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Those willing to look for themselves instead of being vapidly and emotionally hooked by transparent right wing sensationalism quickly realize that the illegal immigrant problem is just another aspect of corporate welfare. The companies that now own the government LOVE having millions of sub-minimum wage workers here in the USA to dilute the domestic labor pool and hold down wages for the rest of us.
Not only that, but taxpayers pick up the tab for the illegals' health care, food stamps, and housing. Meanwhile, corporate profits soar and the unemployment rate stays way too high.
And those incapable of the smallest bit of critical thinking still whimper like gut-shot swine about "Americans too lazy to take the jobs the illegals will do", never for one moment grasping the fact that Americans will not work for less than minimum wage and should not be expected to.
Did you think this article was about illegal immigration? Interesting.
Yes, I think bitter partisanship, pessimism and division is the problem. People spend their time looking for ways to be even more divisive as opposed to looing to fix the problems. All we hear is complains. It's a nation of whiners. Just look at the comments on this thread. All people can do is insult each other.
Last edited by Finn_Jarber; 02-15-2014 at 06:59 AM..
There are roughly 28 million Americans who can't find a job or have given up looking. Many more than that are suffering. And I just want to remind everyone, it's not your fault. Don't believe the "personal responsibility" bull**** that gets thrown around. This is not your fault.
Yes, I think bitter partisanship, pessimism and division is the problem. People spend their time looking for ways to be even more divisive as opposed to looing to fix the problems. All we hear is complains. It's a nation of whiners.
The problem with the United States is pretty simple. Its that Americans think the role of the government is to give them things. You might refer to it as welfare, but it is not only to poor people. Its corporate welfare, its middle-class welfare, its welfare to families, its welfare to the poor.
My friend called me the other day and said "No one really knows the cost of a car. At every single point in the manufacture of a car, there was some government regulation or subsidy that affected the cost of everything that goes into that car."
I used to jump on the bandwagon of the poor haters, especially those who don't work. But the reality is, if I were them, I would probably be doing the same things. The problem is that, the system creates perverse incentives which manipulate people into behaving poorly. And it isn't just poor people, the rich people are corrupted by government incentives, the middle-class is corrupted by government incentives. And while its easy to blame "the poor", especially those who aren't working, for all of the problems in this country. The truth is, the vast majority of them would probably work if it wasn't for the existence of a system which stacks the deck against them, then subsidizes them to fail.
The division that exists, is one group who wants to extract one set of benefits from the government, against other groups who want to extract a different set of benefits from the government. Basically, everyone wants something from government.
I was actually told recently that only an idiot would vote against government programs which would provide them economic benefits. Basically what he was saying is, vote for who is going to put more money(or leave more money?) in your pocket. Supposedly that is what politics is all about. And to me, that is what is wrong with America(and not just America).
The problem with the United States is pretty simple. Its that Americans think the role of the government is to give them things. You might refer to it as welfare, but it is not only to poor people. Its corporate welfare, its middle-class welfare, its welfare to families, its welfare to the poor.
My friend called me the other day and said "No one really knows the cost of a car. At every single point in the manufacture of a car, there was some government regulation or subsidy that affected the cost of everything that goes into that car."
I used to jump on the bandwagon of the poor haters, especially those who don't work. But the reality is, if I were them, I would probably be doing the same things. The problem is that, the system creates perverse incentives which manipulate people into behaving poorly. And it isn't just poor people, the rich people are corrupted by government incentives, the middle-class is corrupted by government incentives. And while its easy to blame "the poor", especially those who aren't working, for all of the problems in this country. The truth is, the vast majority of them would probably work if it wasn't for the existence of a system which stacks the deck against them, then subsidizes them to fail.
The division that exists, is one group who wants to extract one set of benefits from the government, against other groups who want to extract a different set of benefits from the government. Basically, everyone wants something from government.
I was actually told recently that only an idiot would vote against government programs which would provide them economic benefits. Basically what he was saying is, vote for who is going to put more money(or leave more money?) in your pocket. Supposedly that is what politics is all about. And to me, that is what is wrong with America(and not just America).
If people weren't so divided in partisan contempt, they would list the issues and review them objectively and work together to resolve them. Now we have politicians who reject their own suggestions if the other party proposes them. For example GOP has talked about cutting corporates taxes, and now the Dems have proposed corporate tax cuts multiple times and GOP rejects them, and purely out of partisan reasons. That us ultimate partisanship, and THAT is a bigger problem than any other, because that attitude will make is impossible to resolve ANY issue.
If people weren't so divided in partisan contempt, they would list the issues and review them objectively and work together to resolve them. Now we have politicians who reject their own suggestions if the other party proposes them. For example GOP has talked about cutting corporates taxes, and now the Dems have proposed corporate tax cuts multiple times and GOP rejects them, and purely out of partisan reasons. That us ultimate partisanship, and THAT is a bigger problem than any other, because that attitude will make is impossible to resolve ANY issue.
Look, the truth is that, everyone is motivated by their own self-interest. Politics is not as simple as Us vs. Them. Politics is really made up of coalitions who are formed for the benefit of their constituent members. There are many parts of the country who vote consistently for Democrats for state offices, but who vote for Republicans in national elections, and vice versa.
The reason why it appears that there is so much division, has to do with the nature of coalitions. And these coalitions basically work the same in the United States as they do in other countries.
Politics is a rather large spectrum. And everyone and their interests fall somewhere on that spectrum. If everyone only voted for their own interests, there would basically be no government. The way the government works, is by making mutually beneficial arrangements, or "I scratch your back, you scratch mine". Many people refer to this as "compromise". But the truth is, when you break it all down, its just people who want what they want, who want to come out of whatever deal benefiting more than the other guy.
We are arguing from two different points of reference.
You are saying that, politicians should compromise more, allowing things they don't like, in exchange for things they do like.
On the other hand, I'm arguing that government is best when the nature of government isn't simply people voting for their own interests. But rather are voting for the interests of all.
A good example of this might be something like a farm subsidy. The vast majority of Americans are not farmers, so that subsidy only benefits a tiny fraction of the population. But, there are subsidies for things like alternative energy, or child tax-credits, or some mortgage interest deductions. So the idea is that, if only you give me my deduction, then I'll give you your deduction. If you give me my social program, I'll give you your social program. And so on and so forth.
This system of government means that the nature of politics is simply to broker as many social or economic benefits for yourself(or your group). And it necessarily means people will be divided, because everyone wants to walk away with from the table with more than the other guy.
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