Missouri Republicans are trying to ban food stamp recipients from buying steak and seafood

[koshergrl]

There is so much about these laws being passed that is wrong, I hardly know where to start.

Firstly, for a party that purportedly believes in "small government", this is expanding the reach of government, increasing the size of government to monitor what poor people are buying.

Secondly, for a party which purportedly believes in the Constitution, this is a gross invasion of privacy. We're talking about the senior citizens, working poor, and military families who make up the vast majority of SNAP recipients.

Last, but not least, there is the assumption that SNAP recipients are not capable of making prudent financial decisions. Again, I point out that most SNAP recipients are working poor, retired people and military families.

Firstly

..... you don't understand what 'smaller government' means, if that's what you think. Smaller government, means less money stolen from working people, to give to non-working people.

You made government bigger, by taking our money in the first place, and handing it out to people who haven't earned it

We're reducing it, by cutting these people off, and limiting what they do with OUR tax money. Not theirs. If they want control of the money, tell them to get off their butts, and work for a living.

"Smaller government" means fewer government workers, and fewer government programs. It takes people to set these stupid laws up, and people to enforce them, thereby increasing administration costs of these programs.

Americans are overly focused on punishing poor people for being poor and making sure that no one gets anything they aren't entitled to. They spend more money than they save on qualifying by income, and putting restrictions on what they can buy. It's a waste of resources and merely increases the administration costs.

It's THEIR money. Most of the people receiving SNAP are working, retired or in the military. They are working, or they have worked all of their lives. They aren't lazy, but Republicans refuse to vote for higher wages for the military, or hirer minimum wages. So SNAP is a wage subsidy given to the workers of some of the most profitable corporations in America because they don't want to pay their workers a living wage.

You want to get angry, get angry at the companies who don't pay their workers a living wage.

Second

, if we were following the constitution darling, there would be no SNAP at all. There is not one single enumerated power in the constitution, which grants the Federal government the ability to tax one group of people, to provide free food for another.

SNAP itself, is entirely unconstitutional. Moreover, if you had read the constitution, you would know that all other rights, are reserved for the states.... meaning, the states are allowed to make laws the limit what people do with tax payer money, and there is absolutely no contradiction in that.

BULLSHIT. Another conservative lie. You don't want people to have make living wages, and you don't want them to get public assistance. Just what the hell are these people supposed to live on?

Lastly

, if they are living off of tax payer money, then clearly they are not making prudent financial decisions, whether they are capable or not.

But regardless, I don't give a crap if they are able or not. If you want my tax money, then I gain the right to impose my views on your life..

You are an idiot. Do some research and find out who receives SNAP. You let Republicans do this to them and to you and now you're angry that the people who work longer hours than you do don't make enough money to eat. Stop swallowing the lies Fox News feeds you and get the facts.

You don't deserve the right to vote, you're so ill informed.

Since you had nothing of value to add to the conversation.... I'll sum up my response with "Right back at you". Clearly you have no idea what you are talking about, and shouldn't be voting in the polls on this forum, let alone who is in government.

Dragonlady is just a hysterical, fanatical, abortion-for-everybody, entitlements for all, black people should never work and all white men are bad, whore.

Just so you know.

 

[Andylusion]

There is so much about these laws being passed that is wrong, I hardly know where to start.

Firstly, for a party that purportedly believes in "small government", this is expanding the reach of government, increasing the size of government to monitor what poor people are buying.

Secondly, for a party which purportedly believes in the Constitution, this is a gross invasion of privacy. We're talking about the senior citizens, working poor, and military families who make up the vast majority of SNAP recipients.

Last, but not least, there is the assumption that SNAP recipients are not capable of making prudent financial decisions. Again, I point out that most SNAP recipients are working poor, retired people and military families.

Firstly..... you don't understand what 'smaller government' means, if that's what you think. Smaller government, means less money stolen from working people, to give to non-working people.

You made government bigger, by taking our money in the first place, and handing it out to people who haven't earned it.

We're reducing it, by cutting these people off, and limiting what they do with OUR tax money. Not theirs. If they want control of the money, tell them to get off their butts, and work for a living.

Second, if we were following the constitution darling, there would be no SNAP at all. There is not one single enumerated power in the constitution, which grants the Federal government the ability to tax one group of people, to provide free food for another.

SNAP itself, is entirely unconstitutional. Moreover, if you had read the constitution, you would know that all other rights, are reserved for the states.... meaning, the states are allowed to make laws the limit what people do with tax payer money, and there is absolutely no contradiction in that.

Lastly, if they are living off of tax payer money, then clearly they are not making prudent financial decisions, whether they are capable or not.

But regardless, I don't give a crap if they are able or not. If you want my tax money, then I gain the right to impose my views on your life.

You don't like that? Tough snot. Get off your butt, and earn your own money, and you can do whatever the flip you want with it.

You live off the money that I got up at 3 AM, drove 30 minutes into work, and worked 12 hours to earn????? Then SHUT UP AND DO WHAT I SAY IF YOU WANT MY MONEY SCUM BAG........ Tough snot. That's how it works. You live off the money of others, you grant them right to dictate your life. Earn your own paycheck if you don't like it.

I don't think Dragon Lady takes any of you money...

Sure she does.

Poor people do not drive to my home, and demand I give them money.

