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I try to be compassionate, but this thread and the latest Section 8 thread has me doing some real re-evaluating. I still consider myself to be progressive, while not being an anything-goes "liberal." This whole welfare issue has me reflecting on the mentality of some of my students who seem to expect something for nothing. It's as if they have been led to believe that they do not need to put forth any energy to get a job, apartment, money, grades, etc. Not all of them, mind you. My policy as a nonprofit/community educator here in Madison and as an inner city college instructor in NYC is to teach the students who want to learn. Progress will not be made if we ignore the real needs of people who are unable to work. By the same token, progress will not be made if we dole out what amounts to massive amounts of tax dollars to people who could do for themselves.
ive always been conservative, my family went through communism in albania and liberalism breeds lazyness !
Funny who the people who went lived in communist nations are more conservative then liberal. I remember hearing a story years ago about this anti america group going to russia with these homeless people to talk about how badly america has treated them. When one of the russians asked what these homeless people did for a living and the response was nothing the russians got annoyed and left. When you work for something it has more meaning then if it was given to you. Welfare and section 8 can be a good thing, too bad it has gone too far and became a bad thing for the people and the community. Lets hope that that change will come in 2010 and 2012 we need to vote out these people who want to keep the population on these programs.
It used to be that business WAS American. Now almost every problem facing the nation is caused by Congress and the president kow-towing to the unions and special interest groups who sell votes.
ive always been conservative, my family went through communism in albania and liberalism breeds lazyness !
China is considered the uber capitalist these days. Almost a free for all with little government oversight in which companies can do whatever they want, including adulterating baby formula. Last I heard many houses in Florida are being torn apart due to alien substances in Chinese sheetrock. No word whether it is out gassing dangerous fumes, yet, but tearing homes apart could lead you to that conclusion.
Have you read of the rash of suicides of Chinese workers at the Honda plant? The plant is owned by what is said to be the richest electronics company in the world, Foxcon, which is in turn owned by one of the wealthiest men in the world. The plant is so precise that every second of employee time is accounted for. The suicides are young, mostly early 20's.
My point is, there is need for government regulation to ensure that industry is serving people rather than the other way around.
Many new innovations have come about claiming to be time savers and to free people to lead more fulfilling lives, and more times than not those innovations put half of us out of work and the other half have to keep pace with machines.
I agree that government should not just hand out money, but it should be training people. It should not import foreign workers to drive wages down. It should make sure people are re trained if there are layoffs.
Housing should be just bare essentials until the recipient proves he/she can care for property properly, does not cause problems for the neighbors, and nobody living there gets in trouble with the law.
Everyone getting government assistance should be doing something: weeding gardens, sweeping storefronts, cleaning parks, painting fences - something. Once there are drugs or violations of the law, help should be denied for a certain time period.
People should be assisted to help themselves, but well intentioned people who are capable should be given a hand up.
Funny who the people who went lived in communist nations are more conservative then liberal. I remember hearing a story years ago about this anti america group going to russia with these homeless people to talk about how badly america has treated them. When one of the russians asked what these homeless people did for a living and the response was nothing the russians got annoyed and left. When you work for something it has more meaning then if it was given to you. Welfare and section 8 can be a good thing, too bad it has gone too far and became a bad thing for the people and the community. Lets hope that that change will come in 2010 and 2012 we need to vote out these people who want to keep the population on these programs.
That's an interesting story.
I think the problem with laxity in helping the poor to help themselves AND the fear of the media to reflect the opinion of the public viz a viz the illegals AND the reticence to criticize Obama (I voted for him) is that so many people fear being called racist.
I am so thankful that Cornel West is expressing concern over Obama's policies to cater to mega corporations and ignore his promises while running for office. It was encouraging to hear Sharpton say illegals have ruined industries that were black owned - industries that traditionally were a step up for poor people who were trying to help themselves.
We need to apply logic and common sense to these issues.
People voted for Obama because of what we perceived as the content of his character. He is dropping in the poles because he forgot about the people who put him there.
He bailed out the finance industry after they almost destroyed the country. His health care plan is help care for the insurance industry, giving them so many new subscribers. Before this BP fiasco he was eager to start drill baby drilling off the east coast, obviously without adequate research on his part. We seem to be locked into a forever war with an unspecified enemy.
Not one of these things is actually correcting the problem of lack of jobs, good jobs, the heart of our suffering; or the poor education of our children. In fact, due to the overburden on our schools of anchor and illegal kids and so little tax revenue, we are laying off teachers. We have closed hospitals because of the illegal situation. There is very little press on these things and they are eroding our way of life.
We very much need government involvement in all of this, but not the top heavy and inefficient bureaucracy that we now have.
I'm another who sees the need for limited and short-term types of welfare programs...there are many in this country and its history who have received sustaining help, in order to go on and lead very successful and industrious lives later on.
I understand that sometimes people encounter hard times due to circumstances beyond their control, and that not everyone has the same connections or wealthy or middle-class family background to sustain them during difficult times.
However, those who continually "milk" the system irritate me to no end.
BTW, and I'm completely in the dark on this (as I don't know anyone on public assistance that I'm aware of), what are typical benefits? How much do people actually receive? Do the benefit amounts allow some sort of easy, or extravagant lifestyle as some claim?
Whatever the case, benefits received should provide for a livable, but not necessarily comfortable living situation in order to provide incentives to get off of such assistance.
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