No More Lifetime Handouts For the Poor

When it comes to the epidemic of poverty in our country, many people want to help. The truth is, however, that what we ultimately wind up doing is not helping the people, but perpetuating the problem. There are so many examples one can point to that clearly demonstrate that welfare and food programs are doing nothing to solve the issue of poverty. If nothing else, all of the statistics clearly point to the fact that the problem is only getting worse, and since the inception of welfare programs instituted largely during the Great Depression era the number of people on the poverty level is substantially higher today.

Part of the problem is the way that the welfare and food programs are set up. The system does not encourage work, and for many people once you are on the dole, you never get off of it.

And it's not just government programs that can be to blame for the failure of welfare and food programs. Churches, for example, are large contributors of food to families in need. To either the government officials, or church officials, one question should be asked.

If the same person has come to my door for the past 30 years needing some help, how has my program worked to help that person?

Fixing the problem is difficult. But not because it is complex. It is difficult because many people, especially politicians, are convinced that even bringing up the issue of welfare reform is political suicide. Moreover, many Americans are simply convinced that taking anything away from the poor is cruel and inhumane.

In my opinion, keeping a person on the dole is akin to keeping an animal in captivity. Or perhaps, it can even be akin to a form of slavery. The fact is that the true potential of an individual cannot be realized when it is trapped in a system for which there is no foreseeable escape.

Welfare programs should be designed to seek to help those who truly need some help. But it should not be designed to allow individuals who have no interest in helping themselves continue to receive benefits.

Imagine, if you will, being an investor. A businessman comes to you and says he wants to expand his business. He invites you to fork over some cash to invest with him. He tells you to contribute money every single month. All the while the business does not expand. The investment dollars are only paying for the daily operating expenses of the current business. How long do you continue to invest knowing that the dollars are not improving the business? How long do you continue to invest knowing that the businessman has no intention of using the money to improve the business? And if the money keeps coming anyway, what incentive does the businessman have to do anything about improving the business?

Welfare programs can be thought of the same way. You are investing dollars into an idea that you will help the poor to get back on their feet, and get off the dole. Only the truth is that the dollars are only paying for the daily operating expenses and nothing more. There is no expansion, and the result of the dollars spent are static at best. This is largely a zero gain investment.

It needs to be clear that welfare reform should not be considered by anyone to be cruel in any way. Even churches should appreciate welfare reform. After all, it is in the Bible where it says, "Feed a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime." Yet churches have virtually no work programs, but their food programs rule the day.

So, what should be at the heart of an effective system of welfare? Education and encouragement to seek employment. And I'm not talking about higher education when it comes to that term. But rather educating people on money management, how to conduct themselves in an interview for a job, and how to write an effective résumé. Things that will have greater impact on the lives of the poor than simply handing them a few dollars and a loaf of bread.

Some of the reforms I would institute would include many things. And again, the system would be geared to helping individuals who truly need the help, while leaving behind those who have no intention of truly benefiting from the help they are being offered. It may seem cruel. But at some point it simply makes no sense to me to be an enabler simply because. In no other areas of our society do we accept this, but when it comes to poverty we do it openly.

At some point the weakling chick must be tossed from the nest to ensure the survival of the stronger chicks. 

• Welfare recipients would be required to seek work, and would be required to report the results of their job search efforts.
• Welfare recipients would be required to do a specified number of hours of community service such as keeping up parks, street cleanup, and other projects deemed beneficial to the communities in which they are receiving benefits.
• Welfare recipients would be required to attend job training sessions such as how to conduct oneself in an interview for a job, how to write a résumé, and would be educated in areas of money management, how to open a savings account, and how to balance a checking account and how to avoid credit pitfalls such as payday loans and title loans which are devastatingly destructive to poor communities.
• Welfare recipients would be required to be tested for drugs. Welfare recipients tested positive would be required to seek rehabilitation in order to maintain their benefits. Failure to pass drug tests in the future would make them ineligible for future benefits.
• Welfare benefits would not be unlimited. Benefits would be reduced on a graduating scale over time, and at some point it would be expected that the benefit of work would outweigh the value of the benefits. Benefits would also eventually expire.

Comedian and radio personality Dennis Miller once said of the system of welfare, "I don't mind helping the helpless. I mind helping the clueless, and these days there are more clueless than helpless." An effective system must be one in which productivity, responsibility, and real hope is encouraged and offered. The system as it stands today offers none of that, and therefore poverty remains an epidemic, and one that is expanding rather than contracting even though more and more dollars are spent on these programs each and every year.