It's self-righteous, arrogant hypocrites like Dragon Lady, that demand... not that THEY give THEIR money to poor people.... no no.... that OTHER people have their money confiscated, to be given to poor people.

The leftists that push welfare, food stamps, section 8 housing, Obamacare, and Medicaid, and on and on and on...... those leftists never give their money.

You never hear a leftist say "I demand people in my income bracket pay more tax, to feed the poor". They never say that.

What do they say? They say "the 1%!!!!" and "the wealthy!" "Eat the rich!" Right?

But regardless of what they say, people like me, end up paying the bill. The working people, is who ends up footing the bill that these arrogant hypocrite leftists demand others pay.

So yes, it is people like Dragon Hypocrite that steal my money. Whether she is also receiving my money, or just giving my money to others, I don't know, and don't care. She's guilty either way.

 

[Andylusion]

There is so much about these laws being passed that is wrong, I hardly know where to start.

Firstly, for a party that purportedly believes in "small government", this is expanding the reach of government, increasing the size of government to monitor what poor people are buying.

Secondly, for a party which purportedly believes in the Constitution, this is a gross invasion of privacy. We're talking about the senior citizens, working poor, and military families who make up the vast majority of SNAP recipients.

Last, but not least, there is the assumption that SNAP recipients are not capable of making prudent financial decisions. Again, I point out that most SNAP recipients are working poor, retired people and military families.

Firstly

..... you don't understand what 'smaller government' means, if that's what you think. Smaller government, means less money stolen from working people, to give to non-working people.

You made government bigger, by taking our money in the first place, and handing it out to people who haven't earned it

We're reducing it, by cutting these people off, and limiting what they do with OUR tax money. Not theirs. If they want control of the money, tell them to get off their butts, and work for a living.

"Smaller government" means fewer government workers, and fewer government programs. It takes people to set these stupid laws up, and people to enforce them, thereby increasing administration costs of these programs.

Americans are overly focused on punishing poor people for being poor and making sure that no one gets anything they aren't entitled to. They spend more money than they save on qualifying by income, and putting restrictions on what they can buy. It's a waste of resources and merely increases the administration costs.

It's THEIR money. Most of the people receiving SNAP are working, retired or in the military. They are working, or they have worked all of their lives. They aren't lazy, but Republicans refuse to vote for higher wages for the military, or hirer minimum wages. So SNAP is a wage subsidy given to the workers of some of the most profitable corporations in America because they don't want to pay their workers a living wage.

You want to get angry, get angry at the companies who don't pay their workers a living wage.

Second

, if we were following the constitution darling, there would be no SNAP at all. There is not one single enumerated power in the constitution, which grants the Federal government the ability to tax one group of people, to provide free food for another.

SNAP itself, is entirely unconstitutional. Moreover, if you had read the constitution, you would know that all other rights, are reserved for the states.... meaning, the states are allowed to make laws the limit what people do with tax payer money, and there is absolutely no contradiction in that.

BULLSHIT. Another conservative lie. You don't want people to have make living wages, and you don't want them to get public assistance. Just what the hell are these people supposed to live on?

Lastly

, if they are living off of tax payer money, then clearly they are not making prudent financial decisions, whether they are capable or not.

But regardless, I don't give a crap if they are able or not. If you want my tax money, then I gain the right to impose my views on your life..

You are an idiot. Do some research and find out who receives SNAP. You let Republicans do this to them and to you and now you're angry that the people who work longer hours than you do don't make enough money to eat. Stop swallowing the lies Fox News feeds you and get the facts.

You don't deserve the right to vote, you're so ill informed.

Since you had nothing of value to add to the conversation.... I'll sum up my response with "Right back at you". Clearly you have no idea what you are talking about, and shouldn't be voting in the polls on this forum, let alone who is in government.

Dragonlady is just a hysterical, fanatical, abortion-for-everybody, entitlements for all, black people should never work and all white men are bad, whore.

Just so you know.

Yes, I know. You can tell just from her verbiage, that she has the impartial balanced intellect of an appointed judge of a Stalinist show trial.

 

[koshergrl]

There is so much about these laws being passed that is wrong, I hardly know where to start.

Firstly, for a party that purportedly believes in "small government", this is expanding the reach of government, increasing the size of government to monitor what poor people are buying.

Secondly, for a party which purportedly believes in the Constitution, this is a gross invasion of privacy. We're talking about the senior citizens, working poor, and military families who make up the vast majority of SNAP recipients.

Last, but not least, there is the assumption that SNAP recipients are not capable of making prudent financial decisions. Again, I point out that most SNAP recipients are working poor, retired people and military families.

Firstly..... you don't understand what 'smaller government' means, if that's what you think. Smaller government, means less money stolen from working people, to give to non-working people.

You made government bigger, by taking our money in the first place, and handing it out to people who haven't earned it.

We're reducing it, by cutting these people off, and limiting what they do with OUR tax money. Not theirs. If they want control of the money, tell them to get off their butts, and work for a living.

Second, if we were following the constitution darling, there would be no SNAP at all. There is not one single enumerated power in the constitution, which grants the Federal government the ability to tax one group of people, to provide free food for another.

SNAP itself, is entirely unconstitutional. Moreover, if you had read the constitution, you would know that all other rights, are reserved for the states.... meaning, the states are allowed to make laws the limit what people do with tax payer money, and there is absolutely no contradiction in that.

