An elderly friend of our lives simply on a fixed income. Recently she faced some tough financial times. Friends and family came to her rescue with food, money and encouragement. However, the Federal Government decided that in the past they had given her some financial aid that they now decided was too much. They wrote her saying they had been authorized by Congress to take the money in month installments from her already limited Social Security. Instead of supporting our friend during this difficult time the government decided to “pile it on”.

Another friend has been struggling for years to get custody of her disabled son. This mother has struggled with the County and State system and now is another mother who has a ‘missing child’. The State will not let her visit or even know where he is. The mother’s son is severely disabled and thus unable to stand up to authorities for himself as they ‘pile on’ to the misery or a lost mother son relationship.

Despite all the talk about treating persons with serious mental illnesses they keep be sent to county jail, County house of Corrections. Other persons in health crisis go to emergency rooms of hospitals but people suffering an acute mental health crisis often go to jail. Now the Milwaukee County Executive is planning to ‘pile on’ to this crisis of health by privatizing the mental health compels and limited services the County provides to “persons danger to themselves or others.”

Many political leaders, people of all incomes and races repeat the American myth message that “you can anything you want to be if you are just determined and work for it.” This message of unlimited opportunity, pulling one by one’s own bootstraps is just ‘piling it on young adults’ and leading to hopelessness.

Recently a local politician was criticized for trying to get to know and love members of a gang. Yet, blaming, shaming, stereotyping, stigmatizing these young men just piles it on for gang members, making it harder for members to make changes in their life.

A person not able to paying parking tickets can eventually cause loss of driver’s license that may cost loss of employment, pile on debt and less able to pay fines.

A local charitable group decided to invest millions of dollars in a business to make money for serving the poor. The investment keeps piling on debt and financial lost which makes the charity less able to serve persons in need.

Piling on the poor seems to be national game the USA is playing.

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