[MD] Down the road of mediocrity

[pholden at davtv.com]

Quoting ARLO J BENSINGER JR <ajb102 at psu.edu>:

> [Platt]
> I know. You want to be known as Arlo the compassionate and generous with other
> people's money. I prefer to be known as Platt the self-sufficient and promoter
> of freedom from dependency.
> 
> [Arlo]
> I don't want to be known as anything. 

Ah, the first person ever without an ego.

> And we have different ideas as to what
> leads one to be non-self-sufficient. You seem to think laziness and sloth are
> primary factors, where people are lured by the high-life of welfare. I think
> bad things happen to good people, and economic forces on a high level
> (financial and employment drain) have much more to do with overall
> impoverishness than simple "sloth".

Why not look at the bright side and attribute economic forces in a free society
as providing the highest standard of living in the world? 

> Look at the following Poverty Map, showing poverty trends across the USA.
> 
> http://www.censusscope.org/us/map_poverty.html
> 
> By your reckoning, this would prove that Southerners are typically lazy and
> slothful, while the North East Corridor is populated by motivated workers. It
> would also seem to indicate that the near-entire populations of West Virginia
> and Kentucky are leeches who have choosen to suck the life out of those in the
> North East. 

Sounds reasonable to me. Actually, those designated as living in poverty in the
U.S. live better than most of the poor in the world. 

> What this map represents is employment trends, really. The death of the rust
> belt and the rebirth of technology in the north east, among others. It is not
> that Pennsylvanians are more motivated to work than West Virginians, but that
> the work is here and not there. Should the entire population move from there to
> here, of course, would still leave as many unemployed. There are only so many
> jobs to go around.

That's nonsense. Employment has grown almost every year since I can remember.
Your zero-sum game is just that, a game. It doesn't reflect reality in a 
capitalist economy.  

> And while self-sufficiency is a wonderful thing for you to preach, it doesn't
> change the reality that who does and who does not receive medical care should
> not be left to market forces. All this does is reify the idea that people are
> only as valuable as their wealth. 

That's not reality. That's your opinion.


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