The Goat Pen

Let'em eat spam!lll

and gov'ment cheese.

oh wait.

Free food for all who don't want to work! Free health care, too! While we're at it, let's pay them a salary to NOT work...indefinitely!

Don't worry. The suckers who get up in the morning and work all day will pay for it. And woe be unto them if they dare to question us.

AugustWest wrote:and gov'ment cheese.

oh wait.

SWEET!!!

Hacksaw wrote:Free food for all who don't want to work! Free health care, too! While we're at it, let's pay them a salary to NOT work...indefinitely!

Darn right! The poor and unemployed are just a bunch of lazy worthless blood-suckers mooching off the productive members of society. Their desire for food is simply disgusting and should not be tolerated. Let the bastards starve to death. They deserve it, those degenerate scumbags.

Prof is morfing into DSL.

No, no, no! Every single person who is on unemployment has done absolutely EVERYTHING they can possibly do to find a job. 100% of them wake up before sunrise EVERY morning and scour the streets for possible sources of income. Every one of them is trying as hard as humanly possible to get off the government teet, because they are all imbued with a relentless work ethic and a sense of shame at being forced into having to take assistance from others.

Same goes with those on food stamps. There's just no fucking way that you could find a SINGLE PERSON on food stamps who wouldn't starve to death inside a week if we took those food stamps away.

In fact, anyone who has ever taken public assistance should be beatified right now. They are all saints. Every single one, God bless 'em. The rest of us aren't worthy to live in the same world with them, much less dare to engage in a discussion about the money we are forced to give them. We should just pay up and shut the fuck up.

...oh, and keep going to work and paying our taxes, of course.

I tell ya', the whole sarcasm thing is a lot of fun. And it's so much easier than formulating an actual argument. I can really see the attraction.

If you take away prof's sarcasm, you negate him.

Hack, since you want an actual argument, here goes:

Average unemployment payment in America: $330/week = $1320/month = $15,840/year.

http://money.msn.com/how-to-budget/can- ... treet.aspx

Average food stamp payment in America: $133 per month = $1,596/year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supplement ... ce_Program

So, the typical person receiving food stamps AND unemployment payments totals about $17,436/year.

There are currently about 14 million unemployed right now.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/08/news/ec ... /index.htm

Hack, of that 14 million that are unemployed, let's assume for the sake of argument that all of them are on unemployment payments and food stamps. Now, what percentage of that 14 million do you consider to be the lazy welfare queens who are perfectly able to go out and get a job, but are too deadbeat to do so? %50? %90? Please advise.

If you do, let me tell you in advance what I will do: I will take that number of welfare queens you think are out there, then multiply that number by $1,7436. That should be the total amount of money you think is being wasted annually on the shiftless vagrants. Then, I will compare that number to the amount of money that has been squandered in various government programs that conservatives like, but never complain about.

I think the cost of things like food stamps and unemployment (I'll throw welfare in there, too) are higher than just the dollar amounts involved. Not that $200 billion is chump change. That's the approximate annual amount being spent right now for food stamps and unemployment, combined. Rewarding people for not working and creating a sense of entitlement comes with other consequences. Some people are content to get by on a fraction of what they could make by working a real job, if they can get the money by sitting on their asses. You aren't doing them any favors by giving them just enough to keep them poor. Giving them assistance while also having an expectation that they will get a job and get off of assistance should be the goal. I'm not sure we have that right now. Hell, we can't even suggest that some people might be able to get a job without people like you getting all hot and bothered. So I guess we'll keep subsidizing poverty.

You also seem to be saying that since we waste money on other things, then we shouldn't complain about wasting it on food stamps and unemployment. I disagree. I would be in favor of eliminating waste across the board, wherever it exists. That includes the military, which is one of the few places pols ever seem to want to look for waste. It's all on the table, as far as I'm concerned.

Interesting factoid I found...

Since the beginning of the War on Poverty, government has spent $15.9 trillion (in inflation-adjusted 2008 dol­lars) on means-tested welfare. In comparison, the cost of all other wars in U.S. history was $6.4 trillion (in inflation-adjusted 2008 dollars).

But we're not allowed to ask why we haven't won this war yet -- or how much longer we should expect it to drag on.

...Giving them assistance while also having an expectation that they will get a job and get off of assistance should be the goal. I'm not sure we have that right now. Hell, we can't even suggest that some people might be able to get a job without people like you getting all hot and bothered. So I guess we'll keep subsidizing poverty....

Damn well said.

Hack drinks to much.

You think the oceans are rising rapidly, wait till you see the population of SF explode in 2012.


...Come New Year's Day, he'll have a few more coins in his pocket as San Francisco makes history by becoming the first city in the nation to scale a $10 minimum wage. The city's hourly wage for its lowest-paid workers will hit $10.24, more than $2 above the California minimum wage and nearly $3 more than the working wage set by the federal government.

Poor is poor. No matter how you slice it...or rationalize it, or judge those who've fallen to it. Poverty and hunger will always be staples of the human condition, same as illness and disease.

Beats me why people fixate on welfare cheats when hundreds of thousands of children in America go to bed hungry every night. Probably thousands of them in your own area. Maybe there's a family a few blocks over who could use a box of food right now. A canned ham (even Spam! - heeyuk), a couple loafs of bread, jug of tea, bag of fruit, maybe a pie, cans of vegetables. Get some of your neighbors together next Saturday...forego a couple hours of Fox & Friends...you'd be amazed at who all would benefit from that kind of exercise.

bluetick wrote:Poor is poor. No matter how you slice it...or rationalize it, or judge those who've fallen to it. Poverty and hunger will always be staples of the human condition, same as illness and disease.

Beats me why people fixate on welfare cheats when hundreds of thousands of children in America go to bed hungry every night. Probably thousands of them in your own area. Maybe there's a family a few blocks over who could use a box of food right now. A canned ham (even Spam! - heeyuk), a couple loafs of bread, jug of tea, bag of fruit, maybe a pie, cans of vegetables. Get some of your neighbors together next Saturday...forego a couple hours of Fox & Friends...you'd be amazed at who all would benefit from that kind of exercise.

Hell, there's probably millions within walking distance of my house! Billions, even! And, obviously, I don't care about any of them. And, naturally, because I dare to ask a question about food stamps, then I must not ever donate to charity. And I must watch Fox & Friends, because...well, it doesn't matter why. It's easier to make a joke and cast insults than it is to have an honest discussion.

Seriously, 'tick. I know that you have pretty low standards. But you should be ashamed of yourself for that post.

I've always known you to be compassionate and charitable, Hack.

Naturally my post was aimed at Toe.

Not that $200 billion is chump change. That's the approximate annual amount being spent right now for food stamps and unemployment, combined.

Okay, Hack: of that $200 billion spent on food stamps and unemployment combined, how much do you think is paid to people who could work, but choose not to?

I donate my time at the homeless shelter every Xmas. Well, I don't actually go, but I make Maria, my domestic, go on her off day. It just seems like the right thing to do.