Quote:
Originally posted by smoothmoniker
"The poor you will always have with you ..."
Yeah, it sucks to be poor. Unfortunately, poverty is not a social issue that can be swept away or dealt with en masse. It is solved one person at a time, by that one person securing and maintaining gainful employment. There is no political system better than democracy, no economic system better than capitalism for creating opportunities to sell one’s time and services.
Or is that too intellectually lazy for you?
-sm
|
The smug recital of right wing dogma is hardly indicative of an anylitical mind. I am in full agreement that democracy is an excellent political system. I question if we still live in a real democracy. As for capitalism, if its such a great economic system, then why are so many US jobs vanishing off overseas? If you wish to make some sort of free market apology for this phenomenon, you are misguided. First of all, the outflow of jobs is not about healthy global competition. Its about the lower standard of living (which you noted yourself in a previous post) in Asian and other countries. Big business can take advantage of cheap labor in China at the expense of American workers. You are damn straight that I and every other American worker I know want to go out there, get a job, and stand on our own two feet. But how can we, as more and more American jobs vanish overseas? China is not playing by the same rules we are and its anything but a level free market playing field. You want to assume the role of American patriot or do you want to assume the role of global citizen. You can't have it both ways.
Second, the largest segments of Americans living below the poverty line consist of children under 6, the elderly, and the disabled. In effect, you are screaming out the window at a three year old child to go get a job. I've seen the results of your mentality in Brazil where 9, 10, and 11 year old girls are so desperate to survive that they turn to prostitution. Maybe that turns you on, but most people find their situatioin tragic.
Not every elderly person is the owner of a company or has hundreds of thousands of dollars that they are evading paying taxes for so they just look poor. By the way, why is it that so many well to do conservatives do everything possible to avoid paying the taxes that help our esteemed system continue to functioin? If you guys think its so great, why the hell aren't you willing to do the honorable thing and pay taxes like everyone else?
Finally, the disabled of this country are not drug addicts who wish to live off the government while they snort up. That is a wonderful example of the prejudice and narrowed minded thinking with which Americans with disabilities are treated to by their fellow citizens. The process of obtaining disability benefits from social security is a long and arduous one. The MINIMUM wait is two years - many times its longer. The applicant is subject to rigorous examinations by physicians, case workers, and must often appear before a federal judge to prove their disability. Anyone who's only problem is a desire to become a tweaker at government expense is quickly weeded out in the social security SSI/SSDI claims process. At the end, do you know what the big payoff is for an individual disabled and unable to work?
No, of course not, because you with your intellectually curious mind, never bothered to find out. $560.00 a month. That's it plus about $50.00 in food stamps. That's what we expect our disabled citizens to live on.
Everybody seems to have some story of an individual who is conning the system, but in all likelihood, these malingers (and I admit they DO exist, although not in the numbers most people think) are defrauding workman's comp or a private disability insurance company where the oversight is not as rigorous as it is for SSI/SSDI.
As Ayn Rand wrote, "Check you premises."