See? It IS the economy, Stupid!!

I wonder how they figure how a child is poor.
If they are born with nothing, then, that would mean they are born at the poverty level. Or since children aren't allowed to work, or own any thing of substance, maybe that is how they include children as being in the real sence of it... Broke...
This is one of the first articles (Opinions to some) that sheds some light on the bigger picture, instead of just glossing over the details as most of the media is like to do and putting their own spin on the whole subject, leaving out any thing that would show their case, or cause as being mute.... ;)
 
How can you not earn more than $9500 a year? Ok so lets do the simple math here... even at min wage working 2000 ($5.15) (+ two weeks vacation) hrs a year... that equates to a little more than poverty level am I wrong? Why can't these people get a fuggn job? I just can't see how you can blame individuals laziness on the president. How does that work? Should we give them more money???

Does Kerry think he's going to pull these worthless people out of poverty? How, by rasing the min. wage? Lets say he does, inflation will cover the increase and you still have the same worthless fuggn people NOT working. And the poverty level will just rise by the amount of the min wage increase.

What it boils down to is the bigger hand out you give the more they want. Fugg em all and let em fend for themsleves...
 
Bambi,

Answer this:

Lets say you have a single working Mom making minimum wage and has to pay for day care.

Do you think that worthless fuggn person is:

1. lazy
2. Not working
3. living above poverty

While I agree that the system is taken advantage of, there are cases where I dont mind people getting some assistance. I also realize that people who arent financially stable shouldnt have kids.

Maybe all the people that CAN afford kids but still haul in the tax credit for kids shouldnt get anything.

Maybe married couples who choose NOT to have kids should get a tax credit.

The whole system is a joke, and if you want everyone to fend for themselves...maybe EVERYONE should...

To be honest with you I'd rather give assistance to single moms that need help rather than wealthy married couples who dont...but thats just me.
 
I would agree with that Buzz....
 
Ummm, single mom is probably allowed certain gov't benefits due to her income. Use those small benefits (food stamps, medicaid, and yes, there is gov't money given for daycare) and take out student loans, get grants and go to college. Why is it that people do not want to get a higher degree? I had to take out loans to pay for me to go to school the whole way. Why? Because I knew I could do better in the long run. I may be paying out my a$$ for those loans, but eventually they will be paid off. My kids, if everything works out, will not have to do the same. But then they will be some of those "rich" people who should pay more taxes because someone in their family got off their butt and improved their economic situation.
 
Who knows what all the answers are. One thing I know for CERTAIN is that Kerry isn't going to make the living better for people that are poor. The only people going to make their lives better are themselves! IMO if they are waiting for a hand out they should starve!

I agree there are times when people need help, but it should only be to get on thier feet and thats it. Most anyone, especially "poverty level" can go to college and get a degree. The rest that aren't smart enough, well thats just survial of the fittest in prime form... ;)

In a perfect world everyone would be rich and all the shit jobs would be perfomed by robots that don't talk back and work for nothing... or as I like to call them Mexicans. Just kidding...
 
BS,
"I agree there are times when people need help, but it should only be to get on thier feet and thats it. Most anyone, especially "poverty level" can go to college and get a degree. The rest that aren't smart enough, well thats just survial of the fittest in prime form... "

You've had YOUR vasectomy, right??
As a single parent I had to use the "system" for the first 6 months after gaining custody. I can tell you first hand if it was that easy I'd have gone back to get a degree. It's not always a choice of the individual. Without a support system, either governmental or personal, it's incredibly easy for some to fall. Especially today with the lack of security on ANY job. Most young couples or single parents have little more than 3 months expenses as a backup. Add to that trying to explain to potential employers that you are the parent available and you get a situation that results in a LONG job search. If in fact you're fortunate enough to land a job, all benefits cease immediately(except healthcare). So now you have to replace the nestegg you used to survive, hope the job last longer than young lust, go through daycare hell(ask me!!), and pray your kids stay healthy for a year(kids NEVER get sick, right??)!!
Add meal prep, laundry, housekeeping, school plays, homework, special events, and etc etc.... Yeah, why the HELL aren't they going to college?? Walk a mile, then speak up!!

Chas
 
Any extra schooling I have been able to get after high school has been hard earned and usually gained while I was in the middle of a full work load, but hey, except for most kids who hasn't, and it sure helps to understand certain things a lot better. Other things have to be learned the hard way with your nose in the dirt...
 
Bambi,

Are you serious???? Just look at some of the people around, there are tons of people that aren't smart enough to get a college degree.

And most schools in this country rely on taxpayer dollars to keep the doors open, and with Dubya more worried about building schools in Iraq than Idaho, in Afghanastan than Alabama, we make it even more difficult to get people jobs.

But even if all these people got motivated, and in 4 years, they all had degrees, where the hell would you have them work??? Dubya HAS created jobs in the last 3 years, just not in this country.

In Idaho, we have lots of new companies moving in to provide Call Centers (press 1 to pay your Cable bill, press 2 to re-boot your computer, press 3 to speak to a live operator). I think these guys start out at $8-9 an hour. Try living on that with a family of 4.

Check with Dubya on what he has done on rural healthcare?? There are huge chunks of Idaho (and likely Montana and Wyoming) without access to Doctors. And then if you have a doctor, you better hope you are not in the millions who don't have healthcare insurance. What has Dubya done for these people, who are one broken leg away from becoming below Poverty.

