"Autism Speaks" Response to Autistic Input

Post Reply New Topic

The cause of our current problems, which we export to the world, are unfunded wars and tax cuts.

While both have been good for the economy at times, as has been government spending to develop the economic base, roads, bridges, ports. Putting money in the hands of consumers, that being spent increases the economic flow, does raise the tax base, allowing governments to pay down the debt.

Our problem is Congress, who gave away the government income in tax cuts before paying down the debt.

The result is there is too much money, and no good places to invest. US Bonds are paying 2%, inflation is higher, so funding debt loses.

The result shows in the value of money. The security of wealth is undermined when $1,000,000 invested in bonds returns $20,000 which is taxed. A million pays like a minimum wage job.

Most investors own a home, and the downturn has made $10 Trillion in value vanish. Foreclosures do affect banks who loan twenty times capital, 5% non paying loans, they are bankrupt.

The stock market has some solid long term producers, and a lot of speculation about the future, which currently looks grim.

Government debt stands out as the number transferred to the wealthy, in tax cuts. The results were losses of at least twice that, perhaps five times that, in home values, banks, and small business. The secondary loss is in the earning power of money, CDs that pay less than 1%, Bonds 2%.

Cutting programs will never be popular, all have their supporters, Social Security has a lot of old people who vote.

The Ship of State has hit a rock, is taking on water, debt, is listing dangerously to the right, and the right says that the thing to do is throw the left overboard. To reach a stability, the thing to do is flood the left, right the ship, now deeper in the water, but level, and have the passengers in First Class bail. It is in their interest not to sink, and paying more in taxes, will bail out the ship, rendering it functional. Debt free.

While everyone will have less money, money will become worth more.

As all classes, governments, private people, depend on money, It is the only thing they have in common, A strong and sound dollar. We can adjust to being lower in the water, repair the hole, excess spending, then bail through taxes to raise the ship.

Government debt is the only thing damaging the dollar, and that was only a quarter or less of all losses. We still have the resources to plug the hole, higher taxes, which will make for a strong dollar, more buying power, which will in turn raise interest payments, CDs, Bonds, making money worth having, which is the driving force behind the economy.

The other choice is we sink in deep water with all hands lost.

Thank you. Seems to be a problem becoming more prevalent in the developed world. One core issue, I think, is that population rates are decreasing in developed countries, with greater access to birth control and egalitarianism allowing a women greater opportunity to assert reproductive control.

Brings to mind a men's rights organization I heard of in Australia regarding mandatory paternity tests. Any real substance to that there?

The demographics are an aging population with fewer working tax payers to assist the tax base. If it were not for Hispanic immigrants in the US, our population would be declining like this as well.

Fortunately here, our federal taxes are so low, that they could be significantly increased without any real harm to taxpayers on a progressive basis.

The minority populations are expected to gain the majority here soon. Perhaps that may make the difference in politics before it is too late. Much may hinge on the next election. Not likely a balanced approach of tax increases and spending cuts in defense will occur if a Republican canidate wins the election.

People aren't taking kindly though to the economic situation here; history dictates political change in this kind of economic environment.

Those that normally wouldn't apply for disability when jobs are available are applying at record rates. Debilitating depression is often related to unrelenting stress, so I would imagine some of the increase is unavoidable. Depression is the measured world wide #1 leader for disability. We don't get numbers good statistics for developing countries.

Culture here presents high expectations and reality doesn't match those expectations. The result at times is cognitive dissonance; most brains don't like this. I suspect western culture has as much to do with disability as the physical elements that are often present.

You found the middle way, it seems. It found me for most of my life, in a job for almost 20 years, where I provided services to others.

I enjoyed your point of view in the other threads in this forum, you understand the mechanics of positive communication well; that in itself is needed advocacy for autistic people that visit here for support.

Hello Aghogday,

Thank you for your kind words at the end of your post.

You and Inventor, make clear observations.

As you may know the Australian dollar has again fallen below the American dollar.

We are primarily in the export business here, with a large country and a small population.

