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Why Do the Poor Stay Poor?
Townhall.com ^ | December 8, 2010 | John Stossel

Posted on 12/08/2010 4:19:34 AM PST by Kaslin

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To: Kellis91789

If you think about estate taxes, you will realize that income is not just taxed once. There is a web of taxes woven around anyone having property or income.

On income, you pay regular state and federal taxes - and in some places, county or municipal taxes. In addition, there are Medicare taxes and Social Security taxes taken before you see your check. When you go to spend “your” money, there are sales taxes, again, perhaps, at several levels. If you try to grow your money, then you will pay income taxes on dividends or interest. If you are too good at growing your money, your estate will be charged for that, too.


61 posted on 12/08/2010 6:35:53 AM PST by chickadee
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To: MeneMeneTekelUpharsin

I truly believe that,

Poverty is a state of mind and a way of life.


62 posted on 12/08/2010 6:40:23 AM PST by BunnySlippers (I love BULL MARKETS . . .)
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To: MeneMeneTekelUpharsin

I truly believe that.

Poverty is a state of mind and a way of life.


63 posted on 12/08/2010 6:40:34 AM PST by BunnySlippers (I love BULL MARKETS . . .)
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To: Kaslin

Matthew 26:11 The poor you will always have with you.....


64 posted on 12/08/2010 6:41:09 AM PST by OB1kNOb (China is now the world's ant. America has become the world's grasshopper. Fear the coming winter.)
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To: Kellis91789

“and then you have to pay taxes on the property every year forever...”

Your post allows me to say this (This is not directed at you, Kellis):

You stupid conservatives sat on your fat asses for 40 years, never attending local council meetings or county board meetings. Now you bitch because property taxes are high.

Well, surprise, surprise. You, you dumb-bunny conservatives, allowed left wing Marxists to take over your local government because you were too busy fishing, adding an addition to the kitchen or working overtime to make more money.

I worked in local government for years, and it was impossible to get you up off your butts and devote one hour a month attending local government meetings. Then when your taxes went through the roof and you couldn’t nail a picture on the wall without paying off a fat bureaucrat, you sat around scratching your ass wondering how that happened.

Duh!

If you want local taxes reduced, run for your local council seat. If you don’t want some bureaucrat telling you that it’s illegal to cut down a tree, show up at your county land use board (which shouldn’t exist in the first place) and start screaming at these fascist pigs. Go to these meetings by the hundreds and tell these pigs that you’re the boss and their happy rides on your backs ends NOW!

Get up off your fat butts and take back your neighborhoods. Then you won’t see high property taxes. And you’ll be much happier, too.


65 posted on 12/08/2010 6:52:09 AM PST by sergeantdave
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To: Pan_Yans Wife

Good teaching tool ping.


66 posted on 12/08/2010 7:15:31 AM PST by Pan_Yan
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To: sergeantdave

My, My! Aren’t we snippy?

Well, it is very apparent that you have not been around long enough to know how politics work.

The rules are:
1. Do everything and anything to stay in office, whether legal or illegal.

2. Never, never (as a politician) introduce an item to a local, state or federal public forum or meeting without first making sure that it is already a “done deal” and all of the players have selected and simply let the voters spew and fume over it when introduced. This is always the case.

Anytime any level of government introduces a bill, project or regulation for review...it is a done deal BEFORE being introduced to the taxpayers.

Politicians are in it for themselves and not for you. They will tell the public anything they wish to hear and those people will vote them in every time. If you tell the public what they don’t want to hear you will not be in office long.

To sum it up, the sad fact is that our political system is not made up of managers and fiscally responsible individuals, it’s made up of nothing more than “yes men and women.” In all cases they leave office with more than they came in with.


67 posted on 12/08/2010 7:20:54 AM PST by DH (Once the tainted finger of government touches anything, it begins to rot.)
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To: frposty
Hey, I’m a middle-income guy who lived for 25 years in a modest house with a modest wife and modest children. Why do I stay that way?

