The Lazy Poor

[Againsheila]

Poverty can never be eliminated. Poverty is relative. You are only as poor as someone else is rich. In the land of billionaires, the mere millionaires are in poverty.

That's why the poor in America are wealthy beyond the wildest dreams of 90% of the world's poor.

What has changed now, is that poverty has created an entitlement. Someone so poor that they only have a 46" flat screen TV is ENTITLED to a 52" flat screen TV because they are too poor buy one for themselves.

I call Bullshit.

Yes, everything is "relative," and that's exactly the problem. In an incredibly wealthy nation that has been built ENTIRELY on the backs of wage slaves, the labor force has lost its motivation. Nothing pays, and there are few passages to improvement. And they share a shockingly small portion of the wealth their efforts created.

Bitch all you want, but the reality of a brutalized work force lay in tatters everywhere. This is an issue that will only grow larger.

So, I was at the church today giving out lunches to those in need, as my friend, my son and I do every Monday and in the middle of a conversation it occurred to me how bad our economy was. Two women who came in for the free lunches, both with bachelors degrees, and my son with an associates degree and not one of the three of them had a job, at least not one that paid enough. Things are bad and the poor are not lazy. When educated people can't get a job that pays well enough for them to put a roof over their heads AND buy their own food, something is desperately wrong.

 

[Katzndogz]

Poverty can never be eliminated. Poverty is relative. You are only as poor as someone else is rich. In the land of billionaires, the mere millionaires are in poverty.

That's why the poor in America are wealthy beyond the wildest dreams of 90% of the world's poor.

What has changed now, is that poverty has created an entitlement. Someone so poor that they only have a 46" flat screen TV is ENTITLED to a 52" flat screen TV because they are too poor buy one for themselves.

I call Bullshit.

Yes, everything is "relative," and that's exactly the problem. In an incredibly wealthy nation that has been built ENTIRELY on the backs of wage slaves, the labor force has lost its motivation. Nothing pays, and there are few passages to improvement. And they share a shockingly small portion of the wealth their efforts created.

Bitch all you want, but the reality of a brutalized work force lay in tatters everywhere. This is an issue that will only grow larger.

So, I was at the church today giving out lunches to those in need, as my friend, my son and I do every Monday and in the middle of a conversation it occurred to me how bad our economy was. Two women who came in for the free lunches, both with bachelors degrees, and my son with an associates degree and not one of the three of them had a job, at least not one that paid enough. Things are bad and the poor are not lazy. When educated people can't get a job that pays well enough for them to put a roof over their heads AND buy their own food, something is desperately wrong.

Maybe THIS is their problem.

Managers to Millennials: Job Interview No Time to Text

Human resource professionals say they've seen recent college grads text or take calls in interviews, dress inappropriately, use slang or overly casual language, and exhibit other oddball behavior.

"It's behavior that may be completely appropriate outside the interview," says Jaime Fall, vice president of the HR Policy Association. "The interview is still a traditional environment."

Fall and other HR executives say such quirks have become more commonplace the past three years or so, and are displayed by about one in five recent grads. They're prompting recruiters to rule out otherwise qualified candidates for entry-level positions and delay hiring decisions.

 

[Againsheila]

I call Bullshit.

Yes, everything is "relative," and that's exactly the problem. In an incredibly wealthy nation that has been built ENTIRELY on the backs of wage slaves, the labor force has lost its motivation. Nothing pays, and there are few passages to improvement. And they share a shockingly small portion of the wealth their efforts created.

Bitch all you want, but the reality of a brutalized work force lay in tatters everywhere. This is an issue that will only grow larger.

So, I was at the church today giving out lunches to those in need, as my friend, my son and I do every Monday and in the middle of a conversation it occurred to me how bad our economy was. Two women who came in for the free lunches, both with bachelors degrees, and my son with an associates degree and not one of the three of them had a job, at least not one that paid enough. Things are bad and the poor are not lazy. When educated people can't get a job that pays well enough for them to put a roof over their heads AND buy their own food, something is desperately wrong.

Maybe THIS is their problem.

Managers to Millennials: Job Interview No Time to Text

Human resource professionals say they've seen recent college grads text or take calls in interviews, dress inappropriately, use slang or overly casual language, and exhibit other oddball behavior.

"It's behavior that may be completely appropriate outside the interview," says Jaime Fall, vice president of the HR Policy Association. "The interview is still a traditional environment."

