I’m on of those “working poor” that Barry wants to liberate. I’m a single mom and an older worker, nearly 50. I work 20-25 hours per week for just slightly above minimum wage, and I feel lucky to have the job that I have when so many people around me are not working.

I pay payroll taxes but don’t owe any income taxes, because we live below the poverty line.

I have one child still at home to provide for, a daughter that I’m putting through college, a monthly health insurance premium and a mortgage to pay. I do it all on less than 11,000 per year.

If I quit working today and went back on food stamps and medicaid, we’d be doing a lot better for ourselves. I prefer to work, though, and I will never go that route again.

Having lived this way for a while I can tell you that some of Barrys’ ideas are workable and necessary, to help poor families provide for their families’ most basic needs and get off the public teat.

It’s too bad that the good ideas are attached to such a massive, pork-laden, socialist monstrosity.