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originally -- society took care of everyone
hunter-gatherers -- all had everything in common, and all worked equally for the good of the tribal group.
the civilization reared its ugly head, and more and more people became outcasts and those with the goods and power decided that those without simply were worthless.
let me tell you about some instances of people being helped by the government.
in public housing here in St. Louis, I have known several who have come from families supported by public aid who have graduated from high school, received aid for college, and have earned post graduate degrees.
others have gone on to "gainful" employment and become contributing members of society. Without the aid that kept the families together, where would they be? Probably in prison for theft of some sort, or drug trafficking because this would be the way to make a living -- to survive -- and then they would be taken care of at the public's expense -- more expensively than otherwise.
there is no laziness in most of these people who have received aid -- just unavailability of opportunity. I have had direct contact through the years with people who wanted off the welfare roles.
oh yes -- one figure comes to mind - from about 15 or so years ago, before all this stuff about getting people off of welfare began -- the average stay on welfare (AFDC for mothers and children only) was about 2 years -- this for decades before all sorts of legislators looking for votes began passing the 5 year limit laws (where mothers only can receive aid for 5 years [but the children then go to a grandmother or aunt for 5 years, so the law is circumvented]).
There are so many misconceptions about welfare and public aid that I, through personal experience, have discovered to be untrue.
laziness is found in Corporate America, where layoffs and cost cutting raise profits and investors look for the easy way to riches, all at the expense of the average worker and service to the consumer and quality products. From for-profit medical institutions to HMO's to garment manufacturers taking jobs away from America and sending them to Eastern Asia, where insurance and other benefits and worker safety are not necessary, to industries that move out of the USA in order not to have to comply with OSHA or the EPA and can be free to pollute air and water at will and disregard people's health and safety, and leave us here in the USA with fewer jobs (unless of course you are a fry cook at fast-food, or work at the local casino where stealing people's money is the industry, or in construction, where governments have to find new projects at taxpayers' expense . . . or in building maintenance where the job is cleaning bathrooms and cleaning trash cans and cleaning floors for minimum wage. And there are whole lots of opportunities out there just like that.
Laziness then is found more in the upper echelons of society than in the lower.
posted by
Xeno-x
on November 13, 2007 at 8:19 AM
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I happen to be a person of not real status as well, kooka. No insurance.
None in sight. So far, I've been healthy all my life. Yet, I may not be. I can't afford a check-up, so I haven't had one in seven or eight years. Like you uncle (my condolences, kooka), I may one day find that I'm a lot more unhealthier than I think I am. These ridiculous, greedy, power-mad morons that run this country need to start thinking about the people. A national healthcare system would release people to be more productive (presumably because they could then afford to take better care of themselves), which means more taxes, which means more money for the government to waste. It's a win-win-win for the government.
posted by
saul_relative
on November 12, 2007 at 10:18 AM
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If You're Down On Your Luck, I Guess Your Just Not A Real Person
kooka_lives: I'm sorry about your uncle and the way he was treated (or not treated). I agree with you. If you have money and insurance, you're respected or at least treated like a human being by the health care bureaucracy.
posted by
WavyDavy
on November 11, 2007 at 5:07 PM
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