A question no one has ever answered for me
- Thread starter Tapate50
- Start date
Tapate50
Well-known member
Might give you a chance to be correct for once. Maybe take advantage?
50PoundHead
Hessmania Forever
I grew up about two notches above white trash in Minnesota in the 1960s and I've seen first hand how mental illness, ignorance, and substance abuse can keep families in a multi-generational cycle of poverty. Granted, poverty was a bit different then in that one could scrape by (barely) on an 80-acre farm, but even in a society that was more mobile then than now, it was difficult for many to extricate themselves from that cycle. I have done well for myself, but there was help for me at several junctures. I benefited from a strong family structure and the lack of that structure among today's poor is very troubling to me and I agree that it has to improve or we'll likely never see things get consistently better for the underclass in this country. But there were several junctures in my life when a helping hand was extended (not so much in terms of financial help--although college was a lot cheaper and those 3% loans from the federal government were truly gravy) and while I've always worked fairly hard, I've equally been lucky in that I was tapped on the shoulder or a door opened at just the right time. So I guess that's why I sympathize.
Regarding more strict treatment of welfare recipients, I think it's been tried several times and it's always been my impression that private industry really doesn't want to play (and I'm not going to blame them at a level) because the paperwork required of bringing on people can cause problems.
The only way this gets done is with a real and lasting commitment to education and the tying of education to other social services like Geoffrey Canada has done with the Harlem Children's Zone. But unless there is something "at the end of the rainbow" for those who show initiative and talent, the results of these efforts may also come to naught. Corporations can run things as they see fit. This is American and although some of you might doubt it from some of my posts, I am a capitalist. Minorities hold 16% of the seats of the corporate boards on the Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies while making up 37% of the population. I want to make it clear that I'm not for affirmative action on corporate boards, but the minority presence on those boards has to be more than window dressing. That would give kids in poverty, especially those in minority communities, role models and a view of a possible future.
As for government benefits you get for free, if you own a home and itemize, you receive a subsidy from the government equal to your marginal tax rate times your home mortgage interest deduction. In other words, if you have $10,000 in home mortgage interest and have a marginal tax rate of 28%, you receive a subsidy of $2,800 from the government. There are also tax credits in many states where the tax amount by the amount of certain purchases. We have a tax credit for educational expenses in Minnesota where if a family buys a computer for their kids education and they meet certain income guidelines, there taxes are reduced by that amount. I could go deeper on tax expenditures and some other notions as to how taxpayers get things from the government that they couldn't afford on their own, but I don't want to bore everyone and my guess is that those who won't agree with my original premise simply wouldn't be convinced by more examples.
When I started writing this response, I was tempted to get all wound up and let it fly, but that ain't my style. In other words, I won't be "dropping the mic." I'm old and I have truly benefited. I wouldn't want to be a young person or be raising a young family today. Things are very difficult right now and I want you to know that I can understand--and I'm not saying this in a patronizing way--why a lot of people are angry and frustrated. The country isn't working that well right now. I just think the poor get to be everyone's whipping post too often. Until we take a long look at Social Security, Medicare, and defense, we'll be treading water to a great extent. Other domestic spending, whether it's right or wrong, well-run or run by imbeciles, isn't central to the problem in my view. I agree that doesn't mean we shouldn't work hard to make sure those who are receiving assistance are truly worthy and that there are on-going efforts to improve people's lives as opposed to simply allowing them to remain in place. And I agree that no amount of money delivered to people can truly improve their lives on its own. I was a supporter of the Simpson/Bowles effort, but that landed like a lead balloon, largely because it required someone to make a decision and that doesn't appear to be happening in this environment.
AerchAngel
<B>Secretary of Statistics</B>
I applaud you on that post 50, I didn't want to copy and paste it.
As an African American we have issues with role models vs street cred vs babies out of wedlock. Democrats exploit this issue by demagogic principles and herding us to this conceptual inequality. They really do not want upstanding blacks unless they play in their system. This is why they try to destroy any Republican black that has success because it hurts their base. Those of us who are neither Democrats nor Republicans, which I am no party of either, we want the best for our kind but both sides get in the way and the Democrats are worse. They depend on our vote substantially so they make the system more likable if they keep these concepts in place.
I have seen generation of blacks on welfare with able body and smart people. They pump out kids like no other because like Hispanics, more people on welfare, the bigger pot for the family as a whole. Finally my generation (those born in the 60's) are finally getting it, abstaining from Democrats, not voting Republican either, and are willing to wait for a viable 3rd party to hear our voice and help our people as neither side will do it for us. One side want to exploit for votes a long as welfare is there while the other side want to exploit our wages if we do work.
Now, street cred issues is going to be much harder to get rid of. Again, media (liberal) thinks street cred is our culture. It is not, it has evolved to a culture of the wrong kind. My parents, Democrats but turning, said they had no issues like this in the 40's, 50's or even 60's, it was the 70's and the movies, media focusing on the inner city that started that crap.
Baby out of wedlock babies can be simple to fix, but I do not want to be called names on going that route.
As an African American we have issues with role models vs street cred vs babies out of wedlock. Democrats exploit this issue by demagogic principles and herding us to this conceptual inequality. They really do not want upstanding blacks unless they play in their system. This is why they try to destroy any Republican black that has success because it hurts their base. Those of us who are neither Democrats nor Republicans, which I am no party of either, we want the best for our kind but both sides get in the way and the Democrats are worse. They depend on our vote substantially so they make the system more likable if they keep these concepts in place.
I have seen generation of blacks on welfare with able body and smart people. They pump out kids like no other because like Hispanics, more people on welfare, the bigger pot for the family as a whole. Finally my generation (those born in the 60's) are finally getting it, abstaining from Democrats, not voting Republican either, and are willing to wait for a viable 3rd party to hear our voice and help our people as neither side will do it for us. One side want to exploit for votes a long as welfare is there while the other side want to exploit our wages if we do work.
Now, street cred issues is going to be much harder to get rid of. Again, media (liberal) thinks street cred is our culture. It is not, it has evolved to a culture of the wrong kind. My parents, Democrats but turning, said they had no issues like this in the 40's, 50's or even 60's, it was the 70's and the movies, media focusing on the inner city that started that crap.
Baby out of wedlock babies can be simple to fix, but I do not want to be called names on going that route.
AerchAngel
<B>Secretary of Statistics</B>
Democrats will put their hands to their ears and stomp saying "This is not true, this is not true!"