Lastly, if they are living off of tax payer money, then clearly they are not making prudent financial decisions, whether they are capable or not.

But regardless, I don't give a crap if they are able or not. If you want my tax money, then I gain the right to impose my views on your life.

You don't like that? Tough snot. Get off your butt, and earn your own money, and you can do whatever the flip you want with it.

You live off the money that I got up at 3 AM, drove 30 minutes into work, and worked 12 hours to earn????? Then SHUT UP AND DO WHAT I SAY IF YOU WANT MY MONEY SCUM BAG........ Tough snot. That's how it works. You live off the money of others, you grant them right to dictate your life. Earn your own paycheck if you don't like it.

I don't think Dragon Lady takes any of you money...

Sure she does.

Poor people do not drive to my home, and demand I give them money.

It's self-righteous, arrogant hypocrites like Dragon Lady, that demand... not that THEY give THEIR money to poor people.... no no.... that OTHER people have their money confiscated, to be given to poor people.

The leftists that push welfare, food stamps, section 8 housing, Obamacare, and Medicaid, and on and on and on...... those leftists never give their money.

You never hear a leftist say "I demand people in my income bracket pay more tax, to feed the poor". They never say that.

What do they say? They say "the 1%!!!!" and "the wealthy!" "Eat the rich!" Right?

But regardless of what they say, people like me, end up paying the bill. The working people, is who ends up footing the bill that these arrogant hypocrite leftists demand others pay.

So yes, it is people like Dragon Hypocrite that steal my money. Whether she is also receiving my money, or just giving my money to others, I don't know, and don't care. She's guilty either way.

Don't worry, I'm sure she takes more than she's ever even thought of putting back. Or earning, for that matter.

 

[Dragonlady]

I'm a Canadian who started working when I was 11 years old - first with two paper routes. I made $3. per week. When I was 14, I suckered tobacco - hot, filthy work that paid me $20. an acre. I could do an acre a day. Much more than the 75 cents per hour that I could make in waitressing in a local coffee shop.

I work all through school - waitressing, life guard in the summer, drying cleaning plant on weekends, ironing in a laundry - anything I could get.

When I graduated, I went into banking and became one of the first female bank managers in Canada. I attended a lot of meetings where I was the only woman in the room. I left banking and went into law, eventually becoming a senior law clerk working at Bay Street law firms. Law clerks handle their own files, have their own offices and secretaries, but they're not lawyers. The files are less complex than the files the lawyers work on - more straight forward. We also assist on the mega deals.

Two years ago we left Toronto and moved to the Niagara Peninsula living on 2 acres near Lake Erie. I'm currently working for lawyer in village about a 15 minute drive from home doing real estate. The hours are long. The pay isn't as good as Bay Street and the biggest deal I've worked on is only $4 million but it's never boring.

Sorry to disappoint you that I'm not sitting on my ass sucking the government teat like Koshergirl.

 

[koshergrl]

I'm a Canadian who started working when I was 11 years old - first with two paper routes. I made $3. per week. When I was 14, I suckered tobacco - hot, filthy work that paid me $20. an acre. I could do an acre a day. Much more than the 75 cents per hour that I could make in waitressing in a local coffee shop.

I work all through school - waitressing, life guard in the summer, drying cleaning plant on weekends, ironing in a laundry - anything I could get.

When I graduated, I went into banking and became one of the first female bank managers in Canada. I attended a lot of meetings where I was the only woman in the room. I left banking and went into law, eventually becoming a senior law clerk working at Bay Street law firms. Law clerks handle their own files, have their own offices and secretaries, but they're not lawyers. The files are less complex than the files the lawyers work on - more straight forward. We also assist on the mega deals.

Two years ago we left Toronto and moved to the Niagara Peninsula living on 2 acres near Lake Erie. I'm currently working for lawyer in village about a 15 minute drive from home doing real estate. The hours are long. The pay isn't as good as Bay Street and the biggest deal I've worked on is only $4 million but it's never boring.

Sorry to disappoint you that I'm not sitting on my ass sucking the government teat like Koshergirl.

Ya huh. lolol...

 

[TimothysAlaska]

Hmm how about the government gets out of the food business! And let the churches give out food stamps, they are tax free institutions anyway who claim to help the poor. or maybe not, the churches need the money to push politics and build additions and of course pay the preacher 6 figure salary. Lol. And besides all the church would say is pray for it, and pass the donation jar for more bonuses. perhaps if the churches actually applied what they preach they could help people out?

It would be a good way for the gov to save money, and if churches refuse to do what they say we should do then yank the tax free status.

 

[Andylusion]

I'm a Canadian who started working when I was 11 years old - first with two paper routes. I made $3. per week. When I was 14, I suckered tobacco - hot, filthy work that paid me $20. an acre. I could do an acre a day. Much more than the 75 cents per hour that I could make in waitressing in a local coffee shop.

I work all through school - waitressing, life guard in the summer, drying cleaning plant on weekends, ironing in a laundry - anything I could get.

When I graduated, I went into banking and became one of the first female bank managers in Canada. I attended a lot of meetings where I was the only woman in the room. I left banking and went into law, eventually becoming a senior law clerk working at Bay Street law firms. Law clerks handle their own files, have their own offices and secretaries, but they're not lawyers. The files are less complex than the files the lawyers work on - more straight forward. We also assist on the mega deals.

