Defund the Police

[SocialCircle 570]

21 minutes ago, Brad_ATX said:

Know how you stop street crime?  Opportunity.  Create economic and educational opportunities in poor communities and see what happens.  I commend people like Shad Khan (owner of the Jaguars).  He is actually building manufacturing hubs on the south side of Chicago to give people those opportunities.

All research evidence indicates that more police and harsher tactics don't lead to less crime.   That same evidence shows more economic and educational opportunities do in fact lead to less crime.  You'd basically be better off burning money if all you want to do is beef up a police force.

I do agree a good economy helps many, many issues.  

[aubiefifty 16,705]

you know i believe all this rage on so many different levels tells me we are doing little or nothing concerning mental health. i know the feds closed many institutions during ronnie rayguns time. some say he did it. some say one of the houses did it. but it sure seems like we keep slipping closer and closer to the brink because of it. maybe it just seems that way. just a thought. sorry if it is off topic.

[SocialCircle 570]

26 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

to my dismay anniston is dying. people have wanted to be annexed to oxford. our city council fights all the time. originally i am from gadsden and lived close enough to the falls toe get there in ten minutes on a bicycle. you should try mentone sometimes. stunning scenery and wonderful places to eat. they have great entertainment and story telling etc. little river casnyon is thirty minutes from gadsden the back way and it is awesome as well. biggest gorge east of the the gran canyon i believe. lots of waterfalls and stuff. northeast alabama is a treasure in its own right. i had hope the fort could do something like that with those mountains but because of training missions with cannons they are off limits do to so many rounds that never went off............

Sad to hear about Anniston.  Lots of beautiful homes in the valley and in those hills too. I'll for sure put Mentone on my list to visit. 

[homersapien 11,353]

44 minutes ago, Brad_ATX said:

Under-funded?  Hardly.  Take L.A. for an example.  A full 30% of that city's budget is dedicated to the police force.  New York's budget for police is $5 billion.  From the New York Post:

"New York City spends more on policing than it does on the Departments of Health, Homeless Services, Housing Preservation and Development, and Youth and Community Development combined."

Actually, it's more like $6 billion.

What NYC could do with its $6 billion police budget

Some of that could go toward homeless services, rental aid, and youth programs.

https://ny.curbed.com/2020/6/5/21279214/nyc-defund-nypd-police-budget-affordable-housing-homelessness

[aubiefifty 16,705]

2 minutes ago, SocialCircle said:

Sad to hear about Anniston.  Lots of beautiful homes in the valley and in those hills too. I'll for sure put Mentone on my list to visit. 

youtube has a ton of stuff on it. it is basically on the mountain overlooking ft payne. but you could stay there a week and travel a hundred miles in almost any direction and see something amazing. little river canyon has a scenic drive all the way around it and a huge campground. the state really fixed it up nice as well.

[McLoofus 35,182]

6 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

you know i believe all this rage on so many different levels tells me we are doing little or nothing concerning mental health. i know the feds closed many institutions during ronnie rayguns time. some say he did it. some say one of the houses did it. but it sure seems like we keep slipping closer and closer to the brink because of it. maybe it just seems that way. just a thought. sorry if it is off topic.

Mental health is actually very on topic. That is absolutely type of health and social initiative to which people are talking about redirecting funding. One more way to move towards a proactive approach to crime and away from the highly reactive approach we currently employ.

Same as healthcare (including mental healthcare). 

I swear, Americans would rather pay $100 to punish a crime or treat an illness than pay $10 to prevent it. 

[aubiefifty 16,705]

2 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Mental health is actually very on topic. That is absolutely type of health and social initiative to which people are talking about redirecting funding. One more way to move towards a proactive approach to crime and away from the highly reactive approach we currently employ.

Same as healthcare (including mental healthcare). 

I swear, Americans would rather pay $100 to punish a crime or treat an illness than pay $10 to prevent it. 

if i could find a drug that did not have severe defects like suicide or just plain not work i would be a totally different person. paxil worked for a while and then one day it just quit and the bottom fell out. my own shrink told me to self medicate with pot. he even told me most of his older patients self medicated with it. but the problem is it is illegal and they still bust people around here for pipes and stuff as well as pot itself. if i ever even sniff of a way to get the legal stuff shipped to me i would do it in a heartbeat. i know smoking has to be bad and probably stupid when there are edibles that work better but it is against the law as well.

