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Give Me Subsidies or Give Me Death!

For the first time in our nation’s history, it pays better to sit on your ass and let the government take care of you than it does to get a job.

The average individual who relies on Washington can now receive benefits valued at $32,748. That’s more than the nation’s average disposable personal income of $32,446! Is it any wonder that so many people are leaving the workforce?

Of course the unemployment rate is going to tick down when you have that kind of incentive not to work.

Did you ever think you would live to see the day in America when it became more profitable not to work than to have a job?

It brings to mind my eye-opening personal encounter with a welfare plagued homeless man in Fort Myers Beach, Florida this past summer.

And make no mistake, that’s exactly how Barack Obama and his minions want it.

According to the Heritage Foundation’s 2012 Index of Dependence on Government , fully 1 in 5 Americans rely on the federal government for everything from housing, healthcare and food stamps to college tuition and retirement assistance. That’s a whopping 67 million Americans — a voting block that certainly rivals Catholics against government mandated contraception.

In fact, government dependency jumped 8.1% in the past year alone, with the most assistance going toward housing, health and welfare, and retirement. To add insult to injury, nearly half of the US population (49.5%) does not pay any federal income taxes. Coincidence? Hardly. This is by design, starting with Wilson and Roosevelt all the way to Barack Obama.

Moreover, according to a recent CNN report entitled “The New American Dream,” a full one-third of all Americans get means-based assistance. So now more than one-third of Americans are dependent on the so-called “social safety net” and 20% live entirely on government subsidy. Twenty percent!

The federal government sent out a record $2 trillion to individuals in fiscal year 2010. That’s equal to the entire federal tax revenues collected in 2010 and a 75% jump from 2002. As of now, according to the Heritage Foundation which tracks, documents, and keeps the data: 70% of the federal government’s budget goes to individual assistance programs.

To say that’s unsustainable would be putting it mildly and that number is still going up. The elections are nine months away and Barack Obama wants to get as many Americans as possible dependent on Uncle Sam’s social net. And he’s doing a brilliant job.

With unemployment insurance extended to ninety-nine weeks, Obama knows all too well that complacency leads to dependency, dependency leads to entitlement, entitlement leads to addiction, and addiction leads to socialism.

In 21st century America it is no longer: “Give me liberty or give me death!” It’s . . .

“Give Me ‘Subsidies’ or Give Me Death!”

Until next time . . . Wake Up America!

Kevin A. Lehmann

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  1. 47 Comment(s)

  2. By Missy O on Feb 10, 2012 | Reply

    If you are really think people do not want to learn skills, do nothing every day…then YOU are the problem. Give these individuals the opportunities to get an education, a better job etc. You had role models…they often do not. Criticize less and offer help more.

  3. By Missy O on Feb 10, 2012 | Reply

    Looks like you need to take a visit to their apartments and see just how great they are living…what food stamps buys…and see if you’d switch places because it is sooooo good!

  4. By me on Feb 10, 2012 | Reply

    Missy, people CAN get an education and almost do it for FREE as long as they’re working or trying to get a job. There are PELL grants and scholarships everywhere. The problem is that people make excuses NOT to work.

    I was married to a man like that. He makes every excuse in the book to not work. He even asked to get custody of the kids so he could get benefits. It’s really sad. Yes, I laughed at him and said NO.

    In fact, I was laid off and started a business working as a contractor and then when that one dried up I started my own business doing something else. Now it’s not thriving, but I don’t get freebies from the state. I don’t get food stamps. Sure, I have months that are slow, but we make do and eat on a budget. Did I wait for someone to “give” me a job? No. I applied for some and then found something that worked for me.

    Now the woman in this picture, she could very well have a sugar problem so she should stop scarfing down the cake, but she could have a business or be an overweight model and make A LOT of money online if she wanted to or really tried. If I looked like that I’d rather do that then live off of other people. I’ve worked on websites for some women who are disabled because of their weight, but they make a ton of cash working from home as models.

    Don’t ever let poverty get in your way of success!

