Have you ever received any government handouts?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I couldn't participate in the poll because I'm an independent voter. I'm also an independent person. I've never took a red cent from the government of Uncle Sugar. I've paid more in than I ever got out. Ditto for my parents, grandparents, etc.

No freeloaders or bums in my lineage.

Does it bother you that others that belong to your car, life and health insurance, have tapped into the coffers more than what they've paid into it? Are you going to turn away your Medicaid and Social Security benefits when you reach qualifying age?

The bigger question is whether there will be any Medicaid or Social Security left when I qualify. In the mean time I work on the assumption that it won't be and plan my life accordingly. In other words...I feather my own nest with the fruits of my own labor realizing that to depend on oneself is far better than to solely put my fate in the hands of the government. Government ain't the answer...it's nothing but a big question.

Ever hear of the old fable about the ant and the grasshopper? I'm an ant...not a grasshopper.

As far as my car, life and health insurance...I voluntarily pay into it and expect it to be run in a competent manner so that it is there when needed. I have no qualms about filing a claim and that is not a handout. The government is not run on the same premise as the private sector. Government is incompetently run and contributions are hardly voluntary.

If you're an ant, then why buy insurance of any kind, peejay?

Unemployment insurance works exactly the same way your medical or car insurance works...it's there when you need it. You can't call one a hand-out without logically calling the other the same.

Ha! Are you naive or what?

Private insurers couldn't even start to get away with the incompetence of government programs. Any money you end up coughing up to Uncle Sugar is a tax anyway you slice it. In case you don't know the difference...one is a premium and the other is a tax. Uncle Sugar can call it what he wants, but when it goes into the treasury the politicians can use (misuse) it any way they see fit. Ever heard of all the IOU's in the Social Security fund? Look at the mess in Medicare/Medicaid.

Sure I insure my house. If you want to depend on FEMA...that is your foolish perogative. Crash your car into a tree and see if Uncle Sugar buys a new one for you. Piss away all your money all your life and see if Uncle Sugar takes real good care of you in old age with all the budget deficits we are running. Take care of your own business or take your chances. I take care of my own business as best as I can because I like to control my own destiny. Only a fool or an idiot depends on Uncle Sugar as their salvation in life.

Not to say that private insurers shouldn't be regulated, but I'll take a well regulated private insurer over government if and when possible.

It's the same concept, peejay. You can gripe all you want about government bureaucracy and of course we could bring up the bureaucracy of insurance companies as well, but that doesn't change the the fact that they both are built on the notion that the benefit is there when you need it, and both depend on a pool of people paying into it. One is no more or less a hand out than the other and you are no more or less a moocher if you use either source when you need it.

The same? Bullshit! When government takes money out your pocket involuntarily it is a tax. And you have little to no control how and what it is spent on. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

So you're gripe isn't whether people who need help get it via the government, it's just that you want your contribution to be voluntary? How about other government programs you don't like....do you want to be able to choose which ones you pay for? Farm subsidies? Oil subsidies? Hopefully you're starting to see the bigger picture here....we have taxes which pays for things you and I benefit from in one way or another and yes, paying taxes isn't voluntary, but we have a plethora of government programs that help both the individual and businesses.

I'd much rather pay taxes that go toward medical care for a single mother and her children than to help bolster oil company executives' high salaries. I suppose we each got our own priorities on what we see as something to gripe about.

[Emancipation 2]

When I lived in Canada, I received EI and EI disability for a time, and I have government student loans

I don't understand how Unemployment insurance would be considered a 'government handout'.

If you buy flood insurance from the government and your house gets flooded/you make a claim....is that a government handout?

I don't know about the U.S. - but in Canada the Federal government takes in far more in Unemployment insurance premiums than they pay out.

I was just thinking this

[Marilyn. 340]

i was on unemployment insurance back in Canada for a few months.. I only got back what I had paid into it...

[peejay 327]

I couldn't participate in the poll because I'm an independent voter. I'm also an independent person. I've never took a red cent from the government of Uncle Sugar. I've paid more in than I ever got out. Ditto for my parents, grandparents, etc.

