The poor get $8.21 in government spending for each dollar of federal, state and local

[red states rule]

Don't know about RSR, but I don't hate them, I disapprove of them. Most people are poor via the choices they have made. But liberals make them out to be victims. We have equal opportunity in this country, but libs take it one step farther. Because the poor are victims and poor through no fault of their own, (cause it can't be that they squandered their opportunities) that means equal opportunity won't work. So will just try to make equal outcomes which is what libs, admit it or not, believe, because it's what their policies reflect. Of course to achieve equal outcomes that means essentially taking money from people that made good choices and giveing to those that made bad ones. That is why conservatives get upset about this. Libs don't see it that way. Those poor people are just victims who just need a little a help from greedy rich people.

Dems are showing their compassion to the working class

They are raising their taxes. Dems want to increase the marriage penalty, lower the child tax credit, and take back the 33% rate cut the lowest wage earners got from Pres Bush

Instead of encouraging economic growth, continuing to grow the economy, maintain job growth - libs want more of your money to keep folks on government handouts

 

[jasendorf]

Don't know about RSR, but I don't hate them, I disapprove of them. Most people are poor via the choices they have made. But liberals make them out to be victims. We have equal opportunity in this country, but libs take it one step farther. Because the poor are victims and poor through no fault of their own, (cause it can't be that they squandered their opportunities) that means equal opportunity won't work. So will just try to make equal outcomes which is what libs, admit it or not, believe, because it's what their policies reflect. Of course to achieve equal outcomes that means essentially taking money from people that made good choices and giveing to those that made bad ones. That is why conservatives get upset about this. Libs don't see it that way. Those poor people are just victims who just need a little a help from greedy rich people.

I think there is a healthy mixture of both involved here. But, don't act as if equal opportunity exists here in this country. Opportunity is overwhelmingly weighted in favor of those who already have money (or in cases like the great decision makers Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie, whose daddies have money). To act as if that is not real is the base mindset of suburban middle-class teenagers... not adults.

There is a class warfare going on in this country... and it ain't being prodded by the left.

 

[Bern80]

I think there is a healthy mixture of both involved here. But, don't act as if equal opportunity exists here in this country. Opportunity is overwhelmingly weighted in favor of those who already have money (or in cases like the great decision makers Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie, whose daddies have money). To act as if that is not real is the base mindset of suburban middle-class teenagers... not adults.

I think you are confused about what the term equal opportunity means. It basically means that anybody has the ability to choose to do, or become pretty much anything. It does not mean that different people will have not have put in different amount of effort to achieve said opportunity. That is what I mean when I say libs want equal outcomes. They beleive that if you have to put in more effort than someone else to become a doctor, well that just isn't fair. I hate to use a cliche, but life isn't fair. It shouldn't be and it is good that it isn't. The imbalance in environment and different starting points we all come from is what makes us individuals and brings out our best qualities.

There is a class warfare going on in this country... and it ain't being prodded by the left.

It most definately is. I'm sorry but this is an indeniable fact. It isn't the republicans that are trying to make the rich into this evil group of people and tax them for programs that primarily go to poor people. People with money get upset about this because they have been painted with this picture they are evil for haveing money. NEWS FLASH, the wealthiest people in this country as a majority are not comprised of the Paris Hilton's and Nicole Richie's of the world. It is made up of people that made a conscious choice to not be poor and make good decisions. And how does the democratic party rewards these people for making good decisions? By taking their money and giveing it people who have predominantly made bad ones. Rich people don't hate the poor. We hate the democrats that feed off them and make them into victims. Because at the end of the day, that is know way to help a person.

 

[jasendorf]

No offense, but what a load of crap.

So, you honestly believe that anyone in this country, if they just try hard enough, can be anything and do anything everyone else in this country can be or do? While a quaint notion... it's crap.

That load of crap is what drives the Republicans' war on the poor. They feed the silly notion that the poor who are helped by our tax dollars through the government are poor, lazy and just haven't tried hard enough. And, they've created some false sense of envy by those who do achieve that those supposedly lazy people are somehow stealing from them. Don't get me wrong... it plays pretty well. You're working hard, doing OK... and someone else is getting WIC. "Why do I have to go to the store and buy my kid food when this other guy is getting it from the government for free? He has the same opportunity as I do."

Meanwhile those who drive this mindset, those with plenty of money (and rarely has that money come from the ether), like the fact that the middle-class and working-class are envious of the "privileges" of being poor in the U.S. It keeps them busy with class warfare between those making it a little and those not making it at all while those above them keep prodding them at each others' throats.

