The $50 Lesson

[Gump]

True story.................................The $50 Lesson (chain mail)

Recently, while I was working in the flower beds in the front yard, my neighbors stopped to chat as they returned home from walking their dog.

During our friendly conversation, I asked their 12 year old daughter what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said she wanted to be President some day.

Both of her parents - liberal Democrats - were standing there, so I asked her, "If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?"

She replied, "I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people."

Her parents beamed with pride!

"Wow...what a worthy goal!" I said. "But you don't have to wait until you're President to do that!" I told her.

"What do you mean?" she replied.

So I told her, "You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and trim my hedge, and I'll pay you $50. Then you can go over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house."

She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, "Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?"

I said, "Welcome to the Republican Party."

Her parents aren't speaking to me.

[Jst2fst]

Ok that's classic

[TwiztedRabbit]

yup.... fantastic

[Gixxus Christ!]

Love it.

[TheBrown57]

Amazing!

[crb]

True!

[J_Copeland]

Nice !!!

[cg2112]

I don't get it.

[magley64]

A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, and was very much in favor of the redistribution of wealth.

She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Republican, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the addition of more government welfare programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing in school.

Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened and then asked, "How is your friend Audrey doing ?" She replied, "Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties, and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung over."

Her wise father asked his daughter, "Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct a 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA."

The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, "That wouldn't be fair! I have worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!"

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, " Welcome to the Republican party."

[magley64]

they are great jokes for sure... but then when you think about them for longer than 30 seconds with any amount of critical thinking, it really doesn't add up.

The little 12 yr old democrat girl grows up to be probably that same young woman (when somehow the neighbor becomes her father)

if she really does all this hard work, she's going to succeed, regardless of how liberals spend her tax money. her friend (who marries the old homeless guy that got her pregnant) isn't going to succeed if she didn't learn what she needed to learn in college...

I'm not a democrat, nor am I willing to label myself a republican, but I don't feel threatened by liberal programs. I don't envy the poverty stricken for their "government benefit". Quite honestly, their free ride sucks. I aspire to more because I want more for myself. I'm too busy to be jealous of poor people.

[Disclaimer]

I'm too busy to be jealous of poor people.

^--- This.

[jbot]

30 seconds of critical thinking should surely have netted you something more than "i'm not jelly of poor people. too busy lol"

maybe something like "i sure wish we could cut down waste/abuse in clearly troubled social welfare programs (or any tax payer funded programs, for that matter)".

but yeah, "too busy, don't care" is definitely the mindset of those who are of superior intellect.

[Disclaimer]

jealousy !== apathy

Apathy would be "Let the churches and private sector handle this"

[jbot]

so... you DON'T agree with magley?

[magley64]

I care, I just am not jealous. Do I wish there was less waste? sure, do I wish the government ran more efficiently? absolutely.

But the message that is expressed in these anecdotes is "why should them lazy poor people get something for free when I have to work for what I got? boo hoo"

There are quite a few lazy rich people who do as little (or in most cases, much less) than their homeless counterparts and get all their money for free...

If some of the poor are "gaming the system" for their $1200 a month in government benefits, and their life is fulfilled by doing that, so be it. I'll chalk it up as an acceptable loss to help those who need the help temporarily to get back on their feet.

Edited July 17, 2012 by magley64

[Disclaimer]

I agree that I don't envy the poor or their lifestyle. Enough to where I was fortunate enough to have the opportunities I did, took advantage of the ones presented to me, and can live a comfortable lifestyle.

I can't say I'm "self-made", but I came from a modest upbringing and my parents provided me with the support I needed to make something of myself. Some people don't have that opportunity. It can be overcome, but not everyone can overcome it for whatever reason.

But, I don't spend my time bitching or jealous that there are some people "freeloading" off my tax dollars. I'm worrying about me. Most people need that help, others abuse it - but as I've tried to explain before, maximizing the benefits of a welfare program at an economical cost doesn't equate to zero fraud/corruption... there's always going to be a 'tolerable' level of waste/fraud/corruption/whatever term you want to use, that maximizes benefits at the lowest cost.

[cg2112]

30 seconds of critical thinking made me think "These jokes, in addition to not being terribly funny, are gross exaggerations and misleading representations of any sane Democratic position."

[crb]

Shouldn't we cap the length of time you can be on "welfare"? Welfare wasn't meant to be forever was it?

Edited July 17, 2012 by crb

[Disclaimer]

They do cap it.

All the forms are right on the Ohio Dept. of Jobs and Family Services.

http://jfs.ohio.gov/ocomm_root/0001InfoCenter.stm

You can see how to apply, the qualifications, the requirements, the length of time you can receive benefits... it's all right there in public.

[jbot]

I care, I just am not jealous. Do I wish there was less waste? sure, do I wish the government ran more efficiently? absolutely.

But the message that is expressed in these anecdotes is "why should them lazy poor people get something for free when I have to work for what I got? boo hoo"

There are quite a few lazy rich people who do as little (or in most cases, much less) than their homeless counterparts and get all their money for free...

If some of the poor are "gaming the system" for their $1200 a month in government benefits, and their life is fulfilled by doing that, so be it. I'll chalk it up as an acceptable loss to help those who need the help temporarily to get back on their feet.

I care, I just am not jealous. Do I wish there was less waste? sure, do I wish the government ran more efficiently? absolutely.

