Comments on: Government Against the Poor

By: Oil Crash

Oil Crash — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 02:48:43 +0000

I believe that Hubberts peak is accurate and that we are now past the point of peak oil. I believe many of the current events have to do with this fact and it won’t be long before the main stream media and population wake up and understand what is going on. For me and my family, we are preparing for the life after the crash.

By: Toban Wiebe

Toban Wiebe — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 17:02:35 +0000

Ever consider that government is the cause of such inequality? There’s a strong correlation between between free markets and income equality. The most unequal incomes are in the African socialist countries.

By: bob

bob — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 07:53:13 +0000

I agree with the Libertarian that government programs do not meet the needs of our citizens is on the right path, but aiming at the wrong target. Big Government is not the problem. We are among 80% of our neighbors that have to fight over 38.6% of the income and 7% of the financial wealth in our country. Without a strong government to regulate the greed of a small number of our neighbors that own 93% of the wealth we would be slave labor. Our fight is with the greedy corporations and the super rich, not big government.

By: Nitin

Nitin — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:14:53 +0000

Cannot agree more.

By: Aahz

Aahz — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:33:17 +0000

Amazingly well done! I'm so glad I found your little corner of the internet, Michael! In fact, I've been struggling for a while to write a similar article on government and poverty for my Ask An Anarchist series, but couldn't get the words down right. Now you've done it for me. Thanx again and I'm looking forward to more!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 04:39:08 +0000

Great post. I used to be a progressive/state socialist, but I recently became an anarchist. Learning about all the ways that government harms the poor is what really helped to convince me that anarchy is the way to go.

Are you new to blogging or is this just a new blog? I’m pretty new to the anarchist blogging scene? Either way, keep up the good work.

By: Michael Wiebe

Michael Wiebe — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 17:56:40 +0000

I agree that abolishing welfare before other government programs might lead to temporary bad consequences. But since the minimum wage, rent control, government money, etc. all directly harm the poor, the abolition of these things would only have good consequences.

I suppose it depends on how you expect the transition to take place. I think a gradual shrinking of government through the political process is unrealistic. Instead, I like the idea of secession at the county level, which Hoppe also endorses. So if we’re talking about the secession of one county, I think transitional issues (at least regarding poverty) are negligible.

By: P.M.Lawrence

P.M.Lawrence — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 12:07:36 +0000

Unfortunately, the article doesn’t go into transitional issues. Simply stopping those genuinely harmful things might be like a diver who has been too deep too long just surfacing.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 05:10:11 +0000

Michael,

These was an extremely well developed post about how government harms the poor – great job.

Merry Christmas!

By: Stephan

Stephan — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 03:53:01 +0000

Excellent post! I like your blog