Fall and other HR executives say such quirks have become more commonplace the past three years or so, and are displayed by about one in five recent grads. They're prompting recruiters to rule out otherwise qualified candidates for entry-level positions and delay hiring decisions.

You may have had a point if it was just my son, but the women there weren't any spring chickens.

One of them volunteers at the theatre for us and she's always dressed professionally in a black skirt and white blouse with a little black bow tie. She also has her food handlers permit and her alcohol license. Face it, the economy is bad.

 

[koshergrl]

Again. A single person, with a degree...and they're eating at a soup kitchen?

I don't buy it. They're either lazy dumbasses, or they're lying about their circumstances.

My son recently got a job in a VERY depressed area. He got a job because he busted his ass looking for a job and moved to a new when he found one. It took some time, but failure was not an option and we never viewed it as such.

People who are sitting on their asses saying they can't work because there are no jobs "let alone any that pay *enough*" are full of shit.

 

[Againsheila]

Again. A single person, with a degree...and they're eating at a soup kitchen?

I don't buy it. They're either lazy dumbasses, or they're lying about their circumstances.

My son recently got a job in a VERY depressed area. He got a job because he busted his ass looking for a job and moved to a new when he found one. It took some time, but failure was not an option and we never viewed it as such.

People who are sitting on their asses saying they can't work because there are no jobs "let alone any that pay *enough*" are full of shit.

It's not a soup kitchen, we give out sack lunches and you have no idea what you are talking about. My niece graduated from the UW with her degree in environmental sciences. She couldn't get a job in her field. Fortunately for her, she continued her job at Bartell's while she was going to school and when she finished she kept that job and finally they decided to send her to pharmacology school. She just graduated and she has a guaranteed job with Bartells. So many in this economy aren't working, especially those between the ages of 35 and 65. Do you know how many people I know in their 50's who got laid off and can't find another job? You can include me in that and I'm not exactly lazy. I put in a hell of a lot of volunteer hours because I don't believe in sitting around all day doing nothing. There just aren't any jobs out there and if you were to lose your job, you'd find out for yourself, the hard way. Thankfully for me, my husband is still working so we can get by just fine. We'd be in a heck of a lot of trouble if he lost his job.

 

[koshergrl]

I do know what I'm talking about. I've listened to you whine about why people can't work for years. I have handed out meals as well, and I have worked the business end of hand outs as well...I know where that stuff comes from and I have determined eligibility for the people who receive it.

They are people who make excuses. They are people who won't do this, and can't do that, and aren't willing to move...and who commit a LOT of time and energy figuring out how to get the most free stuff they possibly can.

The exceptions are thos who have some catastrophe occur, or who are battling with abuse or mental illness or some other (legitimate) disability.

But the people you pretend are flooding the food pantries and kitchens...those people are imaginary. When you have able bodied, single, educated people showing up for a free meal on a regular basis, they're exploiting the system.

 

[Foxfyre]

psssst. learn to read. I said i want to eliminate it. or at the very minimum, make them work for it

Ok, no more free public education, no more Medicaid, no more foodstamps, and that's just for starters.

How does eliminating that SOCIALISM make America a better place?

Because it forces free loaders to fend for themselves.

And it removes the feds from aspects of life they have no business in.

Exactly. If these things have merit, they will be provided either in the private sector or at local or state level where they will be managed within budgets and with an eye toward achieving the best possible stewardship for the taxpayer's dollar. There will be far less opportunity at local levels to load appropriations bills with billions of dollars in pork and other means by which federal politicians and bureaucrats keep themselves in power.

Get the federal government out of the business of government services other than those NECESSARY to the federal government which would be of a very limited nature. (Unless the state government is California in which case all bets are off.)

DISCLAIMER for the trolls, idiots, and other numbnuts:
- No I am NOT proposing doing away with all programs the federal government manages
- No I am not proposing doing away with all federal services and regulation.
- No I am not advocating throwing the elderly out of their nursing homes or any other red herrings you usually throw in at this point.

I AM saying however, that we could reduce total government costs by a huge percentage simply by eliminating most of the bloated bureaucracies that the federal government has become and leaving it to the states and local governments and the private sector to do what needs to be done.

 

[Againsheila]

And yet we still have the ignorant, sick and hungry around after all these years. Go figure.

Tell us how things would be better if we didn't have those programs.

