News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Share of Income Gains by Quintile - Great Depression til Now. Parent comment

Re:Share of Income Gains by Quintile - Great Depression til Now by kevinpet on Friday September 09, 2011 @06:27PM (#2980103)
The first half of your comment is idiotic and unworthy of HN. Find me someone who has actually stated that the poor deserve their lot. The Tea Party's primary gripe is that the government is picking winners and losers and the best way to get rich is now to lobby rather than to work hard. Even Reagan, the godlike idol of the small-government right, never thought the poor deserved it, he just thought that the best way to help them was to grow the economy as a whole (through policies that ultimately sucked).

The second half I also disagree with, but it's just a failure of logic and a disconnect of values, not flat out idiotic.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Share of Income Gains by Quintile - Great Depression til Now by forensic on Friday September 09, 2011 @06:43PM (#2980137)
The Tea Party has millions of people, so there may be a few different views in there.

However my impression was that the bulk of the Tea Party harbors a lot of hate for welfare recipients and social services in general.

They believe the poor should pull themselves up via bootstraps and should not receive direct help from the government.

Am I wrong about this?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Share of Income Gains by Quintile - Great Depression til Now by jgesture on Friday September 09, 2011 @07:16PM (#2980202)
Believing that someone shouldn't receive direct help from the government isn't the same thing as believing that they shouldn't receive help. This is a false dilemma.

As, perhaps, a kind of silly example, a couple of weeks ago, my car wasn't working, I was immobile. I didn't and don't believe that the government should've helped me get my car working. But I did believe that I should be helped. I called a couple of my friends and now my car is working again.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Share of Income Gains by Quintile - Great Depression til Now by OstiaAntica on Friday September 09, 2011 @10:26PM (#2980601)
It is quite the opposite of "hate" to believe that independence and self-reliance are the best approach to solving poverty.
[ Parent | on HN ]