On 12 Jun 2012
in
The wealth distribution resembles the intelligence distribution.,
Wacking Hut said:
Netreality says
Gosh, this argument is so Ayn Rand.
What about the 50% of kids born out of wedlock, raised by single mothers in our country? Immigrants that can't get a legal job? Disabled or handicapped that can't hold a job without a massive support system?
Families with 2 earners can usually weather the storm and find ways to save. Single parents really can't, has nothing to do with intelligence. Try keeping a job when you're the only one that can stay home when your child is sick.
I agree intelligence is not what it takes. I think discipline is a better word.
Your counterexamples are not so good.
1) Having children is not a right. If you can't afford children then you should forgo them. If through some unfortunate circumstance a mother finds herself single whether through the death of her husband or her ex shirking his duties then I have sympathy. But there are a lot of single mothers who didn't think things through before they got pregnant. It is not society's responsibility to pick up the tab when people are irresponsible with their sex organs.
2) If you are an illegal immigrant then you have fewer legal rights than a citizen. That's how it has always worked. You are not entitled to a job in a country whose laws you have broken.
3) Disabled people who are willing but otherwise unable to work is a tricky issue. For one their condition is probably not their fault so they can't be the only one held responsible for supporting themselves. However if they are unfit for work then they should not work - I would rather they received some sort of stipend from the government. However there is one flaw in this argument, mainly that it's hard to fake being a single mom and doesn't make a lot of sense, and it doesn't make sense to fake being an illegal immigrant, but it's not so hard to fake disability and collect SSDI. Why did the number of people collecting SSDI increase by 22% since 2007? Was the recession a traumatic event that disabled people? If the recession had not occurred would the increase have been the same?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-03/disabled-americans-shrink-size-of-u-s-labor-force.html
