Screw you, PBS

email | Craig J. Cantoni

[hsmomx3]

Sorry for the above language, but I used a more vulgar verb last night while watching a PBS NewsHour segment about new expensive public housing in Chicago. I was still fuming when I awoke this morning.

Maybe my nerves are frayed over my father's recent death and the unpleasant task of moving my 82-year-old mother out of the very humble house that she shared with him for 60 years in St. Louis -- a house that they had made livable over the years through sweat equity. But even with a lifetime of scrimping on their meager income to buy remodeling materials, the house is worth only about a third as much as the beautiful new townhomes built for welfare recipients in Chicago.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran a similar story during the week of my dad's funeral. It included photos of expensive townhomes for the poor in St. Louis and purred about how great the housing was for the residents. As with the PBS segment, the story did not question why people on welfare should live in free housing that is better than the housing of most taxpayers, or why the poor cannot be provided with an old house and the materials to fix it up with their own labor, similar to how Bosnian immigrants are renovating dilapidated homes in the city with their own labor and money.

When my mom saw the article, she threw the paper down in disgust without saying a word. She is too polite to say, "Screw you, Post-Dispatch."

Neither PBS nor the Post-Dispatch would ever interview a taxpayer such as my mom about public housing or other social programs. She might tell them what it was like to be orphaned as an infant and raised in a two-flat by an immigrant aunt and uncle, who worked as a waiter and never went on the dole. She might say that she does not begrudge the deserving poor from getting temporary help, but she sure as hell resents it when they live better than taxpayers.

The PBS segment did not interview someone like my mom, but it did interview the members of a single-parent black family as they sat in their new townhouse, which, considering how nicely furnished and decorated it was, could have been featured in Better Homes & Gardens. Adhering to the standard journalism formula, the interview was a politically-correct puff-piece that did not ask the tough questions that my mom and millions of other Americans would have wanted to be asked.

For example, it did not ask the unemployed, overweight single mother if she thought it was fair that she and her strapping teenage kids were living in a nicer house than taxpayers who paid for the house, or why she and her kids and their absentee father could not have gotten off their duffs and helped with the construction.

In the absence of such penetrating questions, another opportunity was lost by the media to teach the public a lesson about personal responsibility. Instead, another lesson in irresponsibility was taught -- that if you want a nice house, the way to get it is to drop out of school, have kids out of wedlock, and sit on your behind and eat Cheetos while watching Oprah Winfrey.

Although the segment explained the horrors of the high-rise public housing where the family used to live, it did not explain why the housing was horrible. It was horrible because Lyndon Johnson's Great Society Program and other misguided social programs stripped the poor of their dignity and self-reliance by giving them handouts without expecting responsible behavior in return. Then they were told to live in gulag-like breeding grounds of social pathology.

But society did get something in return for giving people handouts without expecting responsible behavior in return. It got skyrocketing out-of-wedlock births and the exodus of fathers from families, both of which are the primary causes of poverty, crime, school dropouts and low academic achievement.

My mom and dad saw it coming in the 1960s. Although they never went to college, they understood human nature better than the experts with their advanced sociology degrees.

I also saw it coming. Before the Great Society atomized black families, I worked as a teenager as the only white member of a crew of black janitors and porters. I saw firsthand how black men worked hard, supported their families and were slowly climbing the economic ladder. I even made extra money by washing and waxing my coworkers' cars, which were nicer than my family's decrepit car.

Statistics confirm my recollection of black progress, showing that progress was more rapid before the Great Society than after.

Unfortunately, PBS and the Post-Dispatch are the rule, not the exception. A day does not go by without a chirpy story appearing in my local newspaper or on local TV about a new government program that rewards irresponsibility instead of responsibility. A recent story, for example, chirped about free tutors, free all-day kindergarten and free preschool for poor kids who don't do well in school. It did not mention that an unemployed single parent with four kids is already getting an education benefit that will cost taxpayers nearly $400,000 over 12 years. Once again, an opportunity to teach a lesson in personal responsibility was lost and replaced by a lesson in personal irresponsibility -- namely, if you do not make sure that your kids take full advantage of a free education, the state will reward you by spending even more money on them.

PBS, the Post-Dispatch and other mainstream media are essentially saying "Screw you!" to millions of Americans by not including their views in news stories about welfare and other social issues.

Americans should say "Screw you!" in return and go elsewhere for their news.

