I'm not a huge Ron Paul fan but he was probably the best candidate for the average middle class citizen. He was definitely right about not giving money to Israel which receives more foreign aid than any other country. You talk about that and people call you an anti-semite. It's pretty sad you can argue foreign aid to other countries but you are a racist when talking about Israel. Many politicians have lost their seat because of arguing at Israel foreign aid which would be better in the citizen's pockets then given away to other countries. The Israel lobby is strong. He was also right about bringing the troops (my friends, family) home and to stop having a presence in every god damn country in the world. They should be on our soil protecting this country. I am an independent. If you voted for Obama or Romney last election, you are not an independent. You are what you vote. It's actually better to not vote than to vote Democrat or Republican which only support corporate interests. We need a good third party candidate to stop issues that people are afraid to touch with the risk of being called a racist or non-American. Illegal immigration allows non-citizens to get all the handouts you're talking about Zach. There are also loopholes to allow them to get very large tax refunds when they actually pay taxes. Illegals costs this country 200 billion dollars a year. That might be a good start to help the average middle class from paying for all these aholes. Your also right about citizens abusing the system, getting handouts and never actually trying to get a job. I'm done with it too. I see illegals getting free housing, welfare, and food stamps while I'm busting my ass. What is wrong with this picture? Leave the country. Come back as a non-citizen. Have an anchor baby. Don't worry and collect all the benefits because your anchor baby is a citizen. Birth-right citizenship is the first thing that must be revoked by government. That will save the country billions but this savings still probably won't be passed to us. It will be given to banks, subsidies to walmart to destroy mom n pop shops, etc. Lobbying is the biggest problem. Large construction corporations for illegals, Big Pharma lobbying to keep drug prices high, big oil, wall street and the biggest banks. If we stop the ability to treat corporations as individuals, then we can make lobbying illegal. Then, we will finally have someone who represents us in the government. I think lobbying and illegal immigration should be the prime concerns which will help the middle class. I also think everyone should pay the same tax % regardless of income. How come we pay over 30% federal tax but the Rich pay 18% or less sometimes. I'm not asking people to pay more than me but how is that fair. Everyone should pay 15%. I would be happy with that rate. How about everyone else?
Don't forget big union, big higher ed, and big govt ? maybe the tax rate wouldn't need to be so high if govt was leaner..... and don't forget the absolute worst...big lawyer.
+1000000 Yes, government spending needs to shrink dramatically. Higher education to more about making huge profits than educating and as you saw lawyers. They are the worst. They love getting people to sue which makes healthcare among other things very expensive because of the insurance. They can also twist the wording in laws to benefit whoever they represent instead of the actual intention of the law
I have some reading to do on here today. I got to read all of these posts on this thread. But I'm not concentrating well at the moment. No, I'm not snorting bath salts.......A-holes......... First, who voted this a one star thread........? Huh, you SOB............Go learn how to surf in the ocean not a computer..........This is the good stuff right here. Ok, I keep hearing about welfare. Liberals who don't work and collect handouts. I think you have the term liberals and homeless junkie confused. There's a difference...... Anyways any of y'all who think welfare is some friggin Disneyland are Ku Kuu Bananas..... Yay, section 8 housing in the ghetto. $200 a month in food stamps.....whoo hooo. In Jersey a single person gets like $120.00 a month in cash(somewhere around there).......So, they gots $200.00 worth of food a month and roughly $30.00 per week to live on. WOW !!!! THAT SOUNDS FAN - TASTIC. SIGN ME UP... They get medicaid and get to go to trashy inner city health clinics.......woo hooo...... Wow, this sounds like a really attractive life......... And republicans are the worst people on the planet. And I can soundly ruin anyone who thinks differently in a debate, but I can't on here..........not yet at least. I'm always forced to skate on thin ice here, EVEN THOUGH PEOPLE DO THE SAME SHOOT I DO AND NOTHING EVER HAPPENS TO THEM........ And this site is so important to me and to all of y'all.
I know in Monmouth County that a family of 4 gets $1,800 to $2,000 for a single family home rental on section 8. I'm paying close to the same amount for my family but I'm paying it. I don't have a whole lot either left over because rental prices are high. How is that fair? They should get the bare minimum of section 8 (apartment not housing) and have to sacrifice. There is no incentive for these people to start working a full-time job. Everyone has an opportunity to go to a trade school and get a decent job. You just have to work hard for it. I got good grades in an area that has a high amount of crime. I did my research and got accepted into college using loans and grants. I'm saying it can be done regardless of environment.
