Tracy Flahaven Blog # 2

Book Blog Assignment #2

Tracy Flahaven

March 22, 2016

 1. “It is easy to be an armchair critic of those who rely on government assistance; to denounce them as crazy, manipulative, lazy, or dysfunctional”. to declare them their own worst enemies; to urge them to stand on their feet and pull themselves up by their bootstraps” (Abramsky, 146).

            This quote really stood out to me because all of my life until college, I had been an armchair critic. I feel as though there are many people in this world who are the same. I grew up very fortune. My parents have supported me my entire life with money. I am extremely grateful for everything they have done for me. I may have been a little naive until I came to college, but I always thought that paretns found a way to help out their children. I have learned that not all parents help their children out financially once they leave their home. I had at least not met any friends until I came to college and heard that their parents cut them off financially. I hear people on campus talk about government assistance all the time. I hear positive and negative talk about this topic. I personally now know people who are on government assistance. Once you get to know people and their struggles with life and money, it really does change your perspective on them. For example, if I overheard someone talking about government assistance, I would agree with Abramsky’s quote. I used to think that people did it to themselves. I used to think that people are their own worst enemies because they cannot afford something due to laziness or not working hard enough. But, this argument can go both ways. Someone who is on government assistance might not be lazy, crazy and manipulative. They might be struggling paycheck to paycheck and then still not have enough government assistance to help feed themselves or their family. I personally don’t know a lot about government assistance and how all of it works. I know it doesn’t just take a phone call and then you receive it. I have mixed feelings about this quote because there could be people who abuse the system who really don’t need the money. Then there are people who really do need the help and aren’t getting all that they need. There could be that one person or many people in this world that will forever need government assistance. I know someone who lost both her parents when she 16. She is on government assistance. Does this make her lazy, crazy, and manipulative? Do I know how she spends her money? No.  

2. “Poverty is, after all, a web of problems enormous in their complexity” (Abramsky, 199). “If we can’t drive a great stake through poverty in all its manifestations, however, we can certainly do a whole lot better than we are doing currently” (Abramsky, 199).

            I picked these quotes because I could not agree more with Abramsky. Poverty is something that will never go away for some people. But, we are not doing enough to help people who are in this situation. Sometimes it is hard to help people out, because they might not ask for help. Some people need so much help that is it overwhelming and would take many years to get that person back on their feet financially. There is not one solution to end poverty, and therefore that is why it is so difficult to help everyone who is in need of assistance. One of the suggestions that Abramsky had was “we could, for example, create two more dedicated trust funds to complement those for Social Security and Medicare”(Abramsky, 200) She also stated that “adding a half-percent payroll tax, divided equally between employees and employers, would allow for the creation of a massive Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) capable of giving out roughly $20 billion per year- or $5,000 to every child born in the United States – the money could, eighteen years later, attend college without saddling themselves or their families with catastrophic debts” ”( Abramsky, 200). This is not a whole lot of money, but it could help some people out. I think that this is a great idea. This would allow children to have a little bit of money saved up, and therefore be helpful in a small way.

3.  “Three years after the nation’s financial catastrophe unfolded, in the summer of 2011, the poor were once again being blamed for the sorry plight of the nation’s finances, and being asked to bear the burden of fixing those finances.” (Abramsky, 119).

 Haven’t the poor been through enough? If people cannot afford to pay something, then how will they afford to get it fixed? It is so easy for everyone to blame the poor for not having enough money. I feel like poor people will always be looked at as the victim. By taking away the only resources that poor people have, will only make it worse for them and our country. We need to stop blaming people for what they do not have and find a way to help that is cost-effective.