{"id":5083,"date":"2012-02-12T11:24:56","date_gmt":"2012-02-12T16:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ctblueblog.com\/?p=5083"},"modified":"2012-02-12T11:24:54","modified_gmt":"2012-02-12T16:24:54","slug":"the-leeches-condemn-the-leeched","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ctblueblog.com\/?p=5083","title":{"rendered":"The leeches condemn the leeched"},"content":{"rendered":"

 This article<\/a> in the New York Times has already engendered a lot of comment. Dean Baker says that the economics of the piece are a bit off (worth reading<\/a>), but the real importance of the piece is the fact that governmental benefits are used most where they are condemned the most. Our blue state money is exported to red state beneficiaries, who condemn us for voting for it, and insist they don’t really want it, or at least don’t think anyone else should have it, all the while never considering doing without it. It contains some interesting character studies, such as this one about a tattoo artist who condemns his customers for getting benefits from which his family has benefitted and which he will obviously need himself:<\/p>\n

\n

Brian Qualley, 49, has a sister who survived a brain tumor but was disabled by its removal. The government pays for her care at an assisted-living facility. Their mother scrapes by on Social Security.<\/p>\n

Mr. Qualley said that the government should provide for those who need help, but that too much money was being wasted. Mr. Qualley, who owns a tattoo parlor in Harris, north of North Branch, said some of his customers paid with money from government disability checks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re getting $300 or $400 tattoos, and they\u2019re wearing nice new Nike shoes that I can\u2019t afford,\u201d he said, looking up from working a complicated design into the left leg of a middle-aged woman. \u201cI guess I shouldn\u2019t say it because it\u2019s my business, but I think a tattoo is a little too extravagant.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Mr. Qualley said he did not want to reduce benefits for the current generation of retirees. Rather, he said his own generation should get less, because they have time to prepare. This is a common position among the young and healthy in Chisago.<\/p>\n

Mr. Qualley said he was saving some money for retirement, although, he added, \u201cI don\u2019t have a 401(k)<\/a> or anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI also have a job that I don\u2019t necessarily ever want to \u2014 or have to \u2014 retire from,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

What if his hands start to shake as he gets older?<\/p>\n

\u201cActually,\u201d he said, the electric needle falling silent in his hand, \u201cit\u2019s my shoulders and neck that bother me most.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Saving for retirement, but no 401k? Social Security here he comes. <\/p>\n

There’s a great graphic on line showing where the folks on government benefits live. I can’t reproduce it here but suffice it to say that it’s not unlike the soda\/coke <\/a>map I discussed in a recent post. <\/p>\n

I come back time and again to the obvious solution:it’s time to re-open negotiations with the Confederacy. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

 This article in the New York Times has already engendered a lot of comment. Dean Baker says that the economics of the piece are a bit off (worth reading), but the real importance of the piece is the fact that governmental benefits are used most where they are condemned the most. Our blue state money […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-life","category-hypocrisy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctblueblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctblueblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctblueblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctblueblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctblueblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5083"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ctblueblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5084,"href":"https:\/\/ctblueblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5083\/revisions\/5084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctblueblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctblueblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctblueblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}