Comments on: Our Poor Poor – The Johnson Legacy

By: Tony

Tony — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 05:46:57 +0000

Folks,

I picked this up off one of my newsletters:

… Robert Rector, a researcher at the Heritage Foundation who collected data from several government sources for a report titled “How Poor Are America’s Poor?” Among his findings:

43 percent of all poor households own their own homes, the average home having three bedrooms, one-and-a-half baths, a garage and a porch or patio.

Two-thirds of poor households have more than two rooms per person, and the typical poor American has more living space than the average, not necessarily poor, individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, and other European cities.

80 percent of poor households have air conditioning, nearly 3/4 own a car, and 31 percent own two or more cars.

97 percent of poor households own a color television, more than half own two or more color TVs, and 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.

89 percent own a microwave oven, and more than a third have an automatic dishwasher.

Williams adds that what is defined as poverty is misleading because official counts of poor households look only at cash income, and ignore such additional sources of support as the earned-income credit, Medicaid, food stamps, and other federal and local government subsidies.

Lower income households are “poor” only in relation to the rest of the population, he asserts.

“Material poverty can be measured relatively or absolutely,” Williams observes.

“An absolute measure would consist of some minimum quantity of goods and services deemed adequate for a baseline level of survival. Achieving that level means that poverty has been eliminated.”

Only in America could such folks be considered “poor” (tony’s comment)

always,
tony

By: lynne

lynne — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 02:11:55 +0000

Personal responsibility is never in vogue. It is to easy to blame others for you lack of almost everything. Some folks deal with reality and some folks don’t. Obama’s stash of money for house payments and car payments. Most of us as adults know what we have accomplished, there are a lot of folks that simply want without responsibility. I don’t want to say that but I have 3 nieces having out of wedlock births. Well it’s all good because the government pays the bills. All of them are intelligent just not smart. I can’t support the ideas they have, I find them repugnant. But I’m the bad guy, I do support family but I know how hard my mom fought to stay off welfare and this kills her to watch 3 of her grandkids right back in the system.

By: Linda Brady Traynham

Linda Brady Traynham — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 01:57:15 +0000

Tony, another fantastic article. If I’m not you’re biggest fan it isn’t for lack of trying! The rest of you…we have the greatest readers in the world here. Every one of you deserves a personal answer, but I’m up to my ears in alligators, e-mails, and reader responses, so forgive me, please. Cheri and Dave, please write again, and Tony’s right: several of us have great stuff up or archived on W&G. Regards, LBT

By: lynne

lynne — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 00:59:03 +0000

Tony, you have described my niece to some extent. We in the family have tried to help her get on her feet and make a go at life but her idea of sharing is we pay and she takes. I had to kick her out of my house when she decided she could just sponge off me. When I told her she had a year to get a job, go to school and pay off her bills. Well I kicked her out after a year and she was shocked that I kept my word to kick her out if she made no progress. Then she lived in a shelter for 3 months then went to live with her mom, my sister. I hope she doesn’t read this article cause she’ll try and game the system.

By: Tony

Tony — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 21:29:59 +0000

Dave,

Try:

http://whiskeyandgunpowder.com/please-dont-feed-the-animals/

always,
tony

By: James the Wanderer

James the Wanderer — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 19:57:27 +0000

Personal responsibility will come back into vogue – just as soon as the mass starvations begin. Once Welfare collapses, along with the rest of the Entitlement State, the Entitlement Mindset will go away with it – one way or another.
I have a female cousin, who is brain-damaged; really. She had a fever at 4 years, and her mother didn’t get her to the doctor fast enough. She is of reduced intelligence, and gave birth to at least two children I can recall, neither of whom had a life with her. One was immediately adopted out through the Edna Gladney home, another taken by the father’s folks once they found out. I hope they did well – the second was a beautiful, red-haired boy.
She has drifted from loser to dropout to sub-entry-level job to welfare to pointless drudgery for her whole life – I don’t think she even got her G.E.D. for high school. Sometimes she calls my mother on the telephone, but Mom finds it hard to separate the confusion from the lies. [She may have been married at least seven times by her tales - or perhaps just shacked up for a weekend seven times]. When the Crunch hits, she will be one of those hit hardest – no skills to speak of, mentally insufficient, no savings or understanding to work with. I don’t wish her ill – but I won’t be able to help her. No one can – and if her mother hadn’t had her tubes tied at 16, I’d have a whole tribe of worthless relations that had never held a real job, no savings – and no idea that any of these are fulfilling or useful.
The wolves purge the weak cattle, and the strong cattle stomp and gore the weak wolves – but we have no real predators except ourselves. Sharpen your horns and hooves, friends – the human wolves might start prowling soon.

By: dave

dave — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 08:24:51 +0000

I thought I knew what poverty was untill I joined the military. I was stationed in the Phillipines and REAL poverty slapped me in the face. A family of four living in a card board box, happily. They had a roof over their heads.
In Hawaii, I work in a busy “critical access emergency room”. Read that as “state subsidised”. The majority of our patients are clinic type patients. Runny noses, coughs, ear aches, etc. They are also largely on state supplied insurance. Calling an ambulance for a fever is routine. The sense of intitlement is incredable. The expectation and demand for narcotics is rampant. The staff tries to curb the intitlement mentality with a simple phrase that aptly applies across the board. Please don’t feed the bears.
I feel your pain. Restore the Republic.
Dave

By: Tony

Tony — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 22:02:58 +0000

Cindi,

Step aside or not, it’s gonna implode anyway. California is the harbinger.

At one time, welfare was handled locally, at the county level. Being on welfare was a stigma, and folks got off it as soon as they could.

In making welfare “respectable” and giving them “dignity”, we made a mistake. With the fed funding it, the source of money was so distant that it appeared to be “free money”.

In California, Jerry Brown opened up the welfare rolls and gave high benefits. In doing so, he drew welfare recipients from all over the country. It turned California from a Republican state to a Democratic state. Today, you can see the results.

Wot’s the old joke?? Half the people coming to California say, “Work a year and go on welfare.” The other half say, “Why work a year?”

By: CheriVNB

CheriVNB — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 18:19:10 +0000

Okay I feel ripped off and depessed. Tony ties into your “Don’t call me lucky” essay nicely. If I were “Lucky” this garbage wouldn’t be happening.
Anyone thinking this isn’t happening or is untrue doesn’t know anyone on Welfare. This country has been churning out worthless thugs for a very long time. They lie, cheat, steal and extort from society. In every sob story is a BIG FAT LIE! The rejection of PERSONAL responsibility. Anytime I hear someone say “with everything I been through” I grab my wallet and leave! That is mooch speak for “pull out your checkbooks people”. The only thing that makes welfare a sad life are the actions of the scum who choose it. Self-respecting people are self managing and self-motivating. Removing the “Shame” and not wanting welfare receipients to “feel bad” is bogus! Shame is a motivator. Bad feelings are meant to prevent bad actions. “No-fault” rules originally intended for FULLY responsible parties have lead to poor confront of wrong actions and societal immaturity. (A wrong action yields an underdesireable/unsustainable result.) Bleeding hearts see poor results and look for more reasons or ways to blame achievers. Knowing how to behave and handle your personal business in a fair, honest and future sustaining way is no longer a viable individual defense. The lack of support by many in power is degrading the last of the decent and honest. I am beginning to think he only course of action is to step aside and let the “mooch infrastructure” implode! ~C