More Facebook stupidity

[Courtesy Flush]

One of my FB friends posted this today:

According to Obama: "Our economy succeeds and our economy grows," he says, "when everybody is getting a fair shot and everybody is getting a fair-shake and everybody is playing by the same rules. Because I believe that is a growth agenda -- not just an equity agenda, not just a fairness agenda -- that is a growth agenda."

The problem I have with this "theory" is that not everybody is playing by the same rules. How can anyone suggest that when only half the working population is working? When fully 46% is getting some form of government assistance, and then they get back more of a tax refund (Earned Income Credit) than they paid in!

Before you respond to this, think carefully about the FACTS.

I responded by asking if he'd gotten the Social Security benefits letter he's been waiting for. He's been posting about it for a week.

This was a roommate of mine in college. We lost touch with each other for several years, then finally got back together after Hurricane Andrew, while I was doing relief work, and he was in line for emergency food stamps.

Mmm Hm.

[DollarBillHines]

1. I know a guy like that

Hasn't worked in years since he bs'ed a disability claim through Social Security. His gluttony (Food Stamp) fucked up his gall bladder and he brags about how it didn't cost him a dime.

Other than that, he is as rightwing and 'baggy as it gets.

[Courtesy Flush]

2. Another guy joined in

He objected to my assertion that the conservative media inflates the 49% claim. He said the figure does not include veterans or pensioners. He said he was tired of the liberal spin on this.

So I googled and found the numbers. Less than 20% of Americans receive food stamp benefits. I told him that those numbers include children, elderly, veterans, and working people who are still in poverty, but giving him the benefit of the doubt, and assuming a FoxNews interpretation (that all of them are lazy mooches) that still leaves 29% unaccounted for.

He had no response.