Two years ago we left Toronto and moved to the Niagara Peninsula living on 2 acres near Lake Erie. I'm currently working for lawyer in village about a 15 minute drive from home doing real estate. The hours are long. The pay isn't as good as Bay Street and the biggest deal I've worked on is only $4 million but it's never boring.

Sorry to disappoint you that I'm not sitting on my ass sucking the government teat like Koshergirl.

So explain to me why you support policies that punish people who are currently working as hard as you claim to have?

This year, I'm likely to make the most money I ever have in my life.... at about.... $23,000 a year.

See this is why people on the right like myself, read what you say, and think you are lying. Because most people who have worked their butt off, don't support policies that punish people who work their butt off.

Everything that you left-wingers have done over the past decade, have made my life harder, not easier.

Now I expect that from people who have never worked an honest days work in their whole lives. They are clueless, and arrogant. I expect those left-wingers to make my life worse, because they think they know better than me, what needs to be done with my money.

Usually people who have really worked hard in life, wiser, and less arrogant.

You claim to have worked hard, and yet want to harm those who were in the position you previously were? You are either a psychopath, or lying.

 

[Andylusion]

Hmm how about the government gets out of the food business! And let the churches give out food stamps, they are tax free institutions anyway who claim to help the poor. or maybe not, the churches need the money to push politics and build additions and of course pay the preacher 6 figure salary. Lol. And besides all the church would say is pray for it, and pass the donation jar for more bonuses. perhaps if the churches actually applied what they preach they could help people out?

It would be a good way for the gov to save money, and if churches refuse to do what they say we should do then yank the tax free status.

I worked for the homeless shelter, and did clothing and food donations.

You can't 'force' churches to do what you want. Sorry, our religious freedom, is not dependent on doing what you think we should.

Moreover, I don't see any reason why a preacher should not earn a 6-figure salary. Can I come to where you work, and tell you that you shouldn't be paid as much as you are?

Besides that, all organizations should be tax free. This economy would be roaring right now, if we had no taxes on those that produce wealth, and produce jobs.

You people jack up taxes on the evil corporations, and then whine about not enough jobs. As if there isn't any connection between the two.

 

[Boss]

I'm a Canadian who started working when I was 11 years old - first with two paper routes. I made $3. per week. When I was 14, I suckered tobacco - hot, filthy work that paid me $20. an acre. I could do an acre a day. Much more than the 75 cents per hour that I could make in waitressing in a local coffee shop.

I work all through school - waitressing, life guard in the summer, drying cleaning plant on weekends, ironing in a laundry - anything I could get.

When I graduated, I went into banking and became one of the first female bank managers in Canada. I attended a lot of meetings where I was the only woman in the room. I left banking and went into law, eventually becoming a senior law clerk working at Bay Street law firms. Law clerks handle their own files, have their own offices and secretaries, but they're not lawyers. The files are less complex than the files the lawyers work on - more straight forward. We also assist on the mega deals.

Two years ago we left Toronto and moved to the Niagara Peninsula living on 2 acres near Lake Erie. I'm currently working for lawyer in village about a 15 minute drive from home doing real estate. The hours are long. The pay isn't as good as Bay Street and the biggest deal I've worked on is only $4 million but it's never boring.

Sorry to disappoint you that I'm not sitting on my ass sucking the government teat like Koshergirl.

And how much of a role did social entitlement programs or affirmative action play in what you accomplished? How much of that do you think you couldn't have done without the help of the government?

 

[Dragonlady]

I'm a Canadian who started working when I was 11 years old - first with two paper routes. I made $3. per week. When I was 14, I suckered tobacco - hot, filthy work that paid me $20. an acre. I could do an acre a day. Much more than the 75 cents per hour that I could make in waitressing in a local coffee shop.

I work all through school - waitressing, life guard in the summer, drying cleaning plant on weekends, ironing in a laundry - anything I could get.

When I graduated, I went into banking and became one of the first female bank managers in Canada. I attended a lot of meetings where I was the only woman in the room. I left banking and went into law, eventually becoming a senior law clerk working at Bay Street law firms. Law clerks handle their own files, have their own offices and secretaries, but they're not lawyers. The files are less complex than the files the lawyers work on - more straight forward. We also assist on the mega deals.

Two years ago we left Toronto and moved to the Niagara Peninsula living on 2 acres near Lake Erie. I'm currently working for lawyer in village about a 15 minute drive from home doing real estate. The hours are long. The pay isn't as good as Bay Street and the biggest deal I've worked on is only $4 million but it's never boring.

Sorry to disappoint you that I'm not sitting on my ass sucking the government teat like Koshergirl.

So explain to me why you support policies that punish people who are currently working as hard as you claim to have?

This year, I'm likely to make the most money I ever have in my life.... at about.... $23,000 a year.

See this is why people on the right like myself, read what you say, and think you are lying. Because most people who have worked their butt off, don't support policies that punish people who work their butt off.

Everything that you left-wingers have done over the past decade, have made my life harder, not easier.

Now I expect that from people who have never worked an honest days work in their whole lives. They are clueless, and arrogant. I expect those left-wingers to make my life worse, because they think they know better than me, what needs to be done with my money.

Usually people who have really worked hard in life, wiser, and less arrogant.

