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by brenden2 2231 days ago
It bums me out that people who need the most help in life receive the least
3 comments

Have you considered finding ways to channel those feelings into help for those who need it?
I've donated to organizations that pay bail for those who can't afford it and others that buy medical debts for pennies on the dollar in order to forgive them.

It's both great to know "man, that dollar went a long way"... and still feels like a tiny drop in a very large bucket.

I assume you're talking about RIP Medical Debt. As I've found success in the healthcare technology industry, they were IMO a good choice for a portion of a recent windfall. I recommend donating to them as well!
Progress requires both short term tactical and long term strategic actions. Thanks to you and sibling comment for your efforts!
I do every day.
What do you mean "receive the least"? Pretty much all the social programs we have target the poor, not the rich. The poor are the ones that receive the most.
Programs that benefit richer people aren't framed as "social programs" and generally aren't saddled by Kafkaesque bureaucracy and scrutiny.

Compare the sheer toil of using food stamps vs using the mortgage tax deduction.

Forget mortgage interest deductions. Take a look at cash back rewards cards. Cash-using households ultimately end up transferring money to card-using households this way, because merchants don't usually set higher prices for card users to compensate for fees. See https://www.bostonfed.org/publications/public-policy-discuss...

I get an average of 1-2% off of almost everything I buy simply because I can use a cash back rewards card to do it. It's sickening.

Is there something stopping poor people from getting these cards? I mean sure, if they have bad credit they can't, but I know plenty of poor people with good credit.
Click the link. Read the abstract, at least.
This is a narrow understanding. Rich individuals are setup to benefit from the programs for the poor. Such that what you say is both true and irrelevant. Poor individuals are not benefited.
Rich individuals are setup to benefit from the programs for the poor.

Can you give an example how the rich benefit from programs like social security, Medicaid, food stamps?

Food stamps allow wealthy people to hire help for less than it costs to feed their children.

Before anyone jumps on me, I'm not saying letting their children starve is a valid solution.

But anti-poverty programs unquestionably allow illegal immigrants to work for wages less than it would take to support their families lifestyle, which encourages them to come to the US.

Upper middle class and wealthy people benefit from that.

The other issue with food stamps is that it's pretty common for poor people with drug problems to turn them into cash by buying steaks / meat and selling to restaurants.

So the hallmarks of the wealthy Cali lifestyle end up indirectly subsidized by food stamps.

By that logic, everything that helps the poor helps the rich. Not that helpful when it comes to policy decisions.
Combined with the logic that not everything that helps the rich helps the poor, it isn't that bad. Keeps you from trying to make the poor pay for policy, after all...
I’m not who you are replying to, but you can make an argument that companies like Walmart are able to pay their employees less because many of them are receiving government aid. I know I’ve seen statistics on the % of Walmart employees that are on food stamps, and it’s shockingly high.
The siblings to this post covered it, but I apologise for not responding.

Basically, a hiring class benefits from a healthy and safe hitting pool. For mostly obvious reasons.

The only "social programs" that work in this country are the ones serving Wall Street. Socialism for the rich is a reality.
Favourable (read ‘low’) tax rates for the propertied classes, as well as the neo-liberal nation-state’s tax cuts, are ribbon wrapped gifts
Tax rates are far lower for the poor than the rich. In fact, the wealthiest pay a majority of income taxes.