Quote :

"People are too dependant on someone else to do for them what they should do for themselves to oust the "hand that feeds them.""

Quote :

"Then they give people shit that they could do for themselves or do without, if they decided it wasn't worth it."

Quote :

"not expecting someone to pick up after us and fix us a ham sandwich at lunch."

4/25/2006 8:24:21 PM

None of that claims laziness as a reason for them being poor. All of those statements are directed at people in general, I suspect, not certain people. To modify the first statement you quote, [I am] too dependent on someone else to for [me] what [I] should do for [myself]. Some of my student loans are federally subsidized, yet I could very easily afford to pay the interest on them. I'll let you guess which loans I am paying off first

4/25/2006 9:21:13 PM

so how else would you charachterize the anti welfare rants? ultimately it comes down to saying that the poor dont want to be rich, because if they wanted to be rich they would get off welfare and take care of themselves. not doing that is laziness (or other words that would be much more offensive)

4/25/2006 10:26:48 PM

^ Not at all. It isn't reprehensible to find a way of life that gives you what you want in life. Look, if my parents wanted to take care of me and I decided to let them, does that make me a lazy or otherwise bad person? Of course not. That some people opt to live on welfare when alternatives exist is not reprehensible, not a sign or poor character, not even odd. It goes without saying, if you give people options they will choose their destiny.

In all honesty, I suspect people are smarter than you give them credit for. I don't know about you, but the people I know are pretty darn smart. Why put in a days labor when someone else will pay you not to? I see myself on welfare at some-point in my life, even though I'll have three college degrees at that time.

The point of the discussion is that we are all on welfare from one angle or another. Unemployment insurance, federal subsidized loans, Social Security, etc. Even if you are convinced that the poor need welfare, although the program has largely been reformed to the point of irrelevancy, how do you justify my governmental assistance? I assure you, I don't need it. But thanks to the system, evidently I deserve it. Why?

4/25/2006 11:45:24 PM

a person is smart
people are dumb.



ill get to the rest of it toomorow

4/25/2006 11:48:07 PM

Quote :

"Henry Payne: Mad about gas prices? Blame government, not Big Oil Despite strong economic growth, the poll numbers of national Republicans dove this month as gasoline prices soared above $3 a gallon. As opportunistic Democrats pile on, Republicans defensively point to their passage last year of the energy bill as evidence that they are "doing something" -- reducing dependence on imported oil and encouraging greater use of ethanol in gasoline. How ironic. It is precisely the energy bill -- along with international events -- that is causing the prices to increase. "Gasoline prices are up 60 cents over last year at this time," says Dan Gilligan, president of the American Petroleum Marketers Association of America, which represents fuel distributors nationwide. "Forty-five percent of that is higher crude prices, due to reasons we have little control over: political instability in places like Iran and South America, Chinese demand, etc. "But 15 percent of that increase is due to the effect of last year's energy bill." Uncle Sam's double whammy Congress first mandated the production of 4 billion gallons of ethanol this year (increasing to 7.5 billion in 2012). This arbitrary number is to help wean America from its "oil addiction," as President Bush puts it. In reality, it is a sop to the powerful farm lobby that makes corn-based ethanol. Second, the energy bill required that ethanol replace MTBE as an additive in gasoline to meet smog rules in urban areas. Because smog is heaviest in summer, oil companies are refining their "summer blends" now. Already struggling to meet the initial 4 billion gallon mandate, the ethanol industry cannot keep up with the additional demand from the MTBE mandate, resulting in shortages and price spikes. "We asked for a more orderly, two-year transition from MTBE to ethanol. But we didn't get it," Gilligan laments. An easier transition would have required offending another powerful group: the Democrat-allied trial lawyers. They await the potential windfall from lawsuits alleging MTBE has leaked from gas tanks and tainted groundwater. As long as MTBE was federally mandated, oil firms had legal cover. But the energy bill set a May 5 deadline for the transition -- without any continuing liability protection for MTBE. Michigan's proximity to ethanol production and its own corn crop means it has never depended on MTBE. But that hasn't spared us from the gas spike. America's coasts most need the smog-compliant gasoline, taxing ethanol supplies and driving up prices everywhere. Ethanol's shipping cost Another reason coastal states opted for MTBE: Ethanol, which attracts water, is expensive to ship because it can't go by pipeline. It is hauled to coastal cities by truck or rail, causing delays and storage problems for distributors. "Someone has to pay for all this," a Texas fuel distributor spokesman told the Wall Street Journal, "and the consumer is always the one that gets to pay eventually." Foreign-made ethanol might help supplies, but Congress has protected farmers and gouged consumers by slapping a 54-cent-per-gallon tariff on imports. This situation "will all clear up by June," says Mark Griffin, president of the Michigan Petroleum Association, as the summer blend deadline passes and the refineries still off-line from Hurricane Katrina begin producing again. But now that the GOP and Democrats have recommitted government to intervening in fuel markets, price hikes will become more likely. Republicans have strayed from free-market principles and created a mother of all fuel mandates that is draining their popularity and credibility. In short, if you're upset over high gas prices, don't look at Big Oil -- look at Big Government. "

4/26/2006 11:32:52 AM

Quote :

""Forty-five percent of that is higher crude prices 15 percent of that increase is due to the effect of last year's energy bill." "

What's the other 40%?

