By definition. It's a safe route for many and prevents them from establishing a strong work ethic, knowing it is there. And most aren't there temporarily. The report out of WV last week showing one of out every six of its residents are on food stamps tells me the program is abused.
How many of those are working poor? You know, people working full time but still below the poverty line.
I have no idea, just saw it on the news going to bed the other night. It really is no different to me than people where I live near claiming 10 x the amount of money they need every summer after a hurricane. What really bothers me is there isn't any real reform happening. I just hate moochers
Edwards and Obama's "populism" - their class-warfare rhetoric - has a decidedly Socialist flavor. Nationalized health care is "socialistic". The bigger the plan, the more socialistic it is. Folks go off the deep end on this stuff. We're no more moving toward socialism than we are moving towards pure democracy. If anything, we're moving towards (maybe arrived at?) oligarchy - but that's a different thread. Bottom line: when pandering to those groups who are perceived as disadvantaged (the base of the Democratic party), the slant of the campaign rhetoric always tilts towards socialistic ideas. Not Socialism. The staunchest "Progressives" I know are Socialists - some of them unapologetically. Most just don't want to call themselves Socialists, just like many Liberals ironically consider the label to be slanderous...funny that.
Don't kid yourself into thinking that people who are below the poverty line but working full time are blameless. Some surely are. All are not. And based on my own experience (I was born into this situation), MOST are not blameless. People make choices in their lives. Habitually making bad choices, even though the results are consistently devastating, is a personal issue, not a governmental problem. Again, I'm speaking specifically from a good deal of personal experience, not in the abstract. By the way - the poverty line is a poor measure, anyway. What we're really talking about (I think) are people who're working full-time but unable to climb solidly into a relatively comfortable middle-class lifestyle. People below the poverty line are almost in daily survival mode on Maslow's heirarchy and likely haven't worked full-time in a long time, if ever.
For all the fear talk of U.S. "populism" or "socialism" Let's take a look at the progression of the american worker in the last 40 years. Retirement plans have gone from a defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans. Difference? More risk, and sometimes more reward for the worker, however, several baby boomers are finding out that what goes up can come down and that stock market drops combined with deflating home prices are causing them to rethink and push back their retirement plans. Escalating health insurance prices have more working americans without health insurance, and now are hearing that health insurance is not a right and that "socialized health care" is the devil, even though the U.S. is fourth in the quality of health care for industrialized countries. Real wages in regard to spending has steadily dropped, while CEO pay, as Red pointed out, has went from 10 times the average employee pay to well over 100. Is this socialism?
We get it, luv. You like the Nanny state. You don't like free markets and capitalism. No problem. I think you're confusing folks distaste for socialistic and populist rhetoric with folks thinking we're becoming Socialist or Populist. Two different things. Every time the economy takes a downturn (part of the business cycle), politicians dust off the populism. It'll never sell because the dirty secret of America is that, although some folks have overextended themselves, the middle class is huge, at work, and completely capable of adjusting to live within it's means. Populism has a very small audience once it's given it's proper label and perspective.
Not hardly, I grew up dirt poor on a sugar house plantation, worked my way through school, and worked my ass off to get where I'm at. Are there some people abusing the system? You bet. But I do know some hardworking folk who have come up kind of short because of a little bad bounce of the ball. I love capitalism, but to only recognize the abuses of welfare, while ignoring the fat cats abuses, like some do here, is kind of hypocritcal.
For example. I have no sympathy for people who took out loans they could not afford to buy homes. In my opinion, they're on their own. I don't want a dime of my money going to bail out people who made irresponsible personal decisions. But I damn sure don't want any of my money going to bail out any of the companies who made those loans, that's just as irresponsible. I can admit that their are abuses on both sides. Can you??