You claim to have worked hard, and yet want to harm those who were in the position you previously were? You are either a psychopath, or lying.

I live in a left wing country with cradle to the grave social programs which have helped me all my life. The harder I work, the better my life and that of my family.

You live in a right wing country where the deck is stacked against you but your anger is misdirected. You're getting screwed by corporate America who refuses to pay living wages to hardworking people.

It should be directed at the mega corporations and business executives who are scooping all of the gravy and leaving you the crumbs.

The Republicans have a vested interest in keeping you pissed off at the poor people who taxpayers are subsidizing. As long as you're focused on those worse off than you, you will continue to vote against your own best interests and vote Republican.

I pay nothing for doctor's visits or hospital stays. I pay $2 for a prescription. Every family receives $2000 per year for every child under 6 and a lower amount for children 6 to 18.

There is subsidized child care for low income families. Geared to income housing for low income families and seniors. These assists are cheaper than welfare and help low income families get back in their feet.

Our school system funds all schools equally - rich neighbourhood or poor and our education system is ranked one of the best in the world. Our teachers are well paid.

In Toronto, we had recreation centres in every neighbourhood, rich or poor, with free programs in poor neighbourhoods and cheap programs $10 or less, in rich ones. They have gyms, indoor pools, and programs for all ages.

Every small town has a hockey rink and a soccer pitch - even out here in our Township, and we have a free library with books, movies and video games.

Canadians believe in helping out their fellow Canadians. It's in our Constitution. We spend our money on infrastructure and our people. We're not a strongly religious nation so we don't rely on our churches to help the poor.

One our leading writers, Pierre Burton, wrote a book in the 1960's which has informed my life. It's called The Smug Majority. In it he says that capitalism is very hard on the poor, and on those who aren't smart enough or strong enough to compete and succeed. As such, we who are smart enough and strong enough, have an obligation to help out these people. It's the cost of succeeding in a capitalist economy.

I'm not rich, but I make a decent living, and when I retire which will be within 5 years, I'll have a modest pension, most of which will come from my government, though CPP, and senior income supplements.

Americans used to care about fellow Anericans - before Reagan, and the worship of Ayn Rand.

Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. That was a call from Kennedy to contribute to the well being of others, and not ask that your country make you rich. Conservatives have tried to twist it around to make it about not asking for free stuff. There wasn't much in the way of free stuff when Kennedy said this. But there was an expectation that you could get rich easily. Today it's not so easy.

 

[Dragonlady]

I'm a Canadian who started working when I was 11 years old - first with two paper routes. I made $3. per week. When I was 14, I suckered tobacco - hot, filthy work that paid me $20. an acre. I could do an acre a day. Much more than the 75 cents per hour that I could make in waitressing in a local coffee shop.

I work all through school - waitressing, life guard in the summer, drying cleaning plant on weekends, ironing in a laundry - anything I could get.

When I graduated, I went into banking and became one of the first female bank managers in Canada. I attended a lot of meetings where I was the only woman in the room. I left banking and went into law, eventually becoming a senior law clerk working at Bay Street law firms. Law clerks handle their own files, have their own offices and secretaries, but they're not lawyers. The files are less complex than the files the lawyers work on - more straight forward. We also assist on the mega deals.

Two years ago we left Toronto and moved to the Niagara Peninsula living on 2 acres near Lake Erie. I'm currently working for lawyer in village about a 15 minute drive from home doing real estate. The hours are long. The pay isn't as good as Bay Street and the biggest deal I've worked on is only $4 million but it's never boring.

Sorry to disappoint you that I'm not sitting on my ass sucking the government teat like Koshergirl.

And how much of a role did social entitlement programs or affirmative action play in what you accomplished? How much of that do you think you couldn't have done without the help of the government?

My mother raised me on a government widow's pension after my father died. My schooling was paid for by the government.

I've had 9 surgeries, major and minor, three children and a minor heart attack, all paid for by government health care. I received maternity leave benefits which made it easier for me to take time off with my babies.

I rode government funded transit to work every day for 30 years in Toronto. My youngest daughter went to a government funded after school program. We used the city recreation centres regularly and the city library. Out in the country we use the local rec centre, and the library.

What I accomplished professionally, I did by using my smarts and my ambition, as well as my (government) education, but my life has been helped and enhanced throughout by using government funded services and health care.

If I had had to pay for my medical care, I would have been bankrupted, more than once. So overall, it's been a huge benefit to me.

 

[BlueGin]

I'm a Canadian who started working when I was 11 years old - first with two paper routes. I made $3. per week. When I was 14, I suckered tobacco - hot, filthy work that paid me $20. an acre. I could do an acre a day. Much more than the 75 cents per hour that I could make in waitressing in a local coffee shop.

I work all through school - waitressing, life guard in the summer, drying cleaning plant on weekends, ironing in a laundry - anything I could get.

When I graduated, I went into banking and became one of the first female bank managers in Canada. I attended a lot of meetings where I was the only woman in the room. I left banking and went into law, eventually becoming a senior law clerk working at Bay Street law firms. Law clerks handle their own files, have their own offices and secretaries, but they're not lawyers. The files are less complex than the files the lawyers work on - more straight forward. We also assist on the mega deals.

