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Old 08-29-2011, 09:50 AM
 
Location: Forney Texas
2,110 posts, read 6,450,052 times
Reputation: 1185

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A Texan's Answer to Welfare.....

This was in the Waco Tribune Herald, Waco, TX Nov 18, 2010

Quote:
Put me in charge of food stamps. I'd get rid of Lone Star cards; no cash for Ding Dongs or Ho Ho's, just money for 50-pound bags of rice and beans, blocks of cheese and all the powdered milk you can haul away. If you want steak and frozen pizza, then get a job.

Moderator cut: remainder of copyrighted excerpt. Read the rest here.


Last edited by Bo; 08-29-2011 at 02:18 PM.. Reason: Per TOS, limit quotes of copyrighted material to short excerpts. Posting 2 sentences and a link is the right way to do this.
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Old 08-29-2011, 10:37 AM
 
Location: Houston, Texas
29 posts, read 96,403 times
Reputation: 33
A bit extreme but I completely agree with the rationale behind the article.

For a more spirited response, suggest you repost topic along with the link in //www.city-data.com/forum/polit...controversies/

Thanks for sharing !
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Old 08-29-2011, 11:31 AM
 
Location: Edmond, OK
4,030 posts, read 10,739,186 times
Reputation: 4247
I got this in the form of a chain email a few weeks ago. I like it.
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Old 08-29-2011, 11:37 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX
16,787 posts, read 48,952,327 times
Reputation: 9478
Just shows that stupidity is alive and well in Texas. All that would accomplish is more homeless people living in the greenbelts and panhandling on the streets.
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Old 08-29-2011, 11:43 AM
 
Location: Atlanta
6,793 posts, read 5,644,254 times
Reputation: 5661
Texas is Smarter than the Washington DC folks who have the HIGHEST homeless rates in the country!
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Old 08-29-2011, 12:22 PM
 
Location: Beautiful Niagara Falls ON.
10,016 posts, read 12,551,139 times
Reputation: 9030
The entire post is just an idiot idea. Because a person falls on hard times does in no way or manner make them any less a citizen than the most wealthy person in the land. By the way, this wealthy person very well might have never worked a day in his or her life.

I would be the first to agree that there are many problems in the way that social services of all kinds are administered and great weaknesses in the laws that underlay the entire social welfare structure. There are many ways to change and improve the system so that it can be what it should be. Here in Ontario Canada we changed the entire system a few years ago and even the name of it from welfare to workfare. The focus has changed to one of making sure that people do get jobs and do get off the system. We really have never had the problem of multi generational welfare cases in this country that seems to be par for the course in the USA. I think a big reason for that is that people really do benefit by working more than they do by not working and just sitting around doing nothing.

Let's just take a look at one example. My wife runs an inhome daycare and most of her clients are single working moms. There is no way these women could afford daycare for their kids and if they had to provide it themselves they would be sitting at home collecting welfare. Our government is smart enough to realize that it's much better for all involved for these women to be working. The government pays my wife to look after these kids and that allows the moms to go out and work. It does not end there though. The minimum wage is $10.75 per hour and at that rate the worker makes a livable income. If they so desire these people can apply to live in subsidized housing or housing co-ops where their rent is geared to income. They have no fears of medical cost for themselves or their kids because we all have universal medical coverage. When the kids get to school age they all go to very good schools because unlike in the USA schools are funded per pupil and it's the same number in rich or poor areas.

The outcome of this is that we are not creating a class of chronic, poverty stricken welfare recipients that know nothing else and find it difficult to escape from all they have ever known. These workers who are in fact subsidized by the state often do well in their jobs and advance to the point where they not only do not require supports any more but actually pay substantial taxes back into the system that supported them. THEIR KIDS ARE NOT STIGMATIZED,They are not, "From the Hood" and have a equal chance at success as their more wealthy peers.

We still have challenges in our system but we are working at all times to improve it and to create that "More just society" that millions of Canadians share as our national identity.

