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I've said it before, I'll say it again: "Think hard. Government might be the problem in the first place.". I don't like, nor have I not suffered due to some of the typical rants in this thread about high costs of housing, health insurance, jobs moved overseas. But follow the trail of bread crumbs people. Alot of this mess we are in is due to governemnt intervention, trying to fix wasn't perceived as perfect by only some: namely your "altruistic" lawyers and lobbyists. Now some actually expect government to fix what they have broken??? Good grief, way too may think politicians and bureaucrats shoulder a cape and can create utopia.
Us citizens are not quite "a mass of disenfranchised peasants" but are rapidly heading in that direction. Just extrapolate the current political and economic trends. More politics by media advertising and more low paid service workers instead of direct campaigning and manufacturing jobs.
I have never been rich and do not realistically expect to ever reach that exalted status unless I win the Megabucks.
Retirement income is based on the time component of having been “earned” instead of being created now. Any form of income that is not being earned at the time it is created is a form of welfare. In other words both interest and dividends are a form of welfare because they transfer wealth from the people creating the wealth to the people spending the wealth without doing anything. This concept goes straight to the heart of the capitalist system by pointing out the inequity that makes the system work. Capitalism is based on taking from the many that create the wealth and giving it to the few that own the wealth. The only saving grace of this organized theft is that the overall economy grows enough so eventually the workers start to be rich enough (after creating unions) to amass some capital for themselves. Then they start turning on fellow workers in the next generation in order to protect their source of unearned income.
BTW – All this notwithstanding I will take my retirement check thank you. There is a great distance between philosophical considerations and buying groceries
As much as I am opposed to welfare fraud, a much bigger problem is our defense budget, fighting unneccesary wars based on false/manufactured intelligence is the biggest waste of money, ever. This is something that the next generation will probably still be paying for. Thanks a lot, NOT.
Now we are talking about the real US welfare system. Where else could somebody misplace a trillion dollars or pay a company $150 per hour for a truck driver getting paid $30.
A good poll ruined by the last option. Another attempt at blaming the condition of our country on the stupid liberals. We just can't seem to have a civil discourse without establishing that others among us are to blame, or are our enemy.
THAT's why America is going downhill. Infighting. Division. No collective identity.
Blaming one group among us doesn't address the issue nor does it solve the problem.
I believe America is getting worse by design. It is being deliberately dismantled (soon to be one third of an international Union). The powers that be--from all sides of the political spectrum, though there is really only one side--have decided we must go. The dollar is being held up by a magician's wand and is printed by the billions on bankers' whims, only to be spent on imported goods. The American experiment of "the illusion of freedom" through a tyranny without walls is coming to an end, an end filled with chaos and barbed wire.
Yes, my view is bleak as I see it as inevitable. All attempts at stopping our destruction will fail because we are too busy fighting each other, blaming each other, and laughing at Paris and Britney. We've been distracted for far too long. If I have any hope at all, it is that our sense of nationalism will prevail and a collective identity will emerge, one strong enough to ensure our borders remain intact, and freedom from real tyranny is established for all.
Far worse. Too much government, too many taxes, too many whiners who expect hand-outs, too many liberal parents who want to be friends first parents second, too many politicians who want votes via handouts, too many illegals.
That is very true. Parents of the 'Baby Boomer generation' teach kids to be out of control and wnat to be friends with their kids. What kids need are parents. They already have friends telling them to use drugs, drink, and be crazy.
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Originally Posted by spunky1
It's sadly get worse. A larger and larger percentage of the population wants the government to take care of them, and they actually think it is their right. . . The attitude that made the U.S a great country is quickly being replaced. . .
I agree. If you go to France, you can be lazy for 2 years at any job and NOT be fired, because it is illegal to fire people under 2 years of working somewhere. Go to Norway, a wonderful country.... but the socialist government has developed a welfare system where NOBODY wnats to work anymore. Once the Baby Boomers in Norway die, they have scores of lazy young adults with no education, no work experience, who have been living on welfare since they turned 18!!
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Originally Posted by GregW
I wonder just how many of you conservatives have ever had an economic failure (gone broke) caused by your employer moving his work to China, you local banker stealing all the funds, a stock market “revaluation” or somebody you have to take care of racking up a couple of hundred grand in medical bills?
Until you have and have actually tried to get the "free handouts" you do not know what you are talking about. Among other things welfare recipients cannot have any other source of income or any savings and still get help. If you leave everybody to fend for themselves because it is good for them, are you willing to let the people who cannot just starve like bear cubs after a fire has destroyed all the rodents they need to eat?
If you are willing to let people loose all they have worked for due to misfortune or inability then you will be welcome in the Cheap and Mean Club.
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Originally Posted by citigirl
GregW, I think welfare is a much needed program for those that have dire needs caused by illness or no jobs BUT having lived in California I cannot tell you how many times I would go to the grocery and see people dripping in gold jewelry buying junk foods with food stamps only to drive off in a very expensive new car, talking on their cell phones.
...or being on welfare and continuing to have baby after baby.
I agree with CitiGirl.... welfare should continue to exist. People that lose their jobs because the company went to China should get involunatary unemployment benefits and some job training help. What we, conservatives, do NOT want is lazy people smoking weed all day while their kids starve and these lazy people don't work.
In FL, you go to a ghetto, everyone is by their mailboxes in the end of the month when welfare checks are due and they drive off in a Lexus or go to the 'pimp shops' and get 20" Chrome Wheels that costs $1,000 each or get gold grills that cost thosands of Dollars while their kids starve and suffer at home and get school lunches.
Hey why do liberals OPPOSE drug testing for welfare receipients?? Because they know 99% of these people are druggies living off the system.
Quote:
Originally Posted by spunky1
This is typical of "us vs them" you conservatives, you meanies!
And to answer your question. . . yes, I have actually lost a job due to my company moving jobs overseas (a very well-paying job) And do you know what? And I hate to use the cliche but I picked myself up by the proverbial bootstraps, went back to school and started a new career. And BTW I did not have insurance for several years during that period and I payed out of pocket for any and all medical care.
And incidentally there is nothing mean about believing the goverment job isn't providing a welfare state.
And I am still paying off the loans I had to take out for the schooling. I didn't qualify for a penny of aide. But it was worth every penny. And I had to sell my home and buy a smaller one in a less convenient location all to make it work.
Way to go, man!! I love hearing of people turing it around, despite the challenges!! People need to work hard and liberals hate to do that. You are a winner because you worked hard!!
Ps. I did not have insurance in my last 2 full time jobs, but I worked hard and bought my own (simple coverage). I also felt that unless I finished my degree (paied it 100% out of pocket while working FT), I would remain at the mercy of low paying jobs.
Hard work is key. That is a conservative point of view.
Interesting. . while the poll only had a few who participated, the overwhelming opinion is that our country is worse off then we use to be. Let's see which direction we are headed and maybe we can come up with some possible reasons. . . and solutions
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I love hearing of people turing it around, despite the challenges!! People need to work hard and liberals hate to do that. You are a winner because you worked hard!!
