Mary Jo, your comments struck a chord with me .I've always said that we should give people the means ot care for themselves - job training, jobs, daycare assistance - because thats renewable resource. If they work, they pay taxes and eventually the money spent on the training and the daycare gets paid back in taxes.
In addition to a large permanent fund dividend check that all Alaskans will receive this year (probably 2000$) we are also receiving a 1200$ energy relief check. I think its a great idea but one of the things that concerns me is that the poor will just blow it on crap instead of using for the intended purpose which is to help offset seriously big energy costs this winter. Originally the plan was to give out credit card thingies which would be able to be used at gas pumps and for utility bills only, but it was too complex to pull off so every one of us will get 2000 + 1200 this coming october. My family will save that 1200 (x3) for use during the expensive winter. Poor folks will buy a big screen LCD TV and a trip to seattle to buy expensive clothes. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mary Jo Sminkey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "CF-Community" <cf-community@houseoffusion.com> Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 8:28 AM Subject: Re: Like I said, Obama is a socialist > >Rich people shouldn't be so upset about poor people getting handouts. > >Poor >>people are poor after all because they spend everything they make buying >>stuff from rich people. > > I wonder how many people really have studied poverty and understand a lot > of what goes on in generational poverty. I am a liberal, and freely admit > that. My faith as well directs me to care for the poor, so that is > something very important to me. But I personally have issues with just > giving money to lower income families because they simply don't spend it > wisely. Money alone simply does not help improve their situation. I > remember a story once about someone that donated a refrigerator to a poor > family...and later found out they sold it in order to go on a vacation. > It's not that poor people are stupid or lack coping skills, far from > it....they simply have priorities that seem backwards to those of us in > middle class. Saving money, investing, etc. are not things they know. They > simply don't have those skills, and given a big lump sum, will almost > always spend it on entertainment and fun instead. So this is definitely > not the type of approach that I personally am in favor of, when it > comes to funding something that will help low income families. > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;203748912;27390454;j Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:266157 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
