The Long Con
You’ve seen this before. Someone complains about working hard and seemingly not making it while others get to sit on their duff and collect a government paycheck. I have to admit, it’s a tempting thought process. I allowed myself to go down that road one or two times. It can be a comforting place to be when you are struggling personally. It is a thought process built on two intricate cons.
First and foremost, life is not a zero sum game. My success or lack of success has little to do with anyone else. Sure, we have direct competitors for the jobs we want but most of the vitriol being spewed is spewed at people that have nothing to do with us. So, when I don’t succeed, that has nothing to do with 99 percent of the people around me.
The trouble is that the conservative con has made us believe that this is the case. So, when I don’t succeed there is usually someone (or a group) I can immediately blame for my lack of success. This is where the xenophobia comes from. Immigrants are coming to take your job. Of course, we all know that’s not true, but the con is an emotional con. We don’t think well when we’re angry and scared.
The second con is essentially a con of conflation. Look at all the free stuff people get. This con has been going on since the Reagan years with his Welfare Queens that are almost certainly black and driving around in their Cadillac. It’s a complex web they weave. It’s built on a number of lies and half truths but it focuses on misdirection more than anything.
Even if we consider ourselves enlightened enough to see through one of the major lies, we find ourselves vulnerable to the others. Sure, many of us know that most people on welfare are white. Congratulations. You saw through one of the major lies. The second question we have to ask ourselves is how good do they have it really?
Notice how few details you see. There are always stories of people buying Air Jordans, T-bone steaks, and lobster on their Lonestar card. Yet. there is rarely any hard and fast data about how much someone actually gets on government assistance. They really don’t want you to know. The dirty little secret is that it’s not much. It’s certainly not the kind of life 99 percent of us would want to lead.
It doesn’t mean there isn’t waste or people that game the system, but we really have to ask ourselves what that all matters. If that money goes away and returns to the government coffers does my life become any better? If we make their life miserable and force them to fend for themselves am I any better off? We really need to ask ourselves why we think denying others the basics of human life makes our lot in life any better.
A large part of the con is that this money has never made it back to us. That is unless you are in the top one percent financially. If you are then I’d kindly accept a donation to keep this blog up and running. Otherwise, it’s not going to you and me. So, when we find ourselves struggling to get by it is fair to ask what’s in it for me. It’s at this point that we have to remember both parts of the con.
First, this is not a zero sum game. You can help the vast majority of people all at the same time. That of course brings us to the second part of the con. When we are struggling it makes no sense to ask why they get help and we don’t. That diverts our attention away from us and onto them. It is more productive to simply ask why we don’t get help. Who is it that isn’t helping us? Who is it that actually is actively making our lives harder than it needs to be? The answer is usually related to those pushing the con.
I noticed long ago how conservatives, in particular, love to take an example and believe that it’s a widespread trend. One I heard several times was, “This guy died in a motorcycle accident, and he was found to have Covid, so they listed that he died of covid. That’s why Covid deaths are over-reported and the numbers are way too high.”
1It is, of course, far more likely that he had Covid and ‘died of respiratory failure’ officially.
But I can answer the “how much do they actually get” question, having helped a friend on disability set up a budget. She lived in Section 8 housing. She got $600 a month in SSI (disability) payments and $17 a month in food stamps.
Yeah, I could so totally live on that.
2Excellent points Nick.
3Hussy – to bring that into sharper focus, 30%, $180 of her $600, goes to paying rent since Section 8 requires the recipient to pay that for rent. (I used to work for a Housing Authority, so I’m conversant with those requirements.)
4But think of all the “poor” folks have lost their jobs. Alas, Charles Magness was fired, fired, during the aftermath of the February freeze from his job at ERCOT and he did nothing – literally. He only got one year of pay ($900K) and no blot on his employment record, but how will he survive? Perhaps we should focus on these government welfare kings, and more importantly their bosses – talking to you Greg, Dan, et al.
5Republicans love to talk about cost/benefit analysis when discussing government regulations on businesses. Funny how the subject never comes up in regard to regulating social safety net programs. There, Republicans would rather spend $1 million dollars to prevent a penny’s worth of inappropriate spending.
Back when I sold stuff to government entities, I noticed that there were so many hoops to jump through that it wasn’t worth bidding on contracts. The more regulations, the more likely it is to attract scammers who figure out ways around those regulations…
6RepubAnon @6, Mostly those hoops and junk in many gubmint RFPs are specifically written so that -only- their buddies will qualify for and get the bid, and thereby kick back the politician’s cut.
7Speaking of government funds going to people who aren’t working …. The U of Colorado system President (a former R rep from MN) who had been in place for 2 years “resigned” from his position [apparently, the new Democratic majority on the Board of Regents had some expectations which were not being met] … and is walking off with $1.3 million, the amount he would have earned by working for the 3rd year of his contract.
I never was much good at math … that $1.3 million seems like to cover a variety of people like the one above: “She lived in Section 8 housing. She got $600 a month in SSI (disability) payments and $17 a month in food stamps.”
8Nick, there a counterexample to this statement: “First and foremost, life is not a zero sum game. My success or lack of success has little to do with anyone else.”
The distribution of gains between labor and capital is pretty close to zero sum. Your success often depends on your bargaining power relative to the monopsony power of your employer. Much of the Long Con is based on diverting attention from the people who have gamed the system.
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