Handout Nation

I have never been a member of NOW (National Organization for Women), the largest organization of feminist activists in the United States.[1] Nor did I ever champion the Women’s Liberation Movement in the sixties and seventies when I was young and starting a career. I guess that I have always embraced people’s rights instead. After [...]

I work in a job where I get to deal one on one with people. It gives me a great perspective on where our nation’s thinking is today. From my unique position I have come to the realization that people have changed dramatically since I first started my customer-oriented job. One particular situation occurred the [...]

  Someone recently asked me if I knew how many people in America are on food stamps, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).  I had no clue so I went to the internet to find out…the numbers are stunning and frightening. According to the Wall Street Journal, nearly 15% of the U.S. population relied on [...]

Perhaps it is the result of being a first-born child, but I’ve always considered myself to be fairly independent. I like making my own decisions. I always have. That’s what is so great about this country – freedom of choice. But lately I’ve begun to wonder if some of our choices, and ultimately our freedoms, [...]

There are essentially two ways the federal government spends our money  — Mandatory spending and Discretionary spending. Think in terms of a business.  In every business there are fixed expenses (e.g. building lease) and variable expenses (e.g. cost of goods).  Consider the government’s fixed expenses “mandatory” and the variable expenses “discretionary.” Mandatory programs are payments [...]

The complexity of our times simply means that everything that happens around us is somehow related to what happens, or will happen, to ourselves. I would like to share with you my take on how Greece may have come to the point of no return. Describing the political atmosphere at the birthplace of democracy is [...]

One of the negative aspects of aging is a sense of loss – loss of muscle tone, loss of memory, loss of hearing, etc. So, I thought that I hadn’t heard the news anchor correctly when he talked about a government program that gave away free cell phones – not only one, but sometimes several. [...]

“A problem ignored is a disaster invited.” This was a quote I saw on a bulletin board in a building where I once worked. Ironically, it was there during a time when management was refusing to address an escalating problem looming under their noses. The facts and issues had been repeatedly presented to them by [...]

While we were bombarded daily with the exploits of Occupy Wall Street, I was reminded of a story I heard recently. The story went something like this: A young woman went to college and became convinced that her father should give away most of his hard-earned money to people who had much less. Her father [...]

“You don’t need prison to lose your freedom.” These were the words I heard as I was channel surfing on my radio, and they caused me to stop in my tracks. Regardless of what the topic for the show was that day, I knew this statement was absolutely true. I’ve seen it personally with my [...]