Why Are So Many On Welfare

[Minimalist]

Once again.... greedy corporate fucks are the cause.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/arch...es/265714/

Wages in the fast-food industry have stayed low for two basic reasons. First, many are low-skill service jobs in an efficient assembly where workers are easily replaced and don't require much education. Second, there is a large supply of people who are willing to make cheap burgers at a low wage. It is easy to look at this scenario and conclude, "well, economics determines prices and wages, and that's that." But the full story is more complicated. Cheap fast food and their cheap workers impose a cost on the country in the form of food stamps, welfare through the tax code, and social safety net programs. This is a place for government to intervene -- and for corporations to sacrifice some of their profits -- by raising wages to a livable level.

"We're paying a few cents less for a hamburger and fries which aren't very good for you, but we end up paying large sums through social safety net programs,

Then along comes the GOP - the wholly owned subsidiary of rich corporate cocksuckers and they blame poor people for being poor while their leash holders pay a minimum wage which is grossly out of step with the actual cost of living in this country.

Now...let's hear the free market types reply with a great big "Fuck You!"


But we already have an answer for them.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/171284/ame...imum-wage#

Yet action to raise the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is completely stalled at the federal level. It’s been stuck for over three years and it still isn’t indexed to inflation. That wage adds up to a pitiful $14,500 a year, not enough to make rent in any state. It’s over $3,000 below the poverty line for a parent with two kids. Its purchasing power is 13 percent lower than in 1979. Yet the average minimum-wage worker earns about half of his or her family income.

Oh, the price we pay for shitty hamburgers.

[JohnDG]

It's really easy why politicians are allowing so many to become dependent on welfare. Let's just look at food stamps, most people work minimum wage jobs, so those people usually get on food stamps. Taxes are deducted from all workers, unless your rich, then you pay less or no taxes. Taxes are directed into welfare, which the working class pays for. And because the working class does not make enough to support it's self they get food stamps which come out of their taxes every single check. Organic food is more expensive than cheap pre-made gmo's. People buy food from the rich, who in turn contribute very little to the taxes. Basically were paying taxes to use food stamps which in turn are given as a very generous amount usually $200-500 a month. Which is more than the amount which is taken out of most checks. Therefore we pay taxes to use food stamps with interest that cannot be paid off.

Poor people.
Taxes ---> Food Stamps ---> Debt ---> Taxes

Rich people
Less Taxes ---> Food Stamps ---> Self ---> Less Taxes

I hope that I don't have anyone confused, nearly confused my self.

[cratehorus]

abolish work....... abolish money..... both are outdated forms of slavery and have no purpose, or reason to exist in this century, or the next

[Aractus]

Nice spin you put on the problem Min. The USA is a country with a very low minimum wage, and very high unemployment. Due to the size of the USA, by necessity in order to remain a single State and not split up into smaller countries, it has very low federal taxes and high state taxes. This has allowed your Federal government to rack up an enormous debt that makes Greece look like their federal economy's totally in the black. In the USA minimum wages are far more a local state issue than a federal issue since it impacts upon the state's economies. Thus for meaningful changes it is up to the states and not the State in this instance.

[Tiberius]

abolish work....... abolish money..... both are outdated forms of slavery and have no purpose, or reason to exist in this century, or the next

Do you really believe the crap that comes out of your mouth, or do you just say it for effect?

[JohnDG]

abolish work....... abolish money..... both are outdated forms of slavery and have no purpose, or reason to exist in this century, or the next

Do you really believe the crap that comes out of your mouth, or do you just say it for effect?

Abolishing currency and working together to achieve goals is a reasonable goal. But work will always be necessary, we must all contribute to society. We need to fix the education system, solve poverty, solve hunger, correct our violent behavior, achieve harmony with our planet. However those goals would take the whole world working together. Until then we will only be motivated by petty emotions, greed, power, and lust which happens to be the state of our super consumer society. There is demand for supplies where there is no need and it's very dangerous.

This should let you know the state in which we live in. The average persons income in the U.S. is about 18-25k a year. Cost for every prisoner each year about 50-55k and prisons are over crowded and under staffed. Statistical anomaly or would america rather keep you in prison than give you a job?

keep in mind the statistics are different per state, those are for my state california. But always cost of incarceration is more than average job pay by year.

[Tiberius]

The entire point of money is to be a medium of exchange that everyone can use. It means people don't have to barter, and create long chains of bartering. We need bakers to bake bread, but when I want to have some bread, how do I make the purchase? Without money, I'd have to give the baker something else he wanted, which would require me to have the item he wanted, and to make things fair, it would have to be of roughly equal value. If I don't have anything the baker wants, I have to go and search for something he does want, do an exchange with that item, and then do the exchange with the baker. This can result in ridiculous chains of bartering which wastes everyone's time.

The solution is money. Everyone agrees to accept money in exchange for items, and then I can pay the baker for his bread, and the baker can exchange my money for something he wants.

[jonb]

I think capitalism would be a very good idea. The problem to be surmounted before we can create a capitalist society, is that we don't have a free market. Because the first and second estates, (which pay no taxes) have control over the distribution of assets, it gives central authority the ability to twist the market so that some suppliers will have strong advantages over others, in just the same way a medieval guilds worked. Now as there are inherent in methods of selection for positions of control, that favour those that can show strong affiliation to the first and second estates, our system of governance can only be considered feudalism by another name.

[Aractus]

The average persons income in the U.S. is about 18-25k a year. Cost for every prisoner each year about 50-55k and prisons are over crowded and under staffed. Statistical anomaly or would america rather keep you in prison than give you a job?

Exactly my friend! Incarceration is always expensive, and some of the USA's prisons are borderline 3rd-world conditions. However that said, think of developing countries and the state of their prisons - because they can't really afford it, their prisons can be extremely horrible.

Prisons are only one problem though, and having a lower unemployment rate, higher average incomes and most importantly less class divisions leads to much less crime in the first place.

[festive1]

Prisons are only one problem though, and having a lower unemployment rate, higher average incomes and most importantly less class divisions leads to much less crime in the first place.

Well, wouldn't raising the minimum wage lead to both higher average incomes and less class division?

I think a big problem the US has is the state of labor unions. Unions have their issues, but they fill a valuable role of balancing capitalist interests.