Did you ever stop to think that the government bailout of a corporation has similarities to the welfare system? Each is designed to provide money to those in trouble: one for companies and the other for individuals. The question is: Are the paths by which individuals get in financial trouble different from the paths a corporation takes? I think you could find good and bad reasons to bailout an individual, just the same as you could with a company.
Bailing out the banks after they took on excessive risk and made horrible mistakes probably didn't allow them to learn the painful lessons they needed to learn. The same could be said of the welfare system. Many individuals make poor choices (or no choices at all) and cannot provide for themselves. There appears to be a growing portion of the population that has no problem using the government as a safety net, when making better choices would have made that unnecessary. It goes as far back as grade school. When a child does not put in effort in school, which then leads to him or her being a chronic user of the welfare system, is that an effective use of limited public funds?
Monday, March 15, 2010
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2 comments:
Two questions regarding making good choices:
1. At what developmental age (presumably between toddler and pre-teen? Perhaps later?) does a growing child born into a situation where there are no positive role models and no apparent alternatives to a life of endless poverty start making the necessary choices to escape that circumstance and begin living a life of wise choices leading to becoming the independent adult we all want to see?
2. Both my parents were Medicaid beneficiaries toward the end of their lives due to skilled nursing care (nursing homes) way past their financial means. When Dad was approved Mom was permitted to keep the house, car and no more than $2000 in additional assets. And when she was approved several years later she was not allowed more than the $2000. By then her sole income was $1400 monthly from Social Security. Dad was a mechanic and she was a homemaker. Together they paid for a home and reared two children who became responsible adults but there was nothing left for them but a meager income from SS. What exactly were their poor choices in life that they ended up on welfare?
1. I'm not concerned about the child's choices. It's the parents I'm worried about. Bad parenting is probably to blame for roughly 75% of the problems in our society.
2. My comment did not mention your parents once. As I said, there are good and bad reasons to bail out individuals. I have no idea what choices your parents made throughout their lives. Just as an FYI - My father was a machinist, my mother a homemaker, and they reared seven children. They lead healthy lifestyles (including financially) and have been able to live on savings. The only point I want to make is that life is a collection of choices. We have a personal and social responsibility to make good choices. If you tell me that your parents made good choices throughout their lives, (education, healthy lifestyles, saving money, etc.), then their fate was truly out of their control and I have absolutely no problem with my tax dollars supporting them.
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