No freeloaders or bums in my lineage.

Does it bother you that others that belong to your car, life and health insurance, have tapped into the coffers more than what they've paid into it? Are you going to turn away your Medicaid and Social Security benefits when you reach qualifying age?

The bigger question is whether there will be any Medicaid or Social Security left when I qualify. In the mean time I work on the assumption that it won't be and plan my life accordingly. In other words...I feather my own nest with the fruits of my own labor realizing that to depend on oneself is far better than to solely put my fate in the hands of the government. Government ain't the answer...it's nothing but a big question.

Ever hear of the old fable about the ant and the grasshopper? I'm an ant...not a grasshopper.

As far as my car, life and health insurance...I voluntarily pay into it and expect it to be run in a competent manner so that it is there when needed. I have no qualms about filing a claim and that is not a handout. The government is not run on the same premise as the private sector. Government is incompetently run and contributions are hardly voluntary.

If you're an ant, then why buy insurance of any kind, peejay?

Unemployment insurance works exactly the same way your medical or car insurance works...it's there when you need it. You can't call one a hand-out without logically calling the other the same.

Ha! Are you naive or what?

Private insurers couldn't even start to get away with the incompetence of government programs. Any money you end up coughing up to Uncle Sugar is a tax anyway you slice it. In case you don't know the difference...one is a premium and the other is a tax. Uncle Sugar can call it what he wants, but when it goes into the treasury the politicians can use (misuse) it any way they see fit. Ever heard of all the IOU's in the Social Security fund? Look at the mess in Medicare/Medicaid.

Sure I insure my house. If you want to depend on FEMA...that is your foolish perogative. Crash your car into a tree and see if Uncle Sugar buys a new one for you. Piss away all your money all your life and see if Uncle Sugar takes real good care of you in old age with all the budget deficits we are running. Take care of your own business or take your chances. I take care of my own business as best as I can because I like to control my own destiny. Only a fool or an idiot depends on Uncle Sugar as their salvation in life.

Not to say that private insurers shouldn't be regulated, but I'll take a well regulated private insurer over government if and when possible.

It's the same concept, peejay. You can gripe all you want about government bureaucracy and of course we could bring up the bureaucracy of insurance companies as well, but that doesn't change the the fact that they both are built on the notion that the benefit is there when you need it, and both depend on a pool of people paying into it. One is no more or less a hand out than the other and you are no more or less a moocher if you use either source when you need it.

The same? Bullshit! When government takes money out your pocket involuntarily it is a tax. And you have little to no control how and what it is spent on. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

So you're gripe isn't whether people who need help get it via the government, it's just that you want your contribution to be voluntary? How about other government programs you don't like....do you want to be able to choose which ones you pay for? Farm subsidies? Oil subsidies? Hopefully you're starting to see the bigger picture here....we have taxes which pays for things you and I benefit from in one way or another and yes, paying taxes isn't voluntary, but we have a plethora of government programs that help both the individual and businesses.

I'd much rather pay taxes that go toward medical care for a single mother and her children than to help bolster oil company executives' high salaries. I suppose we each got our own priorities on what we see as something to gripe about.

No...my gripe is that government programs are incompetently run. Just yesterday I saw on CNN that several states will be unable to fulfill their obligation to pay unemployment benefits in the programs they administer. They gonna have to borrow money from Uncle Sugar to meet the shortfall since they can't go to the credit market. What happened to the money that got paid into this so called unemployment insurance scheme? Oh! We used it for some other purpose since it was laying around doing nothing! Oh, shucks...we spent it on something else and put an IOU in the account! Welcome to government. Money always seems to burn a hole in their pocket and goes flying away into thin air. That's OK though. We can just keep borrowing more and more money and running higher and higher deficits to pay for it all.

The private sector could never operate in such an incompetent manner or they would eventually go belly up.

BTW...your comparison between the poor widow with 15 young 'uns and the mean ol' greedy oil tycoon that you injected to bolster your position is really irrelevant to this discussion.