__________

Mr. Cantoni is an author, columnist and founder of Honest Americans Against Legal Theft (HAALT). He can be reached at ccan2@aol.com.

[Gringo1]

For those that work, nothing. For those that do nothing, everything.


Welcome to America, enjoy your time here.

[SwinneySwitch]

Now you've gotten my blood pressure up!

Screw PBS!!

[netmilsmom]

Amen to this article. We are drowning and they live much better than we do.
All the welfare moms I knew while attending Cuyahoga Community College in downtown Cleveland got food stamps, ADC, an apartment, transportation costs and their schooling paid for. Every one of them worked under the table at a club or had a side business.
In the meantime, I worked 40 hours cleaning rooms and fulltime school I paid for.

[ChadGore]

[ovrtaxt]

Wait.. can you hear it.....?

Is that the sound of Atlas shrugging?

[Dutchgirl]

Hi hsmomx3. If you really want your blood pressure to go up- check out the story here in Jacksonville of a bus driver who purchase a house in her maiden name and applied for and received a Habitat for Humanity house in her married name...then rented it out to turn a tidy profit.

[DUMBGRUNT]

Not to worry, many of the units will be trashed in short order. Not all of them, but many.
In the 1980's I had been in Taylor, Cabrini, I.B. Wells and more.
At one time they were nice.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

Lovely.

When was this?

[LasVegasMac]

Is that the sound of Atlas shrugging?

All the more reason to drag your butt outta bed every morning and go to work.

I feel much better after reading that. Nice to know my tax dollars are being put to "good" use.

LVM

[Russell Scott]

It will all balance out on Judgement Day.

[bigfootbob]

"... check out the story here in Jacksonville of a bus driver who purchase a house in her maiden name and applied for and received a Habitat for Humanity house in her married name...then rented it out to turn a tidy profit."

A government bus driver, I presume. Typical example of a person using government designed economic instruments and getting slapped down. What's the old bumpersticker slogan? "Don't steal, the government hates competition." ;)

[DoctorMichael]

Righteous Indignation Bump.

[JackRyanCIA]

Yeah, I worked with section eight housing projects in Chicago as someone has to insure them. I know the people that reside there. A very few good people. Most are scum and undeserving of hand outs. Welcome to the United Socialist States of America. Well, it's going that way. 10 more years and it's all over cept the shouting.

[Sub-Driver]

time to defund PBS..........

[janetgreen]

Good article. What happens when the takers outnumber the givers? We're screwed.

[justrepublican]

The way the judiciary is handing down decisions in california, I grateful you are referring to a higher court.

[aculeus]

Bounce!

[bitcon]

Well not to sound like a communist but a workers revolution. All the people who work and pay for this stuff can revolt and kill of the useless welfare bums. Of course there wont be communist or socialism after the bums are killed off.

[river rat]

Don't fret...
In less than 10 years, the skanks living in that "public housing" will reduce it to an unlivable slum....

Then, you get to build them a new home!

End Welfare for "repeat offenders".. folks that have been there for more than a few years.
Think about it....the more you subsidize something, the more of it you get.

Being poor should be uncomfortable enough, that no one stays there generation after generation......

If their family, friends, church or neighbors think so little of them as people that they won't help --- why should I?

Semper Fi

[bulldogs]

I know how you feel. I work hard, and so does my wife to be middleclass. My wife has cancer and she still works and pays taxes for this crap.

[Ex-Dem]

These are the same type of people who feel that they're entitled to preferential treatment, as far the college admissions process goes.

[bitcon]

The BC government in Canada has done something like that. You can only collect welfare for 2 out of 5 years.

[Dutchgirl]

article here

[radiohead]

Righteous Indignation Bump

Plenty of that to go around. I remember when there were near riots in a Philly neighborhood because of a woman and kids who moved into a house using Section 8.

Philly being the ignorant place it often is, and the stereotype of blacks as the only people on welfare, the common assumption was that the disgruntled neighbors were whites who didn't want a black on welfare in their neighborhood.

Imagine the liberal surprise and horror when it turned out the Section 8 woman and her neighbors were all white. It should not have been shocking that these hardworking blue collar people, who often worked 2 jobs to buy these little houses, were just a little ticked off that someone who wasn't working, and didn't have to work, was going to get a house for free.

