Who is stealing from whom?

Editor,

Contrary to the "Welfare Queen" stereotype Ronald Reagan so successfully ingrained in the psyche of the American electorate, people who have no money and no job want to work, and if they have no marketable skills, they want to learn some.

What is with the niggardly approach to poverty in the United States? Why the racist stereotypes and the suspicious hatred directed at the poor? Welfare should be given gladly without all the "culture of dependency" hyperbole. And job training should also be funded liberally and readily accessible by any and all who want it.

It takes one to know one, and all those right-wing ideologues who are bent out of shape about poor people stealing from the public coffers need only look in a mirror to ascertain just who is stealing from whom.

re: "California’s Zigzag on Welfare Rules Worries Experts" (10/7/2009)