FOX News graphic detailing President Bush's $16,000 tax credit for married folks
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@tster said:
Is the economy doing well? yes. If everyone is so poor than how come everyone I know is better of now than 5 years ago? And yeah, I come from money. I mean, if you count a high school teacher and a juvenile probation officer "money." We fed ourself with the silver spoon of... uh... well I don't really remember because I was too busy working every day after work so that I could afford to put gas in my car and pay for insurance so that I could drive myself to a better high school than the one that I should have gone to. Then I worked some more to buy a computer to do the homework and learn so that I could go to a good college. And when I went ot the college they gave me a lot of money because I did really well on the SATs and what not. But do you think that they gave my anything like they give the poor people? Full room and board and all you have to do it walk down to the computer lab after class and sit there and collect a pay check paid for by the government? Fuck no. After my freshman yeah I got a job programming so that I could afford the insane tuition. So all through college I worked my ass off, stayed up late doing homework, didn't have time to go to parties and get drunk like all the other people. And then I get out in the world and I might make more than other people! Now the government comes (and gun point, with the threat of throwing you in jail if you don't obey) and says, "Give me 40% of every pay check (PS federal income tax isn't the only tax)." and I say, what the fuck could you be doing with that much of my money. And they say, "Roads, defense, judicial system, police, fire, education." And I say, "fine, I like all that... but if you just took 10% of everyone's paycheck you could do all that, why do you want 4 times that? And they say, "Oh, those people that didn't work as hard as you during school. Those people that fucked off in class, those people that dropped out because they couldn't work all night on a paper, those people that did drugs instead of studying on the weekends... they don't make very much. And because of that, we aren't going to take very much from them (you would be surprised how many people pay $0 taxes). And I say, "Well that's fucked up... but still, that doesn't account for all that 40%." And then the government says, "Well, those same people... They have the RIGHT to the same health care as you, and they need a little help to buy their Doritos and their beer. And see, those low life mothers in the inner city that have 8 children to 6 different men... you need to feed them and their children. Yeah, you might have worked hard and earned lots of money, but we know how to spend it better than you". Don't you see? The government is smarter than you are, and we will spend your money for you... the money that you give your life for. If you think about it, I work all day monday and tuesday for someone else. I give 2 whole days of my life every week to the lazy bastards and crack addicts. So the next time you think about accusing someone of "coming from money" just because they don't want the government stealing their money, why don't you just not.
Exactly. Well said.
For those that somehow think Free Education is the way, bear in mind that most people believe that if it's free, then it's not worth doing. Our regular school system is proof of that. All they have to do is show up and try but we still have a high drop out rate.
As to those complaining that our Education System isn't funded well enough: Our kids are graduating with an inability to READ, WRITE, and do BASIC math. All they need is a pencil, piece of paper, and an actual teacher to learn that. Oh, and a willingness to try. Computers, high speed internet, and wizbang "teaching aids" won't solve that problem. Also, remember we didn't have that crap 30 years ago and <sarcasm> somehow </sarcasim> people still managed to learn.
I know people that are capable of buying health insurance for their family but refuse to do so because it would hinder their ability to make payments on a NEW car. Interestingly, one person I know recently had a medical "emergency". They contacted a state worker about getting medicare (aid?) to pay for it. The state worker said he made too much, so he should take several unpaid days off in the next week in order to "prove" that he made less by his check stub; he's hourly. The bastard laughed about doing it; meanwhile MY family is TAXED to support his ability to buy a CAR. Oh, and his health insurance, because it is heavily subsidized by his employer, would have cost him a total of $60/month. Which is about how much a family of 4 pays to eat one dinner at a decent restaurant.
It really doesn't take much to live or even excel in this country, see any "immigrant" family about it. It certainly doesn't take much to get an education, there are so many programs available to help everyone. The problem boils down to motivation, and as long as we keep supporting the unmotivated, it will only get worse.
My tax rate is around 50% when you add up federal, state, sales, home, and every other stupid tax our government, regardless of party, has laid at our feet. So, I work Monday, Tuesday, and half of Wednesday for unmotivated lazy people who desire nothing more than to suck from the "government" tit. I'm tired of the "bridges to nowhere", I'm tired of the special interest groups, and I'm tired of people with their hands in my back pocket.
IMHO, Charity / welfare is NOT the governments responsibility. If *you* want to help someone out, then by all means go ahead. Put your money, time, and effort into it. If it's an actual good cause for people trying to help themselves, then I will happily donate with you. I don't buy into the idea that by supporting someone else I am keeping the entire system whole. That's a pile of crap put out by those that think they know how to spend my money better than I. And before someone says that people would not help out unless forced to by the government, guess what: Ordinary Every Day People were helping out LONG before the government ever stepped in.
BTW, I also did not come from money and have busted my ass to get where I'm at.
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@m0ffx said:
@boomzilla said:
As tster mentioned, one of the consequences of welfare as it was begun in the 1960s was that it was encouraging more women to have children to increase their welfare payments, which simply reduced their independence, and increased their dependence on the government.
All that means is the amounts were set wrong. The welfare payments for having children should match the amount it costs to raise those children. If it's more, you get the problem you describe. If it's less, you get babies living in poverty.
But even if you exactly match the cost of raising the child, both problems will still often occur: parents skim from the payments for themselves, while leaving the children in poverty.
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Worthless
@clively said:
@tster said:
<rant that makes a lot of sense, but deleted because it takes up space>
Exactly. Well said.
<another one>
Totally. I have a personal friend that is the embodiment of what you're ranting about. 26 years old, getting social security and SSI, never graduated from high school (because he couldn't be bothered to go). He never gets a job because even though he would make more, he would be losing the free money that's given him to stay home and play video games all day. Mind you this guy has a PS2, new HDTV, and a decent laptop computer, cable TV with all the special stuff (DVR, etc which I don't even have) and he smokes. Then his mother wins a lawsuit (against a nursing home) so she supports him so he has even less incentive to get a job.