Walmart's Focus Should Be On Customer Service

It seems that Walmart is making some efforts to improve employee satisfaction. Among some of the changes, say Walmart officials, employees will now be able to wear denim on the job, and can choose between blue or khaki pants. As well, music played in stores will also be changed to reflect employee preferences, and temperatures in stores, which are controlled at corporate headquarters, will be increased a couple of degrees to address concerns by employees that stores are too cold to work in.

Wages are also being slightly increased.

But one area where I think Walmart needs to double down is on customer service. In particular, it needs to man up its cash registers with cashiers, and dramatically speed up the entire checkout process. One thing I have observed nearly every time I step through a Walmart checkout lane is how slowly items are scanned by the cashiers. And interestingly enough, it seems Walmart's checkout time is the slowest of anywhere else I shop. Even the so-called "speedy" checkout is as slow as ever.

While great prices are definitely a factor that continue to influence my choice to shop at Walmart stores, more and more I find the checkout process to be wholly frustrating. And I think Walmart could fix this problem easily, and with little added cost. It would not necessarily even require additional hiring. A system could be put into place to determine if there are a set number of customers on average in any lane, that cashier trained employees could come to the front and man up a register to increase the flow of customers checking out.

In addition, Walmart could create incentives such as paying cashiers monthly bonuses for having the fastest checkout times. It would be easy enough for a computer program at the cash register to take a time when the ticket is first opened, to the time the ticket is closed.

One thing Walmart needs to be aware of is that while great prices are certainly a driving factor to their continued success as a business, at some point when the economy begins to dramatically improve, customers may be willing to pay a premium for service, and as well, there may be innovators in business out there willing to take on Walmart and use customer service as their core niche.

I don't think Walmart is going away any time soon. And I think it's great that Walmart is addressing at least some employee concerns, and do think that happier employees make for better customer experiences as a general rule. But happier customers will also be willing to spend a little more at every visit if they know they can get in, and get out in a reasonable amount of time and with less frustration overall. Even for myself, there are times when I may need only a couple of items, but will choose to shop somewhere else for them simply because I know it will take me longer to get what I need and get out of the store to get on with the rest of my day. I am certain there are other customers who make similar choices, and with that, Walmart potentially loses millions of dollars a year simply because the checkout process is not well managed.

Monster Or Coke?

For some time I have been eyeing the shares of Monster Beverage Corporation since this happens to be one of the fastest growing companies and stocks in the entire beverage industry. When you're thinking about making any investment decision when it comes to beverages—which are usually quite boring—one certainly would be wise to pay particular attention to anyone in this sector who has the ability to make some waves unlike anyone else, and certainly Monster Beverage Corporation is doing that handily.

Until now I had not been able to come to a conclusion as to exactly how I wanted to approach my interest in this company. First, I wanted to take a closer look at other alternatives, and fully decide my best in to this fast growing brand and the company that owns it. And that brought me back around to Coca-Cola's doors.

That's because Coca-Cola is and has certainly been keeping a close watch on this company as well. And despite claims of rumors as much as two years ago that Coca-Cola was not in talks to buy into Monster, those claims have come full circle—and Coca-Cola now owns nearly 17% of the company and has two board members situated there as well.

My suspicion is that somewhere down the road—and it may be years down the road—The Coca-Cola Company will have quite a lot more to do with Monster Beverage Corporation, be it in distribution, new product development, or marketing. In fact, I believe if the popularity of the Monster brand continues, Coca-Cola may well just buy the entire company.

You have to keep in mind that one thing that Coca-Cola is good at, besides making Coca-Cola of course, is recognizing who the next big player is going to be in the market. Coca-Cola may not be as good at copying trends. But it certainly has the money to buy into who happens to be trendy. And that helps to make Coca-Cola a fairly interesting choice when it comes to buying those trends as an investor.

Coca-Cola has done this in the past by buying Glaecau, makers of Vitamin Water, and by buying into Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and the Keurig and K-Cup empire that belongs to GMCR.

It's true that Coke may have fallen short getting into the energy sector with brands like Full Throttle and NOS not having the ability to capture enough market share from Monster and Red Bull to make any real impact on its presence in this part of the industry. But it can make money on the distribution end of a popular brand like Monster (and has been doing so for quite a while), and it can make money by taking on some ownership of the brand portfolio.

So, what else makes Coca-Cola an enticing prospect over Monster?

Even though Monster Beverage Corporation is more than just the Monster energy drink empire, Monster is really the brand that put it on the map. But it also happens to be a trend. Coca-Cola can as easily buy into a growing trend as it can later sell its interest in that trend if consumer tastes change and the entire sector of the industry goes bust. Just owning Monster could allow you to enjoy a fantastic ride up. But if the brand hits a brick wall, it's also going to be one heck of a ride down as well.

