Word: afforded
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Alms QualmsIf you can't afford as big a charitable or religious donation, "pledge what you're able," Post says, and vounteer your time...
...created tangible benefits beyond healthcare and literacy. Poverty remains widespread, education limited, and free speech censored; barges still head from Havana to Miami, not the other way around. After the 1990s reforms, Cuba has a dual economy where those who cannot access currency convertible into U.S. dollars cannot afford basic necessities. As a result, incentives are so perverted that one can see women with Ph.Ds driving 1960s vintage cabs in Havana because that is the only way to afford toothpaste and shampoo...
...quickly, it has yet to prove that it can spend money wisely. And the chum of a 1 with 12 zeros is already creating a feeding frenzy for the ages. Lobbyists for shoe companies, zoos, catfish farmers, mall owners, airlines, public broadcasters, car dealers and everyone else who can afford their retainers are lining up for a piece of the stimulus. States that embarked on raucous spending and tax-cutting sprees when they were flush are begging for bailouts now that they're broke. And politicians are dusting off their unfunded mobster museums, waterslides and other pet projects for rebranding...
...forget that shovel-ready doesn't necessarily mean shovel-worthy. Many projects are shovel-ready now only because they failed to clear the spectacularly low bar Congress set for pork in the past. Even if we're freaking out about today - and we should be - we can't afford to leverage tomorrow to build the infrastructure equivalent of buried banknotes, not when the deficit is a record $1.2 trillion and the debt a staggering $10.6 trillion. A depression would make both problems worse - tax revenues plunge when incomes plunge - but every public dollar we spend on depression avoidance also plunges...
...also turns out that the best way to boost the economy by giving away money is to give it to people who can't afford to save it. That's why food stamps work so well as a stimulus. And that's why Obama is pushing a permanent $500-per-person credit on payroll taxes for every worker making less than $200,000 a year. But his rationale for broad-based relief goes beyond stimulus: he has repeatedly promised a fairer tax code that would make work pay for everyone, and this might be his last chance to play with...