Guys like you will always look at gummit as being the be all, end all answer to cradle to grave management of your and everyone else's life. I'm just saying that for me government is the last resort rather than the first resort in my life. As with many of your posts I have read...your concept of government encompasses an ever wider and wider circle of dependents government should be responsible for. I prefer to be responsible for myself and to provide for myself.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The private sector could never operate in such an incompetent manner or they would eventually go belly up.

Have you been keeping up with the news lately?

BTW...your comparison between the poor widow with 15 young 'uns and the mean ol' greedy oil tycoon that you injected to bolster your position is really irrelevant to this discussion.

It most certainly does...especially in light of the recent events. When the Lehman Bros. CEO took in over 300 million for himself over the last decade and then comes running to the Fed Gov't. asking for his company to be rescued from bankruptcy, that's the most expensive welfare momma you can imagine.

Edited October 11, 2008 by Jabberwocky

[peejay 327]

The private sector could never operate in such an incompetent manner or they would eventually go belly up.

Have you been keeping up with the news lately?

BTW...your comparison between the poor widow with 15 young 'uns and the mean ol' greedy oil tycoon that you injected to bolster your position is really irrelevant to this discussion.

It most certainly does...especially in light of the recent events. When the Lehman Bros. CEO took in over 300 million for himself over the last decade and then comes running to the Fed Gov't. asking for his company to be rescued from bankruptcy, that's the most expensive welfare momma you can imagine.

What have I been saying throughout this thread? Government is incompetent and poorly run. Ever heard of Freddie and Fannie? And...who is supposed to pass laws to regulate companies like Lehman Bros.? No...GWB just signs legislation into laws. Congress moves legislation to his desk to be signed into law. Government whether Dim or Republicrat are equally corrupt and incompetent as it is implemented today. I have no faith in any of them. To me, government is a necessary evil. The less we depend on them, except for a minimum essential functions, the better off we are.

What did I say at the very beginning of this thread? I'm an independent voter and I strive to be as independent in the conduct of my own life as possible. The last thing I ever want to do is count on the morons running our government for my sole salvation in life. You, however, believe government should manage your life from cradle to grave and you want to pay extra taxes for that. No thanks. I would rather depend on myself first and foremost.

[peejay 327]

The private sector could never operate in such an incompetent manner or they would eventually go belly up.

Have you been keeping up with the news lately?

BTW...your comparison between the poor widow with 15 young 'uns and the mean ol' greedy oil tycoon that you injected to bolster your position is really irrelevant to this discussion.

It most certainly does...especially in light of the recent events. When the Lehman Bros. CEO took in over 300 million for himself over the last decade and then comes running to the Fed Gov't. asking for his company to be rescued from bankruptcy, that's the most expensive welfare momma you can imagine.

What have I been saying throughout this thread? Government is incompetent and poorly run. Ever heard of Freddie and Fannie? And...who is supposed to pass laws to regulate companies like Lehman Bros.? No...GWB just signs legislation into laws. Congress moves legislation to his desk to be signed into law. Government whether Dim or Republicrat are equally corrupt and incompetent as it is implemented today. I have no faith in any of them. To me, government is a necessary evil. The less we depend on them, except for a minimum essential functions, the better off we are.

What did I say at the very beginning of this thread? I'm an independent voter and I strive to be as independent in the conduct of my own life as possible. The last thing I ever want to do is count on the morons running our government for my sole salvation in life. You, however, believe government should manage your life from cradle to grave and you want to pay extra taxes for that. No thanks. I would rather depend on myself first and foremost.

Another point to ponder Steven...

Politicians derive their power by making you more and more dependent on them. The more you depend on them...the more power they have. And that is power over you.

And that is far more dangerous than some idiot in the bureaucracy listening in on criminals' and terrorists' telephone conversations. And liberals love to rail against one while surrendering totally to the other. I just don't get it.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The private sector could never operate in such an incompetent manner or they would eventually go belly up.

Have you been keeping up with the news lately?

BTW...your comparison between the poor widow with 15 young 'uns and the mean ol' greedy oil tycoon that you injected to bolster your position is really irrelevant to this discussion.

