amazincc wrote:*Sigh*
The majority seems to be under the impression that welfare recipients are responsible for most of the problems in this country? Because they feel "entitled" to government assistance, and don't want to work?
Up until about a year or so ago I've always lived in low-income neighborhoods, and I've known my fair share of welfare families... The vast majority hated to have to rely on hand-outs, but they didn't have a choice if they wanted to house, feed and clothe their children - and the single most important factor for "staying" on welfare was definitely the free medical care that covered their kids.
I agree that being on welfare shouldn't be ones goal in life, but in reality a low-income family is NOT better off even IF both parents work at a minimum wage job... they might make a tiny little bit more money, but that immediately gets sucked up by child care costs, rising rent, bus fare or gas money (to get to the job in the first place), doctor bills (since most low-paying jobs don't offer affordable health care)... and the smallest "emergency" can turn into a real-life catastrophe in a matter of days. Your child gets sick - you need to take a couple of days off - your paycheck doesn't cover the bills that week... THAT is the reality.
Most of you are probably fortunate enough to have never had to experience that, and I myself had a job that offered reasonable health insurance for our families... but, for years, we (my kids and I) lived from one paycheck to the next and I worked my ASS off doing it. I'm not kidding... I started off making $3.35 an hour (in 1984), and by the end of a 50-hour week my check left us w/about $30.00 for groceries, if that - for FOUR people. I never went on welfare, but - by God - I "get it"... I understand why good citizens trade in their dignity for the guarantee of a government hand-out and health insurance for their families.
I like the idea of a universal health insurance that covers everyone... it has worked w/great success in european countries for decades.
Yes, there are people who take advantage of the system and know how to get around it... but that is as old as humanity itself. In the meantime there are countless families out there who jump through hoops each months to make ends meet ON welfare because the alternative (working) is even less "attractive" than their already crappy lives on a government check. No-one in their right mind WANTS to live that way, least of all some of the families I have known. However... once you get a job and toilet paper becomes a "luxury" - wth would you even want to make the effort?
I'm tired of everyone blaming "welfare people"... unless you have walked a mile in their shoes you have NO idea what their lives are like.
As for the free cell phone... they give you 200 free minutes a month (3 hours and 20 minutes for 30 days, to be exact), and it can be a life saving device for Seniors who live alone, or for families who can't afford a landline... and, yes, those people actually do exist among us. It's hardly a luxury to be able to call 911 in an emergency.
amazincc wrote:I like the idea of a universal health insurance that covers everyone... it has worked w/great success in european countries for decades.
...
they might make a tiny little bit more money, but that immediately gets sucked up by child care costs, rising rent, bus fare or gas money (to get to the job in the first place), doctor bills (since most low-paying jobs don't offer affordable health care)... and the smallest "emergency" can turn into a real-life catastrophe in a matter of days.
As for the free cell phone... they give you 200 free minutes a month (3 hours and 20 minutes for 30 days, to be exact), and it can be a life saving device for Seniors who live alone, or for families who can't afford a landline... and, yes, those people actually do exist among us. It's hardly a luxury to be able to call 911 in an emergency.
I've seen the commercial, and to say that it's misleading and stupid is putting it mildly... 6.66666667 minutes a day of free phone/airtime is hardly a drugdealers' wet dream.
DemoDick wrote:One more thing Christine, if anyone looks at the familes you described and doesn't feel an immediate impulse to reach into their pocket to help them, there is something very wrong with them. I have never seen anyone arguing that the people you describe are the problem. The criticisms are leveled at the legislators, looters, and moochers who dime the system for everything it's worth.
Demo Dick
amazincc wrote:Well, Demo... I agree w/you, for the most part... but it seems to me that the majority of the people who complain the loudest about the current state of affairs now are also the exact same people who voted this government into existence in the first place.
It's a known fact that voter turnout is extremely low in poor neighborhoods, and always has been. Poor people don't elect most officials - middle and upperclass does.
So, aren't you guys (as in general you) basically pissed off at all those people you have helped enable all these years?
Kind of like buying booze for an alcoholic, and then blaming him/her for being a drunk, for example...???
Even at my "poorest" I still had a shitload of stuff deducted from my paycheck, simply because I worked... so, yeah, I'm feeling you there.
DemoDick wrote:One more thing Christine, if anyone looks at the familes you described and doesn't feel an immediate impulse to reach into their pocket to help them, there is something very wrong with them. I have never seen anyone arguing that the people you describe are the problem. The criticisms are leveled at the legislators, looters, and moochers who dime the system for everything it's worth.
Demo Dick
amazincc wrote:It has been my experience for most of my life that a "poor" person is much more willing to lend a helping hand than a person who is considerably "better off" (wealthy).
Yes, some of us would give the shirt off our backs to others... but the ones w/many, many shirts to spare seem to lack empathy and compassion, for the most part.
I have never understood that, but maybe I'm one of those bleedin'-heart liberals who thinks that, in the end, I can't take my shirts w/me... they might as well do some good while I'm alive.
DemoDick wrote:
That was YOUR money. And it was stolen from you.
amazincc wrote:I want you to go and arrest each one of those bastids for theft of property, inflicting intentional weekly anxiety and worry, and f**king me for years without my permission. GO, Demo!!!
amazincc wrote:I want you to go and arrest each one of those bastids for theft of property, inflicting intentional weekly anxiety and worry, and f**king me for years without my permission. GO, Demo!!!
DemoDick wrote:
If you choose to give them, then that is great. But there is no ethical way to [i]force you into doing it.[/i]
Take a look at this, for starters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJBeuR0x ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hrg1CArk ... re=related
Demo Dick
X10airwalk wrote:See my comments are not about the poor PEOPLE...they are about the programs that keep them there. They are not a judgement about the average person ... they are judgement on those that maintain and perpetuate those programs. I am appalled by those that want to take from me and give to everyone else as a manner of "fixing" poverty. It doesn't work, it never has.
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