Two years ago we left Toronto and moved to the Niagara Peninsula living on 2 acres near Lake Erie. I'm currently working for lawyer in village about a 15 minute drive from home doing real estate. The hours are long. The pay isn't as good as Bay Street and the biggest deal I've worked on is only $4 million but it's never boring.

Sorry to disappoint you that I'm not sitting on my ass sucking the government teat like Koshergirl.

So explain to me why you support policies that punish people who are currently working as hard as you claim to have?

This year, I'm likely to make the most money I ever have in my life.... at about.... $23,000 a year.

See this is why people on the right like myself, read what you say, and think you are lying. Because most people who have worked their butt off, don't support policies that punish people who work their butt off.

Everything that you left-wingers have done over the past decade, have made my life harder, not easier.

Now I expect that from people who have never worked an honest days work in their whole lives. They are clueless, and arrogant. I expect those left-wingers to make my life worse, because they think they know better than me, what needs to be done with my money.

Usually people who have really worked hard in life, wiser, and less arrogant.

You claim to have worked hard, and yet want to harm those who were in the position you previously were? You are either a psychopath, or lying.

I live in a left wing country with cradle to the grave social programs which have helped me all my life. The harder I work, the better my life and that of my family.

You live in a right wing country where the deck is stacked against you but your anger is misdirected. You're getting screwed by corporate America who refuses to pay living wages to hardworking people.

It should be directed at the mega corporations and business executives who are scooping all of the gravy and leaving you the crumbs.

The Republicans have a vested interest in keeping you pissed off at the poor people who taxpayers are subsidizing. As long as you're focused on those worse off than you, you will continue to vote against your own best interests and vote Republican.

I pay nothing for doctor's visits or hospital stays. I pay $2 for a prescription. Every family receives $2000 per year for every child under 6 and a lower amount for children 6 to 18.

There is subsidized child care for low income families. Geared to income housing for low income families and seniors. These assists are cheaper than welfare and help low income families get back in their feet.

Our school system funds all schools equally - rich neighbourhood or poor and our education system is ranked one of the best in the world. Our teachers are well paid.

In Toronto, we had recreation centres in every neighbourhood, rich or poor, with free programs in poor neighbourhoods and cheap programs $10 or less, in rich ones. They have gyms, indoor pools, and programs for all ages.

Every small town has a hockey rink and a soccer pitch - even out here in our Township, and we have a free library with books, movies and video games.

Canadians believe in helping out their fellow Canadians. It's in our Constitution. We spend our money on infrastructure and our people. We're not a strongly religious nation so we don't rely on our churches to help the poor.

One our leading writers, Pierre Burton, wrote a book in the 1960's which has informed my life. It's called The Smug Majority. In it he says that capitalism is very hard on the poor, and on those who aren't smart enough or strong enough to compete and succeed. As such, we who are smart enough and strong enough, have an obligation to help out these people. It's the cost of succeeding in a capitalist economy.

I'm not rich, but I make a decent living, and when I retire which will be within 5 years, I'll have a modest pension, most of which will come from my government, though CPP, and senior income supplements.

Americans used to care about fellow Anericans - before Reagan, and the worship of Ayn Rand.

Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. That was a call from Kennedy to contribute to the well being of others, and not ask that your country make you rich. Conservatives have tried to twist it around to make it about not asking for free stuff. There wasn't much in the way of free stuff when Kennedy said this. But there was an expectation that you could get rich easily. Today it's not so easy.

And what is a Canadians vested interest in meddling in American politics exactly?

 

[Boss]

What I accomplished professionally, I did by using my smarts and my ambition...

That was what I was getting to. You were motivated by your ambitions and driven to succeed and you did. And there have been people worse off than you who never had government help and they also were motivated by their ambitions and driven to succeed.

The government programs helped, but you would have succeeded without them. Now, you seem to be an intelligent person, don't you feel like something is missing in these programs designed to 'help' people? It's clear that they aren't really working to solve the problems as they are. Isn't what's missing in resolving the poverty problem more about stimulating (or enabling) drive and ambition to succeed?

I am a person who honestly wants what is best for my fellow man. I have no problem with a portion of my earnings to go toward actually helping others but I look at the state of things and I am very disappointed in the results I am seeing, that I have paid for.... and my grandkids will be paying for.

 

[Dragonlady]

Bearing in mind, I live in Canada, but here I see the opposite. In Canada, we know that if we work hard, we can get ahead. Our middle class is growing, not shrinking. That's no longer true in the US.

And getting a quality education in the U.S. Is tough unless you grow up in a well to do neighbourhood.

American treat their poor like the red headed step child. The Republican Party uses the poor to deflect attention from the fact that the ones getting the big time handouts are the wealthy and the big corporations.

Earned income credits, food stamps and social security subsidize low wages and lack of pensions in the private sector.

Republicans rail against high corporate taxes but the only companies which pay 35% are the small ones. Big corporations pay an effective rate of 10%.

In my opinion, the SNAP program is a bad idea, but not for reasons you might think. First off, corporations should be required to pay a living wage. If you need the government to subsidize your workers, you shouldn't be in business.

Secondly, instead of making SNAP a separate program with those administration costs of qualifying people and sending the money to the states etc., just increase you welfare/disability/social security/military pay to cover the additional amount.

Last but not least, recipients are restricted in what foods they can buy. Not fresh wholesome stuff, but prepared packaged crap. So the biggest beneficiaries of the SNAP program are corporations.

