PrintVictor Davis Hanson, doing his best to rebut the slur that conservatives are heartless:
Concerning the news that there is no longer any stigma attached to food stamps, and that one in eight Americans is on the "nutritional aid" program: One would think that if real need explained increased usage, "Black Friday" would have been a bust. But perhaps the opposite occurred, and Thanksgiving holiday sales were good (as I can attest from witnessing a stampede at the Selma Wal-Mart). One then cannot quite believe that one in eight Americans did not go on the annual shopping spree.
Where to begin? For starters, there is Hanson's obvious regret that food stamps no longer have a stigma attached to them. Then there is his claim about Black Friday, which is not only false, but supported with embarassing anecdotal evidence (Hanson, a man of the people, shops at the Selma Wal-Mart, natch). The entire post, which includes his thoughts on illegal immigrants, is here.
COMMENTS (7)
It is inexplicable that National Review does not have a comment section.
Please turn off that moronic spam filter. Completing the CAPTCHA everytime I want to post is getting frustrating.
It is inexplicable that National Review does not have a comment section.
Please turn off that moronic spam filter. Completing the CAPTCHA everytime I want to post is getting frustrating.
I love his total nonsequiter on his thoughts on immigration chock full of distortions: This is similar to the illegal-immigration/health-care debate. Most estimates (which are low, I think) suggest that there are around 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States, and that $40-50 billion in remittances is sent back annually to Latin America and Mexico, much of it apparently remitted by illegal aliens. Which means that if the average illegal-immigrant family spent its remittance money on health care, it would probably be able to afford a comprehensive HMO plan.
Notice the implication that the only money sent back is by illegal immigrants, when the actual total figure for all of l ... view full comment
I love his total nonsequiter on his thoughts on immigration chock full of distortions: This is similar to the illegal-immigration/health-care debate. Most estimates (which are low, I think) suggest that there are around 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States, and that $40-50 billion in remittances is sent back annually to Latin America and Mexico, much of it apparently remitted by illegal aliens. Which means that if the average illegal-immigrant family spent its remittance money on health care, it would probably be able to afford a comprehensive HMO plan.
Notice the implication that the only money sent back is by illegal immigrants, when the actual total figure for all of latin America is $70 billion, the majority of which is done by US legal residents. Remittances to Cuba is around $1 billion, so I suppose Hanson will come out against that. If you were to divide the total hispanic population against remittances, it comes out to a mere $1,500 a person. Yes, I know that not every hispanic sends money to Latin America, but the notion it is only the uninsured illegal immigrant who does is frankly insane. Most hispanics have Health insurance and screw Hanson for suggesting they have no right to send their hard earned money back to family.
By the way, I send money I make in Mexico to the U.S. I have full health insurance coverage where I work, and in fact there are a great deal of remittances that go the other way. It is called Capitalism Hanson you dumb a-hole.
I love the assholes ending: One could conclude that, in this day and age, when the government provides an entitlement, at least two things inevitably follow: (1) recipients calculate the subsidy into a budget, and then use the resulting freed-up cash for other discretionary expenditures; (2) government and the media provide the requisite narrative of Joad-like, Depression-era need to justify continuing and then expanding the program.
Yes, we should abolish public schooling, medicare, social security, etc. because people who partake of these things happen to use money that would otherwise impoverish them to use in the greater economy, creating a multplying effect as businesses expand to meet that need. The same is true for roads, public utilities, etc. I think I learned this in Economics 101. I guess Hanson had his head up the ass of some Hoplite and missed that class.
Honest to God, the fact that anyone pays this jackass for his writings strikes me as an unnecessary entitlement.
Most shocking is that VDH, who misses no opportunity to point out that he is an actual landed farmer upon whose agrarian shoulders rests the entire edifice of civilization, seems not to know that food stamps are at heart a farm subsidy, not social welfare.
Also, people on food stamps still buy things at stores like Wal-Mart. Especially when necessaries go on deep discount, as many childrens' items did on Black Friday. Several churches in my area organized Black Friday Wal-Mart raids specifically to buy kids' clothes, coats, shoes, school supplies, and sporting goods at rock-bottom prices precisely because demand for family assistance has tripled since late 2007.
