posted on Mar, 18 2010 @ 12:11 AM
It just chaps some people's a** when the poor aren't hurting enough to suit them. These self-righteous ones think those who get any sort of public
assistance should SUFFER SUFFER SUFFER and PAY PAY PAY for those tax dollars they so grudgingly give the government.
To hear them talk the poor should live on beans and old potatoes, dress in rags, walk miles to get to the grocery store from their shanties, own no
furniture, no tv, probably no electricity or heat, in short have nothing in life worth living for. Only then will they be satisfied that the poor
have been punished enough for the sin of being poor.
About a year ago I started a thread about a woman on public assistance who managed to save a couple of thousand dollars (how many years it took her to
do that and what she sacrificed in order to save was not made clear in the article). A surprising number of people were outraged and believed she
should return the money to the government as she didn't really "need it" if she could put some aside. Some complained that they couldn't save
anything themselves and they were making too much money for government aid. In other words, they were jealous.
The fact is, savings lead to property ownership and property ownership leads to financial self-sufficiency, so acquiring some savings is the road out
of poverty for those who are careful and frugal enough to be able to do it. In my opinion, all people on public assistance should be encouraged to
save more, though by necessity that will not usually be much.
Instead of beating up on the poor because they want a few of the better things in life --be they good wholesome food or an occasional trip to a movie
or a book -- we should want them to find life worth living. Without that, the struggle for existence becomes just a hopeless and losing battle.
Without that, what do they have to motivate them on the road out of poverty?