Washington Has Let Down the Poor

[Joe234]

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Washington Has Let Down the Poor

[justintempler]

WTF? Since when is it Washington's responsibility to take care of the poor?

It's nice to help people out, but just because someone "needs" something doesn't make it the responsibility of government to provide it.

If you want free health care move to Cuba...

[tom502]

I think the government should eliminate the poor.

[myuserid]

WTF? Since when is it Washington's responsibility to take care of the poor?

It's nice to help people out, but just because someone "needs" something doesn't make it the responsibility of government to provide it.

If you want free health care move to Cuba...

[RobsanX]

WTF? Since when is it Washington's responsibility to take care of the poor?

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. - Engrved on Statue of Liberty"

Just sayin'...

[tom502]

That was a statue from France. Not a US document.

[myuserid]

Just sayin'...

That's talking about immigrants who yearned for the freedom that Americans once enjoyed.

Not healthcare and handouts.

[NonServiam]

Washington didn't let them down. They let themselves down and those around them. There are plenty of poor people who earn a hard honest living, but those folks are too proud (and honest) to accept a gov't handout.

[tom502]

The American goal, these days, is to get those handouts.

[RobsanX]

This country used to have a tradition of elevating its citizens, and not kicking them to the curb.

Regular folks can't count on the private sector for help, as evidenced by this article:

CEO layoff leaders also led in pay in '09: study

Wed Sep 1, 12:04 am ET

BOSTON (Reuters) – As U.S. companies shed millions of workers during the recession, the CEOs who laid off the most people brought home pay that was significantly higher than that of their peers, a study released on Thursday found.

The CEOs of the 50 U.S. companies that laid off the most workers between November 2008 and April 2010 were paid $12 million on average in 2009, or 42 percent more than the average across the Standard & Poor's 500, according to a study by the Institute for Policy Studies, a Washington think tank.
The companies in the list range from ones that were hard hit by the slump, such as General Motors and Citigroup Inc, to better-positioned businesses including Verizon Communications Inc and Caterpillar Inc.
The cuts also came at a time when the companies were increasing profit -- 72 percent of companies announced planned layoffs even while earnings were rising, the study found.

"There is still this general notion that when CEOs slash a lot of jobs they are being the tough guy, making the hard decisions necessarily to make their company lean and mean and that it's going to be a good thing for the bottom line," said Sarah Anderson, global economy project director at IPS and the study's primary author.

"We are trying to encourage people to think long-term, that there are all kinds of costs to mass layoffs, in terms of morale problems with remaining workers, in terms of when you may have to rehire and train workers if conditions improve ... It was more a way to boost their profits in the short terms and line the pockets of their CEOs," she said.

The study found that pay of the CEOs of the 50 companies that announced the largest layoffs rose 7 percent in 2009, at a time when overall compensation for the CEOs of the S&P 500 companies fell 11 percent.

Job cutting can pay off a quick boost in the bottom line, though investors are aware of the short-term nature of that lift, as reflected in the number of companies whose shares sold off after reporting second-quarter profit growth, as Wall Street worried about a hazy outlook for demand.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100901/...porate_layoffs

[truthwolf1]

Washington Has Let Down Working America

shoud be the hit piece.

[tom502]

[sgreger1]

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. - Engrved on Statue of Liberty"

Just sayin'...

Umm, that message means immegrants of any status or race can come here and try to get their piece of the American dream. They can come here and enjoy the oppertunity that America offers. No where in that sentence does it say the government will provide them with anything for free. It says give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free, as in if you come to America you will be free, it doesn't say "yearning for a check".

[sgreger1]

This country used to have a tradition of elevating its citizens, and not kicking them to the curb.

Regular folks can't count on the private sector for help, as evidenced by this article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100901/...porate_layoffs

But the public sector has done no better. This is the problem, one side is blaming government and the other side is blaming capitalism and the private sector. Both have let us down. As of right now, the private sector still helps us more than government, as the majority of wealthy and jobs come from the private sector.

[RobsanX]

But the public sector has done no better. This is the problem, one side is blaming government and the other side is blaming capitalism and the private sector. Both have let us down. As of right now, the private sector still helps us more than government, as the majority of wealthy and jobs come from the private sector.

Regular folks aren't getting rich off of government handouts (unlike banks, and Wall Street), they are just getting by.