Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

On Oct 8, 2008, at 1:23 PM, EarthNSky wrote:

> > Now, Bev, you know that doesn't fly here. Examples from history and
> > his proposed programs, please.
>
> From his programs? No can do..he doesn't have any experience with  
> that,
> just ideas on paper.

I said "proposed" programs. Not that I think they will happen soon. I  
am skeptical that he will be able to do much more than hold the fort  
for the next several years. He is walking into a thicket of messes.  
Wanting such a job is almost a definition of insanity.

>  An example from history is the domestic welfare
> program.  Almost every program that gives money to individuals could  
> be
> used as an example, even Medicaid and Medicare...programs become  
> complex
> and ripe with fraud and waste to the point that they no longer serve  
> the
> purpose they were designed for-a well intentioned idea that has paved
> that famous road to Hell, leaving a shell of a plan that only the
> poorest and most desperate HAVE to use, because there is no other
> choice.

Amazingly, some programs are quite efficient. I am now trying to think  
of one or two. I know I heard about one the other day. Might have been  
the VA hospital program.

>  In that way, they become dependent on a Federal program.
> The more money we hand out, the more dependent on that money people
> become, whether it is a economic stimulus check, a farm subsidy, or  
> even
> a tax free holiday.

Well, sure. In that sense, we are all dependent on the government.  
This is our home. We depend on the government to maintain a military  
to protect us. Laws, roads, signs, the list is long; we are dependent  
on many things that we take for granted and we get upset when they  
disappear.

>  I know people who will do without waiting for
> those, because they cannot afford things any other way.  They are too
> dependent on the benevolent actions of the government.
> As for biting the hand, well, domestically, you have people in New
> Orleans still demanding help years after the fact.  What I was  
> thinking
> when I wrote that was more to the issue of foreign aid, however.   How
> much money do we give to countries that hate us and vote against us in
> the UN in a tight vote?

Tell me.

>  Our 'friends' very often aren't our friends.
> They have every right to vote or support what they choose, but so be  
> it,
> if that is the case, we stop scratching their backs, too.

In years past I was seriously upset with our foreign aid, most  
especially when I was having a tough time making it and paying taxes  
to support same. I have come to understand that the percentages are  
small and the reasons legion.

I am again reminded of my old hillbilly friend, Farrell Berry, who was  
wont to say, "If your can't use your neighbors, what good are they?"

Today, we are all neighbors.