external inspiration / instruction form others, right? Yeah, sure.

Cato wrote:

ziggy wrote:

1. I taught myself how to catch a rabbit in a steeltrap.

I taught myself to tie trout flys, I most of what I know about woodworking I've learned on my own.

And without any external inspiration / instruction form others, right? Yeah, sure.

Ziggy, we aren't all like you. We don't need to mooch off others. We are actually able to think and reason for ourselves.

ziggy wrote:

Cato wrote:

ziggy wrote:

1. I taught myself how to catch a rabbit in a steeltrap.

I taught myself to tie trout flys, I most of what I know about woodworking I've learned on my own.

And without any external inspiration / instruction form others, right? Yeah, sure.

Ziggy, we aren't all like you. We don't need to mooch off others. We are actually able to think and reason for ourselves.

So who do you think I am "mooching" from, Cato? I am retired from self-employment, have paid tens of thousands of $$$ into Social Security over the years- and have not been paid even one dime from Social Security, and I supplement my retirement income with a part time job. So just who am I mooching from?

You are able to "think and reason" for yourselves because you have been given the tools and inspired by someone or by several someones to do that.

Cato wrote:Is not your question in reference to needing someone to inspire or teach? I can't speak for anyone else but I need no other person to inspire me. Now maybe you need to mooch off their accomplishments, but I don't.

Homicide

The same CDC reports say that homicide is the:

* the leading cause of death among black men aged 15-34 years. (Three age categories!)

* the second leading cause of death for black women aged 15-24 years.
* the fifth leading cause of death for black women aged 25-34 years.

Among women aged 15-24, homicide accounts for 5% of premature deaths in white females, but 20% of all premature deaths by black females.

Among both black and white men, homicide deaths peak at aged 25-34. The death rate by homicide among white men in this age group is 12.5 per 100k, and accounts for 10% of all premature deaths. The death rate by homicide among blacks in this age group is 101.8 per 100k, and accounts for 48% of all premature deaths.

The majority of black female homicide victims are killed by a current or former boyfriend, which many refer to as “femicide.” About 93% of all black homicide victims are killed by a black perpetrator overall. 85% of white homicide victims are killed by a white perpetrator.

“The National Black Women’s Health Project” has identified the battering of women as the number one health issue for African American women (Joseph, 1997).

Femicide is a leading cause of premature deaths in African American women aged 15-44. (Journal of Issues in Nursing Vol 7, No. 1)

In 1998, Salber and Taliaferro reported that the spousal homicide rate among African Americans is 8.4 times more than for whites. The incidence of spousal homicide is 7.7 times higher in interracial marriages compared to intraracial marriages. (Source WebMD.com)

Relationships with black men dramatically increase a woman’s chances of dying young.

Black females aged 15-19 are 3.9 times more likely to die of homicide or AIDS than white females in the same age group. This increases to 4.4 time for females aged 20-24 and 7.3 times for 25-34.

White women who engage in relationships with black men dramatically increase their chances of premature death or long term health problems from murder, beatings, and STDs.

ziggy wrote:

Cato wrote:Is not your question in reference to needing someone to inspire or teach? I can't speak for anyone else but I need no other person to inspire me. Now maybe you need to mooch off their accomplishments, but I don't.

You have no evidence that I mooch anything from anyone. You are just trying to change the subject to detract from your statement about reparations.

I had said that reparations are not enough in the same say that giving a man a fish does not go far enough. I added that, "Teaching men how to fish for themselves is of more value to both the teachers and the ones taught than is merely giving a man a fish."

Then you, Cato, said, "I have even a better idea. How about people taking the initiative to learn themselves."

When we are talking about reparations we are talking about reparations for people whose ancestors had the spirit of self-sufficiency, the spirit of equality under the law, the spirit of the American ideal beat out of them by their 17th, 18th, and 19th century slave masters, and by the Ku Klux Klan and wannabe Klanners during the last half of the 19th century and most of the 20th century. When tens of generations of one's ancestors have been beaten into subservience, the next generation or two does not somehow automatically break the chains that bind their spirits.

You and I are fortunate that generation after generation of our ancestors did not have to succumb to the slave masters and their Klan successors- fortunate that social subservience and personal dependence and was not bred into our very spirits and our souls as it was for generations of black Americans.

But rather than talk about how to help a people overcome the economic and other social baggage of inherent racism in America- about why we are even discussing "reparations"- you instead turn the discussion up-side-down in a pathetic attempt to somehow portray Ziggy as a "moocher".

Why can't you hold an honest discussions about anything without trying to villanize those who do not share your social bigotry and your contempt of those who have less social advantage than you?

Aaron wrote:Slavery ended 150 years ago. The civil rights act is 45 years old. The average Africian American who is a victim of the type of racism that you speak of is our age, not the youth of America today.

The only people holding African Americans down today are African Americans. The number 1 killer of African Americans age 15-34 is homicide by another African American. I'm sure you'll see this as a symptom of slavery but I hardly see how anyone can blame actions that occurred centuries before they were born are the cause for their actions today.

Besides, haven’t we paid enough to the African American community through entitlement programs which are in truth as responsible for holding that segment of society down as slavery was?

Perhaps instead of just handing something else to the African American community, we should teach them to fish instead of making excuses for their actions and feeding them.

ziggy wrote:

But when I say that, Cato calls me a "moocher". So maybe the moral is that Aaron says it better than I did. And if so, I'm with that.