Too bad the French aristocrats didn't have radio talk in 1788 or the guillotine wouldn't have had much use.

 

[Bern80]

No offense, but what a load of crap.

So, you honestly believe that anyone in this country, if they just try hard enough, can be anything and do anything everyone else in this country can be or do? While a quaint notion... it's crap.

That load of crap is what drives the Republicans' war on the poor. They feed the silly notion that the poor who are helped by our tax dollars through the government are poor, lazy and just haven't tried hard enough. And, they've created some false sense of envy by those who do achieve that those supposedly lazy people are somehow stealing from them. Don't get me wrong... it plays pretty well. You're working hard, doing OK... and someone else is getting WIC. "Why do I have to go to the store and buy my kid food when this other guy is getting it from the government for free? He has the same opportunity as I do."

Meanwhile those who drive this mindset, those with plenty of money (and rarely has that money come from the ether), like the fact that the middle-class and working-class are envious of the "privileges" of being poor in the U.S. It keeps them busy with class warfare between those making it a little and those not making it at all while those above them keep prodding them at each others' throats.

Too bad the French aristocrats didn't have radio talk in 1788 or the guillotine wouldn't have had much use.

You are in complete denial. The republicans have no war on the poor. In fact is in republicans best interest, especially the rich ones for people not to be poor.

But let's assume for a second that all the poor are poor through no fault of their own and they're all just poor victims of circumstance. The 'why' they are poor doesn't change what is being done to equal things out. That is taking money from people, money that they earned and belongs to them and giveing it to someone else. That is not arguable. It is what is happening every time you collect a paycheck.

What is arguable is why poor people are poor. You believe they are all victims, like a good lib is suppossed to. But, both of us see people everyday I bet that are poor and working paycheck to pay check and I don't know about you, but I have observed a lot of commonalities and the biggest one is poor choices. Please think about the following. How many people are there out there that are in absolutely and completely inescapable poor circumstances that they didn't choose? Are people born in tougher neighborhoods than others or to less than ideal parents? yes. But adversity also breeds excellence. And the dems aren't doing anybody any favors, by trying to eliminate all sources of adversity.

 

[red states rule]

No offense, but what a load of crap.

So, you honestly believe that anyone in this country, if they just try hard enough, can be anything and do anything everyone else in this country can be or do? While a quaint notion... it's crap.

That load of crap is what drives the Republicans' war on the poor. They feed the silly notion that the poor who are helped by our tax dollars through the government are poor, lazy and just haven't tried hard enough. And, they've created some false sense of envy by those who do achieve that those supposedly lazy people are somehow stealing from them. Don't get me wrong... it plays pretty well. You're working hard, doing OK... and someone else is getting WIC. "Why do I have to go to the store and buy my kid food when this other guy is getting it from the government for free? He has the same opportunity as I do."

Meanwhile those who drive this mindset, those with plenty of money (and rarely has that money come from the ether), like the fact that the middle-class and working-class are envious of the "privileges" of being poor in the U.S. It keeps them busy with class warfare between those making it a little and those not making it at all while those above them keep prodding them at each others' throats.

Too bad the French aristocrats didn't have radio talk in 1788 or the guillotine wouldn't have had much use.

Anyone who wants to can be successful. Libs on the other hand, constantly tell folks they can't do it without THEIR help

Being poor in America is not to bad. Nearly half of the "poor" own their own home. A maority own a car, have a phone, a computer, A/C, and color TV's

 

[Annie]

Anyone who wants to can be successful. Libs on the other habd, constantly tell folks they can't do it without THEIR help

Being poor in America is not to bad. Nearly half of the "poor" own their own home. A maority own a car, have a phone, a computer, A/C, and color TV's

I find that fascinating. Thanks for your commentary, it means alot. There was a time some of us may have asked for 'links' but under the new rules, thanks to Jasen and the self proclaimed Noble, no longer necessary.

 

[red states rule]

I find that fascinating. Thanks for your commentary, it means alot. There was a time some of us may have asked for 'links' but under the new rules, thanks to Jasen and the self proclaimed Noble, no longer necessary.

Allow me to back up the numbers


The following are facts about persons defined as "poor" by the Census Bureau, taken from various government reports:

Forty-six percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.
Seventy-six percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, 30 years ago, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.
Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded. More than two-thirds have more than two rooms per person.
The average poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)
Nearly three-quarters of poor households own a car; 30 percent own two or more cars.
Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.
Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.
Seventy-three percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and a third have an automatic dishwasher.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/bg1713.cfm