Ted Rall for June 01, 2015

It’d be quite interesting to find out how many in that group are Kentucky residents on disability.

I have never understood that either. Just because you cut benefits to they don’t just don’t go away. They will still end up being a cost to society. I would think good management would focus on help, training, jobs, etc so that they mostly end up being a resource to society. We should always try to care for those who simply are unable to fend for themselves. We should try to improve the lives of all the rest rather than ignoring the problem. Severe income inequality in a country only leads to unrest and civil war. I would think our goal should be a society where everyone prospers and contributes. That is a win win.

Jeff Cartwright, red states actually receive more government assistance than blue states. Funny how Republican’ts can’t acknowledge /accept that FACT.Ted Rall, your number is a little off. If 53% say they could cover a $400 expense, 47% could not, which makes 18% who can’t cover it think that they are comfortable.

Americans are just like their government, they spend more than they make but still believe they are well off!!

What is interesting is that poor people in poor states vote Republican and against their economic interest. “Gallop has identified 17 states as “high range” or 19.6 percent or more of the population claiming they have had trouble affording food. The majority of them are southern states with the exception of Alaska, Delaware, and West Virginia. Of these, only five have any sort of Democratic lead going into the upcoming election.

This trend correlates to a national tendency of voting behavior, in which wealthier states vote Democratic and lower income states vote Republican. According to Andrew Gelman, a professor of statistics and political science at Columbia University, on a national average wealthier citizens vote conservative, but in Democratic strongholds such as Connecticut, the wealthy often vote liberal.”

Gelman credits Post Materialism for the relation of poor states voting Republican and rich states voting Democratic.

http://econintersect.com/b2evolution/blog1.php/2012/09/20/rich-vote-poor-and-poor-vote-rich

I have to wonder if John Locke is one of those guys that say our nation was founded on Christian principles…

@jrmerm“…irresponsible handling…”, “…their self indulgences…”, “…they often smoke …, drink … , use illegal drugs …”. You’re not moralizing? Horse puckey!! Can you cite a peer reviewed study which shows that the poor have those habits in a higher percentage than do the affluent? No, you cannot. And, your childish sarcasm aside, there has been a massive transfer of assets from the working and middle classes (NightGaunt49 said nothing about the poor-do you have a reading comprehension problem?) to the wealthy since 1981.

A note: around the world, it is the POOR who are targeted for addiction to nicotine (a mood altering drug), or other drugs like meth (a more deadly variant of same with a stronger high to forget the world and make it “better”), or opiates (still hurt but don’t care), and what class gets them hooked? (Orwell’s dad was with the British foreign service, and his job was to get the Afghans to grow more opium so they could get all those Chinese hooked, and under the control of the British empire.)

My folks and brother always managed to spend, and borrow, more than they earned, and were arch “conservatives” and Republicans, who hate “government”. My brother never worked on anything but a government contract in his entire career, and when Social Security disability cut him off because he was recovered enough to go back to work, he hired a lawyer to sue, rather than just go back to work!! He died having three mortgages on his house his widow thought they owned free and clear. Yep, he was indeed an arch current GOPer.

I’m just the “liberal” who lived within my means, still do, quite comfortably, don’t owe anyone anything, and no problem coming up with $400 in an emergency.