  5. By Bill on Feb 10, 2012 | Reply

    Missy,
    Your Miss’in da point

  6. By Cheryel Wickham on Feb 10, 2012 | Reply

    I can not believe this article. You need to get your facts straight before you write an article like this..
    I’m on Social Security Disability, I’m fat also, not the cause of my disability either (imagine that). As far as making over $32,000.00 a year, tell me what state this is happening in, I want to move there.. I make a little over $12,000.00 a year on social security. I live in an apartment that is run down, has tons of drug addicts in it, and has drug deals going on in the parking lot.
    Does it sound like to you that I’m living in luxury, I think not…. I barely live and do not have any savings at all, so if something happens to my car or etc. I will not be able to fix them.
    I would love to work again and feel useful. When you are stuck in an apt. 24/7 because of your disability it is not fun, especially when your home is a dump (all that I can afford).

    I would love to hear from you so you can tell me how I can start to make this 32 thousand dollars a year you claim people are making….

  7. By Cindy Wright on Feb 10, 2012 | Reply

    Missy I guess you do not know that the drop out rate for College is 40% … opportunity flushed down the toilet at the expense of taxpayer subsidies! More entitlements abused! How about just getting a job any job …get some work ethic and then give it the good ole College try!

  8. By Kevin A. Lehmann on Feb 10, 2012 | Reply

    @Cheryel: First of all, my article isn’t speaking of disabled people. Secondly, as Heritage reports from government statistics, $32,000 is the average value of all cumulative benefits, not a salary. Did you even read the article? If there weren’t so many freeloaders, liars and cheaters on the government rolls, perhaps people with legitimate disabilities could actually receive more. Only 5-7% of the population actually needs assistance from the government. You can make $32,000 a year right from your apartment. You’re obviously able to read and write. There are plenty of opportunities right on the internet. Or are you like the majority of Americans who are on welfare and other government subsidies that are too afraid to make money or else you’ll lose your benefits? 90% of Americans who receive government assistance would rather adapt their standard of living to what they’re getting from Uncle Sam than actually go to work and make something of themselves.

  9. By Girly on Feb 10, 2012 | Reply

    In Wisconsin I know a woman who got $600 per month in food stamps and $800.00 per month rent. She also got free medical care, free electricity and free oil in the winter. She also had a part time business that brought her $9,000 per year.

  10. By guest on Feb 11, 2012 | Reply

    I was showing a house for my father to a potential tenant that has the same back problems that I do. The difference? she is on “disability” (her disability didn’t stop her from having two children though). She gets a free cell phone, goes to college (part time) for free, free healthcare, free food, free housing, free daycare and free internet. She gets a monthly check from the government that is $200 less than my monthly income working full time as a legal secretary. I am tired of paying for people, poor or not, to have everything I have to work for. I am especially offended by the cell phone commercials on television – a cell phone is a luxury! I don’t even have a cell phone!
    If o’bama wins the election in November I will quit working. Why should I work everyday in pain so someone else can sit on their ass, have children and get everything for free? Well, I refuse to do it anymore.

  11. By guest on Feb 11, 2012 | Reply

    Cheryel Wickham – You don’t MAKE $12,000 a year – you get a gift from the taxpayers of $12,000 a year. There is a difference and personally I am sick and tired of the lack of gratitude. If you live in a dump, why not move in with family? instead of complaining about how little you “make” think about what you would do if you didn’t “make” anything – because that is a reality that you may be facing. Why is it the working poor’s responsibility to take care of people that don’t work? It is immoral to TAKE money that I (and everyone else) earn and give it to someone else. When you force people to give the money they earn to someone else in the name of charity it is no longer charity – it is theft.

  12. By bill cowell on Feb 11, 2012 | Reply

    No Kevin, it is the “All New Barack Obama Social Safety Hammock”

    Barack and his buddies tell you to hop in, kick back and the 1% will pay for everything.

    The American Dream our founders had in mind. ;-)

  13. By Abby on Feb 11, 2012 | Reply

    just got to MA and you see this article in action!!! Almost everyone in Fitchburg MA is on welfare and gets housing for free and then they drive the really nice cars and are in gangs and selling drugs! I think its a disgrace to our system! But they wont do anything about it!! I went on foodstamps for 3 months when I was trying to find work and it took me three weeks to get it because of the fact that I was able to prove I pay taxes and sorry to say this but its true I was the wrong color! How sad is that?! Alot of people are able to work but refuse to. I think we should start drug testing!

  14. By john cinque on Feb 11, 2012 | Reply

    “The best way to help the poor is to make them uncomfortable in their poverty” Thomas Jefferson

    The founders words are more powerful today then at anytime in our history….but is anyone listening?

