Cute but the "welfare state" is a fabrication. People who actually need welfare tend to lead miserable, difficult lives, while the rich have it the easiest and have the most legislation in their favour. Our government is not willing to help students finance their debts but giving corporations tax breaks is business as usual. The mythos of reagonomics continues to plague american society.
Right on. Reagan was a piece of work: Equally bad in Hollywood and Washington. Regarding the poem: It would be brilliant if it was meant to be satire (like much of what Swift wrote). But something tells me the poet was merely trying to be clever... Bad form. Very, very bad form. QP
By 1949 welfare was already growing into the opposite of what it was meant to be. It was born from that "give a fella a hand" mentality of the Great Depression which ultimately did pull many people out of the depths of poverty. But then it morphed into a political tool. Huge company farming communities and mining towns managed to slick their way into the welfare purse. Later it became a battleground for social equality, a function for which it fails miserably. It began as a noble gesture to provide temporary aid. A hand up. Now it's a multi-generational entitlement that kills dreams. It could help so many more people if it wasn't spending so much on subsidies to wealthy corporate shareholders. It's run worse than many of the charities we lament for administrative costs. Personally, I think we're closer to being a great society now than we ever were in 1949. GJS