I have a simple solution for those jealous of welfare reciepients................Stop working and go on welfare. Problem solved. If it is so attractive then it shouldn't be much of a chore to get there. Just stop doing everything. Then when you lose everything go apply for welfare, and soon you'll be living the good life. Welfare is awesome. Really, being jealous of people on welfare is pretty bad. All jealousy is bad, but getting pissed at food stamps and meager monthly stipends is crazy. Plus, I WOULD LOVE to see these people if shoot went bad for them. I'D LOVE IT. Don't kid yourselves.........YOUR precious lifestyle can take an abrupt turn at anytime. You won't even see it coming. You may need assistance some day. Oh how many republicans in NJ/NY have their hand out for federal relief money after Sandy, huh?????? HOW MANY??? Oh, it's ok then because something BAD happened to THEM !! Oh my word........... Friggin hypocrits, man.....friggin hypocrits........
Because we have a "winner takes all" type of Democracy (majority wins) and not a true type of democracy which is if Party A wins 10 % of the votes, they get 10% of the seats...Party B gets 14 % of the votes, get 14% of the seats, etc etc. That is when you can have a system which is more then two parties. Me personally, used to vote Republican but now consider myself Independent and vote for whomever most closely has the same views on my most important issues.
Dennis & Sweet Dee go on Welfare... One of the best It's Always Sunny episodes evva! Youuu... You Got what I Neeeeed...
See, I am not sitting here complaining solely about individuals on welfare. That has always been around in my lifetime. But to say that individuals in certain areas get $200 a month is just inaccurate. For instance, I employ over 100 people in my establishment, in 6 months, I have had to comply and file paperwork for dozens of my employees for the State of South Carolina’s welfare/foodstamp program. Pretty much every one of these people make decent money and I do the best to regulate their claiming etc, but most of them live with their families, get ample support with the care of their children, they go out to the club every weekend and live a generally happy life. I have seen what they get in monthly assistance. To me, its just not right. They are getting $500-$1000 a month in credits. They can go buy bushels of crabs with it, lobster… Whatever they want. But again, I’m not against a welfare program… The SYSTEM is the problem. The people who run the system destroyed it. Back in the late 80s and early 90s, welfare centers and those kinds of facilities were basically job placement centers and when people would go on welfare for 1-2 months when they would be out of work. The sole purpose for these facilities were to “Get people back on their feet” and find them employment. Where has that gone? Why does no one care about actually getting people back into our economy. Now its, here is your check, have a nice day, see you in 2 weeks. Like someone else quoted from JFK: Boats rise with the TIDE. You can take random jabs at “republicans” which is laughable, but none of that is the point. Just like “Republicans aren’t real surfers”. Well, with that rationale, democrats “arent real Americans, they are just free loading, crack smoking, homosexual junkies” =) Im just saying, people on the left that think taxing the rich and those that control our economy is the way to solve the problem have no clue. Like I said, when the rich get richer, they hire more employees and pay more in labor wages… When their tax credits an income in affected, immediately, those costs are taken out on the middle class. Immediately. From job cutting, to wage cutting to simple closing businesses down… It helps no one… Taking $5 million from the top and giving it to the unemployed helps no one. The working class get nothing from it. They just get their wages cut and work longer hours… Like I said, wait until Obamacare goes into effect. Watch the axe swing down on the working class. Jobs will be lost immediately. Companies will change the way they look at employment for ever because of it. You will force the wealthy into making decisions that will hurt the working class, while the poor will remain unaffected. Instead of utilizing company healthcare and assisting employees with benefits, companies will cut those programs all together, cut you down to 29 hours per week and tell you to go fend for yourself, because the government is now STEALING from them. That nice doctors office that you take your family to will be inundated now and the service will be effected. The care will be effected. This is not Germany. Socialism WILL NOT WORK HERE. Try as you may. This is not Canada. Its not Europe… If we had done this 100 years ago, maybe it would work… You CANNOT make universal healthcare work in a capitalist society. It is impossible. The only way to do it is to steal all the money from the working class whether they like it or not.
