[Rhodes22-list] Social programs.

[Robert Dilk]

In NJ we say
" Give a man a fish, he eats for a day.  Teach him to
fish, he eats for life, Keep pissing me off and you sleep with the fish"

:) Bob

>>> flybrad@yahoo.com 01/23/03 11:36AM >>>
Rummy,

"Give a man a fish, he eats for a day.  Teach him to
fish, he eats for life"

Trite old expression but its one I still believe in. 
My father worked construction all his life and we kept
from freezing in the winter because of umemployment
when the construction stopped during the cold months. 
If permanent welfare was available he wouldn't have
used it anyway because of pride.  Now half of my
hometown is on welfare (including the big farmers
through crop subsidies) and the place is a dump. 
These programs get started for all the right reasons
but if there isn't some "sunset" associated with them
they eventually bring out the worst in humanity. 
Right after college I was working for a commuter
airline making $700 per month, part of a thirteen year
long apprenticeship required for my profession (the
other option was to get shot at for ten years).  Since
I had an accounting degree I supplemented my income by
working part-time for a small CPA firm doing audits
and taxes.  They sent me out on several small
government grant audits, HUD and the like.  That
experience made me a skeptic for life of big
government stepping into solutions for peoples'
everyday problems.  We certainly need a safety net. 
We need a good education system.  There are some
legitimate social programs that work but we pour
BILLIONS into programs that have proven bankrupt. 
Public housing perhaps?  One of many.  I'm sure Stan
would gladly train a young apprentice who wanted to
learn how to build boats if they showed up and asked
for the opportunity.  How many are lined up outside
GBI this morning?

Brad Haslett
--- R22RumRunner@aol.com wrote:
> Whether we like having our tax dollars going to
> social problems or not, it's 
> the social programs that help make our society what
> it is. Without the 
> programs you would have more homeless people, health
> problems, more crime and 
> a social class without a future.
> I'm not advocating free rides. People need to work
> at improving their 
> situations, but sometimes circumstances put good
> people into bad situations 
> and they need a helping hand.
> 
> Rummy
> _________________________________________________
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www.rhodes22.org/list 


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