I have to stop you guys for a second, whenever you say "redistripute the wealth" you make it sound like we want single mothers to have the money to buy a house and big screen tv. That's not the case. I like my tax going to programs that help people get a lift up to better their lives.
But we have that in this country. We have multiple welfare programs which already pay mothers or fathers or full families to take care of themselves and their children. We do not need any more programs; what we need is comprehensive welfare reform which will give recipients an incentive to work and find an education/ advance in their careers. We do not need a perpetual welfare ATM which gives people money for sitting on their asses, even as their children advance into their teen years. All of this needs to be done instead of taking money from the wealthy and putting it into another program which will be abused or one which is already being abused thoroughly.
There is one thing stopping them going to college - money.
Then they apply for financial aid. And in addition to that, they don't have to go to Harvard. They can go to a community college, or a state university, and receive a quality education at very little expense.
You can't call a genuine circumstance an "excuse" when, y'know, its real. "My dog ate my homework" is an excuse. "I'm a single mother whose boyfriend has left me, my mother helps sometimes but I need an extra hand, I just don't have the cash to cope" is a genuine circumstance.
I'm sorry, but that
is an excuse.
If my boyfriend and I got married and we adopted kids, and then he left me to pursue some sort of modeling career in France, I would have to get over it. I would be upset; I would have less income to support my children; but I would have to make due with what I have and try to make up the difference which has left me. And if my kids are young and I have to juggle the time I spend in my career with the time I spend with them, so be it. If they are wise, they will thank me when they're older for putting in extra hours so they could have a future.
All it takes for these people to apply for a job is a pen and a job application. All it takes for them to stay at a job is to work hard and put in some sort of effort. Bosses are understandable in most circumstances. If you have a child and you need to be with them a certain number of hours, these people will usually understand. And guess what-- if you aren't making enough money, you can apply for welfare benefits. That's how the system should work. I've known people who have beat considerable odds involving the same circumstances you describe, and if they can do it, anyone can. And if they can't, then they are simply making up excuses.
There is that word "punish" again. I talked about that a few pages ago. To call taxing the rich "punishment" is a fallacy.
You're taking money away from people who spent the duration of their lives working their asses off. I've put in three years at a major university and I will be six figures in debt by the time I finish my master's degree. If I work hard enough, I will be successful in whatever career path I'm in. If I end up making six figures a year, after overcoming considerable odds and putting every single fruit of my labor into building a life for myself, why should the government take money away from me and give it to people who don't deserve it? A single mother who got pregnant at 15 and decided she would be better off having the baby and raising it without a father or a career does not deserve to have my tax dollars, as far as I'm concerned.
What I find bizarro logic is the idea that I'm supposed to feel bad for Bill Gates
From the arguments here, it seems like Matt and others have a problem with all taxes, and then they say they don't, so then their whole position becomes incredibly contradictory.
Really, I don't care about this stupid Bill Gates example. The man already hands out more than what should be expected of his income to combat poverty, AIDS and other social problems in this country and around the world.
What I care about is the idea that people who don't make good decisions should be handed money from my tax dollars because I became a success. That is bizarro logic-- rewarding those who don't deserve it while punishing those who never did anything wrong.
