Hey mister, can you spare a dime?
The LawDog Files: Meditations on Entitlement
I keep some bags full of snacks in the truck and I'm not sure if they actually get eaten or not, but I figure it's a few bucks, and if the person actually needs food, they might get some calories out of them.
That being said, I pretty much refuse to give money to beggars, simply because while I can't stop someone from abusing themselves, I can NOT contribute to it.
Oh. FDR wasn't a total weenie. (Love you, John!)
posted by Soldier Grrrl @ 7:59 PM
4 Comments:
No, I'm with him on that whole Kick Nazi Butt thing, just not on his whole entitlement thing. Damned crypto-Communist.
I'm with Decurion on this. Things FDR did that were good:
1. Kicking Nazi and Imperial Japanese buttox.
2. The Tennesse Valley Damns
3. All the other public works projects that actually put people to work.
Where FDR (and other entitlement people) go wrong is in not making people do any work to earn the money they get from the government. Even if it was just some sort of busy work for a few hours a week, it would be better than nothing.
When I have been on unemployment, I looked at it as my paycheck for spending 30+ hours per week job hunting. I actually treated my job search as a job.
I have to laugh. From what I've learned in history classes, the TVA, one of FDR's most lauded projects...
was straight up Socialism. The government owned the dams, they owned and sold the power generated by the dams and the controlled the price independent of market price.
As for "workfare," a great deal of what FDR did was workfare. The WPA, Work Project Administration, (or We Putter Around) would hire men for a half-day's work, raking leaves or spreading them back out. Yeah, it wasn't much work, and it wasn't much money, but from everything I've read, FDR loathed the idea of welfare.
That being said, there's very little evidence that FDR's programs actually helped end the Depression any faster, but at least he was trying.
I find it amusing that we're all willing to Monday-morning-quarterback his actions. I had a hard enough time getting myself employed and out of debt, I can't imagine trying to do it for an entire country.
I lay a great deal of blame for the rise of socialism in this country at LBJ's feet. His "Great Society" was an incredibly sharp increase in the idea of welfare spending and I believe that we can start to give the hairy eyeball to the Boomers about Social Security.
It might have been a good idea, and I might have two grandmothers who live on it, but I loathe the fact that I'm supporting a Boomer's retirement, but the SSA will be dead and gone long before I'm ready to retire.
I honestly believe that making people earn money helps prevent the entitlement mentality. Even if it is raking leaves, picking up trash or manning a daycare center for other welfare parents.
The thing is, Social Security was never meant to totally support someone (retired or disabled). It was meant to suplement other sources of income (pensions, savings, etc.).
To be honest, I think WW2 pulled the USA out of the depression. All of the government spending combined with employing every able bodied man and woman helped a lot. Then, you had people saving money by buying war bonds. This kept the USA afloat after the war by providing money for people to purchase goods.
One thing that I think we will soon be seeing growth in is daycare for the elderly. My mother-in-law has to arrange daycare for my grandmother-in-law anytime she leaves the house. The sad part is, one of her brothers is currently unemployed and refuses to come watch his mother.
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