The World Beyond BetterMost > Anything Goes
Why are the poor, poor?
Clyde-B:
Telling the poor to pull themselves up by their bootstraps reminds me very much of telling depressed people to "just get over it."
I think both suffer from hopelessness, and that's hard to overcome by sheer force of will.
Mentoring programs seem highly successful in overcoming poverty. They provide the teaching that people didn't get at home while growing up and they provide ongoing advice from someone who knows how. Mentoring is expensive, but it pays off because it gives people something they pass on to their own kids.
brokeplex:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on April 30, 2008, 02:55:21 pm ---And who do you suppose supports the churches? The rich? I doubt it. Talking about shifting the responsibility from the government to private charities is just Conservative code for eliminating help for the poor, because the government can compel support--through taxation--and private charities cannot.
Eliminating the system is not the answer. We need to fix it, plug the loopholes, so that the rich pay their fair share.
--- End quote ---
that extortive compelling you have mentioned above is exactly why the welfare state no longer has the unqualified support of the overwhelming mass of the votes, who are mostly middle class.
I am all in favor of the rich, the middle class, and the poor all paying an EQUAL share. The term "fair" as applied to a tax is subjective. In reality the only "fair" tax is one which has EQUAL rates for everyone. This can be accomplished by a consumption tax which has no exceptions, no exemptions, and no refunds. If you and I walk into a store and buy a diet soda, we both should pay a fed tax on that item at the same rate, regardless of any similarities or disparities in our incomes. And this type of tax should apply to all of our consumption purchases in our lives. This tax will rid of the IRS and the unfairness that everyone agrees exists. The only fair system is an equal system. The present system of both social engineering welfare and IRS enforced taxation are unsustainable politically, and in my opinion unsustainable morally. The grasping hand of gov is robbing one section of the population in order to keep another section breeding and idle.
"we need to fix it" we hear that again and again about the welfare system, OK what are your fixes?
brokeplex:
--- Quote from: oilgun on April 30, 2008, 03:35:49 pm ---And tax the damn churches! Talk about welfare, the churches are all welfare cases as are many corporations and even whole industries. Here in 'socialist' Canada, up to 50% of the biofuel industry is funded by government subsidies. That's the same industry that's being held responsible for the worldwide food shortages. (Like that was unexpected, lol!)
--- End quote ---
I agree! TAX the churches! Churches make income off of their investments, their real property not only makes them income but should be on the local tax rolls just like your home or mine. If we are going to keep the present extortive IRS system, we must tax the churches, in fact any "body" that brings in an income.
The biofuel industry is a major scam here in the US. I am all in favor of withdrawing the unconscionable tax subsidies which are going to multimillionaire farmers and land owners. The biofuel industry has become a disaster, it can't remain competitive without subsidies that we all pay for, and the industry has taken so much corn out of food production that there are shortages of corn world wide, driving up the prices of just about every food product. We all pay for the biofuel industry that way too.
brokeplex:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on April 30, 2008, 03:48:11 pm ---Sorta like why what's-his-name robbed banks? 'Cause that's where the money is? ;D
--- End quote ---
Dellinger?
brokeplex:
--- Quote from: seriouscrayons on April 30, 2008, 06:42:08 pm ---Which means the rich are getting welfare, too. They may not need help paying for their food and medical care and education. But the rest of us are paying disproportionately for the roads, bridges, parks, beaches, lakes, police, military and fire protection that they use.
--- End quote ---
I agree, that is why I am in favor of abolishing the present system of taxation, which allows the rich to pay proportionately little, and the poor to pay nothing. In fact the poor pay at a negative rate, the present US taxation system in effect transfers income from the families of working middle class people into the hands of the mostly idle poor.
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