Owning shares of Coca-Cola won't entirely insulate you from any negative movements in any given sector of the beverage industry. But it will provide the investor far more insulation than being entirely invested in a company that may have limited ability to recover from a change in trends that would affect its flagship brand.

If you want to enjoy the upward mobility of a company like Monster Beverage Corporation, I say buy shares of Coca-Cola and you'll enjoy the best of both worlds. And if other trends develop in this sector, you can bet Coke will have its eye on it, and will reach into their pockets to let Coke shareholders in on it as well.

Lemon & Pepper Marinated Grilled Chicken Breasts

Just to get things started off right, the grilling season has begun anew, and nothing goes better with firing up the grill and tossing some meat onto the fire than an ice cold beer. I like to start my grilling off with something from the many options brewed by the last standing true American brewing company left, The Boston Beer Company and their fabulous Sam Adams beers.

Today I am cooking up my Lemon & Pepper Marinated Grilled Chicken Breasts, which is delicious to say the least, and a breeze to whip together. No lemon and pepper seasoning required for this one. At least not the shakable kind.

For this recipe you will need:

• 2 large chicken breasts cut into 4 pieces
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1 ounce apple cider vinegar
• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• Pinch of pepper

For the chicken breasts, try to find the largest ones you possibly can. If they are a smaller variety, just use more of them. But I always like to find the chicken breasts that seem like they have put the chickens on a full steroid diet. For whatever reason, there are times I buy chicken breasts from Walmart that I swear must be the size of turkeys before they reach the slaughterhouse.

Just saying.

For the marinade, simply whisk together the lemon juicer, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, onion powder, garlic powder, and pepper, then add in the chicken breasts. Get those bad boys nice and coated, and I like to end the coating with the breasts top side down. Let them marinate for about 1-3 hours, turning the breasts often.

For the grill, simply fire it up, and of course crack open a Sam Adams beer, and keep the temperature somewhere between 350 degrees and 375 degrees, shooting for the low end of that spectrum. Season the breasts very nominally with just a little bit of Adobo seasoning (I like  Goya) and cook until done.

I served mine with a bit of my special potato salad which I may one day share, and some corn mixed with okra and diced tomatoes.


Most of all, simply enjoy the beer, enjoy the grilling process, and of course enjoy the great flavor cooked up into this chicken breast recipe. I like lemon and pepper seasoning, and so why not simply make a marinade out of this popular way to season chicken breasts? Want to try this recipe with other cuts of chicken? I say why not. I certainly will. I may even try this with some fish while we're at it.

Hilary Fails To Explain Emails Fully

Sometimes secrets, when it comes to the government, need to be kept. Anyone who really thinks about the consequences of certain kinds of information falling into the wrong hands can understand that some things simply do need to be kept quiet.

Still, it is also important to have a government that is as transparent as is possible without compromising national security. Too often what we wind up with are elected officials, or appointed government officials who forget that their boss ultimately happens to be the American people.

Enter Hilary Clinton.

Regardless of what email she used, or where any server was kept (although I do not like the idea of her server being in her complete control), the fact is that any correspondence that she had in an official capacity, whether or not personal emails were sent using the same email address, no correspondence should ever have been deleted. It is the property of the American people, and it should not be up to the official to decide which emails are relevant, and which ones are not. That can leave quite a bit of room to hide things from the American people, and potentially leaves no recourse for anyone to dig into what could be very important details.

Were the 30,000 emails Hilary Clinton deleted just about yoga and wedding plans? Or was there something else in those emails? Perhaps details about Benghazi? We may never know since according to the most recent report her server may have been wiped clean, meaning we may never be able to recover what she deleted. She's not turning over her servers either for anyone to take a closer look at, which seems to continue to suggest there may be something to hide.

She could have ended this whole affair in one fell swoop, but she chose not to, and there has to be a reason for that unless she truly believes herself to be an elite who is entitled to a level of privacy that no one else is entitled to. How can we simply take her at her word?

Whether or not this entire affair will have any impact on her hopes to win the White House is anyone's guess. In past history her failure in Benghazi, and the lack of transparency regarding that issue alone would have precluded her from ever even being considered. But these days too many people are either not paying attention, or are being spoon fed their information through a cipher.

Either way, I think it is a very serious and important matter and the American people should be concerned. All we want are answers, and unfortunately those are something hard to come by from our government officials. Even when we do get answers, it's only usually a half-truth anyway. Our only hope is that the news networks—even the liberal mainstream media—want to get to the bottom of this as well.

The emails could contain nothing of interest at all. But until we have access to that, all we can do is speculate. And with so many questions unanswered throughout her tenure as Secretary of State, that leaves a lot of wiggle room for speculation.