drfuss said:
I agree that, in many cases, stupidity and/or lack of initative has a lot to do with it. In helping the poor or misfortunate, we should be careful that we don't just perpetuate the problem, but actually help them. Jesus said "the poor you will always have with you". There will always be those at the bottom of the ladder who take no initative to move up.
Here is something to consider. Almost every O.T. Prophet critized Israel for how they treated the poor. Do you think that Isreal was doing anything different than what the U.S. is doing today in terms of injustice and treatment of the poor? If so, what?
I join those who think that the U.S. does not properly treat the poor...but I differ from many in terms of direction.
Here are some of the damaging things we do for/to the poor:
1. We establish a minimum wage for legal workers while not enforcing the immigration laws. This hits the poorest workers twice. First by artificially setting the value of low skilled work which raises labor costs and results in fewer entry level jobs for the lower skilled. Secondly by artificially lowering the wages for many entry level low skilled jobs by letting them go "off book" to illegals whose jobs won't be covered by any minimum wage law.
2. We withhold an amount equal to 12.4% of the paychecks of the poor and then simply transfer it mostly to folks who have earned much more in their lifetimes (social security). Since the poorest have, on average, the shortest lifespans, they benefit the least from these transfers. This transfer is especially devious when you consider what that 12.4% would do if placed in a simple market index mutual fund over 30-40 years (private account). Upon retirement, the private accounts would have a real value dramatically greater than anything that a poor worker would receive in social security checks. Plus, this account would be something that could be inherited upon the death of the worker as opposed to what happens now where there is nothing to hand down. Factor in the shorter lifespans and the families of the poorest continue to get the shaft even after the death of the worker.
3. Since school choice is not an option for 99.999%+ of US students, the poorest are often stuck in schools that are failing in both instruction and discipline. And since the poorest children are most likely to have parents uninvolved in their children's education, the poor tend to receive a far worse start than those of higher economic status.
4. Our "progressive" tax code is set up so that the bottom 50% of all workers (in terms of income) pay less than 4% of the total federal income tax burden. This creates a class of workers at the bottom who end up dependent upon politicians who promise to "give" these workers something for their vote. By not paying taxes, these workers develop a mindset of not having a stake in the economy or the government and, rather, develop a mindset of entitlement because of their economic status. The result is that the poor are conned by slick talking politicians who promise to stick it to the rich...and the result of this is that the rich limit investment which, in turn, results in fewer jobs being created and higher unemployment for the poorest workers.
5. We make it very easy for the richest and best educated citizens to "get out of" jury duty which means that juries are increasingly populated by the least educated, least successful citizens. So when the poor petition the courts in trials that require juries, justices is less likely.
In summary, the poorest in the US are treated like ignorant, untrainable, uneducatable children....and then we react with shock when many of the poor live up (or down) that expectation. To paraphrase an American statesman, all of this results in the "soft bigotry of low expectations".
