A different black perspective on New Orleans/Katrina

Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way here in the US. All too often, people on welfare earn rather more than minimum wage, allowing them to in some cases live better than those of us who have to work and oh, incidentally, pay the taxes that allow them to live off the government tit.

Our welfare system is in dire need of overhaul.

 

Unfortunately, it will never get fixed. At least not as long as the Democrats keep getting the black vote and now the illegals want in on the action too.

If the gov't did try to do something about it, the minorities would start playing the race card.

 

In Australia its a different story... The dole bludgers are mostly white people who spend their time complaining that the immigrants keep coming in an "stealing our jobs"... God forbid its because they come over here to do a little something called 'work'... If you ask me, if it werent for immigration the lazy australian moochers would be alot worse off, immigrants seem to do all the work and have all the smarts and we're lucky they want to come here

 

Aren't you still paying a mere low-thirties percent income tax? I wouldn't complain about the cost of your welfare system at this early stage. For higher incomes in the Netherlands income tax is more than 50% (though never so much as to make them lose net income as their gross income rises), and we're not the biggest guys on the block.

Seriously though. I can see how the Americans on this forum are overwhelmingly right-wing and opposed to any kind of welfare, but this is not a system based on utopian visions and good intentions ruined by reality - that is, if it works. What we currently have in the Netherlands is a welfare system that provides temporary and fairly low fees to the unemployed, and higher fees only to the permanently ill. These are also checked upon to make sure no one's pretending. Thus even if someone is leeching from the government they will only be able to do so temporarily, and to little benefit of their own.

 

most welfare recipients are unwed mothers , often with 3 or more kids by different fathers ...50 / 60 years ago whem my mom was girl it was not at all acceptable for a woman to have a child out of wedlock ..before the pill and the sexual revolution , nice girls did not give it up ,period ...now its common even in middle class white familys for girls to get pregnant with no husband ...nowadays thanks to republican pressure a woman cannot up their income by making new babies ...and they must go to school or work just as soon as the little one starts school ..roel , i think i can speak for most other yank posters here in saying we are not against helping the poor by teaching them to help themselves ,we are simply against the govt dole as a way of life for generation after generation as it was being run by the democrats since lyndon johnson its supposed to be a saftey net , not a hammock.....some you guys in europe seem to think its perfectly reasonable for the government to take half or more of your income ... in america there was no income tax at all until ww1 ,it was supposed to be a temporery measure to fund the war effort but like any tax ..its easy to start up and very hard to shut off...and however much the govt collects in taxes you can rest assured they will spend way more than they took in....

 

Low thirty percentile in Federal tax, Then add State Income Tax, then Local and/or City Income tax, The add the town where my employer is phsically located, and give them some tax as well, Then add a sales tax to everything i purchase...It adds up, but its all ok if its someone elses money eh? Especially some American, Our higher tax brackets are also at the 50% level, but not all of us are in a higher tax bracket. Why shouldnt I complain about our welfare system? I dont see how a desire for a fair and better managed system equates me to being a right winger, i take offense to that, there is nothing right wing about me, perhaps because i am not left wing either, i must be a right winger...
You cite how well your welfare system works, congratulations to your country for getting it right, too bad i cant say the same about over here. Like alot of other things in this country its broken down and become an unmanageable beauracracy of self serving politicians and people who want something for nothing. This isnt about not wanting to help those who need it, Its about being tired of lining the pockets of the politicians and supporting those who are just wanting a free ride..