I come from what would be considered a lower middle class background. My parents bought what they could afford. They never over-extended themselves. I worked summers through high school and college and went to a local public college. I worked 16 hours a week as a lab aide to help pay for tuition. When we bought our home, we put down 20% and bought something that we could afford-not a McMansion. . Now it seems there is this chorus, primarily from the left (OWS) etc, telling us that the government should pay for education (cancel all student loans), all medical care and that those that put $0 down on a mortgage for a home that they could in no way afford should be bailed out by the government. Where has personal responsibility gone? What about all those that are paying back student loans? What about those that have under water mortgages, but still continue to make payments? It seems to me that we have an administration in power that would much rather have us succomb to government dependence, than continue as the great nation that we once were.
Posted by Labrat64

I At least they're paying back what they owe and not trying to stick it to someone else  (namely us taxpayers). Besides, what's wrong with paying for your debts with money you earn? n Response to Re: The Nanny State and Personal Responsibility :
Posted by Labrat64

In Response to Re: The Nanny State and Personal Responsibility : The GOVT has to be the answer....if you think this recession is bad----.who bailed  Wall Street out just recently to avert another 1929 DEPRESSION  if it wasn't the GOVT.     Because of the recent recession, tax collections have fallen to their lowest level as a share of the economy in 60 years.   40% of our nation's workers are service-oriented employees and about time they get $20 an hour so they can be more self-reliant. But the republicans won't even raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour cause it will take more money out of THEIR pockets for products and services. Then people complain about paying taxes.....and when these same people need soc security some will complain about that too.              RELY ON YOURSELF ???    You must grow your own food then....never rely on others at all .  The days of the prairie, of the frontier, of brave pioneers living isolated against overwhelming odds, are pretty much over .. growing our own food---raising our own barns.... .We have become very much interdependent over the past 100 years, and we cannot live in isolation anymore. We will fail collectively, or succeed collectively. You rely on your fellow man for your needs ....then he leans on you for his needs too ...that's the way it will only work. We are in this together. We contribute to society if we can and should do what we can for ourselves but there are limitations.   When conservatives want "everyone to rely on themselves"...then they must first seek means or ways for society to actually be able to accomplish that. The top 400 earners in the U.S. paid an average tax rate of 18 percent , according to a Bloomberg TV report. And though that's a far lower rate than the 26.5 percent that many families making less than $100,000 pay annually in taxes, some of America's super-rich have been able to whittle their tax bill down even more, paying a tax rate as low as one percent, according to Bloomberg. But billionaires aren't the only ones that use loopholes to pay lower taxes. Thirty of America's most profitable corporations used rules like the "active financing exception" -- allowing corporations to sidestep paying taxes on overseas profits if they were derived by "actively financing" some activity or deal -- to pay less than zero in income taxes , according to a recent report from the Center for Tax Justice.   
Posted by JANMB