Quote:
Originally Posted by ThePhanastasio
I live in a very poor region of the country, so I can personally say that a lot of the people who are unemployed aren't just getting benefits to suck on the government's teat.
The early years of my life were extremely rough, and I grew up in a household that was living paycheck to paycheck - literally. Occasionally, my parents would even have to sell their belongings just to make sure we had enough money to get clothing and living essentials (rent, electric & water, toilet paper / soap / etc., car insurance & gas) and it wasn't until I was 10 and my dad went back to the military that I knew what it was like to have some extra things for entertainment.
My parents, though, were constantly working. They got the best jobs they could get with high school diplomas, and it still wasn't quite enough to raise (at the time) two small children.
When my parents were my age, they had a child already in school (me).
If you don't think that there are reasonable circumstances for people to require government assistance, in spite of their efforts, come to eastern KY and see what's up.
The rest of the country has only felt this economic issue for a few decades at most; Appalachia has never really recovered from the Great Depression.
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And this is probably the majority of people who are on government assistance. Its called the working poor. Its the biggest tragedy a 1st world government can allow. Its essentially systemic apathy allowing starvation. When Kennedy campaigned in WV in 1960 he talked about children taking their school lunch home to feed the family.
We've got more food and land to grow food on in this country than you could imagine. Yet we use it so poorly that you'd never know it. Its a god damn shame and I wish anyone would talk about it for a change.