Government Dependence

[gwb72tii]

are you fucking kidding me? how are you still trying to justify this number? the people mitt was trying to talk about >20%. that 21-47% is quite a productive section of society. they are called the (lower to mid) middle class. these are the new cops, teachers, military, civil servants, and just about everyone that recently graduated from college. hell, it might even include you. mitt just doesnt give a shit about the middle class and see them all as leeches on society even though they are the ones making society. even worse, it's hypocritical, because he, the vulture capitalist shipping jobs to china 24/7, is the real leech on society.

you guys get so upset about the few people that game the system. it's such a small issue. we've got far bigger things to worry about. put it on the back burner. you're making a mountain out of a molehill.

food stamps have gone up how much under obama? people on welfare how much? how many got free cell phones? how many are promised free healthcare thru obamacare, even though 30million will still be uninsured? why would these groups vote to end the free stuff they get?

the 47% is close to the % of people paying no fed income tax. are they leaches, no. should they live in the USA without paying fed income tax? not in my opinion.

[Kershaw]

holy shit. i do believe gwb just said he supports an increase in taxes.

fuck. this day is amazing.

[Farbin Kaiber]

I think he was saying the field should be leveled to where everyone is paying in, not those who now pay will pay more.

[gwb72tii]

I think he was saying the field should be leveled to where everyone is paying in, not those who now pay will pay more.

thank you farbin, but i suspect kershaw knew that already.

[Thizzelle]

Highest welfare numbers ever, just released

[Exodus_2pt0]

I have said time and time again I am not against helping those that need it, I am all for that, there just needs to be time limits, and criteria for getting people to shit or get off the pot so to speak.

The current system needs to be addressed. I got into a Motorcycle accident and was out of work for 6 weeks. During that time I sold many of my "toys" (guns) to pay bills. We tried to get food stamps to help out until I could get back to work and were denied because I had received one paycheck that month that bumped me out of the bracket.

Point being, work the system, get taken care of. Pay into the system for 10 years, hurt yourself, tough shit.

[knuklehead92]

i know a lot of people especially around the d.c. area for some reason that dont have dreams, they are just not motivated quiet sad.... while I am busting my ass because I care about the company ect.... w/e kinda sucks when people don't care, kills the vibe sometimes.

[Fusion]

It is quite possible that the overall mood is "working for nothing", or working just to pay off debt with low motivation on a nation-wide scale. In other words, the president can't set any goals as motivation for society to help pull the rope towards those goals.
I think this was mentioned before in relation to the end of the manned space program.

[rwh11385]

It is quite possible that the overall mood is "working for nothing", or working just to pay off debt with low motivation on a nation-wide scale. In other words, the president can't set any goals as motivation for society to help pull the rope towards those goals.
I think this was mentioned before in relation to the end of the manned space program.

The what? http://www.nasa.gov/offices/c3po/hom...T_ROUND_2.html


Otherwise, I kinda agree. You can thank the nation's parents who told their kids to go to college, get whatever degree, and work a job to be "successful". There's a lot of "quarter-life crisis" going on, even among the young people with jobs because they aren't passionate about it. And then there are those who didn't study anything worthwhile to companies and are underemployed compared to their capabilities. When the recession occurred, there was a lot of people who lost their jobs who didn't really like them, and ended up with no real direction. Fortunately, some have found opportunities to re-direct to their passions or serve the market with clever small businesses or engage in world-improving social enterprise... but clearly we need more people who have high goals and pursue the necessary skills to make it possible. And yes, we need the leadership of the country to provide targets to achieve. But aiming for something doesn't make it happen - we need a population who enable themselves to do it, not just talk about it. And not people who expect the path to success to be paved for them by others or the government - even if suggestions of where to direct their efforts are provided.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/02/04/grand-challenges-21st-century

One of the goals of the President’s strategy is to harness science and technology to address the “grand challenges” of the 21st century in areas such as health, clean energy, national security, and education and life-long learning.

http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/challenges.aspx

Here are the Grand Challenges for engineering as determined by a committee of the National Academy of Engineering:
Make solar energy economical
Provide energy from fusion
Develop carbon sequestration methods
Manage the nitrogen cycle
Provide access to clean water
Restore and improve urban infrastructure
Advance health informatics
Engineer better medicines
Reverse-engineer the brain
Prevent nuclear terror
Secure cyberspace
Enhance virtual reality
Advance personalized learning
Engineer the tools of scientific discovery

But another big problem as discussed in thread where holmes talked about education is the HS dropout rate in America. If the mentality wasn't sending everyone to college even if it didn't connect with them, then perhaps we could still provide people with passion for what they do in a technical skill. Building and creating can be rewarding and can tie people to career instead of boring them with standardized tests and cookie cutter coursework.