 

[Boss]

Bearing in mind, I live in Canada, but here I see the opposite. In Canada, we know that if we work hard, we can get ahead. Our middle class is growing, not shrinking. That's no longer true in the US.

It's because our middle class is becoming more wealthy.

And getting a quality education in the U.S. Is tough unless you grow up in a well to do neighbourhood.

But we're spending more per child than almost anyone.

American treat their poor like the red headed step child.

Actually, our poor are the most obese poor on the planet. The average person below poverty level in America lives in a house with a television, air conditioner and telephone.

The problem is, our poor are treated TOO well.

The Republican Party uses the poor to deflect attention from the fact that the ones getting the big time handouts are the wealthy and the big corporations.

So you won't be voting for Hillary Clinton since she has set records for donations from the wealthy and big corporations?

Republicans rail against high corporate taxes but the only companies which pay 35% are the small ones. Big corporations pay an effective rate of 10%.

None of them should be paying ANYTHING as far as I'm concerned. If their owner and CEO report incomes, they should pay income tax but the corporation itself shouldn't be taxed. Reason being, the first rule of commerce... business doesn't pay tax. All tax liability is factored in to price, pay scales, benefits, productivity objectives or even actual jobs themselves.

First off, corporations should be required to pay a living wage.

No, people should have to earn what the market will bear. There should be no restrictions set on that amount and it should be between the parties involved to negotiate a fair wage for the work expected.

Secondly, instead of making SNAP a separate program with those administration costs of qualifying people and sending the money to the states etc., just increase you welfare/disability/social security/military pay to cover the additional amount.

The administration of SNAP is not the problem with it.

 

[Moonglow]

Reason being, the first rule of commerce... business doesn't pay tax.

When has this ever been the case in the USA?

 

[RKMBrown]

I'm a Canadian who started working when I was 11 years old - first with two paper routes. I made $3. per week. When I was 14, I suckered tobacco - hot, filthy work that paid me $20. an acre. I could do an acre a day. Much more than the 75 cents per hour that I could make in waitressing in a local coffee shop.

I work all through school - waitressing, life guard in the summer, drying cleaning plant on weekends, ironing in a laundry - anything I could get.

When I graduated, I went into banking and became one of the first female bank managers in Canada. I attended a lot of meetings where I was the only woman in the room. I left banking and went into law, eventually becoming a senior law clerk working at Bay Street law firms. Law clerks handle their own files, have their own offices and secretaries, but they're not lawyers. The files are less complex than the files the lawyers work on - more straight forward. We also assist on the mega deals.

Two years ago we left Toronto and moved to the Niagara Peninsula living on 2 acres near Lake Erie. I'm currently working for lawyer in village about a 15 minute drive from home doing real estate. The hours are long. The pay isn't as good as Bay Street and the biggest deal I've worked on is only $4 million but it's never boring.

Sorry to disappoint you that I'm not sitting on my ass sucking the government teat like Koshergirl.

And how much of a role did social entitlement programs or affirmative action play in what you accomplished? How much of that do you think you couldn't have done without the help of the government?

My mother raised me on a government widow's pension after my father died. My schooling was paid for by the government.

I've had 9 surgeries, major and minor, three children and a minor heart attack, all paid for by government health care. I received maternity leave benefits which made it easier for me to take time off with my babies.

I rode government funded transit to work every day for 30 years in Toronto. My youngest daughter went to a government funded after school program. We used the city recreation centres regularly and the city library. Out in the country we use the local rec centre, and the library.

What I accomplished professionally, I did by using my smarts and my ambition, as well as my (government) education, but my life has been helped and enhanced throughout by using government funded services and health care.

If I had had to pay for my medical care, I would have been bankrupted, more than once. So overall, it's been a huge benefit to me.

Hey dumb ass... all the free shit you got... yeah someone else had to pay for it. All government does is take from your neighbor to give to you. It aint free dumb ass.

 

[Dragonlady]

Bearing in mind, I live in Canada, but here I see the opposite. In Canada, we know that if we work hard, we can get ahead. Our middle class is growing, not shrinking. That's no longer true in the US.

It's because our middle class is becoming more wealthy.

And getting a quality education in the U.S. Is tough unless you grow up in a well to do neighbourhood.

But we're spending more per child than almost anyone.

American treat their poor like the red headed step child.

Actually, our poor are the most obese poor on the planet. The average person below poverty level in America lives in a house with a television, air conditioner and telephone.

The problem is, our poor are treated TOO well.

The Republican Party uses the poor to deflect attention from the fact that the ones getting the big time handouts are the wealthy and the big corporations.

So you won't be voting for Hillary Clinton since she has set records for donations from the wealthy and big corporations?

Republicans rail against high corporate taxes but the only companies which pay 35% are the small ones. Big corporations pay an effective rate of 10%.

None of them should be paying ANYTHING as far as I'm concerned. If their owner and CEO report incomes, they should pay income tax but the corporation itself shouldn't be taxed. Reason being, the first rule of commerce... business doesn't pay tax. All tax liability is factored in to price, pay scales, benefits, productivity objectives or even actual jobs themselves.

First off, corporations should be required to pay a living wage.

No, people should have to earn what the market will bear. There should be no restrictions set on that amount and it should be between the parties involved to negotiate a fair wage for the work expected.