Tell me how it's changed since we have had them. If the programs were intended to lift the poor out of poverty, it hasn't worked as there are more people on assitance than ever before. If the programs were working, shouldn't they eventually eliminate themselves or be very small in comparison to the past? Do you think another federal job training program on top of the existing 48 or so is the going to be the straw that breaks poverty's back?

The problem is we are in a bad economy which means more people on assistance. Not saying their aren't people who abuse the system, just that not all of them, not even most of them abuse the system. Why is it no one complains about corporate welfare or the bank bailouts which cost us a heck of a lot more? No, they'd rather complain about people working minimum wage jobs that need food stamps and call them lazy.

 

[koshergrl]

We are in a bad economy BECAUSE so many people are on the system, and the system keeps broadening to pull more in.

 

[Againsheila]

We are in a bad economy BECAUSE so many people are on the system, and the system keeps broadening to pull more in.

No, we are in a bad economy because our jobs were shipped overseas, minimum wage hasn't kept up with inflation and we bailed out the banks, not the people.

 

[koshergrl]

Oh yawn.

When you make it difficult for producers and entrepreneurs in this country to afford to hire people, they leave.

Live and learn.

Meanwhile, if you are unemployed and you're busy feeling sorry for yourself, I invite you to apply for work at a cannery in Alaska, or on a boat. They're hiring this time of year. Those people work their asses off for a few months, then bring their money home with them at the end of the season.

But then, they're willing to go where the work is. Because they see their success as their own personal responsibility. They don't think it's someone else's job to make sure they make money.

 

[Foxfyre]

Poverty can never be eliminated. Poverty is relative. You are only as poor as someone else is rich. In the land of billionaires, the mere millionaires are in poverty.

That's why the poor in America are wealthy beyond the wildest dreams of 90% of the world's poor.

What has changed now, is that poverty has created an entitlement. Someone so poor that they only have a 46" flat screen TV is ENTITLED to a 52" flat screen TV because they are too poor buy one for themselves.

I call Bullshit.

Yes, everything is "relative," and that's exactly the problem. In an incredibly wealthy nation that has been built ENTIRELY on the backs of wage slaves, the labor force has lost its motivation. Nothing pays, and there are few passages to improvement. And they share a shockingly small portion of the wealth their efforts created.

Bitch all you want, but the reality of a brutalized work force lay in tatters everywhere. This is an issue that will only grow larger.

So, I was at the church today giving out lunches to those in need, as my friend, my son and I do every Monday and in the middle of a conversation it occurred to me how bad our economy was. Two women who came in for the free lunches, both with bachelors degrees, and my son with an associates degree and not one of the three of them had a job, at least not one that paid enough. Things are bad and the poor are not lazy. When educated people can't get a job that pays well enough for them to put a roof over their heads AND buy their own food, something is desperately wrong.

Actually I agree with you that something is desperately wrong. Almost every single one of us knows at least one other person who is currently out of work and very much wants to work. But more government handouts and additional pressures on private commerce andindustry is not the answer. All that does is prolong the agony, destablilze the dollar, and create inflation.

What we need is to free up commerce and industry and provide strong incentive for American enterprise, currently sitting on trillions in investment capital that it does not dare risk, to get back to work and start building things, expanding, producing, and hiring. Bring down unemployment and wages go up. The more people are out of work, the weaker the economy, and the less anybody's labor is worth to employers.

The current administration seems determined to prevent the economy from getting better and is throwing up roadblocks to a strong economic recovery at every turn.

 

[Locke11_21]

I call Bullshit.

Yes, everything is "relative," and that's exactly the problem. In an incredibly wealthy nation that has been built ENTIRELY on the backs of wage slaves, the labor force has lost its motivation. Nothing pays, and there are few passages to improvement. And they share a shockingly small portion of the wealth their efforts created.

Bitch all you want, but the reality of a brutalized work force lay in tatters everywhere. This is an issue that will only grow larger.

So, I was at the church today giving out lunches to those in need, as my friend, my son and I do every Monday and in the middle of a conversation it occurred to me how bad our economy was. Two women who came in for the free lunches, both with bachelors degrees, and my son with an associates degree and not one of the three of them had a job, at least not one that paid enough. Things are bad and the poor are not lazy. When educated people can't get a job that pays well enough for them to put a roof over their heads AND buy their own food, something is desperately wrong.