What about having pride and trying to get a job? I'm not going to join the people who abuse the system. I'm not talking about every welfare recipient that have full time jobs. I'm talking about the ones who don't work and don't attempt to work. Then, just stay on the system why the rest of us pay for it. Why don't we just let people fend for themselves. I would force people to have savings and emergency funds. The problem is that people overspend on stupid ****, get huge amounts of debt, lose everything. Then, they expect all of us to bail them out. I do think welfare has it's place for people who actually work full time at a job that doesn't pay much. That means they are doing their best. I'm talking about the freeloaders to just abuse the system. I see it all the time around me. I also don't agree with federal aid to coastal communities that know the risk of living near the cost. That's what insurance is for. If you don't have insurance, sorry!
actually entitlements are bigger.. as far as welfare...cry me a f&cking river. nobody forces people not to take advantage of the opportunities they have available to better themselves. Bear, you are just pissed that people are threatening your gravy train.
I don't agree with that, and it is showing in the country's wealth distribution. The rich are making more money than ever before, while the middle class struggles to make ends meet. The rich people do not keep the economy afloat, that is what the consumers do. Most of the consumers are middle class, as we make up the largest population. Tax breaks for the wealthy seldom end up equally more money or jobs for the middle class.
its and interdependency. You can't have a middle class without the rich and you can't have an upper class without the middle class.
I appreciate this type of discussion, I really do, however certain sitautions have forced me to bow out of these types of discussions. First, before I got back on here, I vowed to stop arguing politics. I reckon I won't force any misguided souls to see the light. I have been a "professional letter-to-the-editor" writer for the past two years, and man, it's just futile ain't it? I just don't see how people don't think like me politically. It's so painfully obvious. It's the "right" way to think. Ok, I'm not just an opinionated jerk, I'm also a tad vain when it comes to these issues. But............there's all kinds out there. Expecting Tryrasheeka who grew up in poverty, in a violence-plagued neighborhood, with no parental support, with feelings of being unwanted............if you expect her to be as prepared for the world as you - the white, middle-class, suburban surfer boy who was given all the opportunities in the world.......well shoot doesn't work that way..... Don't judge a person until you have walked FIVE miles in their shoes and don't withold basic friggin needs from them.........just because you are greedy and evil and get upset because they don't work like you do. As I said, if y'all are so jealous of them.........JOIN THEM. Oh, y'all know welfare benefits are different in every state. I just called my pal who collects welfare, while he works under-the-table. Ha, that must really piss y'all off. A single male(women with vaginal discharge children are different) in Nueve Yersey gets $200.00 a month in food stamps. $140.00 a month in cash. He got a one month bus pass when he signed up too !! HA HA !!! And he got a medicaid card. Oh, he's also trying to get some cell phone for welfare people too. Now even I agree that last one is crazy......... So anyways, I have to stop arguing politics because I'm disturbed and sometimes I get BENT.......like when that dude changes into the incredible hulk.....no I'm not some comic book made into movies dork....... Plus, I have to keep on a lower level here than the rest of y'all. Yeah, "Free Southjetty." But I'm a marked man suffering injustices from the powers that be. Good luck dudes, and keep discussing stuff of this nature.
Nor am I insisting anything like that. However, when most of the wealth goes to a very very small percentage, something is not working.
I hate to keep agreeing with Mr Paddington Bear, but.. I feel like the welfare argument is the litmus test to determine if you are talking to an idiot. Welfare does get abused, and free cell phones are bullsh*t, BUT WELFARE OFFERS THEM THE CHANCE TO MAINTAIN A MINIMAL STANDARD OF LIVING SO THAT THEIR CHILDREN CAN EXIT THE CYCLE.. Gov't housing, public schools, and food stamps keep these people off of the streets. Hundreds of thousands of folks taking to the street might be a little detrimental for our society, no? Don't like their health care? Let's just let them breed disease while they are at it. Let 'em suffer, right? I mean they earned it (or rather they didn't ohh hahah). Many of them are mentally or physically handicapped. Some of them bread themselves into it. Yes, they are the problem, but what do you suppose we do? Kick them out on the street? Make it quick and kill 'em? Look at what is being spent on welfare programs vs what is being spent on big oil, defense contracts, foreign aid to countries that don't even like us, and GASP... a decade long war. Look at those numbers, look at our defect, and tell me that you want to throw some babies on the street because their mom is lazy. Go ahead... I'm not a liberal but have some common sense, people, jeeeezussss
Oh, I'm not on welfare Pumpmaster. Never have been. I've never even collected unemployment. What opportunities are there to better one's self? So a homeless dude who can't read and write is going to become "better" automatically from what Opportunities? You mean like socialist programs like job training and stuff? Ha......man........
