Steven Pearlstein
has this to say in the washington post. Boats Rose in New Orleans, but Not for the Poor:

Ok. But if you want to get a real check on the way it is playing in the hearts of the WP readership, check out the on-line chat he had this morning:

Southern Maryland: How much money have you sent to the welfare recipients in New Orleans over the years, the ones who were raping, pillaging and plundering? A lot of the people I saw in the news reports appeared to be on welfare and will likely remain on welfare all their lives. My heart goes out to the sick and elderly, those nursing home patients who died in their beds, the old man who died in his wheelchair on the sidewalk.

However, the young and healthy can be doing more for themselves than producing offspring, sucking up welfare benefits, and using a disaster as an opportunity to loot stores.

I left home at 19 with a public school education, $100 in my pocket for a month's rent and living expenses until my first payday, and nothing else. I worked for the Government, now own my own home, and worked my way through night school for an AA degree. I have a good job and a healthy 401K. I have never been on welfare, drugs, or alcohol, and I have never produced illegitimate children. If I can make it, anybody can. There is no excuse for sermons about poverty and inequality. BTW -- I had to pay for my college education by working two jobs and going to school a night. Not a dime from parents or Uncle Sam. Some folks got theirs for free through affirmative action and they still can't speak in complete sentences.



Sykesville, MD: We are a big, rich (overall) country. And in all honesty the widening gap between rich and poor is frightening to me. When disparities become too great, huge, violent social upheaval is NOT unknown.

We tell welfare mothers to get back to work, but tell non-welfare (and predominantly white women) to stay home and raise their children--our way. And only our way (the Republican way) is the way that works and that's the only way it's ever been. Mom stays home with kids. Bull. Look at the raw data.

Well, I'm here to point out that it's not the only way. I'm a fourth-generation Polish American. ALL the mothers worked outside the home, you had older family who helped raise the kids, you didn't socially isolate families and tell them they have to do it all for themselves (teach, doctor, socialize, etc.). It's an impossible standard and it's making people crazy.

Another quick point, if I may, why do NUNS receive Social Security, but stay-at-home parents (mothers, mostly) do NOT? THAT is absurd. Homemaking is worth 40K/year to a family and should be recognized.