Secondly, instead of making SNAP a separate program with those administration costs of qualifying people and sending the money to the states etc., just increase you welfare/disability/social security/military pay to cover the additional amount.

The administration of SNAP is not the problem with it.

Your middle class isn't getting more wealthy. They're losing ground. Only the wealthy are getting wealthier.

Those unionized manufacturing jobs that all went to Mexico and Asia, were middle class jobs. The people who used to have them, aren't middle class any more. They're barely over the poverty line.

You say that people should be paid what the market will bear. That's not working out too well for the workers. Wages, as a percentage of business expenses, are at their lowest levels since the 1920's. Profits are at their highest levels in history. From these numbers it is apparent that businesses could afford substantial increases in wages but because of high unemployment the market says they don't have to.

I won't be voting for any U.S. Candidate. I'm a Canadian living in Canada where we have an $11/hour minimum wage, government funded health care and the fastest growing middle class in the world.

 

[RKMBrown]

I'm a Canadian who started working when I was 11 years old - first with two paper routes. I made $3. per week. When I was 14, I suckered tobacco - hot, filthy work that paid me $20. an acre. I could do an acre a day. Much more than the 75 cents per hour that I could make in waitressing in a local coffee shop.

I work all through school - waitressing, life guard in the summer, drying cleaning plant on weekends, ironing in a laundry - anything I could get.

When I graduated, I went into banking and became one of the first female bank managers in Canada. I attended a lot of meetings where I was the only woman in the room. I left banking and went into law, eventually becoming a senior law clerk working at Bay Street law firms. Law clerks handle their own files, have their own offices and secretaries, but they're not lawyers. The files are less complex than the files the lawyers work on - more straight forward. We also assist on the mega deals.

Two years ago we left Toronto and moved to the Niagara Peninsula living on 2 acres near Lake Erie. I'm currently working for lawyer in village about a 15 minute drive from home doing real estate. The hours are long. The pay isn't as good as Bay Street and the biggest deal I've worked on is only $4 million but it's never boring.

Sorry to disappoint you that I'm not sitting on my ass sucking the government teat like Koshergirl.

So explain to me why you support policies that punish people who are currently working as hard as you claim to have?

This year, I'm likely to make the most money I ever have in my life.... at about.... $23,000 a year.

See this is why people on the right like myself, read what you say, and think you are lying. Because most people who have worked their butt off, don't support policies that punish people who work their butt off.

Everything that you left-wingers have done over the past decade, have made my life harder, not easier.

Now I expect that from people who have never worked an honest days work in their whole lives. They are clueless, and arrogant. I expect those left-wingers to make my life worse, because they think they know better than me, what needs to be done with my money.

Usually people who have really worked hard in life, wiser, and less arrogant.

You claim to have worked hard, and yet want to harm those who were in the position you previously were? You are either a psychopath, or lying.

I live in a left wing country with cradle to the grave social programs which have helped me all my life. The harder I work, the better my life and that of my family.

You live in a right wing country where the deck is stacked against you but your anger is misdirected. You're getting screwed by corporate America who refuses to pay living wages to hardworking people.

It should be directed at the mega corporations and business executives who are scooping all of the gravy and leaving you the crumbs.

The Republicans have a vested interest in keeping you pissed off at the poor people who taxpayers are subsidizing. As long as you're focused on those worse off than you, you will continue to vote against your own best interests and vote Republican.

I pay nothing for doctor's visits or hospital stays. I pay $2 for a prescription. Every family receives $2000 per year for every child under 6 and a lower amount for children 6 to 18.

There is subsidized child care for low income families. Geared to income housing for low income families and seniors. These assists are cheaper than welfare and help low income families get back in their feet.

Our school system funds all schools equally - rich neighbourhood or poor and our education system is ranked one of the best in the world. Our teachers are well paid.

In Toronto, we had recreation centres in every neighbourhood, rich or poor, with free programs in poor neighbourhoods and cheap programs $10 or less, in rich ones. They have gyms, indoor pools, and programs for all ages.

Every small town has a hockey rink and a soccer pitch - even out here in our Township, and we have a free library with books, movies and video games.

Canadians believe in helping out their fellow Canadians. It's in our Constitution. We spend our money on infrastructure and our people. We're not a strongly religious nation so we don't rely on our churches to help the poor.

One our leading writers, Pierre Burton, wrote a book in the 1960's which has informed my life. It's called The Smug Majority. In it he says that capitalism is very hard on the poor, and on those who aren't smart enough or strong enough to compete and succeed. As such, we who are smart enough and strong enough, have an obligation to help out these people. It's the cost of succeeding in a capitalist economy.

I'm not rich, but I make a decent living, and when I retire which will be within 5 years, I'll have a modest pension, most of which will come from my government, though CPP, and senior income supplements.

Americans used to care about fellow Anericans - before Reagan, and the worship of Ayn Rand.

Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. That was a call from Kennedy to contribute to the well being of others, and not ask that your country make you rich. Conservatives have tried to twist it around to make it about not asking for free stuff. There wasn't much in the way of free stuff when Kennedy said this. But there was an expectation that you could get rich easily. Today it's not so easy.

Man it must suck to have to live off taxes taken from your neighbors. Sorry you don't have a family that can take care of itself. Maybe if you folks focused on families instead of marrying your government sugar daddy you would not have such a screwed up life in a socialist country.