[SocialCircle 570]

7 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

if i could find a drug that did not have severe defects like suicide or just plain not work i would be a totally different person. paxil worked for a while and then one day it just quit and the bottom fell out. my own shrink told me to self medicate with pot. he even told me most of his older patients self medicated with it. but the problem is it is illegal and they still bust people around here for pipes and stuff as well as pot itself. if i ever even sniff of a way to get the legal stuff shipped to me i would do it in a heartbeat. i know smoking has to be bad and probably stupid when there are edibles that work better but it is against the law as well.

Prayers lifted for you. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

4 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

if i could find a drug that did not have severe defects like suicide or just plain not work i would be a totally different person. paxil worked for a while and then one day it just quit and the bottom fell out. my own shrink told me to self medicate with pot. he even told me most of his older patients self medicated with it. but the problem is it is illegal and they still bust people around here for pipes and stuff as well as pot itself. if i ever even sniff of a way to get the legal stuff shipped to me i would do it in a heartbeat. i know smoking has to be bad and probably stupid when there are edibles that work better but it is against the law as well.

Dude, I'm sorry. 

I know people who have products shipped from Colorado but it's definitely not legal for them to. 

[aubiefifty 16,705]

1 minute ago, McLoofus said:

Dude, I'm sorry. 

I know people who have products shipped from Colorado but it's definitely not legal for them to. 

last time i tried they wanted bit coins or something crap. if i ever find one i would do it in a heartbeat cough cough lol

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

32 minutes ago, SocialCircle said:

I do agree a good economy helps many, many issues.  

So you've again kind of missed the point.  By many measures, the economy was "good" very recently.  But those economic opportunities were largely not in communities of color.  And investments for schools were not going to those communities.

Take for example the stock market.  All time highs must mean everyone is doing well, right?  Well not exactly.  Only about half of Americans own any stock whatsoever.  And those numbers really dwindle among minority groups.

https://www.investors.com/news/investing-in-stocks-racial-wealth-gap-connection/

Then you start talking about salary and payscales.  Wages are just barely keeping up with inflation over the last two decades.  That means that the average person's buying power hasn't really changed.  So we can scream from the rooftops about jobs, jobs, jobs, but it means nothing of people aren't also getting economic opportunity and growth from those jobs.

[autigeremt 6,569]

Let them abolish the police...and watch the cities go into a spiral not seen before. 

Departments need to be held accountable. First step is to drive out the unions. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

3 minutes ago, autigeremt said:

Let them abolish the police

Who's them? Which cities? Almost nobody- I only use the qualifier because there might be somebody- is suggesting that, and very few are even suggesting a complete rebuild.

[autigeremt 6,569]

1 minute ago, McLoofus said:

Who's them? Which cities? Almost nobody- I only use the qualifier because there might be somebody- is suggesting that, and very few are even suggesting a complete rebuild.

Any city that wants too. I know it's just talk but still....let them if they choose it. 

 

[SocialCircle 570]

40 minutes ago, Brad_ATX said:

So you've again kind of missed the point.  By many measures, the economy was "good" very recently.  But those economic opportunities were largely not in communities of color.  And investments for schools were not going to those communities.

Take for example the stock market.  All time highs must mean everyone is doing well, right?  Well not exactly.  Only about half of Americans own any stock whatsoever.  And those numbers really dwindle among minority groups.

https://www.investors.com/news/investing-in-stocks-racial-wealth-gap-connection/

Then you start talking about salary and payscales.  Wages are just barely keeping up with inflation over the last two decades.  That means that the average person's buying power hasn't really changed.  So we can scream from the rooftops about jobs, jobs, jobs, but it means nothing of people aren't also getting economic opportunity and growth from those jobs.

For the first time in a long time wages for lower earners were increasing at a higher rate than it was for high wages earners under this administration. We finally also had more jobs than people who wanted them. So the opportunity was there as was the growth prior to Covid-19. The opportunity zones are also going to help more in time. I agree we can always do more, but sometimes it helps to acknowledge some things are actually improving. 
 

Again it is a one way street. I can acknowledge things need to get better. However, it seems too many will not acknowledge things were improving prior to Covid-19. 

[wdefromtx 3,159]

20 minutes ago, SocialCircle said:

For the first time in a long time wages for lower earners were increasing at a higher rate than it was for high wages earners under this administration. We finally also had more jobs than people who wanted them. So the opportunity was there as was the growth prior to Covid-19. The opportunity zones are also going to help more in time. I agree we can always do more, but sometimes it helps to acknowledge some things are actually improving. 
 

