First of all, and Janie will confirm this, there isn't any welfare program for lazy people... Might of fact, there is now a cutoff date on anyone recieving welfare.... No one can just wake up one morning and say to themselves "Hey, work sucks... I think I'll just go down to the wlefare department and get me a check"...

And, contrary to the opinions of many folks who rerally don't know much about welfare programs in general, there has never been such a program...

And, yo Dickey...

Yes, you have it... I do expect the government to subsidize my business... They subsideize the Halliburtons and the Exxons and big-agriculture so why shouldn't I expect some help too...

Here is the ***reality***... I know that you don't always do well with reality but here's the real deal... I build houses the old fashion way... One stick at a time and I have two guys who work with me... Though I am pushing 60 years old I do everything that I ask of my youngin's... I have to borrow the money to build a house... I have to borrow thwe money to buy the land... I pay my guys a little over $10 an hour which is $2 an hour over what other coptractors pay folks in this very poor county... It take me between a year and a year and half to finish a house 'cause the 3 of us purdy much do everything except the excavation and heat and air... At the end of the deal I make about $50,000 gross on a house and I'm the one carrying ***all*** the risk... If a wind comes up when we've just set a 12/12 roof with 18 foot long 2X12 rafters and takes it out before I can get the roof racked then it's my loss...

This is reality... There are millions of folks like me in this country who are providing jobs for folks but not making enough to be able to afford health insurance... As it turns out I can barely pay for my own health insurance.... Yeah, okay, I do have a couple real estate investment which are my 401(K) but there isn't enough in there for me to be able to take out from it to throw into 401(k)s for my guys....

So, yeah, I do expect a little help for my workers... I'm just one on millions of small businessmen who don't have the $$$ to buy into the corrupt system so that I can get back the big $$$$ from the feds...

And, yeah, considering the cost of living, I do consider both my workers as folks who are living close to poverty...

What is my choice??? Quit and let them go back to making $8 an hour ot do the best I can for them while being very angry that my country's governemnt would rather give me tax dollars to rich folks than my workers... They don't get jack... LIke zip from the federal governemnt... I don't get jack... Like zip from the federal governmnet...

Wish I could say the same for the Halliburtons... Then ther might be a few taters left to help my workers...

And if any sumabitch call me or my workers lazy I'll hunt yer chickensh*t self down and put a whup on you that you'll so embarrassed to have put on yu by a skinny ol' hillbilly that you'll have to wear a bag over yer danged head to go home at night... We ain't lazy... We'll outwork any 24/7 cyber-crybabies any day of the week...

But my guy are living in poverty and that ain't ***my*** fault... And it ain't their's either...

This is another aspect of poverty that folks here maybe ain't considered... But is reality that there are more adults living in poverty who work than those who don't...

Bobert