OPP Newsletter

mzaz

I really hope these collage graduates have better sense then BO gives them credit for.

The Progressive Patriot

I think that President Obama got the college age v**e

mzaz

I am sure he did. There are no jobs so they will be applying for food-stamps, bophones, healthcare and welfare. Just what he wants is the country to be dependent on him

The Progressive Patriot

I don't like you

Let’s Talk about Dependency and the Social Safety Net

Let me remind conservatives that one big reason that they lost the e******n is because of their insistence on maligning those who are to some degree dependent on government services, while at the same time calling for cuts to those services. They cling to the rhetoric of “makers” and the “takers” the latter of course being anyone who ever needed some help getting by. They call people who are just trying to survive in a cruel economic environment leaches and parasites. They believe, or pretend to believe that anyone can go out and get job- a job that pays a living wage anytime they wish if only they were not so lazy and content to be on the dole. They continue to complain that 47% of people pay no federal income tax but fail to acknowledge that the majority are working but too poor to have an income tax liability, in part due to the earned income tax credit and child care credit supported by Republicans. They also fail to acknowledge that these same people pay other federal taxes, as well as state and local taxes which are highly regressive.

This harsh swim or sink attitude emanates from the same people who expound a steadfast belief in lais-sez faire capitalism, and minimum regulations and safeguards against corporate excesses. They are often anti union and opposed to raising the minimum wage. What they fail to understand or acknowledge is that poverty, unemployment, and underemployment are built into the capitalist system. Even in a regulated economy, the need for labor expands and contracts as the result of a multitude of factors at home and around the world. When the economy shrinks, excess workers are sidelined. At the same time, the workforce expands and contracts, also as the result of factors that we can’t control. There is also the issue of matching sk**ls to the available jobs geographically. Rarely is there a perfect match between those seeking jobs and the needs of business , and there is usually excess labor.

In addition they fail to grasp the fact that not only does a free market necessitate a government assistance on occasion, but the social safety nets are good for capitalism. When the economy shrinks as it always will from time to time, programs are needed to maintain societal stability and a workforce that will be to be ready to work when the system needs there services again-to work for and enrich the capitalists. In their book “Regulating the Poor: The Function of Public Welfare”, Francis Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward make this argument, and go on to say that relief efforts not only maintain social order, but also reinforce the work ethic by ensuring that people are only given enough to subsist without being to comfortable.
I will submit to you that the only way to eliminate the much maligned dependency is to regulate business to the extent where they must put people before profits and provide a good job for all regardless of the bottom line. However that would be SOCIALISM and we can’t have that. Or, we could re-establish alms houses. What we cannot do is to have it both ways. We must either accept tighter controls on business practices to prevent the exploitation of workers in the name of profit, or stop persecuting the less fortunate victims of the unsavory side effects of free enterprise .

Dave Loc: Upstate New York

The reason Republicans lost the last e******n is because those of you who v**e for a living are growing and beginning to outnumber those who work for a living.

snowbear37 Loc: MA.

"Our brave, creative, unique experiment in 'self-rule' IS a sham because we don't really have "self-rule". We have the rule of government, oftentimes WITHOUT the consent of the people. We have laws made that are not even READ by the people passing these laws and told we must PASS them before we can see what's in them. I don't call that "self-rule". The need for labor DOES expand and contract, however, it is not just the "earned income tax credit" or the "child care credit" that causes the lack of taxes paid by workers. The fact that there are less jobs available in the U.S. is the biggest contributor to this situation. When "government" increases taxes and regulations to the point where companies take their business overseas in order to get relief from loss of excessive revenues which would allow them to expand their business and hire more people, then I would say it is the "government" who is "expanding and contracting" the economy.
We don't "make" much in this country anymore. There is minimum manufacturing due to the excessive taxation and regulation on business.
People don't go into business simply to provide jobs for people (they never did), they go into business to make a profit. The more profit they make, the more money they can put back into the business to expand and provide more jobs. All the people that are working and the business pays taxes.
As far as "government assistance on occasion", I don't think that the massive "bail-outs" that have been given qualifies. Being able to "subsist" doesn't mean cellphones, flat panel TV's, being able to buy beer, liquor and cigarettes, or being able to go into a grocery store and filling a shopping cart with more food for "free" than most working people can afford to buy for their family. It doesn't mean that a person can have as many kids as they want and forcing working people to pay for them.
What we must accept is tighter controls on "entitlement programs" and prevent the exploitation of the people that are working and paying for all this socialist crap!

cold iron Loc: White House

What you seem to not understand is the whole thing will fail and fall down when you Liberal's run out of money.

bayman Loc: New Jersey

When they run out of OUR money.

willy7

Would you say that is one reason white republicans did not v**e in the last p**********l e******n?

The Progressive Patriot

And why would that happen?

usmc4

I also believe that people need assistance some times. But lets not assist second and third generations of the first generation of people. That's when assistance becomes, "You owe me".

Dave Loc: Upstate New York

Chardo is a far left guy who makes these sweeping statements that seem to be intelligent until you look deeper - like the so called policy of sink or swim - there is no such conservative or Republican policy that I've seen anywhere - yet he thinks himself some kind of informed commentator railing against his self created strawmen while the reality is he is completely ignorant of what it means to be in poverty and has no idea how one rises from such a condition - avoiding the generation to generation cycle you refer to.

The Progressive Patriot

And Dave tries to sound reasonable and knowledgeable but in reality just makes this crap up as he goes. Case in point, he thinks that he knows, or pretends to know a lot about me, but doesn't know squat

Dave Loc: Upstate New York

I know only what you tell me, and that is enough to bother the hell out of you.
Perhaps you can prove me wrong on what I said - tell us where you seem any proposal that involves sink or swim -