  15. By Sickntired on Feb 11, 2012 | Reply

    I don’t think people collection social security should be referenced as accepting “retirement assistance”. No one has a choice but to contribute to SS & Medicare and it was deducted from their pay just like any other insurance – with a promise of receiving a benefit when you retire or if you become disabled! You can not lump these people in with those on welfare, food stamps etc. For those on unemployment – though I don’t agree with the continued extensions that is an insurance that is paid into by employers for such instances. You can bet each employer that has fired/layed off employees is paying a higher rate too. I know, I know, our tax dollars still help pay for the unemployment income they are earning but come on – Obama’s not done anything to improve this economy! I hate to rush the year along but… hurry up November!

  16. By bill cowell on Feb 11, 2012 | Reply

    Social Security is absolutely NOT welfare. We were forced to pay into that crooked ponzi scheme and we are entitled to a return on our investment.

  17. By bill c on Feb 11, 2012 | Reply

    Same with the illegals. Don’t round them up. Simply make it so intolerable that they will leave on their own. Look at Arizona since they inacted their new law. Illegals are leaving the state in droves.

    I think we should offer a one time bus ride home. Anyone wants to leave gets a bus ticket and a small per diem for food to go home.

  18. By Flavia Eckholm on Feb 11, 2012 | Reply

    I’ve got you all beat. A friend of mine, who is a multi millionare and they own a family business where she has never worked, gets around $3,000 per month disability. Yes, she was in a car wreck and is not in the best shape, but it has nothing to do with her ability to have money. Her husband simply doesn’t give her cash that she thinks she deserves. Her kids all log on their SS hours without ever going to the job in the family company. They have 7 kids, 20 something grandkids and few have ever worked. Whether you are rich or poor, I have seen people take from the government thinking that it doesn’t matter and that they are somehow owed this money. My grandmother lived to be 94 and only worked a short time when SS came into being. My family supported her longer than she supported my mom and she was at that mail box to send her check to my “poor” uncle. People that think they have won some kind of lottery and deserve welfare just have no conscience for the rest of us paying for you. When do I get benefits? Never, at this rate. We are BROKE!

  19. By kygirl on Feb 11, 2012 | Reply

    I would relook at every single person on disability and assistance. Alot of these people are able to work! Get them off our payroll.

  20. By Todd on Feb 11, 2012 | Reply

    Wow! I just did my taxes and I made less than the government handouts you reference. Guess it’s time to quit working 60 hours a week and learn how to mooch off my neighbors!

  21. By Chris Race on Feb 11, 2012 | Reply

    We have had the best producing economy in the world ever starting shortly after WW II ended and that was also a time of the least government intrusion into our lives. Anyone that wanted to bad enough could amass wealth in this great nation. We became the nation of haves instead of the nation of have nots. Most everybody owned a home, car, television and they went on vacations once a year and they earned it themselves. Our nation was doing so well that we started looking at the poor and wondering what we could do to help the poor out of their rut and into the main stream society. You see we thought that most of the poor were poor because they just didn’t have the same opportunity that most other people had. We thought that all they needed was a little boost and they could make their way into the middle class on their own. When that didn’t happen we were told that just a little more help (money) would certainly do it and more and more and more until we now have more poor than we did when we started. In the 60’s and 70’s their seemed to be a shame factor about taking government assistance but things have changed.

    Maybe there was a time when a little help is all people wanted and I’m sure that there are many for which this is still true but there are those that have lost their will to work and achieve what they need or want in life. I know families that are 3rd and 4th generation welfare families because they teach their children the information they need to stay on government assistance instead of how to get ahead in this world. Please understand I’m really not trying to downcast anyone but rather just point out what society has done to make this easier and easier to let some settle into that mentality. I have heard on many occasions that the illegal immigrants are taking jobs that Americans won’t take and I have always thought that was absurd but I feel now my reasoning may have been flawed. Looking at the situation it appears that those statements were more than likely true and here is why. We as a society have made it too easy to stay on the government assistance. We have thrown so much money at it and provided so many services when you add them all up and start thinking about taking a minimum wage job it’s no wonder people stay on welfare instead of taking a job. We have to start weaning people off of welfare and back into the rolls of employment. I’m not talking about people that do actually need help because they are disabled in their case we should make sure they have a clean, safe and healthy living environment. The ones that I’m talking about are those who can work but have figured out how to use the system to their advantage at our expense. There are many that estimate that over 60% of the people on welfare can work but they won’t take a job because they make a better living from government subsidies. This didn’t happen overnight and we can’t just put people out in the streets but we can start giving those that can work opportunities to re-educate themselves in order to find a better job. We have to stop paying for people to not work if they can.

