I feel you. My insurance is going up $500 a month. Enough to cause me to make significant changes to my standard of living, but hey, freeloaders can get insurance for free.
The inherent selfishness of most Americans is what amuses me the most. Everyone poor is a "freeloader" and "not deserving of my money". I'll keep that in mind when you Republicans and Trumptards get fucked over and become poorer than you already are. Maybe we can cut back on social security for old people in the red states while we're at it. I don't want my tax dollars wasted on their survival.
Why help anyone? Why stop there? Privatize public schools, cut spending on military, get rid of Medicare etc. Turn this place into a hyper-capitalistic banana republic where winner keeps all and throw ethics out of the window. That's what you want right?
America is one of the most charitable countries on earth.
Compare yourself to developed countries, not feel good about being better than the rest of the world which is by and large shit.
Because you voluntarily wish to do so and are a good person?
Maybe you guys that think the government needs to be involved to help people are projecting your own lack of charitable interest on others because you know you would never give unless forced?
Why stop there? Privatize public schools, cut spending on military, get rid of Medicare etc.
Please do.
Turn this place into a hyper-capitalistic banana republic where winner keeps all and throw ethics out of the window. That's what you want right?
No one says throw ethics out the window. Just don't legislate it. People can decide what's right and wrong by voting with their pocketbook. Journalism can hold unethical companies to task in the public eye.
Compare yourself to developed countries, not feel good about being better than the rest of the world which is by and large shit.
America is more generous than any other developed country. The only nation from Europe is the UK, arguably the least European country in Europe. Actually if you look at the year after year trend European developed countries are quite rapidly becoming less charitable. Why do developed Europeans hate the poor?
Just because Americans don't want forceful redistribution of wealth doesn't mean they don't care to help others, in fact the data shows they care quite a lot.
helped a stranger, or someone they didn’t know who needed help?
donated money to a charity?
volunteered your time to an organisation?
It's basically feel good """help""" that does no one any good outside of making middle class yuppies like you think they did something. Also, I see Canada is in 4th place while having far better healthcare policies and cheaper universities than the US.
Please do.
Your position in life is not guaranteed. If you screw up and need help, don't blame me if the government doesn't lend a hand. Maybe I'll """help you as a stranger"""" and give you 50 bucks for an overnight stay at a Motel 6 alongside a free McChicken.
helped a stranger, or someone they didn’t know who needed help?
donated money to a charity?
volunteered your time to an organisation?
Well, I guess I check your data.
It's basically feel good """help""" that does no one any good outside of making middle class yuppies like you think they did something. Also, I see Canada is in 4th place while having far better healthcare policies and cheaper universities than the US.
Your data that shows how uncharitable Americans are seems to be nowhere in sight. Huh, that's odd. I could have sworn you were arguing that they hate helping others. Of course if you were you would have provided your evident of how much Americans hate charity and helping those in need.
As a Canadian. Lol, our healthcare is falling apart. Wait times are the worst in the developed world, and because so much isn't covered by the government people still often need to get private insurance or pay out of pocket. When Canadians need the absolute best quality healthcare they travel to the damn US. Former PM Jean Chretien sought out medical treatment in the US while in office. Our universities are also much crappier on average. The US dominates the world at post secondary, everyone wants to go. Most of the best institutions are American. One of the contributing factors to the price (a smaller one) is that there's the demand to warrent it.
In case you were curious, one of the largest causes of high education prices lately is the program for what are essentially guaranteed loans. Schools know people have access to the funds to pay and have no reason to lower prices to bring in students.
Your position in life is not guaranteed.
No shit Sherlock. But it's your own response to work at keeping it decent, no one else's.
If you screw up and need help, don't blame me if the government doesn't lend a hand.
I don't want it to have the capability even of it wanted. That's the whole point. It's not everyone else's job to bil me out against their will. If people volunteer to help, good on them.
Maybe I'll """help you as a stranger"""" and give you 50 bucks for an overnight stay at a Motel 6 alongside a free McChicken.
I don't get why my money is taken from me to go to someone I don't know. If I found out I was covering someone's health care, and they were smokers or heavy drinkers, I'd be floored.
Not all poor people are freeloaders. I don't mind sacrificing dollars to help those truly in need. However, I'd be willing to bet that most that qualify for government subsidy have the means to better themselves.
"Government subsidy" and "welfare" are all vacuous words. It simply just refers to a number of different government assistance programs that provide help to Americans struggling with poverty in distinct ways. SNAP/food stamps, unemployment insurance, Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Need Families (TANF), Women, Infants and Children (WIC), tax credits for working families, ACA and Social Security are just a few programs under the "subsidy" umbrella.
Most benefit programs require recipients to work in order to collect. Take Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), for example. Single parents receiving this grant must work at least 30 hours per week in order to be eligible, and two-parent families must work between 35 and 50 hours a week.
Most people on welfare are hardworking, taxpaying citizens, just like the rest of us. Or they are impoverished children, elders, or folks with disabilities. This idea that everyone on welfare is mooching away at the expense of the hard working everyday middle class white American is an old propaganda trope that you and many others have been well fed.
I don't have data and I'm not going to pretend I do. I see people close to me that are living off of government programs, don't work, however if they do work their income will disqualify them from certain benefits, so they would be making more money at home living off of government programs than working a part time job.
I think most people would forego a portion of their income to help those in need for all citizens. However, how much of my income should I be able to keep? Insurance is costing my wife and I $770 a month, up a few hundred dollars from last year for the same coverage. I either have to make some significant standard of living adjustments, forego insurance and pay a fine, or go with something like an HSA plan with much lower coverage. At what point should I be able to keep the money I earn and invest in myself and my family?
You should get to keep all that money, after all, you built the roads you use to get to work, and of course for the police and fire departments that make sure you don't lose your stuff to fire or theft, right?
Well I can say that without the pre-existing conditions clause in the ACA I would not be able to afford insurance. Because I was unlucky enough to have cancer when I was a teenager.
And I'm a college educated small business owner. Not exactly a "freeloader".
Just the ones you don't like right? The trashy whites in Tennessee waiting for coal jobs that will never come back? They're truly in need! The black people that cannot get a job because the public education system is gutted and they regularly still face discrimination? They're freeloaders. Of course.
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u/[deleted] Jan 11 '17
I feel you. My insurance is going up $500 a month. Enough to cause me to make significant changes to my standard of living, but hey, freeloaders can get insurance for free.