Friday, May 18, 2012

Only in the United States of America

In one of Johan Goldberg's recent books, "The Tyranny of Cliches", he quotes Democrat Charles Rangel in a sarcastic comment to some Republicans in reference to the growing number of people on welfare, "What do you want them to do? Eat cake?"

In today's WSJ there is a column wittten by Warren Kozak, an author, describing a recent trip he made to a large chain grocery in his neighborhood, a higher priced store that he doesn't often visit, 

I quote Mr. Kozak, "Recently I ran into this higher priced store to pick up two or three items that were not worth the savings of driving to  a lower priced grocer. I chose to stand behind a woman with one item in her cart. It was one of those large ice cream cakes. When the checkout person said, 'Forty one dollars', I wasn't the only one who blanched. The young boy with the shopper, repeated, "Forty one dollars'?t  The mother ignored the question and took out her benefits card (food stamps), swiped it through the machine, and they were off.

I stood there wondering if the young boy takes away a lesson from this transaction. Does he grow up with the faintest understanding of delayed gratification-that you have to EARN your money before spending it on a $41 cream cake? I wondered as to how this nation arrived at this point? No one wants a child to go hungry, but...........?"

Only in this country??

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