Welfare Fails Again...

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Conservatism has always held that government welfare weakens the recipient and erodes their will to get out and take the risks necessary to make a living for themselves and their families. Government welfare programs grow if the economy is slow, they also increase when the economy is great. This shows that there is no correlation between the economy and poverty. The war on poverty is as useless and wasteful as the war on drugs (and probably just as unconstitutional). The term "corporate welfare" has been misused by a lot of people. A city, county or state offering incentives to a company to open a branch, move entirely, or stay in their area is NOT corporate welfare. This is basic market strategy. Government welfare is giving someone money or in kind assistance because of a perceived need. The only government giveaway programs that would be welfare is what we have come to call, "Bail Outs". We are witnessing the failure of this sort of "welfare" right now. Fanny May and Freddie Mac haven't been part of the free market for a long time... if ever. How long has it been since Merrill Lynch and Lehman been part of the free market? Detriot auto industry is another example of welfare's failure. Investors and Boards of Directors decided that they would rather get "guarantees" from the government than risk their money on the free market. They turn to the government, hat in hand, begging to be taken care of by "momma and pappa government". In doing so, they are no different than the welfare families they look down their noses at. The only difference between the upper crust welfare recipients and the "trailer trash" set is, the "trailer trash" don't lie to themselves about what they are up to. In other words, the lower class welfare recipients have more class. Now the taxpayers are being told that we need to bail out a few of these companies. Why? Not one taxpayer dime should be spent on any of those begging losers until the government seizes the private assets of every member of the board, as well as the corporate holdings of the companies. Where evidence of fraud and other crimes are found, there should be investigations, arrests and trials.. both for the corporate leaders, and the crooked members of Congress that made the fraud and welfare possible. The government spends a lot of money investigating welfare and social security fraud. The IRS often uses heavy handed tactics against Americans for a mere few dollars unpaid. Why should these criminals be given any special treatment? Nothing about their actions shows they deserve anything more than their maranda rights and the guarantee of "no cruel or unusual punishment"... and their day in court. I would even be so kind as to allow "if you cannot afford, or so choose, an attorney can be appointed for you". Free Market requires risk, not government handouts.