Odysseus, the pixie*, and I just did some of our bi-weekly shopping. We went to Wal-Mart first, and got a few things. On the way out, we walked past a begging box. You know, the types that beg people to buy food items to drop in for school kids.
It got me to thinking. Odysseus and I make far less than twenty grand per year, and have no problems feeding our two. Why, for fuck's sake, should we need to worry about feeding other people's kids, most of whom make more than we do when their welfare, food stamps, and WIC benefits are added up?
"For the children." For his children, my father in law gave up smoking--they needed diapers. You rarely see that anymore. Mom needs her cable, and Dad needs his multi-hundred dollar gaming system plus gaming subscription. Both may or may not smoke and/or drink. Why the fuck are we paying for these people's children, when they're clearly not willing to?
For the sake of the children, the "free money" tap must be turned off. If their parents cannot bring themselves to cut their expenses and vices, then maybe the kids need to go to other parents, rather than putting every tax paying citizen (and then some) on the hook for the expenses of caring for children other than the ones they're directly responsible for. Because all this spending "for the children" is putting them, their children, and their children's children into such a pit of debt that they will never be able to climb out.
*The imp is spending tonight and tomorrow night with Grandma and Grandpa.
1 minute ago
When a mother, father, and twelve-year-old each have top-of-the-line cell phones and beg churches for money to pay the utility bill, there is something wrong.
ReplyDeleteYup. Sure is. And the answer, were I the one in charge, would be "Sell your phones and pay your bills."
DeleteIt's a matter of priorities. Unfortunately, a lot of forces in our culture today have taught people it's a "priority" to have a fancy cell phone, a maxed-out cable package, expensive shoes, etc., etc.
ReplyDeleteI was raised differently and I get very weary of the students with the latest iPhone or something coming to me and bitching because they don't want to buy the textbook for the class (used copies are available if you look, and are fairly cheap) or something like that. I once had someone bitch at me about having to spend "her own money" to print stuff out at the library. (at three cents a page....)
http://www.assurancewireless.com/Public/Welcome.aspx
DeleteThree cents a page? Y'all are lucky: copies and prints are ten cents a page where I work!
DeleteBut yeah, our priorities tend to be in different places than the perpetually poor. They're poor not because of any external forces arrayed against them, but because of their own stupid choices.
Today's culture only requires a man to have a penis. The sacrifice, care and education of their numerous spawn is placed on the shoulders of those that work.
DeleteMy solution? Welfare lasts six months; one time only.
Baby daddies make one mistake. After that, without a marriage, daddy gets castrated.
The Department of Human Services is gutted by 95% and the bureaucrats are fired. The tax dollars for this segment of our government are immediately removed from withholdings and taxpayers have more money in their pocket.
Any congress critter that suggests any similar program is beaten with sticks until they piss blood for a week.
Men have always tended to spray sperm around like a firehose; it's kinda always been a woman's responsibility to NOT GET PREGNANT. I think if a woman gets pregnant once, that's an accident. If an unmarried woman gets pregnant twice, it's pointing to a "career" choice, and SHE should be fixed.
DeleteYeah, alright, if a man is too dumb to use a condom, then he's too dumb to contribute to the gene pool, and should have a vasectomy, but not necessarily castrated. That should be reserved for rapists, child molesters, and politicians.