Three years of college paid for...

[Martok]

I tried clicking in the link in the OP, but I just get "Sorry Video not found". 

Perhaps that's for the best, though? 

[LongBlade]

I tried clicking in the link in the OP, but I just get "Sorry Video not found". 

Perhaps that's for the best, though?

Imagine this: somebody gets income assistance to pay the rent. But he's living with his girlfriend so he doesn't pay rent. So he blows that cash on stuff (N.B. the dude is constantly sniffing his nose - the cynic might suspect coke use). Said dude doesn't understand that you aren't supposed to take money for rent if you don't have to pay the rent. Oh, and he's spent three years in college (to the tune of $22k/year - presumably also from the state). Money misspent? We report, you decide.

[Steelgrave]

I tried clicking in the link in the OP, but I just get "Sorry Video not found". 

Perhaps that's for the best, though?

Imagine this: somebody gets income assistance to pay the rent. But he's living with his girlfriend so he doesn't pay rent. So he blows that cash on stuff (N.B. the dude is constantly sniffing his nose - the cynic might suspect coke use). Said dude doesn't understand that you aren't supposed to take money for rent if you don't have to pay the rent. Oh, and he's spent three years in college (to the tune of $22k/year - presumably also from the state). Money misspent? We report, you decide.

Of the two, the woman with 15 children saying that "someone needed to be responsible" while pointing her finger at you and me is both maddening and depressing. I mean, seriously....culture war? I think we've lost already. And when the 40% of us who pay for damn near everything run out of money....watch out.

[Martok]

Yeah, I think I was blissful in my ignorance.  *sigh* 


Ah well.  If having unhappy knowledge being foisted upon me is the price I pay for hanging out with you guys, it's one I willingly pay.  :) 

[Steelgrave]

Yeah, I think I was blissful in my ignorance.  *sigh* 


Ah well.  If having unhappy knowledge being foisted upon me is the price I pay for hanging out with you guys, it's one I willingly pay.  :)

Yeah, since since I started hanging with you guys, I've gotten so smart I can hardly stand it anymore!!!  Fortunately, beer dulls the pain......    8)

[Windigo]

its funny in an ironic way, only rich nations can afford to help its poor, but in doing so a nation propagates the problem

[LongBlade]

its funny in an ironic way, only rich nations can afford to help its poor, but in doing so a nation propagates the problem

Yes. If you were interested I could draw you some economic graphs that explain that ;)

[son_of_montfort]

Mike, Judge Judy is no longer a real judge and she does not represent the American justice system. She is a "reality" TV show, sort of like the "People's Court." She mediates small claims conflicts between people who neither wish to hire a lawyer or appear in actual court. It's all legal pantomime.

Do her rulings have any force?

The show basically trolls small claims courts and offers to pay the settlement to the small claim in exchange for "judging" on TV. So, no - the rulings have no force, the claim has been paid. It's just reality TV.

I thought that the "litigants" sign a contract that they will abide by her rulings. So, in effect, she is a televised mediator.

[Bayonet_Chris]

Mike, Judge Judy is no longer a real judge and she does not represent the American justice system. She is a "reality" TV show, sort of like the "People's Court." She mediates small claims conflicts between people who neither wish to hire a lawyer or appear in actual court. It's all legal pantomime.

Do her rulings have any force?

The show basically trolls small claims courts and offers to pay the settlement to the small claim in exchange for "judging" on TV. So, no - the rulings have no force, the claim has been paid. It's just reality TV.

I thought that the "litigants" sign a contract that they will abide by her rulings. So, in effect, she is a televised mediator.

If by "abide by" you mean they go home not having paid a single dime out of their pockets, then I suppose so.

[son_of_montfort]

Huh, I thought there was at least some contractual obligation. Funny...

[Steelgrave]

Huh, I thought there was at least some contractual obligation. Funny...

My understanding, from reading the fine print at the end of the show once upon a time, is that there is a pool of money (3k I think) which starts off divided 50/50 by both sides...BUT...the loser in the trial has his/her share of that pot reduced by whatever amount the judge ends up ruling. So if the loser is ruled against for a thousand, then the winner takes home 2.5k of the pot, the loser gets $500. It's how they get losers with no self-esteem or pride to share their overly-dramatic lives with daytime TV viewers.   :P

[Windigo]

its funny in an ironic way, only rich nations can afford to help its poor, but in doing so a nation propagates the problem

Yes. If you were interested I could draw you some economic graphs that explain that ;)

I prefer to use just my understanding of human nature, "self-entitlement infects us all"

[LongBlade]

I prefer to use just my understanding of human nature, "self-entitlement infects us all"

That works, too.

I'm not trying to goad you here (though I might have been above ;) ).

By drawing graphs it becomes apparent that no matter where you move the subsidy, as soon as it is introduced the is a band around which the defined "poverty line" where there is a disincentive to leave it. Once the entitlement is introduced you are inviting a certain level of abuse.

Interestingly, the discussion of Constitution 101 lays out that our Founding Fathers intended to include some kind of state welfare, albeit severely restricted from what we see from today's out of control spending.

[Windigo]

Economics is human ecology. It is irrational until you understand human behavior and that we will never be immune from our base nature/instincts.

a graph as you point out will just reinforce the base truth about self-entitlement and how it factors into human ecology

I absolutely agree that we should be independent and self reliant and that the system should start with that, but as our brother's keeper we do have a responsibility to help others..... to a point

Watching that video makes my blood boil - that form of self entitlement is what gives Harley's extreme positions some legitimacy (only some).

The interesting bit is determining what to do about it.....   

[LongBlade]

The interesting bit is determining what to do about it.....   

That's the problem. It's taken us nearly a century to get into this problem. It will probably take several generations to unravel it.

There are two alternatives, and both point toward the pendulum swinging in the other direction.

First is an epiphany on the part of the public that we have a problem and need to change. Circumstances suggest that is starting to happen, but they tend to get blurred in the daily tug and pull of politics in addition to vested political interests of all stripes being stacked somewhat against it. (Listen closely and you'll find the Tea Party is largely fiscally oriented and welcomes both left and right.)

The other possibility is unfolding in the Med right now: gradual overreach until the system collapses (a la Glenn Beck predicts). With Greece the people took more and more until there simply weren't enough people to tax to support all the people who took.

Either way the current projected path cannot continue. Change will come, it simply a matter of when and how.