One can hardly disagree with this without seeming to be heartless. The only question I ask is: Where does it stop?

The kid is saved, so he is healthy again. but his parents cannot afford to put food on the table, nor can they furnish the kid adequate clothing. Turns out that next week the landlord is going to force them out of their apartment for non-payment of rent.

The Father has a drinking problem and is virtually unhirable. The Mother is into drugs and drinking.

What do you think would happen if the government handed this family a check every month to cover these expenses? More booze! So, you cannot prop up such families with direct subsidies, because the local liquor store will get the money first.

You set up a rent-free apartment, paid, of course, by the taxpayer. You give them food stamps. And you do give them some cash. You direct them to charities for clothing, and for more food. Someone gives them heat, light, and even a telephone or prepaid cell phone.

The Father has been through various free rehab programs, and walks out of each one directly to that liquor store. The Mother stays as snockered as possible.

We now have a family dependent for life on handouts, be they from government, from charities, or just the contributions of good citizens.

This is the all too prevalent hard core of poverty, and the way out of the trap is not clear, neither for the family, or for the government, or for the rest of us.

But, the kid got his treatment.

Who said “equal?” Your ranting and raving has nothing to do with reality. Covering medical care for a kid whose parents can’t is basic human decency. And gee, I doubt your “charity” quite covers the bill.

I want all Americans to have the basics. And I’m willing to pay more to keep those who can’t manage to make it from falling to the bottom.

By the way, I also buy the occasional $450 slacks. Zanellas — nothing hangs like Zanellas.

It has never worked for me. In college I spent more than I had and ended up with a 3k credit card bill and the interest rate was 24%. When I got a job, I drove a 10 year old car that I had to put oil in every 2000 miles. But instead of a car payment, I paid that “loan” off. A hefty price in interest. I have not used my discover card since 1991. It only reminds me that nothing is worth going into debt for.
The President and and anyone who believes spending more works miracles is kidding themselves.

I give money to favored charities and do the Angel Christmas tree stuff. And let me tell you how angry it makes me to see a request for a DS, wii or cell phone for a kid. If the true priority is making sure your children have their basic needs met, you should be teaching them what is important. Game systems are not as important as food. And how do they afford the extra game or cost of a cell phone. That is just ludicrous.
I am now unemployed and I do not expect you to hand out your hard-earned money so I can continue my current lifestyle. That is just not realistic. Unemployment checks are meant to help, but in no way do they make ends meet. So, now what? Sit back and say “woe is me?” -Michael will give me money to live on or do I work my ass off to find a way to make it work?
The sad thing is, I have paid my mortgage on time and all my other bills. Yet, I get no relief like those who WERE irresponsible. I just incur more taxes so someone making 60k can live in a 450k house.
I am sick to death of the claims that everyone should be equal. We are not. We have equal opportunity. We do not have equal smarts. And because of that, we do not all have equal earning power. Why the hell should I be punished because I am smarter and can earn more? I should never have to apologize for that, and nor should I be made to feel responsible for someone else’s lot. You live within your means and should have everything you need. You won’t always have everything you WANT. Key difference. Why do liberals insist that it must be equal? It will never be and as long as we perpetuate those willing to accept hand-outs instead of responsibility, mindset will never change.

I am a casualty of class warfare, and so are the nice folks who are attending these ridiculous tea parties. I am living proof that we do not, at least not yet, have some kind of Galbraithian mixed paradigm where the poor get socialism and the rich get laissez faire capitalism. I am living proof that fair Michael Reynolds’s hard work is not supporting a welfare class. And so are the tea partiers, though they don’t seem to know it.

I am ashamed of the tea parties. They are little more than an astroturfed sideshow for some folk’s hate and willful ignorance, which has been whipped to a froth by those who should be giving them leadership and counsel. Populist movement, my butt. There is no constructive purpose in holding up signs depicting the president as Adolf Hitler, loudly proclaiming him a fascist, and having as one’s sole response to questions about one’s assertion: “Well, he’s a fascist because he’s a fascist.”

Let me remind you good people of what a fascist is.

A fascist subscribes to an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. A fascist’s views and practice encompass extreme right-wing, intolerant notions.

One might forgive CNN’s field reporter for being shocked and dismayed herself at the tea party’s Through-the-Looking-Glass revision of the meaning of the word “fascist”.

The people attending these tea parties are the ones who would most benefit from lowered taxes, which they’ll get a taste of; even from socialism — which is not what they’ll be getting from our government. They’ll be getting something far less desirable. I leave it as homework to you to discover the correct term.

The economic disaster we’re faced with didn’t originate with Obama, or the Democrat-controlled legislature, or even Bush Jr. It has been a long time in the making, and thoughtful people have anticipated it for many years. Longer than Roubini. Longer than Greenspan. Anyone could have predicted this mess by 2006 or 2007.

We’re here because of classical economics and neoliberalism, among other preposterous notions. We’re here because some of us found it convenient, even profitable, to behave as if those notions were true.

Keynesian economics is not untried, as some suggest. It’s been a matter of policy through most of Europe since the 1960s, and FDR’s economic policy was heavily influenced by Keynesian ideas. The present situation may be unique, but it is not unprecedented. I hope the current Keynesian strategy is effective. If it’s not, well, more neoliberalism and xenophobia will be just what the doctor ordered. One can only hope the good doctor will have taken the Hippocratic oath before his next surgery.

Meanwhile, I implore the tea partiers: stop wasting all that tea. It’s the closest thing I have to a health plan.

And Michael: the right doesn’t like civilization, because we’d have to raise taxes to be able to afford both civilization and national defense.

Yes, it does make sense that the top quintile pay most of the taxes: we make most of the money.

Let’s say I make 600k a year to pull a number out of the air. Let’s say the average person earns 60k a year.

If I pay 40% to the IRS I still have 360k. And I therefore have a pretty good life. Maybe I order fewer appetizers when I go out to eat. Maybe I buy the 30 dollar bottle of wine and not the 70 dollar bottle. Maybe I get an E class Mercedes and not an S class.

If the guy making 60k pays 40% he’s only left with 36k. So he can’t afford health insurance. He can’t fix the car he uses to get to work.

It’s really not hard to understand. If we all pay the same rate I get to drink the Macallan 25 instead of the Macallan 12. And the average guy gets to take his kid to an emergency room whenever he gets an ear infection because he can’t afford a pediatrician.

It’s not unfair, it’s not unjust, it’s the price I pay for being a citizen and a member of civilization. Crazy as it may seem, I kind of like my fellow Americans and I don’t want their kids to go without medical care or school clothing just so I can buy $450 slacks.

Jharp-
you are falling into the trap that Obama is going to save you with his tax “cuts”. Where exactly is the money going to come form to support all the pork that was in the stimulus? Higher taxes. What happens to that family of four when the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire and they end up with any where from a 20-50% increase in their tax bills depending on the income level?

The top 5% pay 70% of taxes. Does that compute at all? That means that some people who do not pay taxes are getting my money BECAUSE I pay taxes!!!It is essentially a welfare check at my expense.
The $13.00 we 95% got in Obama’s first 50 days doesn’t mean squat. Try reading about what real tax cuts to the marginal rates might do stimulate the economy. Try understanding that spending the wealth before it is created does nothing but grow the government and does nothing for us as a Country.

Lefties are all about ‘tribe’, not so much about country.

Sorry, but science and genetics totally disagree with you. Do some actual research, you’ll surprise yourself.

Contrast that with what we’ll see during the Obama administration. There is no way Obama every drops below 45% approval ratings. Lefties are all about ‘tribe’, not so much about country.