He never even cleans his apartment. He has shit that's broken that the landlord should be fixing, but he knows he'll be evicted if a repairman ever comes into his apartment, so he doesn't report that his oven doesn't work anymore, etc.
I'm not making any of this up.
He lives right down the street from a strip club. He's a big guy so I think he could bounce there. But he would have to shower first.
Also, a friend of mine knows a girl who was a great grandmother at 46 years old. It takes a disturbing string of bad decisions for that to happen.
For the record, I'm all about helping people out when they need it, but what's happening here is that the free money is removing all incentive to better one's life.
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@belgariontheking said:
For the record, I'm all about helping people out when they need it, but what's happening here is that the free money is removing all incentive to better one's life.
Honestly don't think those people would ever have had any in the first place.
However, the free money is turning them from hoboes into worthless bottom-feeders.
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@belgariontheking said:
For the record, I'm all about helping people out when they need it, but what's happening here is that the free money is removing all incentive to better one's life.
I completely agree. Sometimes people run into bad times whether due to their own decisions or those of others. I am more than happy to help them. It's the remaining 90%+ that irks me.
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@medialint said:
bassaf:A female coworker in the room with me said, "Dang, I need to find myself a husband!"
TRWTF is you didn't take the hint ;-)
I suppose I should've quipped back, about not being able to help her
with her goal, to get the laugh, but I was too excited about the typo
and the possibility of fame on TDWTF Forums that I distracted myself
out of the opportunity. Fifty-something posts later, still no one found
a video clip of this. Come on people, I had more faith in you!
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@bassaf said:
but I was too excited about the typo and the possibility of fame on TDWTF Forums that I distracted myself out of the opportunity.
And that is what makes you a living WTF. ;)
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I thought this one was far more WTF'y:
So if the space shuttle's mass is <font size="-1">99318000 grams, and E=λmc^2, then the space shuttle apparently had (99318000/(√(323)*i))*c^2 joules of energy at the time.</font>
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@m0ffx said:
All that means is the amounts were set wrong. The welfare payments for having children should match the amount it costs to raise those children. If it's more, you get the problem you describe. If it's less, you get babies living in poverty.
You're incorrectly assuming that the cost to take care of the babies will actually go towards caring for the babies. Far too often, you get babies living in poverty, regardless of whether the welfare payments are too high to support them or not.
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@PerdidoPunk said:
So if the space shuttle's mass is <font size="-1">99318000 grams, and E=λmc^2, then the space shuttle apparently had (99318000/(√(323)*i))*c^2 joules of energy at the time.</font>
That equation holds only under the assumption that you can't go faster than the speed of light - that's one of the things it's derived from. We don't have a system of physics to describe objects travelling at apparently impossible speeds, yet.
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@Domster said:
@tster said:
those low life mothers in the inner city that have 8 children to 6 different men...
At first I thought you were just a nutcase Republican. But, wow, you're a misogynist to boot. Excellent!Do you even know what that word means? If that statement made me anything it would make me a leachesoffsocietyist, or a cantkeepherlegsclosedsoidonthavetopayforherbabiesist. Trust me, I hate the 6 men who fucked her just as much.
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@vt_mruhlin said:
Siloria:So, wait, isn't it also kind of a WTF that they would separate INDIVIDUALS and MARRIED COUPLES since either way each person gets $800.00?
Unless of course a "COUPLE" means more or less than the usual two.
Married couples file a single tax return, so it may be pertinent to distinguish. If their definition of "individual" meant "person listed on tax return", it would include children as well.
I still wish I could include my dog as a dependant.
Ok, I got 1 wife [Check] 1 child [Check] 2 cats [Check Check] Ok so thats 800 a head? Doh cats dont count... c'mon! Cats are people too!
Also I demand that fox give me the remainder of my 16 thousand owed!
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@tster said:
@Domster said:
@tster said:
those low life mothers in the inner city that have 8 children to 6 different men...
At first I thought you were just a nutcase Republican. But, wow, you're a misogynist to boot. Excellent!Do you even know what that word means? If that statement made me anything it would make me a leachesoffsocietyist, or a cantkeepherlegsclosedsoidonthavetopayforherbabiesist. Trust me, I hate the 6 men who fucked her just as much.
I found this funny (sorry i am paraphrasing) while in virginia i saw a commercial:
"Donate canned food for people who can't afford to feed their kids"... Ok I thought, surely this is a single mother/father who is working... No... This is for "Families where both parents are working for low-income jobs who have 4 or more kids"... STOP FUCKING DAMNIT!
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@asuffield said:
@PerdidoPunk said:
So if the space shuttle's mass is <font size="-1">99318000 grams, and E=λmc^2, then the space shuttle apparently had (99318000/(√(323)*i))*c^2 joules of energy at the time.</font>
That equation holds only under the assumption that you can't go faster than the speed of light - that's one of the things it's derived from. We don't have a system of physics to describe objects travelling at apparently impossible speeds, yet.
That's why I included i in the result. Maybe I should've specified imaginary joules. :p
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Hmmm... see your point, though I have to ask: If a woman has a college education and has slept with 6 or more men but NOT gotten knocked up, does the fact that she used birth control or got lucky make her less of a low life? i.e. is it the act of getting knocked up by multiple men or the act of having sex with multiple men outside of wedlock what makes a woman a low life? And if so, what is the threshold? Sleeping with three different men? Having children with two? Might be helpful to publish a guide...
Oh, and why you're at it... do men who sleep with multiple women also get dumped into the "lowlife" category, or does it only apply to women?
