RE: Welfare - are you for or against it and why?
June 7, 2011 at 10:20 pm
(This post was last modified: June 7, 2011 at 10:36 pm by Anymouse.)
I cannot answer the poll, as "Welfare" is undefined in the question.
Are the USA's food stamps, used to prop up the price of foodstuffs artificially that farmers produce, a Welfare program for those that might otherwise be able to purchase food, or welfare for the farmer?
Are price supports for ethanol production, in place for forty years, welfare for oil companies and farmers and businesses that produce ethanol-laced gasoline?
Are veterans benefits paid to the disabled veteran injured or sickened in the line of duty welfare?
Are unemployment payments welfare?
Are tax breaks for having children welfare for parents? Is a tax break for being blind welfare for the blind? Is a tax break for medical bills welfare for those who get sick? For mortgage interest welfare for a home buyer?
As such I cannot answer the poll (Do you support welfare) as it is not defined.
And to the post immediately above, private sector is always is more cost effective with rules, well, who imposes those rules? And keep in mind anyone who doesn't like 'em will say they interfere with capitalism.
And since when does cost effective=better? Would you like your town streets to be administered by a private company, and you pay a toll everytime you pull your car or bicycle or even feet out to the street? (See the many articles on the Web about the City of Chicago employing a private company to regulate parking where there was once city-regulated parking, such as this one: http://blogs.suntimes.com/marin/2009/03/...ellio.html (Chicago Sun-Times: Parking Meter Rebellion).
It would be much more cost effective, health-wise, to outlaw tobacco and alcohol, for example. But then there is no income tax on tobacco and alcohol companies, no sin tax on users, and greater costs associated with the new regulations. Prohibition in the USA showed us how to create organised crime, though it could be argued that the general lack of availability of alcohol probably reduced road-accident deaths. (Interesting, I'll have to look around for statistics on that.)
Are the USA's food stamps, used to prop up the price of foodstuffs artificially that farmers produce, a Welfare program for those that might otherwise be able to purchase food, or welfare for the farmer?
Are price supports for ethanol production, in place for forty years, welfare for oil companies and farmers and businesses that produce ethanol-laced gasoline?
Are veterans benefits paid to the disabled veteran injured or sickened in the line of duty welfare?
Are unemployment payments welfare?
Are tax breaks for having children welfare for parents? Is a tax break for being blind welfare for the blind? Is a tax break for medical bills welfare for those who get sick? For mortgage interest welfare for a home buyer?
As such I cannot answer the poll (Do you support welfare) as it is not defined.
And to the post immediately above, private sector is always is more cost effective with rules, well, who imposes those rules? And keep in mind anyone who doesn't like 'em will say they interfere with capitalism.
And since when does cost effective=better? Would you like your town streets to be administered by a private company, and you pay a toll everytime you pull your car or bicycle or even feet out to the street? (See the many articles on the Web about the City of Chicago employing a private company to regulate parking where there was once city-regulated parking, such as this one: http://blogs.suntimes.com/marin/2009/03/...ellio.html (Chicago Sun-Times: Parking Meter Rebellion).
It would be much more cost effective, health-wise, to outlaw tobacco and alcohol, for example. But then there is no income tax on tobacco and alcohol companies, no sin tax on users, and greater costs associated with the new regulations. Prohibition in the USA showed us how to create organised crime, though it could be argued that the general lack of availability of alcohol probably reduced road-accident deaths. (Interesting, I'll have to look around for statistics on that.)
"Be ye not lost amongst Precept of Order." - Book of Uterus, 1:5, "Principia Discordia, or How I Found Goddess and What I Did to Her When I Found Her."