Actually I agree with you that something is desperately wrong. Almost every single one of us knows at least one other person who is currently out of work and very much wants to work. But more government handouts and additional pressures on private commerce andindustry is not the answer. All that does is prolong the agony, destablilze the dollar, and create inflation.

You are indeed correct. Government handouts also diminish ones desire to work and be independent and self reliant. It destroys innovation and motivation as well. Many people once on government handouts will stay on government handouts, and of course they will vote themselves a paycheck every election, which is voting Democrat. The Democrats, the party that brainwashes people into vilifying the rich instead of encouraging people to go out and become rich. Democrats, the party that relies on class warfare, a great propaganda machine in the media and keeping the poor poor so they can keep the voting Democrat.

What we need is to free up commerce and industry and provide strong incentive for American enterprise, currently sitting on trillions in investment capital that it does not dare risk, to get back to work and start building things, expanding, producing, and hiring. Bring down unemployment and wages go up. The more people are out of work, the weaker the economy, and the less anybody's labor is worth to employers.

Exactly!

The current administration seems determined to prevent the economy from getting better and is throwing up roadblocks to a strong economic recovery at every turn.

That is exactly it. Just look at how dictator Obama acted when his sequester actually went through. He immediately makes cuts in areas where it will hurt Americans most, all in order to scare them to never ever want to see cuts in government spending again. I truly believe Obama wants to spend us into complete and total destruction.

 

[MeadHallPirate]

ahoy PoliticalChic,

5. The lazy poor are the one poverty group for which a central government must facilitate welfare services through guilt and manipulation of the rest of the populace. This is because taxpayers generally despise this poverty group because, no matter how expensive the welfare programs are, the lazy poor always want more. They depend on the pity of liberal politicians to redistribute wealth, so that they can get what they want with little effort and no personal responsibility.

7. These are the "I couldn't care less" poor, the 'refuse to work' poor, and those poor who claim welfare benefits as their 'entitlement.' Some politicians believe they are doing these folks a favor by addicting them to a government-subsidized life. These are people who will be forever impoverished: they have bought the lie that poor people are poor because rich people are rich, and, therefore, they can demand that Uncle Sam fuels, or at least feels, their pain.

I hope it's not too late for something to be done to change the direction of this nation.

lass, i couldn't agree more with yer observations 'o the lazy poor and the lazy wealthy (and the lazy middle class, fer that matter). folks who have tax policy and Federal spendin' created and tailored fer thar needs, when others have the run the gauntlet because they don't fall into the right demographic.

regardin' the "I couldn't care less" poor, ye have a county full 'o the scallywags in Hale County, Alabama. 'tis vexin' to me, but what can one do?

as a Christian, one can't just let them folks wither and die, aye?

*bows*

- MeadHallPirate

 

[MeadHallPirate]

Oh yawn.

When you make it difficult for producers and entrepreneurs in this country to afford to hire people, they leave.

Live and learn.

Meanwhile, if you are unemployed and you're busy feeling sorry for yourself, I invite you to apply for work at a cannery in Alaska, or on a boat. They're hiring this time of year. Those people work their asses off for a few months, then bring their money home with them at the end of the season.

But then, they're willing to go where the work is. Because they see their success as their own personal responsibility. They don't think it's someone else's job to make sure they make money.

ahoy and shalom, Koshergrl,

whilst i think the hardy, self reliant ways 'o Alaskans be a admirable and mighty thing, 'tis important to remember that if Federal taxpayer largesse was cut off, Alaska would probably look alot like western China.

very third world.

aye.

- MeadHallPirate

 

[ShaklesOfBigGov]

I asked you for examples, you have none. You want to switch to a system that has no evidence of success in the history of humankind.

Not a good idea.

Here is what you liberals don't understand: the "choice" to accept free public education, initiative, hard work, determination, the ability to learn from your failures, and taking personal responsibility for the decisions you make (whether these personal decisions were good or bad) are the keys to "working" [key word] your way out of poverty.

Some may recall, there was a time when hobos were frowned upon by those who stood by strong work ethics. A time where it had been considered more honorable to find some form of work (no matter how labor intensive), because of the obligation one had to support and care for their family. It was considered a sign of real "character" to never accept the easier, more convenient road. They also desired to leave a stronger set of values to their kids, CHOOSING the labor intensive sacrifice in order to leave behind the chance to discover better opportunities. They were determined to work hard, so their kids could remember the sacrifices they had made, to provide THEM with more education towards an even better way of life. Today we simply give them cell phones, a government taxpayer check, and make excuses for them.



