On Tue, 9 Mar 2004, Richard Moreau wrote: > If that's the problem, what do you suggest for a solution?
I guess I used the word "problem" because Roger did - I believe it would be more accurate to say that it is simply a human condition arrived at by millions of years of evolution in the form of an intransigent instinct to survive and proliferate - one that no tweaking by the policy-makers will ever counter. As I mentioned previously - behavior antithetical to this is usually an artifact of nurture in my experience. If you want a solution - you'll have to search within. Meltdowns welcome. -- Sam Nicolary > On Mar 9, 2004, at 10:54 AM, Samuel Nicolary wrote: > > > On Tue, 9 Mar 2004, Vincent/Roger wrote: > > > >> Andrew, > >> > >> I don't really know the statistics about whether the poor are getting > >> poorer > >> or not over the years. The situation seems depressingly the same > >> year > >> after year. I do believe there we could all agree that there is > >> something > >> terribly wrong with our welfare system. Every time policy-makers see > >> a > >> problem, it seems like they implement solutions that don't solve the > >> problem > >> but manage to reward clever people. (In all-too-many cases, for a > >> poor > >> person to take a legitimate "on the books" job is not at all clever > >> because > >> it will REDUCE one's net income, after taking into account lost > >> benefits > >> after reaching certain income thresholds.) So we end up with some > >> very > >> clever people living well off of welfare, and many others who can > >> hardly get > >> by. A real shame, because the clever ones are the ones we really > >> need in > >> the workforce! > >> > >> And meanwhile some very deserving poor people do not get the > >> benefits they > >> are entitled to. > >> Roger Harman > > > > If you offer out a helping hand and discriminate only on the basis of > > reported income then there will always be "something terribly wrong > > with > > our welfare system". You don't have to be clever to take advantage - > > just > > a dishonest jack ass. The problem lies within human nature. I have > > not > > met many people who are intrinsically thoughtful and weigh the > > consequences of purely self-serving actions - this has to be taught to > > most. So forget all the public policy issues - there are a lot of > > lazy, > > thoughtless, selfish and dishonest people out there who could care less > > about anyone but themselves and will always take advantage if the > > option > > is available no matter who it hurts in the end. Therein lies the real > > problem. > > > > -- > > Sam Nicolary > > > > > > ---- > > You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the > > list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see > > <http://www.purple.com/list.html>. > > ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
