My aunt is on welfare/food stamps

My aunt is on welfare and shit right now. 

How about some backround how she got there? 

A few years ago, my aunt had a high paying (over 70 grand/yr) office-type job working for some company I am not familiar with.  She frittered away her money buying all the most expensive things... jewelry, an expensive apartment with a high rise ceiling (I think is the right word?), a new car, etc.  The list of purchases gets more extravagent as I keep listing them, but this is all beside the point.  She wasted her money, did not save any of it for the future, and in general, was just irresponsible. 

A few years later, she just decided she hated her job, and quit.  (she was over forty at this time.)  Very soon thereafter, what money she did have in her accounts dried up, and she moved out of her apartment, moving in with other people she knew.  She tried to get other jobs, but couldn't.  Her old job refused to take her back.  For a few years, she moved about, from friend's house, to friend's house, living there, trying to get by, going from small job to small job, working as cashiers at grocery stores, and other small jobs.  Finally, she moved BACK in with her parents, and lived there for a couple years, not working.  She applied for welfare, and food stamps, and got them. 

She then got into disagreements with her parents, and moved in with other relatives of hers.  (My house.)  As I watch, she has no job, but goes out to Barnes and Noble every other day, buying expensive, extravagant drinks at the Starbucks there, and spending the day there reading, before coming home.  Her parents give her money occasionally, which, 90% of the time, is frittered away like the rest. 

That's pretty much it.  I hope you enjoyed the story.  Welfare in America, 2006. 


Oh! For those who are wondering, her political affiliation could summarized with two descriptive terms:  democrat/liberal.  You bet she got pissed off when GWB announced his plans to replace Social Security with private retirement accounts. 

Currently, she whines about degradation of the environment, Bush privatizing social security, conservatives who want to do away with welfare and food stamps, "rich americans who who won't donate to foreign aid", and of course, those "greedy" and "selfish" people who want to abolish tax-supported foreign aid.

>>5
In Capitalism, where businesses and the people who own them and work for them must earn their fortunes through work, rather than political pull (as is often the case in a mixed-economy), the superior quality goods and services created by the businessman serve to further create more wealth by increasing the productivity of every other worker in the system. 

Consider the amount of effort it takes an average american farmer to move a load of manure several miles.  All he needs to do is load the manure into the back of a truck, drive the truck to it's location, then dump it. 

Consider the amount of work it would take a primitive savage to move the same size load of manure... one truckload, several miles, as the farmer with the truck did so easilly and quickly. 

Through the innovations and creations of better tools created by  Capitalism, more wealth is created per individual, per man-hour of labor that goes into it. 

Over long periods of time, this amounts to a substantial rise in the standard of living of the nation.  Because of the increased production, goods and services' prices drop significantly, allowing more affordable products to everyone in the society.

Still skeptical? Consider Henry Ford and his application of the assembly line to the automobile.  Do you think every family in the United States, today, would have an automobile sitting in their garage, if not for him and his application of the assembly line to automobile production?

Thus, the rich have easilly earned their fortunes.  The prosperity creating benefits of all their ideas, inventions, and innovations make their contribution to society on an individual basis, by far the greatest.