Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Why the poor get poorer

  • Poor Losers

  • In some cases all it takes is a list of statistics to see how bad things are for some. I don't need quotes, experts or pundits to explain to me what's going on, all I need to do is study the stats.

    Most of the time the poor aren't poor because they choose to be, but because an unfortunate set of circumstances have put them in that situation. There are far too many businesses who make it their job to prey on the poor and uneducated. Shame on them. Shame shame shame on them for taking advantage of the people who can least afford it and those who don't understand they are being screwed.

    What is sad, and in some ways an extreme commentary on the way this "give me" society is headed, are the poor who remain poor because it's too much effort and too much sacrifice to work to get out of poverty. It's easier to go down to the welfare office every month and fill out the food stamp form than to do something about it.

    Yes, I understand that some people are cut a raw deal from the day they took their first breath, but that in no way applies to every one. It's those who milk the system and use the system for personal gain instead of trying to better themselves that make all the needy look greedy.

    There are certain sectors of people in our society who have been conditioned to expect help from the government every time something goes wrong. They feel they are entitled to free help and don't know how to do for themselves. Whether they never learned or have forgotten, I don't know.

    My sister is on food stamps, and she gets financial help, but I see her in the group of recipients who are using the system as it was intended, as a hand-up rather than a hand-out. She is a single mom who is also a full-time college student and she works her ass off with the ultimate goal of moving herself and her son out of poverty. That is the difference between her and the single mom who has lived on welfare her entire life: My sister has plans for her future and isn't content to just receive a hand-out every month.

    She is actually embarassed to use food stamps, and that's the way it should be. No one should ever be proud of using the system. What ever happened to shame? Is there no shame to be on the public dole?

    We, as a society, need to work on helping people learn how to help themselves rather than just giving them a hand-out. The people who are physically and mentally capable of working and contributing to society do so, rather than just living a life of taking handouts. It probably is easier, and cheaper, for the government to give out money rather than investing in some kind of educational program to help people learn how to support themselves and take care of themselves.

    But the rub is, those people have to want more than what they have because although it's not an easy road, it's not an impossible road, either.

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