SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  
To: tejek who wrote (623513)8/8/2011 5:54:14 PM
From: TimF  Read Replies (2) of 1577462
 
I didn't say the poor are con-artists. Some of them are, but most are not.

Dependency on government programs has very little to do with con-artists unless perhaps you count the politician con-artists who make promise after promise without caring about the long term results.

The handouts are not only to the poor, the middle class and even some of the rich get subsidies, transfer payments, and/or targeted tax breaks. The collection of all of this is unaffordable, but one the spending starts you get a huge constituency for it. And the bigger and more expensive and thus less affordable the program is, the bigger the constituency. Some of the people receiving it become dependent on it. People arrange their lives around it, the poor can even get trapped by it since if they work hard and make progress and earn more they might loose all the benefits and be worse off in the short run. Some might fight through that because they want something better at the end and are willing to suffer to get it, but most people avoid short term suffering, and if your poor even being a little worse off can be very painful.

If the spending issue was short term, if there was a world war going on and we hoped to win in a couple of years and then spend less, well you can go in to a lot of debt if your going to have more income and lower costs later on. But the spending isn't short term, its mostly entitlements which in the mid term will explode up because of the baby boomers retiring, and then after a dip in the long term will start climbing again as we have more and more retirees for each worker as people live longer and don't have large families anymore.
Report TOU ViolationShare This Post
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  

HomeMailHotSubjectMarksPeopleMarksKeepersSettings
Terms Of UseContact UsCopyright/IP PolicyPrivacy PolicyAbout UsFAQAdvertise on SI
© 2025 Knight Sac Media.  Data provided by Twelve Data, Alpha Vantage, and CityFALCON News