Keith Devens .com

Let's turn off the welfare state completely on Feb. 28th.

After that, we can try to tackle the rest of the stupidity.

I read a book review of The Men Who Stare At Goats in Skeptic and have subsequently lost all confidence in the US government. I want the GAO to introduce line items for "pseudoscience" and "charlatanism".

Let's turn off the welfare state completely on Feb. 28th.

You mean social services, or purely the welfare state? Cutting out the welfare state completely, we lose Medicare & Medicaid, which support the elderly and destitute, and those uninsured who end up in hospital emergency rooms. Then we lose Social Security benefits. Maybe you don't have parents or grandparents who rely on these programs, you'd be surprised how many people count on these.

Perhaps by "welfare state", you're referring to the mythical masses of lazy, unemployed freeloaders who live off the government. IIRC, studies have shown that maybe 3% of the annual budget goes to foodstamps and similar types of "handouts".

Maybe you're just kidding about that comment, and maybe Keith will make an appeal for compassion and moderation. Either of these outcomes would be better than advocating sticking it to the elderly, the sick, the struggling & less-fortunate, and yes, in some cases, the freeloaders.

Happy New Year.

We could make a much bigger dent in the deficit if we cut corporate welfare and the largest handout of them all: interest paid on the debt. If you are rich enough to buy T-bills, you too can profit from fiscal irresponsibility by sitting back and collecting interest - Tax-Free!