Dan: I dont believe everyone gets a fair shake, in fact my original premise was that we need to give people a hand up not a hand out. That starts with a hand up. There must be a better way then welfare. SDF: Fill us in, Dan... are you interested in the European way of doing it, where they give you enough to really help you escape poverty, or are you just issuing a routine meanspirited call to compulsory participation in the capitalist workforce, when you could be fighting for better working conditions (and a little welfare for yourself), too? Newt Gingrich does both of these things, attacking welfare and at the same time being a Congressmember from the 3rd largest recipient of Federal funds in the Nation.
Dan: I am not against helping people that need it but I believe there comes a time when you have to "push them out of the nest".
SDF: Are you arguing that making people homeless is a good thing? In the winter?
Dan: I do believe there are opportunities out there.
SDF: And this is true for everyone, and isalways going to be the case in all segments of American society?
Dan: Unfortunately I dont have all the answers
SDF: Then try asking good questions, Dan. You'll be so much more rhetorically effective!
Dan: , but in that we are not converting to a communism tomorrow what can we do today to make people more self sufficient. The answer is not raising wages. There is a job surplus right now! We have to raise the people to the wages they desire.
SDF: Please clarify. This looks like an attempt at philosophy that ran into a problem in syntax. In short, I don't understand. What are you trying to say?
Dan: Right now Im working two jobs to support my life style and my wife works also. If this makes us rich then great I'll live with that, but I see us as a struggling part of the working class. There are clear opportunities but you have to go after them. If you need help to get started great but I dont think they should be given out. This world is not without need of change but I dont think it needs the changes you are suggesting.
SDF: I really don't know what you're responding to, here, so I'll ask some questions about work, because I'm not sure you understand unemployment as a condition experienced by real people who "run into circumstances," and not just as something to be attributed to welfare mothers with a dozen children each who drive Cadillacs. You "work a lot," i.e. you've managed to get on people's payrolls. Are you happier for being on more payrolls? Would you be happier with only one job and a different lifestyle? What do you produce, Dan? Is it something important? Do you ever get a vacation? Do you produce good things? Would your employers be happier if they could pay you nothing for what you do? Do you get enough money for what you do?
What are your complaints about capitalism?
Is it bad to ask these questions?
None.
