[Cog]

No this thread is not about global warming and minimum ice extent in the Arctic. This thread is much more important than those things.

Yesterday I decided to stop in at a Dollar General store on my way back from a out of town consulting job. I had worked a lot of hours this week and was not in the greatest of moods. Just wanted to get home. Anyway, I stop in at the store to buy some pencils. I get in line behind this land whale and her land whalette daughter.

I'm not paying much attention until the clerk calls the manager over to help with the transaction. The land whale is trying to buy ice with her EBT card and this gets erroneously charged to her debit card. Now this particular scenario has my full attention. I'm thinking "WTF, you can buy ice with an food stamp card"?

The manger tries to untangle this mess for a couple of minutes while I a am slowly building up a full blown firestorm in my head. I had just busted my ass on my job, out of town for a week, and this land whale and her crotch fruit are buying $%&!! ice on my dime. No longer willing to let this drama continue, I summon up my best ex-military command voice and say, "I will buy her ice if we can just get this damn line to move".

The clerk, the manager, and all around stare at me as if I had committed the ultimate heresy. I called out a member of the free stuff army. At this point the manger opened a second line and asked me to step down to it and check-out. I did so, got my purchase and left. All the way home, I am stewing about the utter wrongness about me busting my hump earning a living while some land whale and her brood buy frigging ice with a EBT card.

This country is doomed and I see it more everyday. And yes, I did some checking and you can buy ice with an EBT card. Haven't any of these people heard of ice trays?

[SeaGypsy]

Yeah. But they also know warm beer is cheap & they probably don't own a fridge.

[davep]

You know nothing of their circumstances, you self-righteous

[Lore]

It's just Cog being once again a self entitled ass.

[SeaGypsy]

I actually thought it was his best post, like, ever...

[onlooker]

Maybe you should suggest this story to the Republicans Cog, to use in their convention. It would fit mighty well with their line of thinking.

[SeaGypsy]

Cog doubts Keynesianism in the extreme. Can't see how 4 becomes 5 by giving it to millions of random strangers. Never mind the jobs of:

The ppl @ the waterworks.

The ppl @ the electric plant.

The ppl @ the ice plant.

The owner & driver of the truck delivering the ice.

The refrigeration mechanics.

The retailer.

All he can think of: "That obese un-f@&kable trollop & her spawn don't deserve 'My' ice!

LMFAOROF

[onlooker]

I think Cog would reply do not worry trickle down economics will lift all boats.

[SeaGypsy]

He's just got the shits. I know how it feels, my alarm goes off 3.55am weekdays, kids get me up dawn weekends.

[Plantagenet]

You'd think the solution would be just to raise the minimum wage so people can get off food stamps and pay for their own ice. But a recent study just showed that a family whose wage-earner sees his wages go from $12/hr to $18/hr would no longer qualify for some subsidies and welfare benefits, and so wind up losing money on the deal.

This is why some workers in cities where the minimum wage has been raised to $15/hr are requesting that their hours be cut, to reduce their salaries back down to the original low levels and keep them qualified for subsidized housing, food stamps and other benefits.

workers-request-reduced-hours-stay-subsidized

[Cog]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lore', 'I')t's just Cog being once again a self entitled ass.

[Cog]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'C')og doubts Keynesianism in the extreme. Can't see how 4 becomes 5 by giving it to millions of random strangers. Never mind the jobs of:

The ppl @ the waterworks.

The ppl @ the electric plant.

The ppl @ the ice plant.

The owner & driver of the truck delivering the ice.

The refrigeration mechanics.

The retailer.

All he can think of: "That obese un-f@&kable trollop & her spawn don't deserve 'My' ice!

LMFAOROF

[Cog]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('davep', 'Y')ou know nothing of their circumstances, you self-righteous

[davep]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('davep', 'Y')ou know nothing of their circumstances, you self-righteous

[onlooker]

I watched a program some time ago, they were talking about the Mexican fruit pickers and how many are obese from the cited processed junk food not to mention stress which can also contribute to weight gain. Even though they do physical work.

[Newfie]

Cog,

They are serving a role in the economy, they are making work for you, giving something to do (paying taxes) so that you have the right to feel righteous.

Other examples are..
Health insurance workers
TSA in general
Prisoners keep guards, various support staff, contractors, surveyors, etc.

We are all just taking our place in the machinery of culture.

[Cog]

I am old enough to remember a time before food stamps. There was a government commodity program where staples like flour, canned butter, canned meat, cheese, and the like were handed out in the various cities and towns. People stood in line and took those items homes and made meals out of them. There was shame in doing so but hey folks got to eat.

Churches and cities have had, and still do have food pantries as well and most ask no questions at all about your income. I know because I help organize and run one locally.

When I see a guy buy $50 worth of lottery tickets, cigs ,and beer and then whip out an EBT card to pay for his over-priced chips and soda, you begin to understand why they are on food stamps to begin with.

[Cog]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Newfie', 'C')og,

They are serving a role in the economy, they are making work for you, giving something to do (paying taxes) so that you have the right to feel righteous.

Other examples are..
Health insurance workers
TSA in general
Prisoners keep guards, various support staff, contractors, surveyors, etc.

We are all just taking our place in the machinery of culture.

[Ibon]

Some of this is already more than 10 years old. Has it gotten any better?

I would invite you all to consider one thing. Keeping social welfare programs robust is part of the program to keep the inequities enjoyed by the very wealthy intact, preventing all out social chaos.

Cog, you are also meant to show outrage over this as this keeps you distracted from the greater truth of being just a cog in the wheel of the uber wealthy. If you didn't get pissed off at the land whale pray tell where would you direct your anger?


hink about that. The largest, wealthiest, most powerful organizations in the world are on the public dole. Where is the outrage? Back when I was young, people went into a frenzy at the thought of some unemployed person using food stamps to buy liquor or cigarettes. Ronald Reagan famously campaigned against welfare queens. The right has always been obsessed with moochers. But Boeing receives $13 billion in government handouts and everyone yawns, when conservatives should be grabbing their pitchforks.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/taxanalysts ... e-welfare/


Discussions about corporate welfare take place at the twilight checkpoint between economics and democracy. Researchers and civil servants know a lot about the individuals who claim hundreds in, say, employment support allowance: every last cough, spit and missed appointment at the jobcentre. Yet of the big companies that rake off millions in direct grants, taxpayers often hear very little. The result is that the public do not know where billions of their own taxes are going.

Yet were they to be widely known, the facts about corporate welfare would electrify our debates about public spending and the role of the state

http://thinkbynumbers.org/government-sp ... tatistics/

About $59 billion is spent on traditional social welfare programs. $92 billion is spent on corporate subsidies. So, the government spent 50% more on corporate welfare than it did on food stamps and housing assistance in 2006.
Before we look at the details, a heartfelt plea from the Save the CEO’s Charitable Trust:

[Ibon]

Here Cog, a more appropriate target to place your rage.
The problem is that this target doesn't wait in line at the check out counter!

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/1 ... astructure


The Superrich Don't Need Our Middle Class Infrastructure
There was once a time in America when the super-rich needed you, and me, and working-class Americans to be successful.They needed us for their roads, for their businesses, for their communications, for their transportation, as their customers, and for their overall success.The super-rich rode on the same trains as us, and flew in the same planes as us. They went to our hospitals and learned at our schools.Their success directly depended on us, and on the well-being of the nation, and they knew it.But times have changed, and the super-rich of the 21st century no longer think that you and I are needed for their continued success.