Hi Babba,

I think I have to disagree with this: "but have to pay for a lot of what the poor or very poor get for free." ... I think it's more like the middle class have to pay for bank bailouts, economic stimulous packages, failed military excursions, Top 1% tax cuts, propping up failed capitalists instead of allowing for bankruptsy... etc. paying for the very poor makes up a tiny fraction of your tax money and the national debt. However, you shouldn't be paying for them directly anyhow! They should have access to education and other encouragements of social mobility in order to have the skills to lift themselves out of poverty.

In the past 3 years alone, 3 million children have now dropped into the poverty statistics, which now indicate that 22% of kids now live in homes with less than 22,000 USD a year (for a family of 4) and this figure is growing fast. This is not a problem of a safety net with small holes in it... it's a much grander problem in society where increasingly the middle class and the undereducated have limited upward social mobility in America, which is... unAmerican.

I agree that the CEO class get much more than they deserve, but I disagree that the very poor do. I think very, very few people choose extreme poverty & the 'freebees' that come with it. Especially the kids. 42 percent of kids born in the bottom 5th of income remain there... double what would be expected by chance alone.

As for the 'safety net', comparitive studies show that being poor in America is amongst the worst countries to be poor in the western world. Food stamps only provide $1.44 per person, per meal. Only 1 in 4 of the poorest in America qualify for housing vouchers. In 1996, 68% of poor families recieved welfare assistance, in 2011 that had dropped to 27%. Romney stated that about 5% of America is very poor, whereas the estimate from the OECD puts it at 17.3% of all Americans. In fact out of the 34 nations in the OECD, only Mexico, Chile and Isreal have worse numbers. The problem is the solutions in place, food stamps, welfare, housing cheques... these subsidies simply maintain poverty and do nothing to lift it.

My point was that society should not rely on a 'safety net' but should work together as a community and care for one another. When I travelled in Syria I saw extreme poverty, but no homelessness. None. In fact the biggest news story at the time was that a corpse had been found which no family claimed for over a week - they were shocked that anyone in society could fall through the cracks so badly that no family checked in on them for over a week. Man that happens all the time in Canada, and I'm sure it happens in the States.

I'm not blaming Romney or vilianising him, but his statements refelct a certain mindset that I find disturbing. Comfortable, relitively wealthy people who 'forget' about the lesser in society, expecting that the government will 'take care of them'... but not really knowing 'who' they are or what 'taking care of' actually means. Out of sight, out of mind. I especially find it disturbing coming from a guy who himself doesn't work, makes millions a year and pays less tax then the middle class... and worked hard to lobby congress to make it stay that way.

Only 6,300 Americans benefit from the carried interest tax break Romney enjoys and it costs the government an estimated 13.5 billion in funds. I'd say that's a rather nice 'freebee' he enjoys. I am middle class and I don't consider it 'warfare' to expect that a guy like Romney pays an amount that is at least equivalent to what I pay when I go to work 5 days a week. What arguement is there against that? I'm sure it costs the average joe about the same to support Romneys tax break as it does for them to support about 5,000 'very poor' peoples subsidies.

I know that Americans seem to embrace the mentality that the 'poor' are just the 'soon to be rich' and that hard work is the key to lifting oneself out of poverty, but it's just not that simple anymore and the statistics show that the inequality in America is growing and growing fast. That is not a plea for better 'distribution' - I like many here don't believe in Robin Hood the Government Hero... but something has shifted which has caused this issue, and it should be the concern of everyone. All statistics are not forged propeganda put together by special interest groups...

Last I'll say on the topic, back to working on my photos :)...

Soul