I would add food stamps into the list, with WIC-like restrictions on what could be purchased and agricultural commidities when available, with a smaller amount set aside for treats, junk food, empty calories etc.

I would also like to see us really get serious about construction rules. Why do we have everything made out of wood here? I still can't believe it. It is a constant fight under the best of conditions to keep it from molding and rotting. Under sorrier conditions it blows away in hurricanes and burns and kills people. In floods it can't really be cleaned properly. We have better building materials. I don't understand why we have a cement shortage. We certainly have rocks and sand here and they tend to occur where there are poorer areas. Every public house and I would say every house that wants insurance should in the future be made out of cement or something fire and hurricane and bug and floodproof. Unfortunately, then sometimes they aren't good for earthquakes, which wood is, but this gets back into poverty situations. People in general, and I include myself, do not have the skills that they used to and do not have the time to keep after repairs on houses. They also have some bad habits like drugs that can make their behavior such that they burn things down easier. I would never in a million years build group housing, apartments, shelters, whatever, out of something that burned down or could not be totally steam cleaned. if people had houses that didn't need too much upkeep, that would take a signficiant source of strain and stress away, and why oh why do they keep rebuilding stick houses in the paths of hurricanes. Don't bother answering. there is no ansewr that would satisfy me. It is dumb dumb dumb. mg