Btw NYcarbineer, where are those facts and statistics that proves government has been successful at reducing the poverty rate? I'm sure you are quite familiar with President Lyndon Baines Johnson's all out "war on poverty". Can you show us how successful and effective it has been, after all these BILLIONS of dollars government has thrown at the issue? Free cell phones, free minutes, I mean they really spared no expense. In what way exactly has Ben Franklin otherwise been proven wrong, when it comes to the issue of poverty? Are you capable of at least defending your side of the argument or not? ...... or is avoidance going to be your only answer? (as I know I'm not the only one who has asked this of you)

 

[JoeB131]

5. This might be something to think about:
Joseph gathered very much grain: It seems it was customary for Pharaoh to take 10% of the grain in Egypt as a tax. Essentially, Joseph doubled the taxes over the next seven years (Genesis 41:34 mentions one-fifth, that is, 20%).

The Hebrews never lived in Egypt.

That's a myth written by shitty little sheepherders who looked at the awesome temples the Egyptian Gods had, and all they had was their shittly little wood temple.

It was kind of the equivlent to Penis Envy.

Why must I constantly prove that without stupid misinformation, you'd have no information at all???


1. As of 1913, the earliest evidence of Israel’s existence outside of the Bible had appeared on the Merneptah Stele.

aSo, then….at the very least, the Bible has been shown to be reliable as a record of historic truth. The archeological record is in accordance with the biblical text, substantiated by the above evidence.

It shows nothing of the sort. There's no evidence the Hebrews ever lived in Egypt.

Because they got SOME things right doesn't mean the other things were right.

 

[ShaklesOfBigGov]

No one is entitled to someone else's income. That's theft. And more & more Americans are getting fed up. Businesses don't want to pay em and Big Brother wants to steal more & more from em. What do they do? Who do they turn to? Desperate frustration is setting in amongst the masses.

The reality, though, has nothing to do with "entitlement," however you might choose to define it. The reality has much more to do with torches and pitchforks--because if you decide that feudal society, or a right wing monarchy is more "deserving" of wealth, you may find yourself facing "La Guillotine" at some point. "The masses" tend to become upset after inequality reaches a certain level.

There is nothing prohibiting the masses from finding the means (including the military or GI Bill) to get an advanced education, or starting your OWN business instead of bickering over how someone chooses to run theirs. Those who I find complain the most on a rather frequent basis, about their boss or owner, do so because they have chosen to "settle" right where they are.

 

[kwc57]

Tell us how things would be better if we didn't have those programs.

Tell me how it's changed since we have had them. If the programs were intended to lift the poor out of poverty, it hasn't worked as there are more people on assitance than ever before. If the programs were working, shouldn't they eventually eliminate themselves or be very small in comparison to the past? Do you think another federal job training program on top of the existing 48 or so is the going to be the straw that breaks poverty's back?

The problem is we are in a bad economy which means more people on assistance. Not saying their aren't people who abuse the system, just that not all of them, not even most of them abuse the system. Why is it no one complains about corporate welfare or the bank bailouts which cost us a heck of a lot more? No, they'd rather complain about people working minimum wage jobs that need food stamps and call them lazy.

You are missing the point of the OP. We aren't talking about people down on their luck trying to replace a good lost job. We are talking about those who refuse to work because they know the government will be their sugar daddy. The lazy poor. Those who are poor by choice and too lazy to fend for themselves because they know someone else will feed them while they do nothing but exist.

 

[NYcarbineer]

All these rightwing nuts bitching about government aid to the poor and not one of them will step up and say they want to eliminate the aid they are bitching about.

It appears that the enjoyment of bitching is the real motivation here.

OK TDM, you must have a reading comprehension problem. You haven't heard anyone here on USMB say they want to end aid to those capable of helping themselves who won't simply because the government will keep feeding them if they do nothing? Really? I have no problem with assitance to the truely indigant. Giving 1 in 5 Anericans food stamps......I have a problem with.

If conservatives had had their way, none of these programs would even EXIST. Conservatives were against every one of them when they were created.

I guess you're admitting that conservatism has had to acknowledge that Democrats were right to get these programs established,

and that conservatives now acknowledge that the liberal welfare state is a good thing...

...but simply, as you point out, not perfect.

Okay. Good point. lol