What it's really all about...

[mpreorder]

I did a little research recently and was a bit shocked to discover that between the fed and states over a 1 TTTTRRRillion dollars a year are spent on public assistance. Source

OK, so I kinda agree that this is batshit insane and really is one of the things that drive republicans crazy. No one should get anything free, we can't have any policies that act as a disincentive to workers, blah, blah.
(Now, I'm not nearly qualified to make broad sweeping statements on what is really going on, but I can speculate. So if I'm missing information someone please let me know and I'll gladly change my views if appropriate.)

But I started thinking....didn't we have RECORD LOW unemployment before covid?? And despite record low unemployment we have to give out over a TRILLION a year to keep people and families afloat?? What is the real problem if it isn't that WORKERS ARE NOT GETTING PAID ENOUGH?

I speculate that the SYSTEM IS DESIGNED THIS WAY ON PURPOSE. I think that those in control of the money, i.e. BANKERS, deliberately cause the flow of dollars from bottom to top gaining more and more and buying politicians to continue to implement laws and policies to continue more of the same. The trillion a year spent on public assistance is built in as a regrettable cost to keep the peasants at bay. It they didn't do this there really would be class warfare. Generous amounts are spent convincing an unknowing populace how capitalism is the greatest system the world has ever seen which keeps us divided. And division is good for the status quo, isn't it?

So is the REAL problem between the right and left, or is the REALLY REAL problem between the rich and the not so rich and poor?? (Social issues such as abortion and guns aside.)

This IS class warfare, the rich have known this for decades, and they are winning. It's time to fight back.

[Ferrets are Cool]

1. ...

[Laelth]

2. Good morning!

Watch out when opening your eyes. The sunlight can be really bright.



-Laelth

[Claire Oh Nette]

3. Global wage suppression...

The off-shoring to nations with lower wages allowed for increased corporate profits for decades. Now that there is no other place to go for even cheaper labor, the global powers that be have been engaged in wage suppression. We are a serfdom in practice, and have been since the Bush years.

Hence, the 40 year attack against unions (and nurses and teachers have some of the better unions), the bait and switch from pensions to 401(k)s (an investment vehicle for the salaried folks, not so much the little folks), and the rise of automation and self check out (no, I don't work for your company, so no I won't use those machines).

The GOP has no intention of truly eliminating undocumented immigration precisely because big ag, hospitality, construction, all want a cheap, exploitable labor supply.

It's been going on for at least 30+ years.

PS. I think they gave away the game when for a brief period of time, Extended unemployment paid $600 a week. That's the annual equivalent of $31K. Our own government determined that was necessary. Methinks the fight for $15 is spot on...

The divide and conquer over color and religion was always about keeping the "Poors" from recognizing each other's sameness.

[paleotn]

4. "public assistance?"

The two largest line items, Social Security and Medicare, are NOT public assistance, so I call bullshit on your source. They are both old age insurance programs, available to everyone, regardless of socio-economics. By your source's definition, private health insurance is "pubic assistance". Why not count that as well? Medicaid is expensive simply because of how fucked up our healthcare system is, not because we lavish benefits on the prols to keep them quiet. We spend tons of money on acute care that wouldn't be necessary with universal access to basic preventive services.

Sorry, but in the crucible of factual history, Marxist class struggle has been found to be complete bullshit. Seems the Russians and Chinese gave it a spin, among others. It failed miserably because it's a deeply flawed premise that wilts in the light of actual human nature. Ironically, just like libertarianism.

[mpreorder]

7. The line items you're referring to...

are part of the total budget, unless I'm reading it incorrectly

Medicaid - 447.2 billion
Other Welfare - 374.3 billion

[Tommymac]

5. Unregulated Capitalism is the problem.

Glad to see you have connected the dots. Bravo!

[RazzleCat]

6. Its not just bankers, it is many people

It is well understood if your employee can't afford to fight back, you may abuse them. It is also understood if your employee is not physically fit, they can't work, they need food, water, and shelter, so you need to cover those items, but you don't have to give them good tasting and healthy food, or nice living accommodations. No, just enough. The next issue is to keep them from rioting so you must teach them that they only reason they are in such a bad situation is because others are stealing from them. So its not the person above you causing your situation, not its the one below. So keep up the propaganda that the reason they have no money is because their taxes are being abused by those with less than them. No matter what never let them grasp the concept that it's not those "below" you getting millions in tax dollars, no its the ones over you receiving billions in tax loopholes causing the problems. Or to put it another way, when you have problems, look up not down, because shit rolls downhill.

Edit, re: propaganda and why it works. Example, you don't get that promotion you worked had for. You initial reaction is anger/rage, followed up by (in the majority of cases) looking for a reason why person X was selected over you. Remember you're in a state of anger, so you grab at any excuse, there the bosses pet, they are a minority hire so their getting "bonus points". None of this has to be true, but at that moment is feels true, is soothes your ego. Now take this emotion this rage over why not me and apply it to the general population, this is exactly what the RNC has been doing to us. You would be in a better financial position or job except for those undeserving poor pulling you down. It "feels" right, just like that anger over and at the person selected over you for a job.

The above example is only to show how easy it is to get you to blame another person, to get angry, and once your in that state, it becomes very easy to manipulate you.

[JHB]

8. If you want to fight back, don't frame it they way they do

For starters, the guy who compiled that page is a conservative, and he kitchen-sink categorizes everything even halfway-related as "Welfare" because that's what conservatives have always done: gloss over the details to produce big scary numbers they can "sound the alarm" about.

Now, let's break down those number, shall we?




Social Security and Medicare take up the lion's share, but the only people who consider those "public assistance" are conservative/libertarian zealots bent on destroying them. But they'll happily blur the lines between those and more direct assistance in order to produce big scary numbers and create the impression that there's an army of layabouts sponging off the rest of us (and those eeeevilllll sooooooocialist Democrats who let them).

Medicaid also has a lot of users who aren't generally considered "on welfare." I'm thinking of the use of Medicaid to pay for nursing home/hospice care.

Unemployment is a sliver. Housing and Families & Children assistance, the stereotypical "welfare", are a fraction of the "TTTTRRRillions" and would be even smaller if wages hadn't effectively been stagnant for several decades.

[lostnfound]

9. You "did a little research" on a conservative website by an anti-democratic rightwing blogster?

Is the goal to get people lured into a “globalist banker” trope?
Ugh.