  22. By Dave S. on Feb 12, 2012 | Reply

    “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will feed himself for life”.

    It isn’t government’s role to feed people, or even to teach them how to feed themselves.

    The role of government is to protect our individual liberties.

    We can, and will lose those liberties through the seduction of socialism. This is because security and liberty are mutually exclusive and diametrically opposed. The more we come to expect more and more from government, the further we crawl into what amounts to a pillow and velvet lined cage. Once past the door, and the sound of the lock behind you, it is too late. Tyranny.

  23. By cap on Feb 12, 2012 | Reply

    Kygirl, you have no idea what you are talking about. Being someone whose on disability I can tell you some people have to wait 3 or 4 years to even get a hearing. If you have no individual disability insurance that means you have no income while you wait and that means you loose everything – most people, if not disabled, would not put themselves through that(note – if you do have dis ins then SS dis only pays half, your ins has to cover the other half). Also, disability income is usually no where near what was discussed in this article. Once approved SS reviews your case every couple years so everyone does get ‘relooked’ at. I pad into the system for over 30 years so you are not paying my way. It is not the fault of citizens that politicians have mismanaged and robbed the SS moneys!

  24. By Kevin A. Lehmann on Feb 12, 2012 | Reply

    @cap: If you collect way more than you paid into the system, then yes, the American tax payer is paying your way. Social security is the biggest Ponzi scheme ever devised. Obviously, FDR wasn’t surrounded by competent actuaries when it was created. It’s impossible to sustain without massive reform that would include raising the age for retirement eligibility and drastically reducing the payout. It’s not government’s responsibility to play nanny and take care of it’s citizens, it’s to protect our liberties and our freedom. And a lot of people collecting disability income don’t need it and others have lost the incentive to work because of their addiction to it.

  25. By Da Doctor on Feb 12, 2012 | Reply

    Sorry, but there is no excuse for letting yourself get this way, and if you do don’t expect me to pay your bills. As the article says, “The average individual who relies on Washington can now receive benefits valued at $32,748. That’s more than the nation’s average disposable personal income of $32,446! Is it any wonder that so many people are leaving the workforce?”

    What happens when we all decide to sit on our fat asses and let the Obama Nation support us…oops, no one in the Obama Nation works now. That’s why they voted for his promises of giving everyone everything.

  26. By Kevin A. Lehmann on Feb 12, 2012 | Reply

    Touche! Adam . . . Well said.

  27. By Tea Party Veteran on Feb 12, 2012 | Reply

    Why do these offspring of the 60′s and 70′s hippy movement keep coming back to haunt us? The only thing Occupy Wall Street has achieved since it’s conception is occupy the American citizens air space and ruin everything they touch cost all us us not them why? I would make all of them responsible for their actions and they can police the areas by cleaning up the trash, waste and perform janitorial work by washing the walls for us at the city State houses and other destroyed property.I’ll repeat that they are not the 99% we working individuals are because we are paying the tab.

  28. By Stella on Feb 13, 2012 | Reply

    Missy..the opportunities are there, how much more do we need to shell out as tax payers.Obama keeps lowering the bar for entitlements. The poverty level number is a scam, for many Government giveaways people who are 300% above the level are getting benifits.Enough is enough. Everyone needs skin in the game or nothing changes.

  29. By Jo Zie on Feb 13, 2012 | Reply

    Human Beings are an aspirational species. We thrive when we are challenged and find purpose (significance is irrelevant). This concept of learned helplessness is a contrivance of a political system addicted to the taste of power with all its bells and whistles. People who choose to be spoon fed a diet of entitlement checks and wares wallow in the same trough as the politicians who would create such an uninspired class of folks. It’s just the politicians and elite get the really good stuff throwing the scraps and crumbs to the entitled who greedily grapple to get their fair share of the pittances afforded them by those who claim to represent their interests. The elite hide the simple truth in all manner of noble rhetoric asserting that segments of society ‘deserve’ to be given their ‘fair share’ all the while wanting votes with little interest in the lives they are supporting at the cost of those who actually work hard and pay taxes. Fostering dependence is cruel and robs the entitled of all their talent and potential. It is the suppression of the natural instinct to aspire in this society that truly offends. Entitlement is nothing but a predatory manipulation of a government who has become increasingly greedy and parsimonious. Anyone who would diminish a race of people by convincing them that their lot in life is to consume the earnings of others in the name of racial and/or cultural status are evil by definition.