I think that a hand-up is better than a hand-out and we are in need of skilled workers, so like Reagan and Clinton did, http://www.nber.org/papers/w4428 let's hope people can provide opportunities for those with need to learn skills that can provide companies with workers to fill gaps. Michigan has worked hard to get former auto workers into chemicals, and other have done the same towards nursing.

Fortunately, private industry is doing it too: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/...-jobs/1695935/

There's some organizations who are teaching people how to grow vegetables hydroponically which can help the unavailability of fresh produce in urban areas. Hopefully Michelle with her garden can help support and promote such.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/08/urban-farming-thrives-in-_n_1411037.html

http://archisacres.com/page/vsat-program

http://blogs.usda.gov/2012/05/11/military-veterans-the-next-generation-of-organic-farmers/

[BraveUlysses]

I think he was saying the field should be leveled to where everyone is paying in, not those who now pay will pay more.

One of Reagan's crowning achievements was restructuring the tax tables so that the working poor did not have to pay income taxes.

Now the working poor (who are too poor to pay income taxes) are derided by shitheels like mitt romney as being dependent on government.

[CorvallisBMW]

For everyone who has a job and likes to bitch and moan that the "freeloaders" are out there sitting on their asses, collecting checks and food stamps and free cell phones, I pose to you a challenge:

Quit your job. Give away all your savings and assets. Sell your house and move in to a small, spartan apartment in a bad neighborhood. Then try living on welfare and food stamps for 2 years.

Report back to us in Nov 2014 and let us know how "easy" it was.

[Farbin Kaiber]

One of Reagan's crowning achievements was restructuring the tax tables so that the working poor did not have to pay income taxes.

Now the working poor (who are too poor to pay income taxes) are derided by shitheels like mitt romney as being dependent on government.

Not paying into the pool, and taking out of the pool are two totally different things, your statement is invalid.

[BraveUlysses]

Not paying into the pool, and taking out of the pool are two totally different things, your statement is invalid.

No, my statement is not invalidated--I know and understand the distinction.

It is your failure, and that of people like mitt romney who do not make the distinction between the two.

For everyone who has a job and likes to bitch and moan that the "freeloaders" are out there sitting on their asses, collecting checks and food stamps and free cell phones, I pose to you a challenge:

Quit your job. Give away all your savings and assets. Sell your house and move in to a small, spartan apartment in a bad neighborhood. Then try living on welfare and food stamps for 2 years.

Report back to us in Nov 2014 and let us know how "easy" it was.

Or if freeloading was as good as they pretend it is, why aren't they already doing it?

[joshh]

For everyone who has a job and likes to bitch and moan that the "freeloaders" are out there sitting on their asses, collecting checks and food stamps and free cell phones, I pose to you a challenge:

Quit your job. Give away all your savings and assets. Sell your house and move in to a small, spartan apartment in a bad neighborhood. Then try living on welfare and food stamps for 2 years.

Report back to us in Nov 2014 and let us know how "easy" it was.

The degree of difficulty the average welfare recipient has in day to day life is now equal to the degree they deserve the welfare. Is that correct?

Do you see the irony in the fact you support entitlements to the degree you do but that you voted for Gary J? It's fucking hilarious.

[rwh11385]

It is quite possible that the overall mood is "working for nothing", or working just to pay off debt with low motivation on a nation-wide scale. In other words, the president can't set any goals as motivation for society to help pull the rope towards those goals.
I think this was mentioned before in relation to the end of the manned space program.

I will repeat again, the what?

http://www.space.com/18550-nasa-moon-outpost-mars.html

Beyond the moon

But the main reason to set up a manned outpost at EML-2, Hopkins said, is to lay the foundation for human missions to even more far-flung destinations.

In 2010, President Barack Obama directed NASA to work toward getting astronauts to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025, then on to the vicinity of Mars by the mid-2030s. EML-2 would be a good stepping stone along the way, Hopkins said.

[...]

"We just recently delivered a comprehensive report to Congress outlining our destinations which makes clear that SLS will go way beyond low-Earth orbit to explore the expansive space around the Earth-moon system, near-Earth asteroids, the moon, and ultimately, Mars," NASA deputy chief Lori Garver said at a conference in September.

"Let me say that again: We're going back to the moon, attempting a first-ever mission to send humans to an asteroid and actively developing a plan to take Americans to Mars," she added.

Definitely not setting high goals at all...