It most certainly does...especially in light of the recent events. When the Lehman Bros. CEO took in over 300 million for himself over the last decade and then comes running to the Fed Gov't. asking for his company to be rescued from bankruptcy, that's the most expensive welfare momma you can imagine.

What have I been saying throughout this thread? Government is incompetent and poorly run. Ever heard of Freddie and Fannie? And...who is supposed to pass laws to regulate companies like Lehman Bros.? No...GWB just signs legislation into laws. Congress moves legislation to his desk to be signed into law. Government whether Dim or Republicrat are equally corrupt and incompetent as it is implemented today. I have no faith in any of them. To me, government is a necessary evil. The less we depend on them, except for a minimum essential functions, the better off we are.

What did I say at the very beginning of this thread? I'm an independent voter and I strive to be as independent in the conduct of my own life as possible. The last thing I ever want to do is count on the morons running our government for my sole salvation in life. You, however, believe government should manage your life from cradle to grave and you want to pay extra taxes for that. No thanks. I would rather depend on myself first and foremost.

Another point to ponder Steven...

Politicians derive their power by making you more and more dependent on them. The more you depend on them...the more power they have. And that is power over you.

And that is far more dangerous than some idiot in the bureaucracy listening in on criminals' and terrorists' telephone conversations. And liberals love to rail against one while surrendering totally to the other. I just don't get it.

You'll find incompetency and bureaucracy in companies just as you would in government. I don't buy into the idea that one is inherently worse at doing something than the other. Some things work better through government and other things through the private sector. I think that's where we fundamentally disagree on. Secondly, it is in the best interest of government to invest in its infrastructure, including people. Our government would be highly unstable if for example, the unemployment rate were above 30 percent. Just as the government has a stake in the vitality of the economy, so too does it have in the vitality of its citizens.

[SpiritAlight 1]

i am eager to get more gov't hand-outs like Corporate America...

Ding ding ding!!!

We have a winner.

[IAMX 3,055]

The private sector could never operate in such an incompetent manner or they would eventually go belly up.

Have you been keeping up with the news lately?

BTW...your comparison between the poor widow with 15 young 'uns and the mean ol' greedy oil tycoon that you injected to bolster your position is really irrelevant to this discussion.

It most certainly does...especially in light of the recent events. When the Lehman Bros. CEO took in over 300 million for himself over the last decade and then comes running to the Fed Gov't. asking for his company to be rescued from bankruptcy, that's the most expensive welfare momma you can imagine.

What have I been saying throughout this thread? Government is incompetent and poorly run. Ever heard of Freddie and Fannie? And...who is supposed to pass laws to regulate companies like Lehman Bros.? No...GWB just signs legislation into laws. Congress moves legislation to his desk to be signed into law. Government whether Dim or Republicrat are equally corrupt and incompetent as it is implemented today. I have no faith in any of them. To me, government is a necessary evil. The less we depend on them, except for a minimum essential functions, the better off we are.

What did I say at the very beginning of this thread? I'm an independent voter and I strive to be as independent in the conduct of my own life as possible. The last thing I ever want to do is count on the morons running our government for my sole salvation in life. You, however, believe government should manage your life from cradle to grave and you want to pay extra taxes for that. No thanks. I would rather depend on myself first and foremost.

Another point to ponder Steven...

Politicians derive their power by making you more and more dependent on them. The more you depend on them...the more power they have. And that is power over you.

And that is far more dangerous than some idiot in the bureaucracy listening in on criminals' and terrorists' telephone conversations. And liberals love to rail against one while surrendering totally to the other. I just don't get it.

I sure hope you didn't vote Republican. If you did, foot-in-mouth. Not to mention selective outrage. Last I checked there's two political parties who bank on keeping people electing them. If you contributed to this, you just described yourself entirely.

[*Robert* 2]

I am a Republican and have received Pell Grants for college, but have never received any other "handouts" from Uncle Sam.

I do NOT feel SS is a handout, since I am the one who has paid into it ever since I turned 16 and had it deducted from every one of my fcuking paychecks!!!

I work for a living, and don't need any damn handouts!