Posted on 09/23/2017 2:55:35 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
To The Daily Sun,
While I would argue some of his points, I agree with the main point in Alan Vervaeke’s Sept. 19 column titled “The Gravy Train is for my dogs”: America’s welfare system needs a lot of fixing. The fixes need to ensure that people who are truly incapable of caring for themselves are cared for while capable people have the opportunities and incentives to support themselves.
Vervaeke expresses this view, perhaps a little harshly, in his comment, “Enough with the programs and freebies and giveaways — save them for those people who actually need them. Get the feckless and indolent away from my paycheck.”
I say harshly only because our welfare system punishes people who try to work their way off welfare. It makes no economic sense, if one only considers the short term, to work to earn an extra $1,000 to $5,000 when that means a worker loses $5,000, $10,000, or more in welfare benefits. Why work when you get the same or more income or income equivalents by not working?
The answers to that question depend on the viewpoint. Our country and most Americans will not prosper if they perpetually have to bear the burden of supporting 1/7th or more of our population. It’s not fair to workers to be taxed to support people who are capable of supporting themselves, but choose instead to live off welfare. Perhaps worst, it hurts the welfare recipient who could prosper and care for himself/herself by doing what most people do, start at the bottom, develop skills, and, by providing increasing amounts of value to employers or customers, earn more money and become self-supporting.
Most of us struggled in our early days. Some of us would have preferred to just be supported by our parents forever; some parents will attest to the need to give incentive, push, or even threaten their children to get a job and start being less dependent. Welfare has allowed some people capable of self-sufficiency to remain dependent, and this must stop.
Of course there need to be available jobs for people entering the workforce and for people to move to as they increase their skills. American politicians should be focusing on creating an environment that encourages the economic growth that provides the jobs needed so the American people can prosper.
Unfortunately the current American economic environment has tax, regulatory, and other obstacles that drive much economic investment, and thus jobs, to more welcoming countries. Bureaucratic delays can delay building American factories for years. It seems a factory can be built, staffed, and in production in China before all the forms needed to build in America can be found. While we all demand clean air and water, excessive environmental requirements drive businesses/factories with good, but not quite good enough for new requirements, environmental practices to move to countries with no environmental regulations resulting in much more pollution than if the work stayed in America.
Growing businesses need capable workers to fill their jobs. Unfortunately too many public schools are poor and unsafe causing too many students to drop out or graduate without the appropriate reading, math, and other skills. This is a result of politicians responding to the will of the education providers rather than the needs of students. School choice is needed to fix this problem.
Unfortunately many millions of healthy and capable, but poor, Americans, uneducated Americans, and dependent Americans on welfare don’t get the opportunities to better themselves because the current situation benefits too many politicians and their special interest supporters.
Many millions of Americans realize that most Washington politicians and special interests don’t really care that all Americans have the opportunity to prosper. They only care that they prosper. This sad situation has existed for many decades.
Only Donald Trump talked credibly about eliminating the problems that keep Americans from prospering and this is why he was elected. Unfortunately Trump’s efforts to deliver on those promises are fought by the overwhelming majority of Washington politicians, bureaucrats, lobbyists, unions, and other special interest groups which benefit from the status quo.
Americans who care about their fellow citizens need to demand that their politicians support President Trump’s efforts to create an environment in which every American can prosper ... not just survive on welfare.
Don Ewing Meredith
Prosperity is inversely proportional to the number of liberals who are in gubmit.
The children born into this situation hardly stand a chance. Loose family structure, substandard schools, gangs, drugs, puberty... What a mess.
Exactly.....
A lot to change and need change quickly.
It is amazing to us. Weekly in our local paper (Central TX) it seems that a million dollars or more of drugs are found by DPS narcotic units and their awesome dogs. And, after a friend’s son committed suicide we learned that drugs are killing tens of thousands of young adults annually.
I wonder what will happen when all the programs disappear cause we are bankrupt and can’t pay the ones who live from govt. $$??
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