Does anyone besides me have a problem with use of the term "entitlement?"
I and millions of other (cough, cough) seniors like me, are "entitled" to Social Security because we paid into it (in my case, for about 46 years). It was an investment program - granted, a poor one at best. I could have made a lot more money had I been permitted to invest my own money as I saw fit.
Unfortunately, the government saw fit to confiscate my earnings and invest them as it saw fit (but that's a discussion for another day).
Welfare is a charity program, which I would argue should be the function of churches, synagogues, charitable organizations and individuals.
Welfare is not an "entitlement" because recipients are not "entitled" to be handed the earnings of others.
Please let me be clear that I have no problem with truly needy individuals and families being provided necessary sustenance (not to include free cellphones or 70-inch flat screen TVs). A limited state government "safety net" would be appropriate in some of these cases. But the "able-bodied" should be required to work for their welfare.
I am a physical therapist (retired) and once visited a home care patient with a fractured hip who "hawked" his walker at a pawn shop to buy "a couple cases of beer" for himself and the two other generations of deadbeat family members living with him "because we ran out of money before our checks came in" (referring to Social Security and welfare checks). Two full-size trash cans outside their back door were filled to overflowing with empty beer cans.
The prosecution rests.
Dean Greg Marcaurelle
Altoona