    Missy, I am an ex cop and have been in ‘their’ abodes on numerous occasions. There are some who have an inner integrity and sense of pride that is manifest in the care they take tending to the homes they have created. More often, the dwellings are cesspools of rot and decay which is a choice not a result of social status. Like cock roaches, these people swarm into free housing etc take everything they can leaving a wake of devastation and debris for others to clean up all the while whining that they deserve so much more…..

    Here’s a clue to making a salient point Missy. When one attempts to evoke an emotional response they by definition have no facts and/or experience to engage in meaningful debate and have lost by default. Bring something more meaningful to the table other than trying to evoke sympathy for a class who uses that emotion as a tool to bilk others out of both tangible and intangible assets. You don’t cure poverty by giving people money!

    This entitled mentality is bringing this country to its knees much like it is doing across the globe. What is the mental mechanism that induces our WH to believe they can create a successful Marxist/Communist/Fascist state when those models have never succeeded? I am thinking delusion, arrogance, and malignant narcissism. But that’s just me. Excellent article Kevin!

  30. By Debra on Feb 13, 2012 | Reply

    Global themes like “Hope and Change” work with Obamabots because those themes allow the public to create whatever imagery they want. However, things like “smaller government” and “less taxes” does not resonate with America when 50% or more of the people are getting some kind of government handout. They are not about to bite the hand that feeds them and medicates them, and educates them (ok same thing) and houses them and gives them spending money. Conservatives must embrace strategies that can make an impact today as well as lay the groundwork to win America back. We must build the foundation for easy, consistent conservative political victories on all levels of representation. Get involved – do your part to get a seat “at the table” – and make the true conservative voice be one – once again – to be reckoned with. It could be your local library, school board, planning and zoning commissions, etc. You get the picture. We all must diligently work towards this common goal. We are rapidly being upgraded from search and rescue to recovery mode. If we can do this, we can and will give B. Hussein Obama the “thanks” he deserves and sucker punch him and his minions back to the rock they crawled out from under.

  31. By Tea Party Veteran on Feb 13, 2012 | Reply

    Just today we have a new budget proposal that is so completely lame the fudging of this administration’s numbers is so obvious like a rattle snake that lets you know it is about to strike. We are not Homer Simpson but these people continue to think we are.Now they want to integrate thousands of drones in our sky. Hmmm? What’s this for exactly? Last time I checked my U.S.Constitution this might be considered over the line a tad, no? It wasn’t us that hit our Towers and killed our own people was it? I thought we had shaven money off the D.O.D.Oh, that’s right, that has been shifted to D.H.S. now. Just you wait, there is more to come in the features of this movie. The truth will be told to us soon! When they said spread the wealth they were not kidding but they left out one detail, they are spreading our hard earned money to other countries so that we will be a third world country soon!I was stationed in Europe in the 70′s with the USN and I saw first hand the difference between our nation and others. We are catching a glimpse of what happened then by what is happening Now! Come on we all have TV’s right? Even the poorest among us thanks to subsidies, huh?

  32. By DAVID REYES on Mar 9, 2012 | Reply

    Well thats how much money you get, are you counting your housing and food stamps and free medical?

  33. By Motorcitydave on Mar 9, 2012 | Reply

    I’m just going to tell my story here. Maybe some of you will see that while there are a lot of people who should be working that are getting government assistance, not everybody who needs help can get it.

    For the last five years I have worked doing the only kind of work I could find here in the Detroit area that I could do. I was an independent contractor with a couple of different courier companies. The reason that I could only get that type of work is that I have a medical condition that makes it difficult for me to walk much more than a couple hundred feet at a time, or stand for more than about 5 – 10 minutes. My medical condition recently finally got bad enough that I was forced to file for SS Disability. I resisted it for as long as I possibly could, trust me I do not like not being able to work and having to ask the government for anything. Filing for disability has been the hardest thing I have ever had to do, to admit I can not provide myself with the basic necessities of life anymore is humiliating to say the least, and it has greatly shaken my faith in a loving God.