[IncPen]

I've been floating the idea on FR of White Reparations®, to be paid as restitution to taxpayers and their children who paid for the Great Society, by those who squandered the opportunities given them.

_{From those that have, to those that need, as determined by Ted Kennedy}

[Hotdog]

AMEN!....tried to listen to them (nothing else on in mountains)...found out that silence is REALLY golden after a few minutes of them!

[Beelzebubba]

In Portland Oregon, subsidized housing has been built on the riverfront, in a VERY nice and fashionable neighborhood.

[Beelzebubba]

White Reparations®

---

Hilarious!

[Mears]

10 more years? You certainly are optimistic.I'd say we're just about there now.

Extreme wealth for a few,everything for nothing for those that are lazy and/or illegal,and the rapid erosion of the great American middle class.

I'm 71 and saw this country at it's best.I fear for my grandchildren.

[tonyinv]

I wish. We need a real John Gault figure that can convince the good people of this country that its their very goodness that is being used against them. It would be really hard to convince people to shrug and truly give it all up, especially the wealthy.

In about 5-10 years this wont matter, the country will descend into political chaos then finally anarchy. Each day it's getting harder and harder to believe that the people of this country will reverse the socialist course we're on.

Every day that the democrats AND republicans get away with further shitting on the constitution, is one day closer to the end we get.

[viaveritasvita]

GGGGGRRRRRR!!!

I have a neighbor, young girl with an 11 mon old child. She works, but is still able to get food stamps. Some of us were wondering this morning where OUR food stamps were!!

It wasn't always this way. Here's a quote for y'all. From Why America Doesn't Work, by Colson and Eckerd (emphasis mine)....

"American charity at the turn of the last century truly lived up to its name and definition of compassion and benevolent goodwill. Tens of thousands of local charitable agencies and religious groups around the country were intimately involved in the lives of the poor. They visited them in their homes; they taught them basic living skills and helped them find jobs. Many took abandoned, alcoholic or drug-addicted women – often with their children – into their own homes, training them to work and integrating them back into family and community. Thousands were given shelter, food and a place to being a new life. The poor were not given handouts, THEY WERE NOT GIVEN THE MONEY EARNED BY OTHERS TO CONTINUE THEIR SELF-DESTRUCTIVE LIFESTYLES; the poor were given tools to create independence and dignity in their lives. The charity of one hundred years ago was not one of entitlement, but of ennoblement."

They are stealing our money and giving it to others!!!!

I think it was Paul (in one of his new testament letters?) who said that, if you don't work, you don't eat.

I agreed 100% with everything in the article.

[holyscroller]

"In Portland Oregon, subsidized housing has been built on the riverfront, in a VERY nice and fashionable neighborhood."

And I read recently that a welfare housing project is going in just north of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. That land alone must be worth millions. Only the best for our deadbeats! I wonder how many illegals have managed to scam the system too?

[McGavin999]

Something magic happens when you buy an old, beatup house and fix it up yourself. It's more "home" than any other place possibly could be. Something magic happens to you too when you finally decide to tackle something yourself because you just can't afford to hire it done. When it's done you're more pleased with it than you ever could have been if someone else did it for you.

Liberals just don't seem to understand it, or if they do, they're intent on cheating other people out of that fantastic feeling. Funny, I guess the liberals are still the slavemasters at heart.

[FrdmLvr]

When will people like you ever get it? You are here to produce for those who will not produce for themselves. You are the host for the parasite. You can thank FDR.

[small_l_libertarian]

I've been floating the idea on FR of White Reparations®, to be paid as restitution to taxpayers and their children who paid for the Great Society, by those who squandered the opportunities given them.

PHFFFFPHFFFT!!!

[Sound of beer spraying out my nose.]

[small_l_libertarian]

Something magic happens when you buy an old, beatup house and fix it up yourself. It's more "home" than any other place possibly could be. Something magic happens to you too when you finally decide to tackle something yourself because you just can't afford to hire it done. When it's done you're more pleased with it than you ever could have been if someone else did it for you.

You are so right. That's what we have done. We're in the neighborhood where I grew up, just 5 blocks from my grandparents. I am so deeply satisfied, I can't even tell you. We're in a very old, very well-preserved Tampa neighborhood. Big yards, lots of space and public areas. All the schools on the same street, all within walking distance.

Just planted some tomatoes - tomorrow we start building our entertainment center. Life is good, indeed.

