thewhills said:
How about a new program...Mandatory Birth Control until age 18.
Our systems are anti-poor.
You can't pay your bills, they charge you more.
true in some some cases. not so in others. Often utilities have payment assistance programs where folks with difficulty receive assistance from the utilities and other customers of the utilities. It varies region to region. SOmetimes medical fees for the same procedure are MORE for those who do NOT have insurance. I've heard the explanation many times, but it still makes no sense. The other side of the coin, those who simply cannot pay medical bills have their costs absorbed by everyone else. All you have to do is be persistent in being poor for many years after the treatment. And again, in some areas (especialy those places with University hospitals) "indigent care" (fancy name for "the poor") is covered.
You can't pay the extra bills or taxes, they throw you in jail.
Well, not right away. There are so many credit assistance programs; and local governments try to come up with a plan to have you pay as much of your taxes as possible, you really have to be deliberately derelict for years before you serve any jailtime for debt. Unless your debt is due to outright fraud, and then that's a crime, not a dereliction.
You can't earn money in jail, so you exit jail with debt.
And that one is totally untrue. Depending on the nature of one's conviction, and which state you are in, you can work for pay in prison. It's usually less than minimum wage, but it is work. Many people in prison send money home to their families from prison.
If you are in a maximum security prison, you probably don't have that opportunity, but then again, you are not sent to a max for not being able to pay your bills.
I don't disagree in your main point.