“Money doesn’t seem to be a problem when the problem is money.” -- Prime Minister of Norway Jens Stoltenberg
I suppose I'd add to the Prime Minister's words, that money doesn't seem to be a problem when the problem is money, or war. We can come up with billions of dollars to fund wars and bail out Wall Street and US car-makers. Even our presidential candidates collectively raised and spent over a billion dollars campaigning the past couple years.
Yet, people struggle to obtain affordable healthcare, even going into bankruptcy as medical bills pile up. Or, people go without basic healthcare because they can't afford it, and end up getting sick and seeking expensive treatment in hospital emergency rooms. And all too often, people show up sick to work because they don't have any time off left, which can further erode their health and spread sickness to their colleagues.
Some people live in run-down, unsafe housing because they just can't maintain a house when working minimum wage or trying to get by on unemployment benefits. And then, once their savings and unemployment benefits run out, their house is taken back by the bank and they and their family are homeless.
It's really a shameful reality we live in here in the United States, a reality it seems we would prefer not to see or acknowledge. Maybe it's just too much of a shock to our view of America The Great, or maybe it's too painful to see that others go without when we have plenty. I suppose some people just don't care.
We can spend billions a month for several years to fund wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Within a matter of weeks we can create and fund a $700 billion entity to get capital flowing again, yet we can not muster the social and political will to make sure that people have basic healthcare and housing. People – fellow human beings with wants, needs, dreams and desires just like everyone else: moms, dads, kids and grandparents, neighbors, and friends. They are everywhere when you take the time to look for and know them.
Maybe once more people start to see them and know them, then money won't be so much of the problem.
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