Some Thoughts on the Poor

[Rick Rowlands]

The tax structure has not changed in the past ten years.  The impending tax increases are causing a chilling effect on the economy, as is the uncertainty about future new regulations.

[irishbobcat]

We have had a lower tax structure for the last five years.....

Have you seen an economic recovery??

Where?  When?  For Who??

The Rich, most likely......

[Rick Rowlands]

If anyone is angry it is you.  I am a happy and optimistic person because I am in control of my destiny, unlike the "poor" people that you want to "help" by giving them just enough to survive but not thrive.

As Mary stated, we as a society have an obligation to support people who have some sort of handicap, metal or physical, that would keep them from succeeding in life.  I would also support some programs that would give limited assistance to able bodied people who need an extra hand up out of poverty.  To qualify for such support the applicant would have to demonstrate a sincere attempt to better oneself, and support would be cut off if such attempts were not made.  These would have to be state run programs, since it is unconstitutional for the federal government to be involved.

If all but a very few programs were eliminated, the resultant lower tax rates would create an immediate real stimulative effect on the economy, resulting in lower unemployment and also resulting in higher contributions to private charities who could then put their efforts toward helping the poor rise out of poverty.  If this were coupled with a drastic reduction in suffocating regulations, the economic boom created would make the Roaring Twenties look like a wimper!

[irishbobcat]

Ah, now we know Rick's problem....anger over his father......Rick...maybe you need to get professional help to
ge over your anger.......

Besides that, Rick...WHAT PROGRAMS would you SUPPORT for the Poor?  Which ones? How Many?  Many or Few or NONE AT ALL?

[Rick Rowlands]

Thank you Mary.  At least someone understands what I am trying to say.

Your situation sounds similar to my mother's when I was young.  She divorced my deadbeat dad when I was 2, and moved back in with my grandparents for a while until she could afford an apartment.  We jumped from apartment to apartment in Hubbard until she was able to borrow some money from my great uncle to buy a used mobile home in a trailer park.  We thought that we had made the big time when finally there wasn't people living just on the other side of the walls! I remember food stamps and surplus cheese giveaways for a while.  She struggled to raise me and do so with the money that she made as a cook at a local restaurant.  She is now remarried and has a nice place in Austintown, and of course I have become a dirty, rotten mean spirited SOB because I think that other people can actually do what my mother and I did.  Shame on me for having faith in people and their abilities.

[Mary]

I felt the need to add my 2cents worth on this one. I had my daughter very young. I have never gotten child support, food stamps, TANF, or any other financial assistance. It was my actions that caused my situation and I did what needed to be done. My family did not have money. We were not POOR but we certainly were not middle class. I got a job at 16, a GED at 17, A BSBA at 26 and a MBA at 28. I have loans that are insane but I got my education and I have always worked. The only thing I ever got from the government was insurance for my daughter because at first the jobs I could get did not provide the opportunity to purchase insurance. I went with out myself but I did have it for my daughter. So can you pull your self up?   YES YOU CAN....but you can't make someone do. They have to want to do it. But if we continue to hand everything (insurance, cash, housing etc) to people who do nothing it will never change. Why work when they can sit home and have more then a working person has.
And as for the ones that can't. And I mean CAN'T, not won't. One group comes to mind. The Mentally retarded and developmentally disabled. This group can not change their circumstances but yet the government continues to take and take from them. This group did nothing wrong yet Medicare and Medicaid and private insurances are paying for less and less medicines, Dr's visits etc. It's crap. Instead of letting the person who uses children for a paycheck get everything under the sun for free we should make sure our elderly and disabled population are getting what they need.

Beyond certain groups as noted above there are very few who CAN'T change their situation.

[irishbobcat]

Wrong Rick, not everyone HAS the opportunity.... some poor are too old, sick, or not capable because
of conditions beyond their means to pull them out of poverty...and thus, you conservatives say cut their social programs
and let them rot in hell....

again Rick, what will conservatives do and say to those not able to pull themselves up? go to charity? when charity levels are
some 30% below former supply levels......

My God, Rick....I think you treat your old steel toys better than you treat the poor.....

[Rick Rowlands]

The opportunity is there, the desire is not. 

By saying that everyone has the opportunity to pull themseves out of poverty and be successful in life, you equate that to "let them rot in hell".   Wow where did you learn how to reason like that?

[Youngstownshrimp]

They have very little opportunity to rise, they are like caged animals totally provided for, so many turn into savages.   They see that education results in them having to work, eliminating their support system.  It is easier for them to sit idle and let the "Man" continue to support their generation and the next.  Now they also have evolved into tight voting blocks to leverage this continuance.

[irishbobcat]

Do they really have the opportunity to rise? Your conservative thought basically says let them rot in hell.....You are only out for yourself, Rick....

[Rick Rowlands]

What is this BS about being "less fortunate"?  By the very fact that they live in the United States they are more fortunate than THREE BILLION PEOPLE around the world! They also have the opportunity to rise above their position in life, something that those three billion people do not have. 

Do you even read anything that I write?

[Youngstownshrimp]

The poor in America are middle class in the rest of the world.  Growing up in the Philippines the poor have no section 8 housing, no HEAP for elect. and heat, no food card for food, no medicaid for medical and no idleness.  The so called poor here are a burden to society, however they can be organized to sell their vote, Obama showed us how and ACORN paved the way.

[irishbobcat]

Oh, so you support a society that discriminates against those less fortunate.....typical conservative thought.....

[Dan Moadus]

How good a society is varies from person to person. I'm sure you define a good society as a "fair" society. A society that helps people by taking from some and giving it to others. I define a good society as a "free" society. A society that leaves it up to people how and if they want to help others.

[irishbobcat]

Is not a just society based on how well they take care of their poor?

Conservatives believe in more money more money for ME!