Did the poor deserve their poverty?

[BoycottTheday]

They act like they do.

 

[Full-Auto]

They act like they do.

What? Way to general.

 

[Jarhead]

They act like they do.

your real question should be....

Do the poor have any idea what the real poor of this world live like?

 

[Full-Auto]

They act like they do.

your real question should be....

Do the poor have any idea what the real poor of this world live like?

I think it would be safe to say they have no idea.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

They act like they do.

I'd need a few more details bub.

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

If they are poor through disability or tragedy then no. The rest can fend for themselves through THEIR OWN CHOICES

 

[Sundial]

Yes.
This is clearly a bad kid.

 

[eflatminor]

Deserve? That implies someone else decided the poor's financial situation. That shouldn't be the case.

That said, poverty in America bears no resemblance to real poverty:

What is Poverty in the United States: Air Conditioning, Cable TV and an Xbox

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

Yes.
This is clearly a bad kid.

And that clearly isn't an American. Way to prove your debate skills irrelevant

 

[BoycottTheday]

Let me see, the poorest people StateSide i remember seeing were the native aMerican indians i saw in the late 60's out west when my family went on cross country sojournes on Rt 66.

I dint think they deserved what they were getting tbh, butt, i was just a little nipper.

Havnt been back since so im not sure how they live today.

Let me know if 40+ years of liberalism did them any good.

 

[Jarhead]

Yes.
This is clearly a bad kid.

yes...he clearly is.
He is black so he likely stole that bag of grain.

I am a conservative so I must believe this to be true....

 

[8537]

Yes.
This is clearly a bad kid.

yes...he clearly is.
He is black so he likely stole that bag of grain.

Well done, sir!

 

[waltky]

Workin' till the body gives out...

Social Security disability on verge of insolvency
Aug 21,`11 WASHINGTON (AP) - Laid-off workers and aging baby boomers are flooding Social Security's disability program with benefit claims, pushing the financially strapped system toward the brink of insolvency.

Applications are up nearly 50 percent over a decade ago as people with disabilities lose their jobs and can't find new ones in an economy that has shed nearly 7 million jobs. The stampede for benefits is adding to a growing backlog of applicants - many wait two years or more before their cases are resolved - and worsening the financial problems of a program that's been running in the red for years. New congressional estimates say the trust fund that supports Social Security disability will run out of money by 2017, leaving the program unable to pay full benefits, unless Congress acts. About two decades later, Social Security's much larger retirement fund is projected to run dry as well.

Much of the focus in Washington has been on fixing Social Security's retirement system. Proposals range from raising the retirement age to means-testing benefits for wealthy retirees. But the disability system is in much worse shape and its problems defy easy solutions. The trustees who oversee Social Security are urging Congress to shore up the disability system by reallocating money from the retirement program, just as lawmakers did in 1994. That would provide only short-term relief at the expense of weakening the retirement program. Claims for disability benefits typically increase in a bad economy because many disabled people get laid off and can't find a new job. This year, about 3.3 million people are expected to apply for federal disability benefits. That's 700,000 more than in 2008 and 1 million more than a decade ago.

"It's primarily economic desperation," Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue said in an interview. "People on the margins who get bad news in terms of a layoff and have no other place to go and they take a shot at disability," The disability program is also being hit by an aging population - disability rates rise as people get older - as well as a system that encourages people to apply for more generous disability benefits rather than waiting until they qualify for retirement. Retirees can get full Social Security benefits at age 66, a threshold gradually rising to 67. Early retirees can get reduced benefits at 62. However, if you qualify for disability, you can get full benefits, based on your work history, even before 62.

Also, people who qualify for Social Security disability automatically get Medicare after two years, even if they are younger than 65, the age when other retirees qualify for the government-run health insurance program. Congress tried to rein in the disability program in the late 1970s by making it tougher to qualify. The number of people receiving benefits declined for a few years, even during a recession in the early 1980s. Congress, however, reversed course and loosened the criteria, and the rolls were growing again by 1984. The disability program "got into trouble first because of liberalization of eligibility standards in the 1980s," said Charles Blahous, one of the public trustees who oversee Social Security. "Then it got another shove into bigger trouble during the recent recession."

MORE

 

[BoycottTheday]

Dont get me started, i know more than a few who claim disability and arnt.

They are mentally disabled imho.

When i was full time in a wheelchair everyone told me to file...

I said bultacos to enforced poverty and just bought my own wheelchairs.

Fast forward to today im getting better all the time, disabled my ass.

The stupid part is now the work i do i get to do sitting down anyways.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

Yes.
This is clearly a bad kid.

And that clearly isn't an American. Way to prove your debate skills irrelevant

I dunno, could be Chicago, Detroit, LA or any major blue city.

 

[clevergirl]

Yes.
This is clearly a bad kid.

Is the question "the poor in other countries"? Or about who, we, in the US, consider to be poor?

Poverty in the US DOES exist. It can be argued that much of the poverty is due to people choosing to drink and do drugs and throw their lives to the wind. Poverty is also exacerbated by welfare programs whereby children grow up never having experienced a work ethic. Then there are the unfortunate, who, for any number of reasons beyond their control, are disabled or unable to work.

Other questions can be asked: Do all people "deserve" to be wealthy? Do all people "deserve" to not be poor?

It is clear that some people do deserve poverty- if by that we understand that they are capable, but unwilling, to work to change their circumstances. Likewise, all people, deserve the money they work hard to earn. Some people are impoverished no matter how hard they work- some are wealthy without even trying. None of this gives a government the right to take money from a person to give to another.

 

[Greenbeard]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQD9Y7gyAAw]Deserve's got nothing to do with it[/ame]