4/26/2006 11:39:56 AM

The Energy Information Administration thinks that things will get better ...

Quote :

"Why doesn’t EIA see $3 per gallon as a fait accompli? To understand why, a look at the main factors behind high prices may be helpful. First, a larger-than-normal amount of refinery capacity is currently offline, reducing the production of gasoline. Three refineries on the Gulf Coast shut down by last fall’s hurricanes are only now reportedly beginning to return to operation, or soon will be. Additionally, some refineries that were not damaged by the hurricanes deferred planned fall maintenance until this spring, so as to maximize production immediately following the hurricanes. However, this means that we now have refineries undergoing previously scheduled spring maintenance, plus those that had deferred maintenance from last fall. Compared to weekly data last year for the similar period (the four weeks ending April 15, 2005), gasoline production for the most recent four-week period is down 457,000 barrels per day, while gasoline demand is up slightly compared to last year. As a result, finished gasoline inventories have been pulled down sharply, dropping more than 20 million barrels over the past four weeks, despite large volumes of imports. However, as these refineries return to full operation, gasoline production should increase, thus adding much-needed supply into the system. Second, other factors influencing gasoline prices exhibit more uncertainty over the near-term future. Crude oil prices have risen to above $71 per barrel for West Texas Intermediate, which is higher than EIA had expected. Some of this price rise stems from an increase in the demand for inventory as refiners and others buy more crude oil now to put into inventories as a physical hedge against the possibility of supply disruptions later this year. While geopolitical concerns are likely to remain for the time being, at some point, inventories may be built sufficiently to provide enough of a hedge for some refiners, which could help halt the rise in crude oil prices. At the same time, this may occur just as refiners need more crude oil to supply the refineries returning from maintenance, so it remains highly uncertain which direction crude oil prices will head over the next several weeks, thus making it difficult to determine the impact crude oil prices might have on gasoline prices. Third, the other major factor influencing gasoline prices is the transition from MTBE reformulated gasoline (RFG) to ethanol RFG in some parts of the country, most notably much of the East Coast and major cities in Texas. How smoothly this transition occurs will have a significant impact on the near-term path of gasoline prices. Already there are signs of some problems getting sufficient supplies in a timely fashion in parts of Virginia, mostly the Tidewater and Virginia Beach areas, with some problems also experienced around Richmond. However, unless problems related to this transition become more widespread, it may not have much impact on average monthly retail gasoline prices for the country as a whole. This transition was discussed in the January 5, 2006 issue of This Week in Petroleum and in a subsequent EIA report Eliminating MTBE in Gasoline in 2006 issued in February 2006. In summary, while some factors may be difficult to forecast, significant increases in gasoline production as refineries undergoing maintenance return to full operation sometime over the next several weeks should stem the rise in gasoline prices and may, actually, cause them to decline somewhat. While demand will generally increase as we move closer to summer, increased domestic production, in addition to the expected continuation of significant volumes of gasoline imports, should be enough to cause prices to begin to fall again, albeit not nearly as much as they have increased. Whether this occurs later this month or next, EIA does expect prices to begin to come down. While the average U.S. price of regular gasoline could reach $3 per gallon sometime this year, that outcome is by no means a foregone conclusion given the current market situation. "

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/twip/twip.asp

4/26/2006 11:54:29 AM

Quote :

"so how else would you charachterize the anti welfare rants? ultimately it comes down to saying that the poor dont want to be rich, because if they wanted to be rich they would get off welfare and take care of themselves. not doing that is laziness (or other words that would be much more offensive)"

It's worth noting that there are some forms of welfare which make it a requirement that you don't work at all, even if you are able. In short, someone who may be able to work short periods of time, but is unable to maintain employment because a disability prevents them from working long shifts would have to not work at all to recieve aid, and given that the aid pays better than some low paying jobs with short hours, why would they want to work in the first place?

4/26/2006 12:51:41 PM

how often does that happen?

4/26/2006 6:53:50 PM

Quote :

"The point of the discussion is that we are all on welfare from one angle or another. Unemployment insurance, federal subsidized loans, Social Security, etc. Even if you are convinced that the poor need welfare, although the program has largely been reformed to the point of irrelevancy, how do you justify my governmental assistance? I assure you, I don't need it. But thanks to the system, evidently I deserve it. Why?"

a lot of this stuff isnt something you actually take advantage of.
what i mean is, for instance, in the case of social security, the more you pay the smaller percentage you get back, so even though you get back more than others if you earned more, you are not getting the same back. subsidized loans you have to qualify for, and the levels on these things are insane in my opinion.

as for those things that you do receive a benefit from, I think that this occurs as an unintended consequence. What I mean is that to keep you from getting it you would have to change the system in such a way that no one would get it. i could be wrong, but im having trouble thinking of things that you get "assistance" from that you didnt already list

4/26/2006 9:39:55 PM