"Are Whites Racially Opressed?" a.k.a. "How Hard Can CNN Troll?"

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

This is a silly argument. It's like feeding the people grass while you chow down on bread. You cannot be that disconnected. You just hate black people and tons of your posts back that up.

So only black people live in poverty? You need to stop.

[Diff-chan]

'd also like to know how many people lied, just to get free food. I once had a job where I had to go through many low income housing complexes. You wouldn't think the families that resided in most of the apartments were poor based on personal bling and the vast array of electronics on display.

Easy credit, bullshit like Rent-A-Center (thanks Troy Aikman and Magic Johnson), and a consumption-based consumer culture where personal worth is based on how much dumb shit you can flash means that even the poor can easily get whole wads of fancy stuff without paying for it, or paying for it in stupid ways. It's dumb but that's how it is. It's not like the companies are losing money on this trash. That's why it is promoted.

I think the real foolishness is when you have economists say that that this easy access to imported consumer crap means you have a "higher standard of living" than you did X number of years ago - so poor people are doing fine, let's cut taxes on the rich.

Also, it's worth noting - even in poor as shit countries, electronics like cell phones are fairly common. We saw this in Egypt just recently.

[Bojack]

That's not the kids' fault though. That's the part I struggle with. How do you take care of the defenseless while telling the lazy to die in a gutter, because that's the balance I want to find.

Just accept that in order to provide for those who are in need one might have to provide to shameful freeloaders too? No one wants to give hand outs to freeloaders but do we stomp on the actually needy to fight the lazy?

[Master of 7s]

What the hell is going on here? Why am I seeing an intelligent discussion about race in this thread? Why hasn't this devolved into name-calling and incoherent nonsense yet?

WTF TNL?

[Josh]

Fuck you, motherfucker.

[Brisco Bold]

Analytical thinking is required for everything where we should be placing focus to stay competitive as a country in the global economy. And analytical thinking cannot be taught. Skills can be taught as you said, but I'm talking left brained, analytical thinking. That's a talent.

Have you seen Fareed Zakaria's CNN special on how America can get back to being number 1? I think he wrote an article (Time, Newsweek?) about it too.

[Drewbacca]

The last time I listened to him plan out America's big recovery his idea was to add a new carbon tax on to everything. There was another tax idea he had too. Both infinitely retarded.

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

I think the real foolishness is when you have economists say that that this easy access to imported consumer crap means you have a "higher standard of living" than you did X number of years ago - so poor people are doing fine, let's cut taxes on the rich.

Stolen from a website:

Those that make the claim "the tax cuts help the rich" will claim that the reason why the rich paid so much more in taxes is because they made so much more money. There is truth to that, though the progressive nature of the tax code also insures that the rich pay more than they should, proportionally speaking. However, the reason for the rich paying so much more is irrelevant to this discussion: If the "rich" are paying 96.7% of the income taxes and the poor are only paying 3.3%, then it's simply common sense that most of any income tax cut will benefit those that are paying it. You can't reduce taxes on someone who isn't paying any.

Are the poor paying taxes? In 2005, a family of four was considered to be at the poverty level if they earned less than $19,350 . If you complete a 2005 1040 considering an income of $19,350 and four family members, you will find that the standard deduction for the couple is $10,000, and an additional $3200 deduction is given for each of the four family members for an additional $12,800. So, in all, the family earning $19,350 has $22,800 in income deductions which means they pay no federal tax. In fact, a family of four will not pay a single dollar in federal tax until the family earns at least $22,800. Since these people pay no taxes whatsoever, a tax cut will obviously not be of any direct benefit to them since they aren't paying taxes to start with. This doesn't make the tax cut a bad idea, but it stands to reason that it won't directly benefit anyone that isn't paying taxes any more than a price reduction in milk won't help anyone that isn't buying milk.

[Fe 26]

You wouldn't think the families that resided in most of the apartments were poor based on personal bling and the vast array of electronics on display.

a little muscle and a whole lot of hustle

aka

bartering and not reporting income (at best)

You can buy a 2k tv in about a month if you have a little money and know how to work it (and report none of it as income). Buy shit cheap, sell high, repeat.

At the worst, they are hustling the system and selling drugs.

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

You do what you have to do.
But my point is that it's hard for me to believe any given stat when you can't trust what the stat is based on. People will and do lie in order to get "free" stuff.
Like the woman in the big SUV complaining that her kids are going to starve because Popeye's ran out of chicken.