Would you support a Generous Dole?

[Ban my account ffs!]

I could support it, if targeted at the unemployed poor and the working poor.  And I would want to see the details fleshed out.

This, pretty much.  It should be used solely to help them make ends meet and help out with the bare necessities.  I would also want to see how they are currently allocating what they have...if you live in poverty but still have the premium cable package and high-speed internet, there's clearly something wrong here.

I suppose you fully support the idea that the government also has the right to dictate exactly what corporations that receive any government money spend their money on...

Or do corporate execs deserve the freedom to spend government dollars as they please while the poor slogs get dialup and network TV?

[Ban my account ffs!]

No, because while it makes the lives of the poor easier, but it doesn't do anything to decrease poverty, and is thus ignoring the root of the problem.

I wouldn't mind also having programs to create jobs, but given that the circumstances are difficult for many poor people, it is still desirable to them to be supported when/if they can't support themselves.

I can see unemployment insurance and disability benefits and such, but generally, if one is of able body and mind, receiving government money won't solve the issue. Education is key, and not just academic. After all, a lot of poor people never learned to responsibly manage money.

Managing money is harder when you don't have much to manage in the first place.  Education is key... but chronic unemployment thanks to market trends outside of your control should not be punished.  If our economy is such that we have 10% unemployment and can't go any lower.. then the working 90% will just have to pay for those other 10%... you can't educate yourself into a job anymore... most likely.. you can educate yourself into starting a business that will eventually fail.. but at least you'll have the loans to live off of while you try it.  Otherwise for most young people today it's retail or debt collecting that are the only places of opportunity.

[Ban my account ffs!]

No (sane)

Instead, I propose we reinforce the values that first carved this great country out of a wilderness.  Among them...

* Self-reliance
* Hard work
* Personal restraint and discipline
* A sense of responsibility

You know the old saying, Opebo.  Give a man a fish and he eats for a day.  Teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime.  (Or, he starves...and he deserves to starve, if he is too lazy and self-absorbed to work.)

I believe in self-reliance and individualism too, but you can't be truly individual if you can't get a job.

KTC would probably say that failing to get a job is your fault or my fault.  If we were just willing to work for a dollar an hour, we would eventually climb the ladder of success.

LOL -- I dunno if he'd really go that far, but I have heard people like Hannity and Limbaugh say exactly that in their arguments against the minimum wage.

Michele Bachmann has suggested that new employees should actually pay the employer to begin with because they're new and they could break things and such.