My standing in the tax spectrum?

Welfare is a disincentive to work.  Why work when the government will essentially pay you not to?

I had steak last night--it was delicious and I did not offer to share it with anyone.  What does that make me?

A selfish capitalist, and you are probably corrupt to boot as well.   ;D ;D

Wally:  I am shocked.  I admit to being corrupt--we all are and it is just a matter of semantics and degree.As to the charge of being a selfish Capitalist--I take umbrage.  We are all selfish in some ways, but I am not, have never been and do not ever hope to be a Capitalist in any way shape or form. I come from blue collar working class roots and was a wide eyed listener at my grandmother's table when my uncles held forth onAmerica.  My one uncle was a police Captain and County Commander of the American Legion and even hehad serious reservations concerning the system he served.  I wonder if he had inner turmoil as he wielded his truncheon as a patrolman on the lower orders of our society here in the Queen City of the Lakes.How did I do one the quote front?

As I told Wally, I am at a loss.  Everything I can think of has been less successful that touted and in some cases lies were told to justify the experiment and the expenditures.  I totally agree that that education or training is the single most effective tool that I can think of, but believe me when I say that in many cases the targetsare so far behind that remedial reading is required--sometimes for years--and this is very expensive.Another huge impediment are culturally induced values. Just as our parents taught us by direction or example that the annual joust with the IRS permitted the taxpayer to stretch the truth and even lie in the preparation of the appropriate documents, so too have our targets been inculcated that in their struggle with THE MAN itis permissible to do almost anything to survive.  In my city a recent interview with over 500 youths revealed that most of them looked upon prison as a right of passage on the way to becoming a man and that most hadno real expectation of ever reaching 30.  Food stamps are already part of our culture.  To discontinue them would invite urban and rural unrest and lead to chaos and riots in the streets.  Nothing so annoys a parent is a child crying with hunger pains and there be no food to provide for them.  It leads to serious anti-social behavior.  In this city private and public "feeding stations" (a horrible phrase since according to my wife it derives from the German words for feeding animals and eating for people--Fressen und Essen-- that provide one good meal for individuals.  It is not really enough, but it keeps the lid on.I had steak last night--it was delicious and I did not offer to share it with anyone.  What does that make me?

So you advocate bread and circuses for social control?  To appease the mob?  If we are to this point, I think we're already lost.

I had steak last night--it was delicious and I did not offer to share it with anyone.  What does that make me?

A selfish capitalist, and you are probably corrupt to boot as well.   ;D ;D

Wally:  I am shocked.  I admit to being corrupt--we all are and it is just a matter of semantics and degree.As to the charge of being a selfish Capitalist--I take umbrage.  We are all selfish in some ways, but I am not, have never been and do not ever hope to be a Capitalist in any way shape or form. I come from blue collar working class roots and was a wide eyed listener at my grandmother's table when my uncles held forth onAmerica.  My one uncle was a police Captain and County Commander of the American Legion and even hehad serious reservations concerning the system he served.  I wonder if he had inner turmoil as he wielded his truncheon as a patrolman on the lower orders of our society here in the Queen City of the Lakes.How did I do one the quote front?

Uhh?  That was me and not Wally, but you can be shocked anyway.

OOps--sorry--my learning curve is flat!

As I told Wally, I am at a loss.  Everything I can think of has been less successful that touted and in some cases lies were told to justify the experiment and the expenditures.  I totally agree that that education or training is the single most effective tool that I can think of, but believe me when I say that in many cases the targetsare so far behind that remedial reading is required--sometimes for years--and this is very expensive.Another huge impediment are culturally induced values. Just as our parents taught us by direction or example that the annual joust with the IRS permitted the taxpayer to stretch the truth and even lie in the preparation of the appropriate documents, so too have our targets been inculcated that in their struggle with THE MAN itis permissible to do almost anything to survive.  In my city a recent interview with over 500 youths revealed that most of them looked upon prison as a right of passage on the way to becoming a man and that most hadno real expectation of ever reaching 30.  Food stamps are already part of our culture.  To discontinue them would invite urban and rural unrest and lead to chaos and riots in the streets.  Nothing so annoys a parent is a child crying with hunger pains and there be no food to provide for them.  It leads to serious anti-social behavior.  In this city private and public "feeding stations" (a horrible phrase since according to my wife it derives from the German words for feeding animals and eating for people--Fressen und Essen-- that provide one good meal for individuals.  It is not really enough, but it keeps the lid on.I had steak last night--it was delicious and I did not offer to share it with anyone.  What does that make me?

So you advocate bread and circuses for social control?  To appease the mob?  If we are to this point, I think we're already lost.

Well, that A quickly turned into a C-  ::)