[Spiff]

Great article! Thanks for posting it. I always like Craig's articles and I've been posting them on my club's website as they are released.

[ovrtaxt]

That's an interesting way to look at it. Makes you wonder who are the proletariat and who are the bourgeousie.

There's a revolution for the history books! You take your life in your hands when you ask for government assistance...

[bruinbirdman]

"because of a woman and kids who moved into a house using Section 8."

One family?

We moved to Nevada from southern California after the second murder on the block in 6 months. We had lived in that house for 50 yrs.

After 40 yrs. all neighborhoods get classified Sec. 8 eligible. On our block, I watched four houses go to section 8s,one family in each of 3 bedrooms. That makes 3 government quaranteed housing checks every month. Banks love that. Easy to get mortgages.

Enterprising illegal aliens will hook up a toilet to the garage sewer cleanout and make another living area, four checks to a house. They can easily afford the mortgage.

We moved out of an 1190 sf, 3 bdr, 1 bath house that sold for $185K. It was a rotten neighborhood. 3 yrs later that house is back on the market for $315K.

yitbos

[randita]

Not to worry, many of the units will be trashed in short order. Not all of them, but many.

Sad, but true. It's human nature to value and protect that for which you've worked hard and earned. Something given free or for minimal charge is not valued much by the receiver.

[randita]

Liberals just don't seem to understand it, or if they do, they're intent on cheating other people out of that fantastic feeling.

They cheat others out of it because it selfishly makes them feel good by giving other people's money (i.e. the tax payers) away. How giving someone's else's money away makes a liberal feel compassionate, I'll never understand.

Also, they do it to extort votes.

[SpyGuy]

time to defund PBS.

Time to defund the government!

[massadvj]

I can certainly sympathize. But I think some of your scorn is misplaced, because the vast majority of social welfare in this country does not go to the poor. It goes to the rich.

About 87 percent of the wealth in this country is in the hands of folks over 50 years old. More than half (55 percent) is in the hands of people over 65. Yet about two-thirds of the federal budget is spent on social security and Medicare. By comparison, less than 7 percent of the federal budget is used for traditional social welfare.

So while you rightfully lament the ungrateful, lazy bastards who live in government-subsidized housing in the slums of Chicago, you ought to save your real rage for the leisure classes in Sun City, Myrtle Beach and Tampa Bay.

Most of those folks vote Republican, though, so I guess that makes them alright.

[SpyGuy]

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.

The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: "From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage."

- Alexander Fraser Tytler (later Lord Alexander Fraser Woodhouslee), in "The Decline and Fall of the Athenian Republic," published 1776

[chadwimc]

HEY!!! Thats how I made my "gentleman's" bathroom in my old house. I couldn't afford the cost of a plumber to sawcut the basement floor. A drain is a drain, right?(Not really, I know, I know)I added a comode and a shower stall. The new owner's wife said "We can take that out" The new owner said "I think I'll keep it. I always wanted my own bathroom".

[fishbabe]

there was a story in sf chron about three days ago how people in the bay area were getting homes{yes,homes} worth 160,000 and only paying a fraction of the cost...the taxpayer picks up the rest...the story was in lucianne.com and go to their search engine and look up the word condo..the story is there

[apackof2]

if you want a nice house, the way to get it is to drop out of school, have kids out of wedlock, and sit on your behind and eat Cheetos while watching Oprah Winfrey.

Yup, the "Rev.Jesse's" pinions have learned their lessons well

[nutmeg]

.

[GladesGuru]

In much of America, Johnson's "Urban Renewal" became "negro removel". And "ppor anybody else" removal. Poor housing and cheap hotels were leveled - but nothing was built for those who were displaced.

Where before a wino could put in a few hours at day labor and be paid cash sufficient for a flop house, some food, and a bottle of wine (the real incentive), a after "Urban Renewal" they slept on the streets and under bridges.

I once dated a surgical nurse who lived in Miami. She regularly had stories about how 'trolls' (the OR term for those living under the bridges) were kept alive by maggots which debrided the knife wounds.

When flop houses were available, emergency care was far more readily available. Why so? Ever tried to find a phone with which to make a call from under the abutment of a bridge? Remember, we are talking about a "Renewed" area, so even the phone booths are trashed. That is, those that were not removed due to a lack of profitablity due to vandalism.

Moral: Urban Renewal" had major Unintended Consequences. So do most experiments in socialism and/or social engineering.