>Reading this reminds me that when Solomon started college, I was aggravated that because we'd lived within our means, and driven our cars for years, and not owned vacation homes or boats or planes, he wasn't eligible for any aid, while the kids of other people we knew who'd bought new cars every two years, and so forth, were getting aid. It didn't take me long, though, to realize that my kid would graduate debt-free, while those other kids would spend years paying for college.
>
>I know exactly how you feel. My father committed suicide largely because, at a time in his life when he should have been thinking about retiring, he was working his tail off because my mother had driven him into debt over his eyeballs. As a consequence, I have been debt-free my entire life. This means that I worked my way through college as a bartender - working 5 nights a week till 2:30am and getting to class at 8am. Now why should I subsidize someone else who doesn't care to live responsibly?
>
>Similarly, despite your tax burden, even if it goes up, you're living a whole lot better than the people who need help from the government.
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>And that is because I live responsibly, never got into debt and work hard. Everyone has this opportunity.
>
>The image you used earlier (the person on welfare buying T-bones and driving a BMW) is baloney.
>
>Actually, it isn't. I see this at my local grocery store the first week of every month. And I am ashamed to admit that my younger brother (who weighs 600 lbs and has never worked a day in his life because he is on disability) decided to divorce his wife because when they got married, he was making so much on social security that she was no longer able to collect welfare. Once they got divorced, she was able to start collecting her welfare checks again.
>
>but the vast majority of people living on welfare and food stamps are living at a standard well below the way you and I live.
>
>So how am I responsible for this situation ?

My message was a response to your suggestion that you should stop working and collect welfare instead. I was pointing out that your living standard would drop considerably.

Tamar