Compassionate conservatives discover American poor not really poor.

[DenverDem]

The local Faux net affiliate just ran a "news" item quoting those sweetly compassionate conservatives over at the Heritage Foundation stating that the poor in America have a great life and they have no reason to bitch about the rich not having to pay taxes any more to support social services.

The "research findings" can be scrutinized at:
<http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/BG1713es.cfm>

Almost everyone has a color TV and nearly half own the hovels in which they live.

"Shut up and eat your gruel."

[prolesunited]

1. We had this discussion Saturday morning

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1051213

But it certainly bears repeating.

[DenverDem]

4. Sorry, I looked for this mention

but threads get to page 5 or beyond pretty quickly around here.

I just saw it on tonight's news but obviously the "research" was published a couple of weeks ago.

This meme cannot be refuted enough or too vigerously, however.

[prolesunited]

11. No worries!

Just thought you might be interested in some of those responses.

Welcome to DU and hope you enjoy your stay. :hi:

How did you find us?

[Cleita]

12. Is that home they own on wheels?

That's a disgusting thing for them to put out.

[Gingersnap]

2. more of the "race to the bottom" mentality

Hey, you're not as screwed as the proles in third world countries, so stop bitching. It used to be (for right or wrong) America prided itself on our standard of living and aimed to help the poor around the world (at least in politico-speak), but now it is, just as you say, "hey you've got a toilet, a tv and a toothbrush, whaddya got to complain about?"

[DoctorMyEyes]

3. color tv?

Owning a color TV is considered a sign of affluence, now?

This is like when they tell us we're "lucky to have free speech" - if we said the things we say in many other countries we would be killed - so we should just shut up and feel lucky! LOL


BTW - Welcome to DU!

[DenverDem]

5. Thanx Doc!

Preesh.

[SharonAnn]

8. You can buy a new color TV for $100 or less on sale.

You can't buy a week's groceries for a family of four for $100.
You can't pay the heating bill for $100.
You can't pay the rent for $100.
You can't pay car insurance for $100.
You can't pay the medical insurance for $100.

[NickB79]

13. Yep

In their stuck-in-the-past world, a color TV is high livin'! That and a brand new Ford Pinto and you're living large.

[Art_from_Ark]

16. According to the WSJ, we're "lucky duckies"

(Thanks to Salon for the cartoon)

[camero]

6. This meme has been out for a long time

Since Reagan at least in my memory. More of the old, "Hey, we're not a banana republic because our poor have TV's." Sorry, we're a banana republic.

[demgrrrll]

9. I had an interesting experience this week when our furnace went out.

It is bitter cold and we are doing the best we can until the man can get the job done. Just trying to stay warm is our primary objective,
anything else is secondary. It is hard to get up and get dressed too. My point is that many many people are cold and hungry and somehow still expected to get up and pull themselves up by their bootstraps and go to job interviews or find work. This kind of crap is written to assuage guilty feelings.

[camero]

10. Maybe

I think this is the whole "the poor don't deserve help" speech from repukes. They don't really feel guilty that there are poor people here. On the contrary, it's their excuse to kill the poor off.

[coloradodem2005]

7. Oh,...

...for fuck sakes. Not as bad off as people in third world countries. Just because you are better off than some group does not make you well off.

[TreasonousBastard]

14. A common refrain.

I missed the recent discussion on this, but the theme is regularly raised from the dead.

Every so often John Stossel, or someone even less reputable, comes up with these stories describing how the problem is simply that the rich don't have enough money and the poor have too much.

Demonizing the poor accomplishes several things:

Primarily, it takes the heat off of the rich, and stops us from asking why they end up with our money. Class warfare with the have enoughs against the have barely enoughs and don't have nearly enoughs is vastly preferable to them.

Poverty is your own damn fault, and it's entirely up to you to avoid it. No one has any obligation to you if you can't find a way to pay your bills.

Everyone with more money than you deserves every penny of it. They earned it, and no one inherited it, got a good job by knowing someone, happened to luck out by having a skill in demand at the time, or otherwise hit one of life's innumerable lotteries.

The enemy is the tax collector, not the bill collector, not your boss who wants to underpay you or send your job to Bangalore, and certainly not the business that wants you to need to pay more for stuff you shouldn't need and transfer more wealth to the needy wealthy.

[TOhioLiberal]

15. Utter CRAP!!

This just makes me sick...

<snip>
There are two main reasons that American children are poor: Their parents don't work much, and their fathers are absent from the home.
<snip>

My husband and I both work..full time! And we're all still poor!

The whole article makes me want to :puke:

[Gulf Coast J]

17. In fairness to the Heritage Foundation...

Unlike Bush, I don't think they've ever claimed to be compassionate.