If ACORN disappeared, who would aid the poorest of us?

The New York Daily News ^ | September 29, 2009 | NY State Assemblyman Rory Lancman

[Roy Tucker]

So how much money did Rep Lancman receive from Acorn? He is in favor of aiding and abetting criminal activity.

[GVnana]

if not ACORN, who?

Legitimate charities?

[RoadTest]

Liberal Garbage

[alancarp]

This idiot paints ACORN as a "vital" organization, but I would bet that he was in line to criticize the Bush faith-based charities initiative -- designed to support churches and other charities that have been doing this as a way of service and life for decades... and STILL do without government support.

This article illustrates exactly why the liberal media is so useless and despised anymore: present one side and do no research -- ignoring the possibility that the message delivered might be wrong.

[ctdonath2]

Wow, he's really confused.

If ACORN disappeared, who would aid the poorest of us?

The church (broadly speaking) did a fine job of that for centuries/millenia. If not for excessive taxation and legislation, it still would. ACORN is hardly the all-saving boon to the poor he portrays.

But even the lives of middle-class Americans are light-years - light-years - away from the void in which the entrenched poor live. I can walk into any Chase bank, where I've had an account since graduating college (even when I had $10 dollars in it, I still had an account), produce three years' worth of tax returns, a driver's license, a birth certificate, a passport, you name it, and get all the counseling I need on how to take out a home loan.

What he utterly fails to realize is that he just totally eviscerated ACORN's purpose. Yes, indeed, anyone CAN walk into any Chase bank, deposit $10 to open an account, and get all kinds of financial advice & official information.

Fact is, IT'S ALL THERE FOR THE ASKING. You just have to ask for it - persistently. High-class education? ocw.mit.edu for the content of any MIT class or degree (diploma extra). Banking/investing? $1 will open an account anywhere; I've had a Fidelity account open for _years_ with only $0.03 in it (I kid you not). Housing too expensive? MOVE already - $100 will get you cheap luggage and a ticket to somewhere affordable (too much stuff to move? sell!) Hungry? ACORN does _not_ have a monopoly on soup kitchens and free pantries. Driver's license? birth certificate? passport? you name it? DMV, Vital Records, Post Office, Department Of You Name It - go there, ask, pay the modest fees (c'mon, you can get >$7/hr to friggin' _sweep_floors_).

if not ACORN, who?

Family.
Church.
State (the rest of us are paying enough in taxes!).

ACORN is not the end-all of helping the "poor".
The real problem is that help starts with the individual; there's plenty of people, food, money, etc. just waiting for the request.

[Danae]

You can’t “Fix” ACORN. All you can do is kill it. As for the poorest of us, they are about 1000 times the wealthier than the poor of say... China, India, Bangladesh, African... Our Poor would be filthy stinking rich there. Who will take care of the poorest of us? How about those people start TAKING CARE OF THEMSELVES instead of waiting got a HANDOUT?!

How about get up off your fat butt and go create something out of nothing!