Entitlement(s): Attitude and policy

This is the first of three posts about entitlement:
Today – “Entitlement(s): Attitude and policy”
07/19 – “How I became homeless”
07/26 – “When needs are met”

Let’s get rid of (the term) entitlements

“In 2012, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid alone represented 44 percent of spending; all entitlement programs were 63 percent. But it’s hard to control entitlement programs because their constituencies are so large.”

It makes sense to me that, as Samuelson proposes, we should discard the term “entitlements” as naming portions of the federal budget that are untouchable. No program should be sacrosanct.
Continue reading Entitlement(s): Attitude and policy

Give from abundance

I normally only publish on Mondays (comments on the news), Wednesdays (recycling old posts)* and Saturdays (substantial new pieces).  A couple things happened this morning that seem to me urgent enough to warrant an off-schedule post.

I’d invite e-mail subscribers to hold on to their e-mail copy of this post, and will explain why.

Bookmarks:
Give from abundance  •  Out on a limb

Continue reading Give from abundance

Attitude …

… can make a hard situation easy, or make an easy situation hard.

To enter the shelter, you walk across this parking lot to an iron gate, and then down these steps to the “smoke pit,” an 8 x 20′ area with benches where we sit until they call us in, in groups of six, to register for this night. One does this every day.

Continue reading Attitude …

A gun control hypocrite, and other news

Bookmarks:
A gun control hypocrite  •  “Enhanced interrogation”  •  Bail reform measure moves forward  •  Cleaning up McDonald’s  •  Fallen heroes of the Reagan Revolution  •  Early detection of Alzheimer’s  •  Suave coconut body wash

Continue reading A gun control hypocrite, and other news