Most of us here live on the coasts, and we often face water shortage.

Our Social Security system is quite compassionate, although as I mentioned Human Services needs a boost.

Australian stock markets sway to American treads.

More awareness is being generated for Early Intervention for children on the spectrum. The Federal Goverment has released an ASD support package for families with children from ages 6 to 16. This is a wonderful thing, although my family is now to old.

In general there needs to be new pathways for diagnosis. Most people only find diagnosis through private specialists. This means lower economic families do not find their way forward which is afforded by diagnosis and access to services, where available.

I have my own business, and so the long road of my sons diagnosis over a period of 6 years was costly going from ADHD, to PDD NOS, to Severe Asperger's.

My heart goes out to those families who can not afford such private services. I think more is being done now through the schooling systems in each state.

I am very interested in how the DSM-V, will deliver new diagnosis profiles for AS, within the spectrum. This may change a lot of existing services, in which direction I do not wish to think.

All the very best!

Thanks for that cutting insight; and for the ALP Party Political advert!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2010/0 ... source=rss

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-a ... 1a6yy.html

Please do not represent yourself as the "Voice of Australia" or make sweeping statements without evidence to back up your assertions.

Hello Aghogday,

I forgot to mention, that the co-morbid impact of ASD is not well known in Australia outside of some professionals.
Prof. Tony Attwood and his colleagues continue to work to address these issues. In general, depression and social anxiety are underestimated in population studies and in particular those who have an ASD.

I was speaking to a researcher last week and they mentioned that new information coming out of the US suggests approx. 1 in 100 people suffer from an ASD. In Australia the numbers are still in the order of 1 in approx. 160 people. I do not know how accurate this is.

All the best!

You quote half of what he said; within the same sentence he clearly alludes to his previous statement that disability and human services are underfunded in Australia. I looked at your links they don't speak specifically to the issue of the Social Security program you have there as a whole; those details are easily found with a Wiki search. The links you provided back up his statement about underfunding of human services there.

If you didn't read his previous post, it sounds to me like he is in agreement with your evidentiary links. I dont live there, so I can't judge what it's like, but his brief opinions on it seem reasonable enough to me, from the evidence I have seen on your general social security program from Wiki, and deficiencies seen in human services that you presented evidence for.

Our social security system is more limited in the US, from what is presented in Wiki on Australia's system; in general it seems compassionate to me, but I judge it from what I see here.

If you live in Australia, you guys might be closer neighbors than you know. You might have a cup of coffee with each other one day and find him tolerable in person. It's not that big of a country, is it?

This really seems to be one of the best intentioned people I have come across here, so far, although you or I may not share all his opinions; I'm not asking you to trust my judgement, but it doesn't seem like the guy is doing anything here to get shot down for. Look at his other posts, it seems obvious to me he is doing his best to be nice to people and support them. Isn't that a good thing?

My understanding is the greatest correlation is with Alexithymia, at about 85%. My understanding is there may be both a biological component here specifically related to cases of aspergers, as well as psychological issues too.

While I know that Anxiety and Depression are co-morbid conditions, in some limited research, levels of Depression are seen higher in Aspergers than Classic Autism, but the research identifies difficulties in properly assessing this for those with Classic Autism that have communication issues.

No clear biological links though, with depression and Aspergers, although recent research indicates that Paternal stress may influence offspring up to two generations removed in creating brain differences related to fear advoidance and reduction in sexual dimorphism, so there may be a potential correlation with propensity to anxiety in some cases of Autism, if this research continues to be supported.

Anxiety and Depression levels are high in the general population, it seems like they would be much higher in Aspergers, but we don't have a great deal of research that has pursued this area, to reflect actual statistics.

ADHD is a comorbid condition seen in Aspergers, but there is no biological link associated to autism that I know of that may cause it. As a separate disorder, though, genetic links have been identified as a potential cause for ADHD.

From what I understand in order of prevalence of comorbid conditions in Aspergers: Alexithymia, followed by anxiety, ADHD, and Depression. Therapy is available for all four co-morbid conditions, and medicine for the last three.