[FLCowboy,]

My solution is long term: end welfare.

I think this thuggery is largely a result of no-dad families. And I think no-dad families are a result of the welfare state.

Short term, strict law enforcement.

Well said. People who have no self respect, no societal values, and no future. I can't imagine growing up in that environment. Ending welfare, or greatly reducing it will have a dampening effect on the problem, at least in the second generation.

[yldstrk]

the destruction of morals is the hippies’ free love fault, not the fault of welfare.

Combine that with

the po po criminalizing teenage behavior so that a kid with a pot infraction can’t get a job

The discretionary spending of the administration so that the economy has tanked and there are no jobs for ANY teens, and those that might be available are competed for by poor slobs who got shown the corporate door

So, there you have it. Hopeless and the only change is things are getting worse