    I know that the process of being approved for disability can take years, and I have no income and I am quickly burning through the small amount of savings I had, so I went to the state (another humiliating and dehumanizing experience) to see what I would qualify for so that I do not become homeless in a couple months. I can now tell you that I qualify for exactly nothing from the state of Michigan (I did get a total of $277 in food stamps for a month and a half, then that stopped and no explanation was offered except that I am not qualified going forward.) The only explanation I was offered was that I am an individual not a family. So because I’m a disabled single white male with no children, I don’t qualify for anything even though I have no income and no ability to get a job.

    I honestly don’t know how I will be able to avoid homelessness.

    Kevin A. Lehmann you said in one of your posts earlier “You can make $32,000 a year right from your apartment. You’re obviously able to read and write. There are plenty of opportunities right on the internet.” I would love to know where your finding these opportunities, because I have been looking for just such an opportunity and I can not find anything that isn’t a scam, costs so much to start I can not do it, or requires some specialized skills that I do not have and have no way to acquire.

    Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying anybody should feel sorry for me, or that anybody owes me anything. I just think that somebody like me should be able to get a little help when it is needed. I don’t expect to live well or comfortably or anything I just want to be able to avoid living in the street. It pisses me off that just because I was kinda responsible and never had any children that I couldn’t afford that I don’t qualify for anything when some welfare slut can crap out 6 screaming brats, that she can’t be bothered to even raise, gets thousands of dollars in government assistance.

  34. By Tea Party Veteran on Mar 9, 2012 | Reply

    I finally could not do the work like I used to and my body started to feel the effects of all that hard work in my lifetime. I too! am on SSDI and I go out and help my fellow veteran comrades and feel pleasure in doing that for the Lowell community. Why not try that instead being stuck in the house 24/7 huh? You know volunteering helping others you will be amazed on what that does for your self respect and inner soul.

  35. By Rusty Shakelford on Mar 9, 2012 | Reply

    I paid almost 30k in taxes in 2010….but I am glad to know I can support welfare cows, baby factories and all around generational welfare scum.

  36. By Kurt T. Francis on Mar 9, 2012 | Reply

    Kevin, I partly agree with you; specifically, we do need to raise the retirement age, and do so at a faster rate than is (or ever has been under *any* President, including conservative Republican ones, by the way), plus, as you also mentioned, reducing benefits.

    That said, it does seem that you feel that beside being a Ponzi scheme, Social security is some sort of welfare. On that point, I disagree. People pay in so should get *something* back.

    Some may disagree with that proposition — give “investors” something back, as some of those who receive Social Security benefits are, indeed, well-off by any reasonable standard. Fine. I think I have a viable recommendation for that.

    Use a means test, and people above a certain level get no Social Security retirement payouts. *However,* if they indeed have paid in, then refund their money, adjust for inflation, with interest calculated at some average rate over the years they did pay in — then be done with them. They get their money back, even those who don’t actually need it. But that would avoid the arguably legitimate criticism that they had been cheated by the system.

    Would that be perfect? No — but it would go at least part of the way to overcoming your criticism that it’s some kind of soak-the-government scheme.

    I also would raise the retirement age by one year every second or third (max) year until it reached, let’s say, 75 for full benefits and 72 at reduced ones. Or perhaps eliminate the early benefits entirely. After that, raise the retirement age in step with average life expectancy. After all, when Social Security first started, the average lifespan for Americans (though this figure is somewhat incomplete, if you dig into it) was around 63. Today, based on far more thorough analyses, it’s around 78 for men and 79 for women. Yet the age requirements have not kept up with that, not by a long, long shot.

    By the way, I’m 60, and paid in very little — most of my working life, I either worked at low-paying jobs in the US or much better ones, later, but abroad. Instituting any of these measures would affect me personally, in the not to distant future. But I still support them.

  37. By Kevin A. Lehmann on Mar 10, 2012 | Reply

    @Kurt: Social security is in fact a Ponzi scheme. Let’s face it, FDR didn’t employ the best actuaries when it was concocted as part of the “New Deal.” Mathematically, it’s impossible to sustain. I agree that it needs to be means tested and adjusted accordingly.

  38. By Mitch on Mar 10, 2012 | Reply

    Oh boy ! What a fool ! I live off a total of $500.00 a month unemployment.I get no welfare.I have high blood pressure and buy my own meds and pay my own Doc bills.The last 2 years I’ve earn (working)under $10,000.00 a year.My fault?I’m lazy and living the good life?You’re an idiot !

