----- Original Message -----
From: Bob McDaniel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: FutureWork <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: July 07, 1999 4:02 PM
Subject: Re: Irish Workfare
[snip]
> > Thomas:
> >
> > ... it is the very business class, those
> > who, as Belloc identifies as the small minority who control the means of
> > production, who find the concepts of Socialism or Welfare state so
abhorrent
> > to their goals of personal wealth creation who are supporting the
political
> > moves that are leading the poor into slavery.
>
> While a definition of "business class" is needed here, we may _pro tem_
> consider it the equivalent of business owners. In my limited experience
those
> who are really ticked off by many welfare recipients is not the business
class
> but the so-called working poor, those hard working individuals who barely
earn
> more than those on welfare who do nothing in return! The working poor also
> includes, I'm afraid, many small business owners who barely scrape by.
>
Only too true. I work in a factory, and I can tell you that the vast
majority of my fellow workers are very much down on welfare recipients--even
some who by their own admission were on welfare for a while. They are
forever retailing stories about welfare cases who spend their money on booze
or other undeserved luxuries. There is perhaps some justification for this
sense of grievance at the very bottom level of the working poor. People in
low-wage jobs without benefits may actually be poorer than welfare
recipients since they may have to pay for things like dental work which
would be supplied for the welfare recipient.
I think we have a problem here analogous to the perception of a rising tide
of crime when the crime rate is in fact falling. There is no use denying
that some welfare recipients do have substance abuse problems. However, in
my experience there are lots of other people who are--or were--on welfare
and were never identified as such by the casual observer because they
managed their lives well enough.
As for the business owners (not that I hobnob with them) it is my impression
that most of them are also anti-welfare perhaps not because they give a damn
about the work ethic but rather because they can't bear to have their
precious money taxed away from them. A few months ago Paul Desmarais (one of
the wealthiest people in Canada) was whining about our high tax rates.
Columnist Dalton Camp said he was going to apply for a consultant's position
with Desmarais. Camp felt confident that he could show him how to live
happily with only a billion dollars in the bank!
Live long and prosper
Victor Milne
WebWizard HTML Design
at http://www.web-wiz.org
FIGHT THE BASTARDS! An anti-neoconservative website
at http://www3.sympatico.ca/pat-vic/pat-vic/
LONESOME ACRES RIDING STABLE
at http://www3.sympatico.ca/pat-vic/home.htm
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