Danielle Levy

It’s official, car ownership helps people get off public assistance, even in a down economy. A survey by Ways to Work, the nation’s largest low-income car ownership program confirms that. Car ownership is a means to better jobs, therefore better income, and with it, better access to educational opportunities and traditional financial services such as banking. It seems common sense or observation would have had the same result, but with some more solid numbers it will now be easier for Ways to Work, which has 55 offices in 23 states to expand. They get the majority of their funding from private sources and offer car loans at %8 interest to working families with bad credit scores. The alternative is the Buy Here Pay Here industry which charges %18 to %30 interest. While they have a %25 default rate, only %12 of Ways to Work loans are not repaid.
Now that we know, let’s hope we can use the knowledge.

China has passed an action plan to combat the rising spread of HIV and AIDS. By 2015 condoms or condom vending machines should be available in 95% of hotels. Government figures indicate that the country has about 780,000 people living with HIV/AIDS including 154,000 AIDS patients. While this is rather small for such a large country, the government wants to stem the rise of the disease and prevent it from becoming an epidemic. While the overall numbers are low according the World Health Organization the numbers of reported cases in China are rising and heterosexual transmissions is surpassing injection drug use as the number one cause for the infection. The head of the UN AIDS prevention agency, Michel Sidibe, had lobbied China, South Africa, India and Russia to either energize or reverse their approach to the epidemic. Since China is responding, perhaps it will set an example for the other countries. Indeed for all countries, including our own.

Almost half the states are considering bills or other mandates that would make drug testing for welfare recipients mandatory. Wyoming Republican House Speaker Ed Buchanan summarized the argument and reflected the sentiments of those who favor the measure, “I don’t mind helping you out, but you need to show that you’re looking for work, or better yet that you’re employed, and that you’re drug and alcohol free.” It seems reasonable but of course it singles out those who need help, a test which may not pass constitutional muster. More than that it is a punitive, judgmental approach to giving public assistance, and penalizes the poor. Colorado Republican Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg says “If you can afford to buy drugs, and use drugs, you don’t need” welfare. It’s a good sound bite, even sounds rational, and yet it does not take into account the culture of drug users, and certainly shows no understanding of poverty. What of those who legitimately need help and are not users? They too would be tested. Could that be said to be a waste of taxpayers’ dollars? It may be too that in an effort to safeguard taxpayers’ money those laws may in the end cost far more in emergency services of all kinds. The laws will probably pass in most of the states that are proposing them and that does not make them any less ugly and mean.