Again it is a one way street. I can acknowledge things need to get better. However, it seems too many will not acknowledge things were improving prior to Covid-19. 

Can you post your source of this information? I know economically things were doing good before Covid and I know a lot has to do with some of the policies put in place, but I haven't see where this wage disparity has improved like you mention. It may have, but in my opinion if it has it must be minimal. 

There was also an improvement in the price of oil in the 2017-2018 time frame that also helped fuel economic improvement. 

 

[MaineTiger 33]

1 hour ago, aubiefifty said:

if i could find a drug that did not have severe defects like suicide or just plain not work i would be a totally different person. paxil worked for a while and then one day it just quit and the bottom fell out. my own shrink told me to self medicate with pot. he even told me most of his older patients self medicated with it. but the problem is it is illegal and they still bust people around here for pipes and stuff as well as pot itself. if i ever even sniff of a way to get the legal stuff shipped to me i would do it in a heartbeat. i know smoking has to be bad and probably stupid when there are edibles that work better but it is against the law as well.

I got an extra room at our house here in Maine... even have a 'homegrower' that supplies me  

[SocialCircle 570]

19 minutes ago, wdefromtx said:

Can you post your source of this information? I know economically things were doing good before Covid and I know a lot has to do with some of the policies put in place, but I haven't see where this wage disparity has improved like you mention. It may have, but in my opinion if it has it must be minimal. 

There was also an improvement in the price of oil in the 2017-2018 time frame that also helped fuel economic improvement. 

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/rank-and-file-workers-get-bigger-raises-11577442600
 

[wdefromtx 3,159]

5 minutes ago, SocialCircle said:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/rank-and-file-workers-get-bigger-raises-11577442600

Thanks, it is behind a paywall though so I can only read the first paragraph or so. 

[SocialCircle 570]

Just now, wdefromtx said:

Thanks, it is behind a paywall though so I can only read the first paragraph or so. 

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-wage-growth-for-second-quarter-2019-accelerated-to-4-percent-over-the-year-300890012.html
 

[wdefromtx 3,159]

1 minute ago, SocialCircle said:

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-wage-growth-for-second-quarter-2019-accelerated-to-4-percent-over-the-year-300890012.html
 

The lowest wage they include is for leisure and hospitality and that was a wage of $17.42/hr. The rest were industries that ranged from $20-40/hr, I don't think that is representative of the lowest or low wage earners. This is probably representative of more the middle class/mid-wage earners. Which is still good to see considering the middle class is the one usually screwed over. 

[aubiefifty 16,705]

17 minutes ago, MaineTiger said:

I got an extra room at our house here in Maine... even have a 'homegrower' that supplies me  

you know edibles are way stronger than smoking right? but if it is not cooked to a certain degree for a certain amount of time it will do little to nothing. i am probably preaching to the choir tho...........

[SocialCircle 570]

4 minutes ago, wdefromtx said:

The lowest wage they include is for leisure and hospitality and that was a wage of $17.42/hr. The rest were industries that ranged from $20-40/hr, I don't think that is representative of the lowest or low wage earners. This is probably representative of more the middle class/mid-wage earners. Which is still good to see considering the middle class is the one usually screwed over. 

One thing is we need to continue to bring back manufacturing jobs to this country. I am hopeful one positive from Covid-19 is some of those jobs will leave China and come back here at a faster pace. 

[SocialCircle 570]

7 minutes ago, wdefromtx said:

The lowest wage they include is for leisure and hospitality and that was a wage of $17.42/hr. The rest were industries that ranged from $20-40/hr, I don't think that is representative of the lowest or low wage earners. This is probably representative of more the middle class/mid-wage earners. Which is still good to see considering the middle class is the one usually screwed over. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2019/03/13/workers-at-lower-end-of-pay-scale-getting-most-benefit-from-rising-wages.html
 

[wdefromtx 3,159]

9 minutes ago, SocialCircle said:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2019/03/13/workers-at-lower-end-of-pay-scale-getting-most-benefit-from-rising-wages.html
 

Thanks. These two examples show that you have to be careful with whose data you use and trust and not to run with what the headline is.

 

The low wage earner increase is 3.4% compared to the average 4% of the wages in the other article. Which was over approximately the same period of time. I would say that it is more across the board increases and not really low wage earners increasing at a greater rate.