But the message that is expressed in these anecdotes is "why should them lazy poor people get something for free when I have to work for what I got? boo hoo"

There are quite a few lazy rich people who do as little (or in most cases, much less) than their homeless counterparts and get all their money for free...

i dont think rich people are jealous or apathetic. in fact, i'm quite certain that non-rich, thoroughly lower class income people who simply can't stand to have their hard earned, but easily spent/pissed away tax dollars wasted on countless stories of wasted government spending (no matter what sector, social, medical, military, etc) are not jealous.

Mainly, i disagreed with the snobbery and dismissal of the problems with government spending and certain ideals (from a person who claims to hold libertarian views, no less) in the comment "oh, god, just think about it for more than half a minute, they so stoopid and they just jelly".

I agree that I don't envy the poor or their lifestyle. Enough to where I was fortunate enough to have the opportunities I did, took advantage of the ones presented to me, and can live a comfortable lifestyle.

I can't say I'm "self-made", but I came from a modest upbringing and my parents provided me with the support I needed to make something of myself. Some people don't have that opportunity. It can be overcome, but not everyone can overcome it for whatever reason.

But, I don't spend my time bitching or jealous that there are some people "freeloading" off my tax dollars. I'm worrying about me. Most people need that help, others abuse it - but as I've tried to explain before, maximizing the benefits of a welfare program at an economical cost doesn't equate to zero fraud/corruption... there's always going to be a 'tolerable' level of waste/fraud/corruption/whatever term you want to use, that maximizes benefits at the lowest cost.

why is it that the way a big portion of the money you (and I and everyone else) earned as a cumulative result of years of hard work, and good upbringing (which, in turn, is more years of investment and hard work by your parents, and possibly/probably their parents before them) is spent not your concern? when you "just worry about myself", as you so ardently proclaim, does that not include "it should be spent wisely"? do you go around blowing huge wads of money on silly ass ugly copper bikes? bad example. how about lunch... i thought i recalled you saying you ate nothing but peanut butter sandwiches for lunch mostly cause it was cheap and semi-good for protein (that could've been someone else... but the point is, you seem to be conscious of your own spending and generally, don't waste). you are a "progressive" in so many ways... why can't social progressives think progressively when it comes to making progress on the way tax dollars are spent?

30 seconds of critical thinking made me think "These jokes, in addition to not being terribly funny, are gross exaggerations and misleading representations of any sane Democratic position."

soooo, i guess you do "get it" then. umm... good job.

[cg2112]

soooo, i guess you do "get it" then. umm... good job.

Sarcasm

[magley64]

Mainly, i disagreed with the snobbery and dismissal of the problems with government spending and certain ideals (from a person who claims to hold libertarian views, no less) in the comment "oh, god, just think about it for more than half a minute, they so stoopid and they just jelly".

snobbery? okay...

My dismissal wasn't with government waste (what a can of worms that would be to go over...again...) my dismissal was with the anecdotes themselves and their oversimplification of the issues involved with the social programs they are claiming to compare with...

[crb]

Socialist, Marxist, Democrats, Liberals, etc are never gonna be on the same page as Conservatives, Republicans, Libertarians, etc. One side depends on offering more to the recipients so they get their vote!

[Disclaimer]

hy can't social progressives think progressively when it comes to making progress on the way tax dollars are spent?

I thought I addressed that in the latter portion of my answer.

maximizing the benefits of a welfare program at an economical cost doesn't equate to zero fraud/corruption... there's always going to be a 'tolerable' level of waste/fraud/corruption/whatever term you want to use, that maximizes benefits at the lowest cost.

Fundamentally, there's a cost/benefit issue, and you want to be the lowest on that reverse bell curve as possible, which doesn't mean ZERO fraud. It just means that the amount of money spent policing the fraud becomes >> the amount of fraud it would protect against.

You're a small business owner, so you can appreciate this. Let's say you manufacture ammunition. Are all your bullets with 0 defects? Are all your quality metrics currently at 0 ppm? No? Well, you should spend whatever amount necessary to ensure no defective bullets leave your facility. If that means multimillion dollars worth of robots, then so be it... you can then sell your ammo for $800/bullet because that's the required amount you'd need to charge to cover the overhead of 0 quality issues and turn a marginal profit.

Or, you hire human workers at a much cheaper cost to do the best they can ensuring part quality. It won't mean 0ppm, but it'll mean you can sell $0.20/bullet that'll work 93% of the time once they leave your facility, with $500k of scrap costs each year for the defects that those human workers actually DID find before they left the factory.

So, which process is inherently more wasteful?

[jbot]

Sarcasm

*insert willy wonka meme here* *smiley face*

snobbery? okay...

My dismissal wasn't with government waste (what a can of worms that would be to go over...again...) my dismissal was with the anecdotes themselves and their oversimplification of the issues involved with the social programs they are claiming to compare with...

the snobbery was referring to the "think about it for more than 30 seconds" comment. i only had to think about it for 29 seconds, so there.

simply giving people money instead of actually helping them get out of chronic and abject poverty IS a waste of tax payer money. well intentioned, poorly implemented, easily abused programs often are considered government waste.

nobody is jealous of "poor" people except for when they get some baller ass rims on their $500 cars. i wish i had me some baller ass rims. instead, gonna buy me some peanut butter sammiches and save up for a collection of awful copper bikes. (this last paragraph was intended to be sarcasm. look, i'm explaining my sarcasm, gaiz!!1!11!)