Guy I work with just said that "hungry kids in America is a misnomer".

[Dawgs]

We were discussing WalMart and how sick it makes me that the Waltons own 40% of the wealth in the country when we have so many people that make so little.

I don't know why I talk to these people.

Of course, he thinks that the Newtown shootings were a government conspiracy to get rid of everybody's guns. I'm sure he heard it from Alex Jones.



Edit: BTW, A HERETIC MAN just pointed out that my information was incorrect. The info I was referring to was a tweet I saw from Bernie Sanders, July 22, 2012: "Today the Walton family of Walmart own more wealth than the bottom 40 percent of America."

Politifact rates it as true --> http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/jul/31/bernie-s/sanders-says-walmart-heirs-own-more-wealth-bottom-/

[Puzzledtraveller]

1. I sort of agree but probably not for the same reason

I'm a SNAP worker and at least for my state we provide very well for hungry families with children. One thing we cannot do as well is counter the programs misuse and I have had families who's allotment is substantial yet have misused their benefits by means of fraud, selling etc which deprives their children of the food the benefits are intended for. Most however use the program as intended but there are those who will neglect their children even when receiving benefits.

[Dawgs]

5. My point is that we shouldn't need programs like yours for "hungry families and children".

One family should not have 40% of all of the wealth in the United States.

[jwirr]

22. That has been my experience with SNAP as well in MN.

[LWolf]

28. I just heard this from my mother last week.

She was talking about people "taking advantage." In context, she's in her mid 70s, and comes from the working poor class. Her people raised her to disdain any kind of "charity;" to take pride in being self-sufficient. So, when her other small income source outside of SS took a 75% cut, and she was in a panic about how to pay bills, some of her friends suggested food stamps.

She was horrified. We're still not sure how she will get by; she's currently taken a job cleaning house, and is taking stock on how to scale her life further down.

I told her I'm less concerned about those who "take advantage" than I am about those who don't get what they need, for whatever reason. There will always be, in any group, a contingent that misuses or abuses their rights, their liberties, their income, etc.. We shouldn't scale back anything because of them.

[Sherman A1]

2. Sometimes

it just ain't worth trying to have a discussion.

[Dawgs]

3. Yep. n/t

[A HERETIC I AM]

4. Ummmm...the Walton's don't own 40% of the wealth in this country.

Not by a long, long shot.

I've no love for that family, but that figure is utter nonsense.

[Dawgs]

6. You're right. They own more wealth than the bottom 40% of Americans.

Does that make you sleep better?

[A HERETIC I AM]

8. Hey look, pal...

I'm not the one that put up a thread with a gross exaggeration in it, OK?

Not once, but twice in this thread. Hyperbole and bullshit, plain and simple.

"does that make you sleep better?"

I'd tell you where you could shove that fucking snark, but someone would alert on it.

[Dawgs]

9. What's the difference? 40% of all the wealth, or own more wealth than the bottom 40 percent?

Both of those things should disgust anyone on this site, gross exaggeration or not.

Why you chose to respond the way you did is your problem, not mine.

[Recursion]

11. What's the difference? Several trillion dollars (nt)

[A HERETIC I AM]

12. Thank you.

[Dawgs]

13. What's the difference, THEY ARE BOTH DISGUSTING, was the question. n/t

[Recursion]

14. True (nt)

[LanternWaste]

26. I believe the implication was "what is the ethical and social difference?".

I believe the implication was "what is the ethical and social difference?".

But I can easily see how one's dogma may force one to misinterpret that for the sake of convenience, and to avoid the fundamental issues in question.

[A HERETIC I AM]

15. What's the difference?

As the poster below said, the difference is several TRILLION dollars, and that is NOT a trivial mistake.

As I said in my first post, I have no love for that family, but the reason I chose to respond the way I did was because YOU WERE FUCKING WRONG and posting gross inaccuracies makes you look stupid. And THAT is something that should disgust anyone on this site.

Forty percent of all the wealth and the wealth of the bottom forty percent Are not the same god damned thing

[Dawgs]

18. You realize I edited my original post (giving you credit) to say that I was wrong, right?

A real man would accept it and move on. Apparently you can't and continue to ignore the real point I was trying to make.

[A HERETIC I AM]

21. Oh, for fucks sake.

What you did with your edit was add a paragraph, not correct the error, which you could have easily done instead of adding irrelevant information and getting my user name wrong!

So instead of just accepting that you were wrong and made a mistake that I pointed out to you in a calm way, you decided to get snarky and now are questioning my manhood!

As far as ignoring the real point, I get it, OK? I got it the first several hundred times it has been made on DU. It isn't some great mystery that the 1% have more than the bottom 99% and you pointing that out Yet again does not make it some grand new revelation and it doesn't make you eligible for a fucking Pulitzer because you decided to post on a subject everyone that has been paying any attention at all has known about for ten fucking years!

If you want people to take you and your facts seriously, get your god damned facts straight.

[Dawgs]

24. Holy shit! Are you fucking serious?

First of all, I added a paragraph instead of editing because I wanted to give you credit for my mistake. Anyone that reads my post will see the correction.

I'm sorry I fucked your name. I think you'll get over it.

The reason I'm snarky is that you continuously act like my one simple mistake, that I admitted to, is more disgusting to you than one family having so much wealth.

And I don't care if what I said was wrong. IT DOESN'T MATTER. We are fucked as a country because of the wealth disparity. The details don't necessarily matter.

Real men get past trivial things. Let's see if you can get past this.

[A HERETIC I AM]

25. Again with the "real men" bullshit, eh?

Last edited Thu Jan 17, 2013, 02:08 PM - Edit history (1)

Real men realize when they have made an error and graciously accept a correction and move on.

Complete fucking tools, on the other hand want to try and puff their chests because they don't like the fact they had a mistake pointed out to them.

Which are you, Studly McStudlerson?

If "details don't matter", then why didn't you just say the Walton's have all the wealth in the world? Better yet, if details don't matter, why include any in your post?

[southernyankeebelle]

7. It's like we are living in two different countries. On liberal and the other conservate. It is so

crazy. It makes your head spin.

[Recursion]

10. Having been to Kolkata, I've said similar things, but I doubt that's what he meant

There is food insecurity in America, but there's not "hunger" in a developing world sense.

[Dawgs]

16. Great point.

But, at the same time, it really bothers me when people use hunger from other countries to pretend that "people aren't really hungry" in the US.

Hunger is hunger on any level.

[Recursion]

17. Oh, definitely.

My mom's a pastor and I work at her soup kitchen every time I'm up there (the volunteers eat at the same tables as the guests, which I think is an awesome thing). There are people in the US who cannot get food for themselves, and that is a terrifying place to be.

[LWolf]

29. There is certainly a hunger "scale."

Pointing out that my students who come to school hungry aren't as hungry as another kid in a developing country, though, isn't helpful.

I still have students who are hungry, who go without some meals, and who, when they are fed, are fed crap.

[Paladin]

19. I've Done Charity Work At Urban Food Banks Over The Years.

Tell your dumb-shit friend that summer is the toughest season for a lot of school kids---because school lunches are the only decent meal they get for the day. When they are out of school, they're hungry.

If the issue of keeping our kids well-nourished received half the attention that guaranteeing the ownership of assault rifles gets, this would be a lot better country.

[Recursion]

20. We need universal SNAP for children

Actually I think this is very doable because Big Ag loves food security programs since the money ends up going to them.

[Dawgs]

23. He apologized after I told him off, so it should at least make him think. n/t

[Paladin]

27. Glad To Hear It. Well Done. (nt)