Paul Ryan chairman of the House committee that writes the actual budget we must live or die with, said this week that safety-net programs are “a hammock that lulls able-bodied people to lives of dependency and complacency”. It's always been the Republican view that people will live in grinding poverty on the government dole rather than do a day's work, no matter that there aren't enough jobs for everybody since they crashed the economy.
The fact is that other than unemployment benefits (and those are only available to people who have had a job) the overwhelming bulk of federal assistance goes to people that are working, and often two or three jobs. The minimum wage is so low that one full time job won't pay family health insurance premiums. Companies like Walmart are heavily subsidized by the government providing Medicaid and food stamps to their workers. The Sam Walton heirs as a group have more billions than any one individual billionaire on the planet. Paying decent wages is for suckers, suckers like the hundreds of thousands if not millions of small businesses they destroyed. It would take a major research study to calculate the damage they've done to America, but it would make the sacking of Rome seem like a case of littering.
For Medicaid in particular, the majority of recipients are elderly or disabled. Two thirds of nursing home budgets come from Medicaid. If Republicans were to actually cut Medicaid it would empty the nursing homes into the street. They won't do this of course, almost all nursing homes are owned by Republicans. It's just fodder for the uninformed (and mostly just stupid) people who vote Republican.
Here's an article I found on Drudge, they think it's anti-government but there are some grains of truth here. http://www.nationaljournal.com/features/restoration-calls/in-nothing-we-trust-20120419?print=true
The fact is that other than unemployment benefits (and those are only available to people who have had a job) the overwhelming bulk of federal assistance goes to people that are working, and often two or three jobs. The minimum wage is so low that one full time job won't pay family health insurance premiums. Companies like Walmart are heavily subsidized by the government providing Medicaid and food stamps to their workers. The Sam Walton heirs as a group have more billions than any one individual billionaire on the planet. Paying decent wages is for suckers, suckers like the hundreds of thousands if not millions of small businesses they destroyed. It would take a major research study to calculate the damage they've done to America, but it would make the sacking of Rome seem like a case of littering.
For Medicaid in particular, the majority of recipients are elderly or disabled. Two thirds of nursing home budgets come from Medicaid. If Republicans were to actually cut Medicaid it would empty the nursing homes into the street. They won't do this of course, almost all nursing homes are owned by Republicans. It's just fodder for the uninformed (and mostly just stupid) people who vote Republican.
Here's an article I found on Drudge, they think it's anti-government but there are some grains of truth here. http://www.nationaljournal.com/features/restoration-calls/in-nothing-we-trust-20120419?print=true