All your great ideas, training, schools, etc all take tax $$$$. And right now, we are spending our money on improving the standard of living for a bunch of people that want to shoot us....
 
Wyomingtim,

In case you arent aware...

There are lots of people in the world that financially cant go to college. Theres also plenty that simply dont have the "smarts".

As to those school loans, have you thanked the tax payers and the GOVERNMENT for your opportunity? Arent school loans backed by the government? Arent Colleges funded with tax dollars? Arent the loans low-interest because of the evil government assistance programs? Speaking of welfare...you're welcome, you carved a nice fat slice for yourself. You sure want to spank someone else for government assistance, but the view from here is that you sure pulled up a nice cozy spot at the government trough.

Before you bust my balls, I didnt take a freaking dime from anyone or take out a single loan for College, my folks didnt pay a dime for my degree either. I did it the old fashioned way, by PAYING MY WAY and working.

What I am thankful for is hard working people like my parents and grandparents who thanklessly have funded Universities and Colleges so that I had an opportunity to go.

I'm starting to suspect that their generousity is being pissed on by ungrateful graduates...
 
Buzz,

Yep, the loans are backed by the government. That doesn't mean you don't pay them back. I am currently paing mine back. As well as my wife's. Every single member of my family (parents, siblings) is currently working and paying into this federal system. I am all for gov't assistance for education. Heck, I support the food stamps and medicaid programs. Problem is, it is set up so that people live off of it for their whole lives. IT should be temporary...phased out over a short number of years.

Low interest yes, not free. Oh, and as for the comment "Speaking of welfare...you're welcome, you carved a nice fat slice for yourself", you can kiss my big white ass. Welfare is not the student loan system. Welfare is giving people money to sit back and spit out more kids. Then those kids get preggo at 14 to have more kids. The gov't just keeps paying them to sit around and have kids. They list the same address for everyone so that the check is bigger. I will always support federally backed student loans for people who want to get a degree.

Yes, there are people that cannot get a degree. THere are some people that are better at doing than at learning. There are jobs for them too, they just won't take them. I can look through the classified ads today and find at least 100 jobs (26000 population). That is 100 less people claiming unemployment, collecting welfare, food stamps, or medicaid. Hell, do something. Put some money back into the system. But the programs are set up to teach dependence, not independence. Until people take pride in themselves and what they can do then you never break teh cycle.
 
Wyomingtim,

Kiss my working ass that I never took advantage of government backed low-interest school loans subsidized by hard working taxpayers...the same taxpayers that pay off loans that students default on daily.

What exactly do you call a program that is subsidized by working taxpayers...just wondering???

I wish everyone would just fend for themselves. Sound familiar?
 
Originally posted by wyomingtim:
Welfare is giving people money to sit back and spit out more kids. Then those kids get preggo at 14 to have more kids. The gov't just keeps paying them to sit around and have kids. They list the same address for everyone so that the check is bigger.
WyoTim,
Would you support government paid (subsidised, funded) abortions, so that these kids don't have babies at 14???
 
Elkgunner,

Thats the EXACT hypocrisy of the average God fearing republican that is so hard to listen to.

They dont want to pay taxes, hate that anyone is on welfare, but at the same time they dont want a single abortion.

What a bunch of moral misfits...
 
I don't know Buzz.... I am waiting for WyoTim to confirm his status of "moral misfit", before I pigeon hole him. It seems like on one thread, he had some sense of morality, so maybe he'll come through on this one too...

Hang on....
 
Nut,True that there are quite a few living in poverty that didn't choose to live that way. That word "choose' is the word I've been looking for all through this thread. I feel that the vast majority living in or near poverty are there because of choices that they or their parents made somewhere down the line. Had they made the right choices, their life could be better today. Most of us who consider ourselves successful to some degree can look back and see where we could have made better decisions that would have made us more successful. Often, for those in poverty, those decisions have devastating effects.
I have a very intelligent child who saw little need for applying herself in school, still got a fairly good job, quit in a huff, and is now working a "nothing" job. She, her husband , and my granddaughter are barely above the poverty level, and it is all about choices they made!To their credit they are determined that their daughter won't make the same mistake.
I taught in an inner city junior high school for 24 years, so I know a few things about poverty and lack of motivation.For example, I've seen hundreds of kids who found that they didn't have to do anything and the system would just pass them along. When they became aware of this they refused to do any work. Their parents, products of the same environment, offered little or no assistance, and were offended to be asked to do so even tho they knew what was in store for their kids. In the time I taught there I taught children of those I had taught years before, and it just got worse. One of the main reasons for this was the stupid reasoning of those at the higher levels of education promoting "self esteem" saying that failure was not appropriate. Systems all over the country bought into that thinking, and those kids having no parental guidance were doomed.
If I can brag a little, I was known as a real SOB and refused to buckle under to this crap. As a result I got more respect and more results than a majority of teachers there. Some of my fondest memories are of kids coming back and thanking me for being such a hard a$$, saying that it really paid off for them.
At the same time, I had other kids, also in poverty, whose parents refused to let them slide, and as a result they ended up very successful. Others, we coaches stayed on until they dropped their criminal tendencies, succeeded in athletics, and completed college on athletic scholarships with honors.
My point with all this rambling is that most of us are where we are because of choices. While I agree that we must help lift others up who are willing to help themselves, I am very reluctant to support those who refuse to do anything but drain the resources of society. Unfortunatly, in my experience the vast majority of those at the poverty level fall in the last catagory.
 
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