Reducing Poverty by Revitalizing Marriage: Advice for Obama

[whoo689]

Marriage doesn't mean a DAMN THING with regards to poverty if the place you live in has low opportunity, not many high-paying jobs, poor educational system, and so on.

[mykole84]

the only way the can promote marriage is to drop the divorce laws. give men more reproductive rights as in having a choice in abortion. also stop alimony for women who dont wanna stay in the marriage. stop letting women give other women advice on men. marriage is good but with the laws cohabitation is more pratical economically. no one wants to lose half.

[YodatheJedi12]

Video: Seriously, Obama? Good luck getting him to follow your vision!

Alas, I think a lot of politicians realise that marriage and children growing up in secure homes is important for our future, but it would be unpopular to try to accomplish it.

[whoo689]

Sad in a pathetic way, of course, because your future really is in your hands. With all the gov't programs and assistance out there, there's really no excuse for staying in those shitty jobs and trying to raise a family off of 7 dollars an hour. It's just not gonna happen. And all the other gov't programs just reinforce that irresponsibility. I mean, why the hell should I have to pay for anyone's daycare? Pay for your own! Or get a babysitter, for christ sakes. That's how it was before.

[whoo689]

How about we end the minimum wage, or at least freeze it at the current level? Then we won't have to keep upping it every 5 or 10 years when Democrats and liberals bitch about how there's NO other way to lift people out of poverty than that. Then we'll stop enabling these folks to be dependent on gov't for their livelihoods, and they can go back to school or get a better job or something.

I mean, if you're in your 30s or 40s and still working a min. wage job, that's kind of sad.

[whoo689]

If we keep raising the min. wage 1-2 dollars every 5 or 10 years, pretty soon we'll have people working at McDonald's making 20 bucks an hour! Is flipping burgers worth that much? I don't think so!

[combatvetdoc]

WE THE PEOPLE are NO LONGER represented by our so called "leaders" , 85% say NO to bailouts, NO to illegal aliens and amnesty, SECURE our borders NOW, Drill NOW, and yet our morons in washington do what ever the frick they want AGAINST the will of the people! A new American revolution or at the least a tax revolt is needed to restore government OF THE PEOPLE AND BY THE PEOPLE! REELECT NO ONE dem or repub!

[13otany13ay]

Buahahaha... that is the most hillarious I have ever heard. Marriage helps against poverty? I really would like to know how that works. I guess masturbation is the cause for the broken health care system and being single causes hurricanes.

[whoo689]

Countless studies vindicate this claim. I don't know what world you're living or what drugs you're taking, but you should look them up. This claim really is nothing new or surprising, except to extreme welfare liberals like yourself who actually believe the welfare state and gov't dependency with entitlements galore will solve poverty. It never does. All it is is a bandaid for poverty, not a cure.

[13otany13ay]

whoo689, you and all these "studies" oversimplify the situation and confuse cause and effect. If failed marriage where to produce poverty, then Hollywood where a poorhouse.

The economical situation of a person has effects on the whole familly and vice versa. But if you loose your job, you lose your job, no matter wether you are married, single or gay.

Studies attempting to proove marriage would protect one from poverty are like studies proclaiming a correlation between rainy days and suicide.

[phonixwk79]

Stop government support for illegal anchor babies

[unodepoalli]

I have a better idea.....end welfare

[bertly71]

It is hard growing up in a single parent family. Idealy it should be a complete family unit of a Mother and Father. Unfortunately we live in a less than ideal world and need to make the best of our situations. We need not sit back and wring our hands and look to the government to help us. Government help should be a last resort because it can cause dependency and victimology.

[billingrateS]

Amen.

[davidmesaaz]

Lets add up all of the government help. High minimum wages reduce the number of jobs. Government monopoly of schools given them substandard education Regulations environmental protections increase the cost of basic necessities. Public housing are centers of crime and urban blight. Taxes are higher for married couples. Welfare programs that have a perverse incentives, such as if the poor get a job their income is subtracted. If high taxes help the middle class why did they leave in the late 1960

[sauerkreatur]

what a BS: as if most single mother choose to be alone and POOR - maybe these kids have a worse records because the are - by average - poorer (because its realy hard to make a living and raising a child alone - it is even harder to get a job then) SO instead of this nonsense-statement - why do you not ask the economy to hire single mother and offer them the working conditions that enable them to take better care of their children - THAT would be a solution instead of the conserv. propaganda

[carguymitch]

You are lost my friend. If marriage is emphasized and encouraged, the number of single-working moms will eventually decrease and single-mother issues will follow.

Call it conservative propaganda if you desire but the Heritage Foundation is right on the money here. Study after study backs up the benefits of marriage to any society. Regardless of your political/religious ideologies, the truth is that marriage makes for a more stable society.

I challenge you to provide any contradictory data.

[thoth81]

"Study after study."

Name these studies, or provide links to them.

"I challenge you to provide any contradictory data."

You haven't provided any.

The funny thing is, is that almost as a rule single-parent homes equate to lower incomes as sauerkreatur points out. So any perceived "benefits of marriage to society" in a study can be construed as due to improvements in socioeconomic status, seconded by governmental enforcement of legally binding obligations and agreements.

[carguymitch]

Many of these studies I identify are available through the Heritage Foundation and the American Family Association.

Marriage as a benefit to society provides a ripple effect. I agree that it usually leads to improved socioeconomic status and decreased crime- especially among adolescents.

[thoth81]

I just wanted to clarify that I am in agreement with you in regards to a dual-parent household's potential in being beneficial to children and their development. However, I do not agree with you that it is the job of the government to interfere even more in the private lives of its citizens. This is already occurring too much here in the US. The problem as well as the remedy is most likely cultural in manner, not political.

[carguymitch]

Agreed- government imposing their will on citizens is never a good thing. I have never believed the contrary.

On a related note, I believe the government could increase tax advantages for married (Man and Woman only!) people and for those with children. Beyond that, leave it alone.

[thoth81]

I disagree with you here. I think there should be no tax advantages given, single or married, that is a form of social engineering and our government should not be in the business of subsidizing marriage (as if divorce rates aren't high enough already, wait until such a plan as yours was implemented). We need to dispel this nanny-state mentality. If you want to get married or have children, deal with the consequences of your decisions. Stop expecting the gov't to owe you something

(cont.)

[thoth81]

We need to gut welfare and Social Security. Plan ahead and save for your own retirement. We only need the minimal safety net in place (ie: unemployment, disability), every other form of welfare which enables chronic unemployment should be abolished. As I stated before, the government cannot remedy this problem and shouldn't even try. You however, seem to think that the government should do things other than its purpose...which is to GOVERN! Nothing more, nothing less.

[iluan666]

Wait a minute.... Giving tax advantages to those with children and using state power against homosexality?

Those were extacly Hitler´s, Pinochet´s and Franco´s policyes on Mariadge and family-wellfare.

[thoth81]

Good point. It amuses me when those who label themselves "conservative" (and thus for smaller gov't) have no qualms about using gov't to enforce their personal beliefs on others - in this case, having the gov't "encourage traditional marriage". Come on conservatives, stay consistent. Or you could vote libertarian and be rid of your cognitive dissonance ;-)

[nba2020]

amen