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Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Thomas Sowell - Dependency and Votes

Those who regard government "entitlement" programs as sacrosanct, and regard those who want to cut them back as calloused or cruel, picture a world very different from the world of reality.

To listen to some of the defenders of entitlement programs, which are at the heart of the present financial crisis, you might think that anything the government fails to provide is something that people will be deprived of.

In other words, if you cut spending on school lunches, children will go hungry. If you fail to subsidize housing, people will be homeless. If you fail to subsidize prescription drugs, old people will have to eat dog food in order to be able to afford their meds.

This is the vision promoted by many politicians and much of the media. But, in the world of reality, it is not even true for most people who are living below the official poverty line.

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Until we stop spending millions to try to educate people who have no intention of ever holding jobs, our society will not progress. Paying endless entitKfbfSfs so our least productive citizens feel encouraged to have large families for the rest of us to support has to end.

Anonymous said...

Unless you are one of the many Government workers around here, you might notice that there aren't enough jobs to go around. The current Administration in Washington as well as in Maryland has done little more than provide lip service towards improving things.Of course, In State tuition rates for illegals is money spent that may help THEM get jobs but too many legal citizens are out of work.

Anonymous said...

I'm very concerned about the direction this country is headed.
I've commented on this blog for many years and have seen what it can do to dishonest people.
What I have trouble with is the fact that people don't care or they don't understand what is happening to the country.
Our tax dollars support undeserving people on welfare and many other government sub. programs.This destroys anyones will to work , because they don't have to.
We complain about taxes , but we do nothing about it.
I'm too old to do the things I would like , but not to old to see what is going on.
Please keep the information comming
SBYNews

Anonymous said...

A note on entitlement impact, examine the Netherlands unemployment entitlement; and how they've adjusted to the realization that people do take advantage of the program for as long as possible before finding work. That country has cut the length of the unemployment benefit in half, with no "disaster-like" consequences. We need to reform these programs. I'm not against a safety net, but we have to stop turning it into a hammock.

Anonymous said...

9:13 good one. Sums up my thoughts. But you guys do realize that the biggest entitlements (ss and medicare) aren't going to "welfare queens in cadillacs"

Anonymous said...

don't work - don't eat.

the "monster agencies" that have been created in washington by our socialist government need to be totally defunded. everyting with the exception of defense and anything related to the defense of our country. also infrastructure agencies.

cut taxes drastically. go to fair tax system. bring everything else back to the states.

bottom line: get out of our lives and let us live the american dream that was intended by our founders. no more entitlements.

by the way; social security needs to be reformed. i'm currently receiving social security and don't consider it an entitlement. i have paid into this system for 46years and i'm still paying taxes on my social security income.

half of the nation pays no income tax. go figure.