Wampum

No. 22

There can be no doubt that poverty is a complex, intractable problem for a large segment of our society. The Washington Post reports:

The nation's poverty rate rose to 12.7 percent of the population last year, the fourth consecutive annual increase, the Census Bureau said Tuesday…Overall, there were 37 million people living in poverty, up 1.1 million people from 2003.

The reasons so many people are in, and remain in, poverty are many, interrelated, and not easily addressed. Nonetheless, if one asks many conservatives for the most important reasons for poverty, it will not be long before lack of work ethic and bad decision making are cited.

Those are difficult problems to address but there seems to be at least one GOP approved method to improve decision-making.

When asked about his five week long August vacation (now cut short by a couple of days due to the hurricane), President Bush noted that he needed some time away from the job. USA Today reports:

Bush is not unmindful of the criticism. But he says he needs some time off from the job.

"I think the people want the president to be in a position to make good, crisp decisions and to stay healthy," Bush said…

So, one way to improve decision-making is to take five week vacations. Why didn’t the poor think of that?

Of course, if the poor did take five week vacations in order to improve their decision-making, conservatives would argue that the poor do not work hard enough. If they work hard enough, they do not get the benefit of being healthy and making “good, crisp, decisions.”

Which catch is that? No. 22.

Posted by Dwight Meredith at August 30, 2005 03:00 PM