Because you are a middle-income guy living within his means? On another note, your post sounds like lyrics from a Talking Heads song!

68 posted on 12/08/2010 7:35:39 AM PST by SamAdams76 (I am 222 days away from outliving Wendy O Williams (Plasmatics))
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To: Kaslin
Thank you, for this article. Interesting. Yes, owning or having the right to own private property, with the protection of the law is paramount. It is basic. Only one of a myriad of basic problems.

What is the laws of dynamics? a body in motion tends to stay in motion, and a body still tends to stay still?

First one must have the idea, of having something they have never had, nor their father nor their relatives, nor their grandfathers, etc. An idea of something new. An expectation, a possibility, an idea of a goal, a DREAM. This is huge. It is not even a glimmer in the deepest part of the minds of impoverished peoples that have lived that way all their lives.

The idea of being paid for their work with MONEY with which to buy necessities like food and shelter, clothing, ...

When people are at the bottom ... think the untouchables in India, or the people that ‘do not exist’ in Islamic countries. How can a mind conceive of completely unknown states of being? Hope?

Conditioning follows all of us. Those that are denied everything and manage to live in the garbage pits, are fighting to live each day.

There are Nations/countries that have millions upon millions of the lowest of the low.

The United States of America has/have sent food, clothing, endless amounts of monies and most of it is kept and spent by the people in positions of power. Africa, Sudan, Korea,etc., We sent food to starving North Korea, the leaders took these products and sent them to China for money in their pockets. Unconscionable!. The UNITED NATIONS is scandalous for how they rape the programs meant for the poor and needy of the world.

God help them all.

To look for the good where there is essentially no good is not the way of change. Programs must be followed up, checked out, monitored, audited. It is not likely to happen. How can we keep people from evil? All yield to temptation. again and again.

These poor have life. God given life. It is a test of the world how shamefully they are treated and how most look away, MOO!

69 posted on 12/08/2010 10:32:37 AM PST by geologist (The only answer to the troubles of this life is Jesus. A decision we all must make.)
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To: Kaslin
DeSoto explains and illustrates his thesis in detail in an excellent book, The Mystery of Capital.. It is well worth reading by anyone who has wondered about these issues before. He points out, for example, that the net wealth in the hands of the people of Haiti is far greater than the sum of all foreign aid ever spent in that hapless country. Due to the failed government's lack of property rights and rule of law, it is inaccesible for investment.

Most small businesses are financed initially by home mortgages, but without a title and without a legal system to back up the transaction, a home owner cannot get credit from any sensible bank. So nothing happens, and that capital sits dead in the water, often for generations.

70 posted on 12/08/2010 11:13:18 AM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: DH
Your observation is a commonplace around here, but totally irrelevant to the issue at hand. You should read his book. It will open your eyes.
71 posted on 12/08/2010 11:16:10 AM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: Pentagon Leatherneck

12 years ago it was like an epiphany for me but is ti so true. I heard Neil Boortz say, “The poor (in America) aren’t poor because they have no money, they are poor because they have poor judgement.” Pregnant at 15 or alcoholic/drug addict at 18 is just a demonstration of this poor judgement.

The failure of the “Great Society” just proves this and the lotteries just confirm it. Givning poor folks oney doesn’t help them. If anything it hurts them.


72 posted on 12/08/2010 11:38:03 AM PST by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: Kaslin
One of the biggest variables is attitude; are they hungry enough for success? Do they expect a third party to provide for them?

In other words: are they rationalizing moochers or are they willing to earn it.

73 posted on 12/08/2010 1:26:03 PM PST by nomad
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To: Kaslin

Like when a certain “leader” took General Motors from it’s rightful owners and gave it to the unions? That rule of law?


74 posted on 12/08/2010 8:41:21 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet ("You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body." CS Lewis)
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To: riri

bkmk


75 posted on 12/14/2010 6:00:58 AM PST by riri
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