  39. By Tea Party Veteran on Mar 11, 2012 | Reply

    Now this administration is breaking the tenth amendment by not allowing Texas not to receive money it deserves to continue Health and Services to their citizens. I hope and pray all are watching with watchful eyes what is truly against our U.S.Constitution. Under their rule our gas prices are up to about $3.79 per gallon, just since last year I found out beef is up 10.2%, eggs about 4%, milk up 3%, bread up 3%, coffee up 4.2%. Do we see a pattern here or am I just blind? If this continues we might as well consider ourselves equal to Europe and we are on our way to becoming a third world country if we allow it. Is this what you wanted to leave your children and grand children? Did you know that all of our returning soldiers unemployment rate is at 30%? Don’t worry we will get to 95 the way this administration is going. I refuse to have this as the Norm for myself and my family!

  40. By patti on Mar 11, 2012 | Reply

    Missy You are right. So many now just seem to be giving up. suicides up… living on welfare is no fun…People want to work to do things, have a life. Granted a few idiots out there ride the welfare train, work off the books, buy jewelry caddys etc,etc, but they are the exception.

  41. By patti on Mar 11, 2012 | Reply

    First of all why the picture of the severely obese woman eating cake? It would have been more palatable to see a person on foodstamps and welfare driving away from the supermarket in her/his caddy loaded with jewels and lotto tickets beer,and junk food. That is the exception rather than the norm. More people than ever are going to food banks, losing homes, cars, jobs and families breaking up.
    How dare anyone think welfare aka on the dole is easy. Good people are suffering what are YOU doing about it…Either be a part of the solution or you are the problem

  42. By patti on Mar 11, 2012 | Reply

    It is not specifically the 60/70s group we are dealing with. The offspring of those who went to Woodstock and did the drug scene are now having kids…grandkids too. no sense of responsibility. I graduated in 1972 and have done my community service by being an emt for years in NYC. Many of the older kids of my day now are bankers lawyers and accts. Their kids are definitely the spoiled. Not all but most. If these folks had the brains enough to see what is happening in the USA they would be shocked our rights are being destroyed. The people with great money have gotten in bed with nefarious cohorts. I pray the USA gets it together fast.

  43. By patti on Mar 11, 2012 | Reply

    If Social Security is a Ponzi scheme then how would you describe the IRS?

  44. By Jeannette Brys on Apr 7, 2012 | Reply

    Disclosure: am retired academic librarian, spouse disabled veteran. ALL our income is tax-free taxpayer funding. BUT it is not unearned. So many assistance programs do not enable return to independence, but rather to increased dependency, which does no one any good. And the money will either run out or become worthless with our current economic and monetary policies — which will hurt everyone.

  45. By ShawnRose on Apr 25, 2012 | Reply

    @Patty. Crooks, murderers, thieves, communist, satanist. Thats how you label the IRS Ms. And far as benefits. They where designed to make americans independent on them from the get go. Rat-obama and his friends help set it up years ago befor you even heard of the man. benefit (benefit) on the lives of others. get them to rely on us. All so they can continue plotting and planning the new world in there visions. What people don’t is once they have you where they want you then it’s easier for the take over. It’s like chess. Move in such a way and try to throw off your opponent buy making certain precise stratigeck (spell check) moves. Then once you have them covered and trapped, no where to go, BOOM CHECKMATE!

    Render us lazy:
    Why you have all these technologies, cars driving themselves, one push of a button all it gadgets. Microwaves. No wonder most americans can’t even make a home cooked dinner.

    Render us incompetent:
    why all the schools closings. Keep us from learning, thinking for ourselves. Colleges and universities more expensive than ever befor. Its all a game and where loosing as an american people. Ever since the begining the whites always had the first move.

    When is it our move?

  46. By Mekhong Kurt on Apr 26, 2012 | Reply

    ShawnRose, what on earth are you talking about? One way to read your comment is that “Rat-obama” helped FDR set up Social Security and LBJ to set up Medicare!

  47. By Bec on Jun 10, 2012 | Reply

    Perhaps I am ignorant…. but I don’t understand why socialism is so evil? I’m from Australia and we have a very generous and easily accessible welfare system. Our unemployment is lower than the US and we generally pay less income tax as well.

  48. By Ken on Jun 17, 2012 | Reply

    Why should I have to subsidize sloth?

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