Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Where Is the Wealth of Nations?

[Rick <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Mon, 2007-10-15 at 14:09 -0500, Mike Miller wrote:

> So you are "living proof" (to use your term), like Clarence Thomas, that 
> "government handouts" (wasn't that also your term?) can be a great help to 
> young people who are trying to make something of themselves.
> 

There's a big difference between helping people help themselves
(government guaranteed loans) and subsidizing sloth (the current welfare
system). For example, I would totally support an unemployment program
that assigned people government jobs and paid them a competitive wage
for doing things like picking up trash on the highway. I am completely
against ever paying anyone for *not* contributing to society with the
exception of farm subsidies that keep us from having another dust bowl. 

> Now that you've had your government handouts, are you dangerous?  In what 
> sense has the government made you dangerous?
> 

Yes. You are dangerous to the economy because you are now dead weight
that the rest of us have to carry around. When the economy is booming,
that's fine (although less than ideal), but when there's no one left to
do the carrying, it all collapses in on itself like it did in the 20's.

(Luckily?), WW2 started, essentially saving the US from itself...

> Mike

Rick

-- 
Society has always seemed to demand a little more from human beings than
it will get in practice. 
George Orwell


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