Social Economic Reform

I had been trying to find my passion. I had been searching for what I wanted to do in Atlanta.



And then I went to Africa.



The third night in Africa, I started talking to a woman. She was from Australia, currently residing in London, and had just come back from living in the slums of Kenya for 2 weeks. I felt a little guilty complaining about our goat at that point.



She and I stopped to talk politics. Now, whether you are into politics or not, but particularly if you are, I strongly suggest you talk politics with someone not from the US. It gets interesting.


But we didn't talk about the election. We talked about economics. Specifically, the different welfare systems.

In Kenya, I was amazed by the fact that Kenyans will walk miles just for the chance at a job. They walk to a possible job site every morning, the "hiring manager" picks who they want for the day (according to our driver, approximately half), and if they don't get picked, they walk home. And start it again in the morning.

In the United Kingdom, health care is provided for all, and their welfare system accounts for 50% of government spending.

In the United States, housing, food, and healthcare are provided by those under the poverty line. In Charlotte, a woman living in government subsidized housing without a job pays $25/month in rent. Once that woman finds a job, rent in the same house goes up to $500/month.

I heard once that you should only write about things you know. I want to say that shifting government spending towards education versus welfare would be much more economically beneficial, but first I want to know that for sure based on numbers and facts. So, for the next several months, maybe years, I will be researching the welfare systems of foreign countries, as well as our own.

Am I a nerd to find this interesting?