One of our regular readers and commenters Is a Tea Party activist who likes to joust with anyone who dares to express compassion for those whose lives are blighted by poverty. He scoffs at the idea that there is such a thing as communal responsibility. In his world, it is always nasty and brutish, and it is each one for himself.
So here is a story that appeared in the New York Times on July 2. It is about a woman who works for Kentucky Fried Chicken. She is a shift manager, and she is paid $7.75 an hour. She makes an extra 50 cents an hour because of her title and extra responsibilities. Her husband is unemployed. From her meager earnings, she must feed and clothe three children and pay the rent. She said, “I’m beyond not satisfied. This isn’t the life I want for my children. This isn’t the life I want for myself.” Last year, when boiling oil scalded her hands and she was out of work, she got $58 a week in workers’ compensation. A welfare queen, right?
The CEO of YUM!, which owns Taco Bell and KFC, makes $11.3 million per year. The Times says he “helped lead the battle against paid sick days.”
Fast food workers and other workers whose wages are barely above the poverty line are trying to unionize. Imagine that.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I assume the TP’ers response would be that she shouldn’t have had those children, she should have thought first about what her prospects were for a job and income. I’ve heard that argument from my own sister.
The TP’er would also say that her husband should get whatever job he can, which if at minimum wage, would just about double their income. Which assumes there are such jobs where these folks are located. No mention of the ages of their kids, so I’m not sure if the husband getting a job would require them to pay for child care, but even if they’re all school age, there are lots of times when school is not in session, or jobs that are not during school hours.
Oh, & don’t forget, if her husband was able to get a minimum wage job, should they then need child care, the combined income might put them over the top for such, as well as for any other benefits they might certainly be entitled (e.g., Medicaid).
Is this 2013 or 1913? I am becoming confused, & it’s not because I’m a senior.
This is a good example and there are many more examples of good people trying to do right by society who get stereotyped with the wrong crowd. We can say the same thing happens to teachers. All teachers are portrayed as lazy, overpaid, and just waiting to retire to collect their pension.
In my personal dealings with people who make blanket stereotypes, I have noticed a majority of one group of people who are always to blame. All of the welfare “leeches” seem to be black. All of the illegal immigrants are Mexican. All of the lazy teachers are women. Yet who are the ones making all the blanket statements? I am sure you can guess.
And all of the people who spout “competition” are usually the ones who have the resources to compete anyways. Its like listening to a child born into a wealthy family screaming “thats not fair”. The irony speaks for itself.
“All teachers are portrayed as lazy, overpaid, and just waiting to retire to collect their pension. ”
Yep, describes me: lazy-sit around all day during the summer reading this blog, overpaid-I make more than minimum wage, and “waiting to retire”-yep turned 58 the other day and next year I’ll be able to retire under the “rule of 80”.
The Conservative View:
I have a pretty bleak view of the future generally, but I do think that the current trends could make restoring and expanding the welfare state good politics in the long run. It took the Great Depression to give us Social Security. But I don’t know how many post-war booms we’ve got left in us.
I don’t know how many post-wars we’ve got left in us.
Maybe if we’d get out of the illegal wars of aggression we’re in now we might, just maybe, have more than enough $$$ to go around.
Right. I do fear that the post-war explosion of wealth, education, and living standards among the middle class in the US was a one-time thing. Technology innovations and cheap money once created stable careers for tens of millions of working people at companies that made products that people bought. How many jobs has Facebook created? How many jobs has Instagram created? (At its height, Kodak had more than 100,000 employees. Instagram had 13 when Facebook bought it for a billion dollars in cash and stock.) What’s the ultimate cost of an economy where products are increasingly free?
What I meant was —
In an era of perpetual war the concept of post-war has become meaningless.
True, we have always been at war with Oceana. And whereas the “world wars” of the last century required an industrial ramp-up that had lasting economic effects, perpetual war requires a fully ramped war industry at all times. That pedal is already to the metal.