Welfare is definitely the main problem in this country; it’s destroying our economy and causing our national deficit to soar. Did I get your attention, all you Right wing conservatives? Do I hear your cheers, all you Tea Party slugs? Well don’t rejoice yet ‘cause the kind of welfare I’m denigrating is corporate welfare. That’s right, I’m not attacking the problem of poor people who manage to scrape by through the meager output of our welfare systems, I’m talking about the hundreds of billions of dollars in tax money lost to the already too rich to give a damn, billionaires, who benefit from the loopholes in our tax system that let major corporations pay little or no taxes, and then get government rebates on top. We are talking about pennies against dollars here. Anyone who tries to draw a parallel between the few bucks that the government gives to families that are either out of work or working for money that is insufficient to feed a family and the billions reaped by the scions of corporate power is a moron and doesn’t belong in any serious discussion of public policy. Especially when you realize that those welfare dollars, that are going to already employed workers, could be made to disappear if only the super rich decided to pay their workers a living wage. Remember all you anti-union people, there wouldn’t be unions if there hadn’t been rotten management first. No one would be paying part of their salary to union dues if they didn’t have to. Sure there are welfare cheats out there but their drain on the economy is so miniscule that it isn’t even worthy of mention. Why does their presence so enrage the members of the white middle class? Why are they such a tick on the ass of people who are only a half step above them in the financial hierarchy? There is an identifiable social segment of this country, made up of hard working, middle class families, people who while certainly not rich, are definitely better off than the welfare or food stamp level people they love to hate. Why is their ire so focused on those who are less well off than they are, instead of those who are stealing billions from right out of their pockets? That’s right suckers, those billions that the corporate owners are stealing legally from the government tax coffers, are coming directly out of your pockets in the form of extra taxes you have to pay to make up for it and fewer services that you receive because the government has to cut them for lack of funding. Tom Harken (D) Iowa and George Miller (D) California have introduced a resolution to index Obama’s new minimum wage proposal to inflation so that it will, over time, keep up with inflation. In the last forty plus years while corporate profits have swelled to record levels, the minimum wage has fallen far behind them, forcing minimum wage earners to slide into various forms of poverty. Low wage jobs are currently increasing and part time work is swelling due to cutbacks in the economy. This is what causes people to depend more and more on government services like food stamps. This is why people already employed by the greedy pigs at companies like Wal-Mart already lead the nation in food stamp eligibility. If we had linked the minimum wage to inflation in 1968, the year that it reached its peak in buying power it would now be $10.40 per hour instead of the current wage of $7.25 and in some cases as low as $4.25. What would that mean in terms of how it affects the economy Well, corporate lobbyists will tell you that it will mean lower dividends for Mom and Dad, who own stock in major corporations. They will also tell you that it will mean layoffs because big corporations will no longer be able to afford to keep as many workers on staff at these higher wage costs. This is, of course, pure bullshit. It will mean just the opposite. It will mean more money in the hands of those who are struggling to just get by, and more money in those hands will mean higher purchasing power and higher sales figures putting more money into the economy. Corporate profits mostly accrue to the rich. Sure there are a small number of middle class stockholders who benefit from corporate profits and the dividends they pay, but most of those profits really go into the bank, because the super rich spend less, as a percentage of their entire income and save more, while those existing at a sustenance level spend all they make just to keep their heads above water. Those who spend for sustenance, spend in a revolving pool that demands constant renewal and creates a wide demand for renewable product; more so than do the rich. The need for renewable product creates jobs. The creation of jobs at a livable wage creates a working economy, just as it did for forty years after WWII. More jobs at a sustainable wage equals more people with spending money, which equals more people buying, which equals more product needed to fill the orders, which equals more jobs to make the product and round and round. See how simple it is; so all we have to do to get rid of these poor welfare cheats is pay them a decent wage, just like all we have to do to get rid of the corporate welfare cheats is change the tax laws to make them pay their fair share. But neither solves the problem of the hardworking, middle class guy who resents some welfare mother, probably black or Hispanic who has four kids, probably because she’s either too dumb to use contraception or because one of the religions she’s addicted to is down on contraception and she bought the cool aide. She is so overwhelmed with the kids that she can’t work and the religion that encouraged her to procreate all over the place isn’t stepping up to help. The hardworking guy still sees this woman as someone who is too lazy to work and is stealing from him and he gets mad. There is only one solution to this dilemma. He has to take a look at Exxon, Apple, Nestle, Ford, Citicorp, Chevron, United Airlines, GE, Bank of America, AT&T, AOL Time Warner, AIG, Qwest Communications, General Motors, Vodaphone Group and a few others, all of which have made profits in the billions, all of whom pay little or no taxes and some of whom, have actually gotten government tax abatements and subsidies to add to their profits and if he can decide that the welfare mother is doing him more harm then the aforementioned industries then I have a padded cell for him at an underfinanced facility in a state to be named later.