Angela Merkel Lucky the Bar for “Worst German Leader” is Very High

[Advanced Aardvark 82]

Oh, Angela is OK. But I think she would fare better in a competition for the Wurst German Leader!

[JohnSmith2007 353]

No, it's sexism talking, sexism and ignorance. You look at people and imagine you understand their lives just because they conform to some stereotype you've read about in some sensational journalism that seeks to divert attention away from the real causes of the financial difficulties of the middle classes onto the poor, as if somehow they really are a significant drain on tax dollars. Even a cursory glance at the budget figures tells the least astute of people that this is monumentally false. Poverty is always ugly, but it could be so much more so, and as I said, the destruction of society that ensues by this vilification of those least in a position to influence the wealth of the average person is one of the biggest scandals perpetrated today. Stop seeking the excuse that if only single mothers didn't exist America would be rosy - poppycock, they have no significant effect at all - the only people who are suffering because of it are the single mothers themselves and their children, period.

Sorry MC, you really don't have a clue. I know many welfare mothers. I lived in that culture for many years. I was married to a woman on welfare for many years. What I tell you is absolutly true from personal experience. They have a culture of entitlement that goes back generations. They teach their children how to get welfare payments and the men are taught that they can create children and leave them to the mothers and government to care for. Open your eyes and see the truth.

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

Sorry MC, you really don't have a clue. I know many welfare mothers. I lived in that culture for many years. I was married to a woman on welfare for many years. What I tell you is absolutly true from personal experience. They have a culture of entitlement that goes back generations. They teach their children how to get welfare payments and the men are taught that they can create children and leave them to the mothers and government to care for. Open your eyes and see the truth.

There may be attitudes like that, that permeate, but it isn't a result of welfare in of itself. There are also countless examples of people who lived in poverty receiving public assistance and successfully moved up the economic ladder. They did it with educational programs and counseling that addressed the causes and conditions of poverty.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

There may be attitudes like that, that permeate, but it isn't a result of welfare in of itself. There are also countless examples of people who lived in poverty receiving public assistance and successfully moved up the economic ladder. They did it with educational programs and counseling that addressed the causes and conditions of poverty.

More because they had a strong mind/will to do so.

You can give all the education in the world to someone. It's only helpful if they have the will to use it.

[JohnSmith2007 353]

There may be attitudes like that, that permeate, but it isn't a result of welfare in of itself. There are also countless examples of people who lived in poverty receiving public assistance and successfully moved up the economic ladder. They did it with educational programs and counseling that addressed the causes and conditions of poverty.

I am one of those people. My family was on welfare for years. I didn't use a government program to get out of welfare though, I joined the service and got a degree with my GI bill. I can tell you that what I said was 100% true though. Any major family choice was weighed against how it would effect the government checks. I know many women that wanted to marry but were talked out of it because the whole family depended upon the welfare. It isn't pretty but it is true. The government has created a class of dependant people with welfare. That dependancy stretches back generations.

Edited June 23, 2010 by JohnSmith2007

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

I am one of those people. My family was on welfare for years. I didn't use a government program to get out of welfare though, I joined the service and got a degree with my GI bill. I can tell you that what I said was 100% true though. Any major family choice was weighed against how it would effect the government checks. I know many women that wanted to marry but were talked out of it because the whole family depended upon the welfare. It isn't pretty but it is true. The government has created a class of dependant people with welfare. That dependancy stretches back generations.

Most everyone starts their first 18 years of life being financially independent of their parents, but that in of itself doesn't create a lifelong dependency. It depends on the person and the family. Welfare programs are far from being perfect. Most programs like WIC are just bandaids - to provide proper nutrition for a child's development. WIC doesn't have anything to really help a single mother off of welfare. Most of the other welfare programs are splintered as well - Food Stamps, AFDC, Section 8. Some cities, however, have invested in programs to help recipients find a way out. In many EU countries, if you're a single mother, they would rather you stay home and care for the child through government assistance, than for the child to be placed in childcare while you work because the child's best interests are a priority. They also aren't prudish or squeamish about teaching kid's in school sex education.

[Peikko 1,575]

Sorry MC, you really don't have a clue. I know many welfare mothers. I lived in that culture for many years. I was married to a woman on welfare for many years. What I tell you is absolutly true from personal experience. They have a culture of entitlement that goes back generations. They teach their children how to get welfare payments and the men are taught that they can create children and leave them to the mothers and government to care for. Open your eyes and see the truth.

You really haven't understood anything I posted.

Poverty is ugly, always - and people who have become caught in a cycle of poverty can indeed appear to be somehow driven by this so called 'culture of entitlement' but if you understood what I said, you would realize that in all honesty that phrase is hackneyed, cliched and essentially destroys lives and communities far more than the oh so feared sexual immorality that is frequently cited as the cause of societal ills.

Welfare is necessary to prevent the USA from developing a subclass of people clinging to a shanty town existence that is frequently seen in third world countries. The flaw in the current system is not that there is a requirement for those with an income to provide a safety net for those without, (and it certainly is not an onerous burden, I seriously doubt if you could notice any difference in your taxation if such people were denied access to any government funding - unless you believe that the children of such people should not receive access to public education, which I understand some people do) but that the system as it stands does not provide every recipient with the tools to improve their situation, or indeed to co-exist welfare with necessary responsibility and by that I mean a true understanding by the recipients that it is possible for them to; with hard work, assistance and diligence, to attain an improving economic situation that is based on their own working contributions. These people need to be given the tools to see themselves as worthwhile and valuable citizens, not vilified and castigated at every turn, if indeed we really do want to see them lifted out of poverty and we really want society to be cohesive and strengthening instead of fractured and more and more isolating.