The Current Events Thread

[Madican]

He follows up with

“You can focus on the rich — that’s not my focus. You can focus on the very poor — that’s not my focus. My focus is on middle-income Americans, retirees living on Social Security, people who can’t find work, folks that have kids that are getting ready to go to college. These are the people who have been most badly hurt during the Obama years. We have a very ample safety net and we can talk about whether it needs to be strengthened or whether it has holes in it. but we have food stamps, we have Medicaid, we have housing vouchers, we have programs to help the poor, but the middle-income Americans, they’re the ones that are really struggling right now and they need someone who can help get this economy going for them.”

[Stranaton]

Well, I can say I'm not voting for my party this year then.

[Kalekemo]

I'm not fond of any of the candidates this year

[BurntToShreds]

I... have to agree with Romney, even if I'm not going to vote for him. The US has many welfare programs that work on helping the poor, but the people in the middle class need help as well. Start making incentives for businesses to hire recent college graduates or something.

[Syobon]

As far as I know (which admittedly isn't much), the US's social safety net's are still very sub-par compared to Europe.

Not saying the middle class doesn't have issues, but you can't exactly say the very poor need no further support.

[Superior Bacon]

US welfare programs are pretty awful.

[Exeres]

It's not helped by the fact that some people rely on welfare instead of actively looking for a job, leeching the system.

[Stranaton]

to only better the middle class... isn't that what communism tried to do?
...isn't that a Republican's sworn enemy?

[Syobon]

It's not helped by the fact that some people rely on welfare instead of actively looking for a job, leeching the system.

That happens everywhere, but the focus should still be on the people who are in actual need rather than the few assholes who take advantage of the system.

[BurntToShreds]

The main issue, Syobon, is that America's population is a lot larger compared to Europe's nations, so the welfare programs' resources are spread thin. A welfare program as refined as a European nation's, scaled to the size of the US population, would be very difficult to manage and finance.

[Superior Bacon]

That is an incredibly small percentage, actually. In 2002 only 1.9% of unemployment insurance recipients commited fraud. And while that does not cover all forms of welfare, in general welfare abuse is really low. It is mostly working people attempting to scrape by.

[Stranaton]

That is an incredibly small percentage, actually. In 2002 only 1.9% of unemployment insurance recipients commited fraud. And while that does not cover all forms of welfare, in general welfare abuse is really low. It is mostly working people attempting to scrape by.

only 1.9% were caught/convicted

[Superior Bacon]

It still is a small percentage on the whole.

[Syobon]

The main issue, Syobon, is that America's population is a lot larger compared to Europe's nations, so the welfare programs' resources are spread thin. A welfare program as refined as a European nation's, scaled to the size of the US population, would be very difficult to manage and finance.

Break down the welfare programs per state then, those populations are comparable to European nations's. An organisational problem is hardly an excuse.

[BurntToShreds]

Yes, but a financial problem is.