Quote from oldtime:
What do the poor get for all the taxes paid? Maybe some foodstamps and some welfare, that's about it.
Using Los Angeles as an example:
1) Subsized or Free Housing. I'm not talking about the projects, I mean a standalone house in a middle-class neighborhood. Well, middle-class until they arrive. Its called Section-8 out here.
2) Food Stamps/Welfare. In California that means a debit card that can supply cash (for drugs and alcohol) and groceries. A couple in front of me at Trader Joe's was buying king crab legs with theirs the other day. Clothing and most other non-food items can also be purchased with this card.
3) MediCal: Free medical services at any hospital.
4) Transit Assistance: Free pass for the trains, subways and buses. It is surprising that we don't just supply free cars.
5) Utility Assistance: Free electricity, natural gas or propane. Free telephone service.
6) Education Assistance: The poor pay virtually nothing at every University in LA including the expensive ones, USC, CalTech, UCLA, Harvey Mudd etc.
Why should I pay for that? America isn't supposed to supply such things, America was conceived to provide the *opportunity* to attain a better life through education and employment. You folks want to turn it into liberal Europe. Every see the slums of Paris? Those folks don't even try to become educated or employed because their every need is provided for free. Still, they riot regularly and those riots have spread to the UK. It isn't working there and it won't work here.