Most shocking is that VDH, who misses no opportunity to point out that he is an actual landed farmer upon whose agrarian shoulders rests the entire edifice of civilization, seems not to know that food stamps are at heart a farm subsidy, not social welfare.
Also, people on food stamps still buy things at stores like Wal-Mart. Especially when necessaries go on deep discount, as many childrens' items did on Black Friday. Several churches in my area organized Black Friday Wal-Mart raids specifically to buy kids' clothes, coats, shoes, school supplies, and sporting goods at rock-bottom prices precisely because demand for family assistance has tripled since late 2007.
"Victor Davis Hanson's thoughts on illegal immigrants" actually sits near the top if my things-I-don't-give-a-shit-about list. It's just below "Jon Gosselin's love life" and just above "Victor Davis Hanson's thoughts on anything else."
"Victor Davis Hanson's thoughts on illegal immigrants" actually sits near the top if my things-I-don't-give-a-shit-about list. It's just below "Jon Gosselin's love life" and just above "Victor Davis Hanson's thoughts on anything else."
Well-said, Blackton. Many anti-immigrant pundits and activists engage in this kind of distortion, and I wonder why. I would like to think that people can sincerely disagree about immigration policy, but it is difficult to credit Hanson and his ilk with sincerity of belief when they resort to such distortions.
Well-said, Blackton. Many anti-immigrant pundits and activists engage in this kind of distortion, and I wonder why. I would like to think that people can sincerely disagree about immigration policy, but it is difficult to credit Hanson and his ilk with sincerity of belief when they resort to such distortions.
For once the Virginia natterer makes a solid point. Food stamps are a farm subsidy program, as well as a food aid program. Victor Davis Hanson is a piece of work. I don't know what happened to him, 9/11, I guess, but in the book that he co-wrote Who Killed Homer?, Davis and John Heath write that neither one of them has ever voted Republican (this as of 2001, when the book was published). I listened to a National Review conference call earlier this fall and Hanson was one of the two panelists discussing the issues of the day. He went on about Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain. Everything is 1938 Munich to the neoconservatives and certain slab of the conservative movement, i.e., the hard ... view full comment
For once the Virginia natterer makes a solid point. Food stamps are a farm subsidy program, as well as a food aid program. Victor Davis Hanson is a piece of work. I don't know what happened to him, 9/11, I guess, but in the book that he co-wrote Who Killed Homer?, Davis and John Heath write that neither one of them has ever voted Republican (this as of 2001, when the book was published). I listened to a National Review conference call earlier this fall and Hanson was one of the two panelists discussing the issues of the day. He went on about Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain. Everything is 1938 Munich to the neoconservatives and certain slab of the conservative movement, i.e., the hard-line foreign policy wing of conservatism. On health care, he mentioned that he has two children, both in their 20's, who have not purchased health insurance. He said that they have both gambled and so far have beat the odds. But if one or the other or both should suddenly fall seriously ill, it will be us, the taxpayers, who pay. This is the opposite of the fiscal conservatism that so many conservatives profess to adhere to. Jonathan Chait is right, Davis Hanson is a real loon. I don't even know why I listened in on the conference call. My long-time friend, Tom, whom I met when I took classes from him in philosophy and logic and ethics and religion in the 70's, says that I am a masochist. So I may be.
Didn't Hansen win, just recently, the Palin Award for the Most Vacuous Comment Every
Week?
On the one hand, I think this idiocy, to the extent that it has any influence on sentient beings, should be replied to; on the other, the very act of replying to this nonsense kills active neurons. It's a no-win situation.
Incidentally, am in DC this week. Anyone around for a beer end of the week?
And I am not spam.
Didn't Hansen win, just recently, the Palin Award for the Most Vacuous Comment Every
Week?
On the one hand, I think this idiocy, to the extent that it has any influence on sentient beings, should be replied to; on the other, the very act of replying to this nonsense kills active neurons. It's a no-win situation.
Incidentally, am in DC this week. Anyone around for a beer end of the week?
And I am not spam.