Corporate America In Need Of Governement Assistance

August 26, 1996...President Bill Clinton signed the "Welfare Reform Bill", that ended a guarantee on federal aide. The measure imposed a five year limit on benefits, which required individuals that were able to work to find employment. President Clinton's idea was to overhaul the federal welfare system as we knew it. Many titles were given to individuals that were receiving welfare in the past, such as "Welfare Queens ". You also had those individuals that would constantly make racial or insensitive comments anytime they saw or heard anything that related to welfare and who it affected. Does this sound familiar, " I don't like it that my tax paying dollars are taking care of someone that is sitting at home, having all of these children and won't work. "Where are the fathers"? "If I can get out and work, so can they"! Well, guess what......while everyone is watching the " little man", corporations have been receiving government assistance for just as long as these welfare recipients. Under President Clinton's "Welfare Reform Bill", many former welfare recipients were looking for employment and many of these people had a hard time trying to find something that would give them hope. Back then $7.00 an hour on a job was great for those individuals, they accepted it and tried to hold their head up. Have you ever actually spoken with someone that was caught up in the welfare system. I knew of an older married couple and their two children in the early 1980's that was spending over $400.00 a month to live in the housing projects. I asked one day, why were they paying so much for rent , they told me the reason being was that both of their incomes equated to them paying higher rent. Then my next question was, "Why don't you'll try to move into an apartment?" They stated,"Because we don't make enough to qualify for an apartment". All I could do was shake my head in disbelief. In the meantime companies have been receiving government grants and all types of federal funding. This corporate bailout isn't anything new. Think about it, even the private educational institutions receive some type of federal assistance, many major companies that move into a city or state receive some type of "stimulus package". Companies are given incentives all the time. It appears that some of these companies have their hands out too! Why do you think corporate america have lobbyists? On a positive note, if it wasn't for a lot of these companies, a lot of people would not be employed. Corporate America has been great for millions of Americans. September 2008, President Bush signed a bill to release $350 billion (TARP) to help failing companies. I agree, if we had not tried to help these companies, more people would have been standing in the unemployment line. Just the same way that many individuals abused the welfare system, their has also been many companies that have abused not only the tax payers dollars, but also the shareholders and employees of those companies. When Enron failed, we should have been taking a closer look at how companies were being managed or mismanaged. Just like many individuals had to get out and be responsible under President Clinton's " Welfare Reform Bill". Maybe our government should pass the "Corporate Welfare Reform Bill" !