It's just so American to make statements like the OP. "Let's treat the poor and disadvantaged like criminals, let's take their constitutional rights away from them. Let's stick them in some ghetto project where it's hard to get out of. In my entire circle of people I know I would NEVER hear such poison. Thankfully that just does not reflect the feelings of the vast majority of Canadians.

Just take a good look at the USA where many people hate to help the poor and see where it's gotten you. Your country is full of hate and violence. Class divisions are horrible and getting worse. You have more people in jails than any other place in the world. Failing to fix the problem is just like cutting off your nose to spite your own face.

Last edited by lucknow; 08-29-2011 at 01:30 PM..
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Old 08-29-2011, 12:28 PM
 
3,345 posts, read 3,069,171 times
Reputation: 1725
Quote:
Originally Posted by CptnRn View Post
Just shows that stupidity is alive and well in Texas. All that would accomplish is more homeless people living in the greenbelts and panhandling on the streets.

So, is that better or worse than NY or California, where the unrestricted welfare state has bankrupted them?
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Old 08-29-2011, 12:48 PM
 
Location: Victoria TX
42,579 posts, read 86,764,762 times
Reputation: 36643
A great many welfare recipients are mildly or severely mentally ill, and the alternative would be to put them into institutions, which I don't think the taxpayers want to foot the bill for.

Think about it: If you were an employer, how many people would you hire that you cannot depend on to come to work on time, perform their tasks productively, cooperate with fellow workers, and be free from addictive behaviors? Should all such people be put into mental hospitals, along with their children? Do you want to take in their kids and raise them, while their parents are institutionalized? Do you want them to beg in the streets or obtain money illegally or violently? Or would you rather just pay the cost of letting them get on with their lives.

What would be gained by forcing incompetent people to a life of hard labor, with almost no productive use coming from it. Who would take care of their children while they're squandering their days in slave labor? You didn't think about what happens to their children, did you, if we put them into forced labor or take away their food and shelter?

Why is it so difficult to digest the idea of the work of the nation being performed by those who are are willing and able to reap the benefits of gainful and diligent and responsibly productive employment, and just see to it that the rest of them live their lives with dignity and basic comfort?
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Old 08-29-2011, 01:45 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX
16,787 posts, read 48,952,327 times
Reputation: 9478
Quote:
Originally Posted by mco65 View Post
Texas is Smarter than the Washington DC folks who have the HIGHEST homeless rates in the country!
Being homeless has little to do with illiteracy. Who says Texas is smarter then Washington D.C.? According to the U.S. Department of Education. Texas illiteracy rate is just as high as Washington D.C. at 19%. http://nces.ed.gov/naal/estimates/StateEstimates.aspx

And only three other states have illiteracy rates higher than Texas.

Makes a Texan proud doesn't it?
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Old 08-29-2011, 02:16 PM
 
Location: Victoria TX
42,579 posts, read 86,764,762 times
Reputation: 36643
Quote:
Originally Posted by CptnRn View Post
Being homeless has little to do with illiteracy. Who says Texas is smarter then Washington D.C.? According to the U.S. Department of Education. Texas illiteracy rate is just as high as Washington D.C. at 19%. State and County Literacy Estimates - State Estimates

And only three other states have illiteracy rates higher than Texas.

Makes a Texan proud doesn't it?
Direct your attention to Footnote 2: Those lacking Basic prose literacy skills include those who scored Below Basic in prose and those who could not be tested due to language barriers.

Everyone in Texas who cannot read in English is classified as not literate, no matter how well they can read and write Spanish. As a result, the illiteracy rate is around 50% in the Lower Rio Grande counties.

Glancing at a random selection of US counties, typically around 10%, I would estimate that among adults raised in an English-speaking household, the illiteracy rate is probably less than 2% everywhere, including Texas.

However, I know a logger up north who makes over $50K cutting timber (and speaks only English) but can't drive his own log truck because he can't read and write well enough to pass the CDL.

I'm pretty proud that Texas might have more bilingual people than any other state.

Last edited by jtur88; 08-29-2011 at 02:34 PM..
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