101 Million Getting Govt Food Assistance

[Deleted]

President Food Stamps!!!!!

[jackthelad]

Jul 31, 2013 10:09:14 GMT -5 fuzzems said:

President Food Stamps!!!!!

I hadn't realised times were so bad in America, a country that put a man on the moon yet has so many hungry people. Doesn't make a deal of sense that, neither does knocking people that has to rely on food stamps.

[mtman]

Expanding minority populations in the US are contributing heavily to the rapid increase in government assistance.....For instance..... blacks, while being approx. 13% of the pop., receive 39% of total government assistance.....And as long as the US has a president that would rather feed them, than encourage them to get a job, assistance will continue to climb.....The US is rapidly reaching the point where there are more takers, than makers

[pod 7]

In to days papers 4/08/2013 Here in England we buy food stuffs to put into trolleys outside the supermarkets so it can be handed out to the needy--but of late the Austerity program is causing peeps to not to do it (their finances i presume) its getting harder to feed their own without giving it away-meantime our M.Ps just bury their heads in the sand, sadly they have no comprehension of going without or cutting down (well you wouldn`t if you were a millionaire would you ? ?

[beags]

I don't mind when the program is used for what it was intended for.

What I do mind is when people on full state assistance don't do a dang thing to get out there and find a job. OR they find a job, but they limit themselves to the hours they work so they can collect the assistance.

Who is this hurting the most? Well it sure isn't the people who are living completely off the tax dollars. IT isn't hurting the rich. IT is hurting the middle class. They are the ones who work their asses off, get taxed the most, and still lose their dollars to those lazy assess who do nothing but sit and collect the tax dollars. (that excludes the minor few who are paralized or so crippled that they can barely move)

I have no problem with my tax dollars going to those who use it for it's intended purposes. Which is to give someone a hand up while they are down. It wasn't meant as a way of life. It was meant to help you get back on your feet while you look for another job. It doesn't take 20 years to find a job. It doesn't even take 5 years to find a job. If it does, you aren't trying hard enough.

IF you are completely living off the tax dollars, why are you able to turn in tax forms at the end of the year and get a return? A return on what? You have been living on the tax payers money all year round. Why are you getting more of their money back? It makes no sense. You should never, and I mean NEVER get more money back than what you paid in. That is part of what is financially crippling this country.

[beags]

Here in England we buy food stuffs to put into trolleys outside the supermarkets so it can be handed out to the needy--but of late the Austerity program is causing peeps to not to do it

Here we give to the food pantries. I would love to say that they are always full, but that's not always the case. However, many times they just need to make it known that they need more food, and it arrives. But that's here, in my area. I cannot speak for the rest of the country. there are areas in the country where most of the population is living off state aid and getting food stamps. Kind of hard to fill the food pantries when there's nobody to donate to them because they are all out of work.

Of course then to add to the problem of the jobs. Good ole, congress and obama had to sign that over 1,000 page document that none of them had no clue what was in it. So businesses are knocking everyone who was working full time (40 hours a week) to 29 hours a week. Why? Because "obama care" says that a business has to provide insurance to every employee who is working over 29 hours a week. "obama care" also says that you need to purchase an insurance plan or you get fined.

Ok, so now employers have cut them by 11 hours a week. (let's make it simple math and say minimum wage is $7. That's not too far off, here it is $7.35 an hour) That is $77 a week they just lost, that food may have bought their groceries. On top of that, they now have to purchase an insurance plan when obama care goes into full effect. They are barely recovering from their loss of wages. How are they going to purchase an insurance plan? What happens if they don't pay the fine? Will our jails now be filled by people who could not afford their insurance because "obama care" made it impossible to do so? If so, our government has just found a way to imprison their own people for no good reason. Do you all know what that is the start of? Do you all see that this president is not all he said he was yet? Probably not, when you are all dumb enough to close your eyes and hit that party button, you are too stupid to realize anything. And that last line isn't just for democrats, it's for anyone who just closes their eyes and hits that party button. Do us all a favor, don't vote, if you can't put some thought into your vote, don't bother, you are ruining this country.

[beags]

I just love the fact that every time I insult the president, proboards all of a sudden is having issues with their board. Coincidence? Most likely, but it is an odd one.

[Shirina]

I have no problem with my tax dollars going to those who use it for it's intended purposes. Which is to give someone a hand up while they are down. It wasn't meant as a way of life.

The welfare system is broken, and as long it stays broken, people will always be tempted to use it as a way of life.

Here's why:

First and foremost is the health care. If someone can get on Medicaid, especially if they have a chronic illness like diabetes, they will STAY on medicaid while collecting other welfare benefits.

This is because welfare and Medicaid will cease immediately after a recipient works more than the allowed number of hours. Yet most employers who offer decent benefits require a waiting period of 6 months to a year before the new employee qualifies to receive said health benefits. The result is that the new employee must pay out-of-pocket any health care expenses, including prescriptions, until the waiting period is up. That can be cost prohibitive.

Any government-issued health care benefits should continue up until the employer's health care takes effect.

Secondly, welfare recipients aren't really allowed to accumulate money, so it doesn't really offer a hand up. This is why so many people get trapped in the system. A recipient should be allowed to state a goal - saving for school, for instance, or saving for a move to a more productive part of the country - and then be allowed to save money for that purpose. Instead, the way it is now, all 'extra' money (such as what is earned from a job) is supposed to be reported, and then the government deducts that money from whatever benefits one receives.

I personally know several business owners who employ welfare recipients, and they won't report earnings to the government so these people can get out of the hole they're in. And these business owners are staunch conservatives!

One has to remember that 64% of all new jobs created since the recession have been low-wage service jobs - not the kind of salary anyone can seriously live on.

Far too many people think that people are just being lazy, and some are, but let's face it: There simply aren't enough decent paying jobs out there for everyone who wants one, and many are forced into welfare because their jobs don't pay enough.

I've said it a hundred times: Employers these days are subsidizing their labor costs with government money by paying low enough that the welfare system picks up the rest of the tab. It's a despicable way to pad profits for the shareholders, but that is precisely what is going on. People who are anti-welfare need to start pointing their fingers at employers who are too greedy to pay a liveable wage.

Finally, it must be said that statistics on how many are receiving welfare are artificially bloated because they include children -- who aren't old enough to go get a job. They can neither help or change their condition, so a large percentage of recipients are actually children and cannot count among the "lazy."

What is interesting is that welfare pays more than an $8/hour job in 39 states, and in 8 states, welfare pays more than the average salary of a teacher. Where is the incentive to go work one of those dreary, often miserable low-wage jobs if welfare pays more?

And one cannot say that welfare should pay less else the welfare won't help anyone.

What needs to be done is to increase the wages and stop worrying so much about profit margins and stock dividends, but that will never happen.

So you may as well get used to having a large number of people on government assistance.

[poopay]

Sept 27, 2013 11:18:12 GMT -5 Shirina said:

I have no problem with my tax dollars going to those who use it for it's intended purposes. Which is to give someone a hand up while they are down. It wasn't meant as a way of life.

"The welfare system is broken, and as long it stays broken, people will always be tempted to use it as a way of life."

You have it backwards. The welfare system is broken BECAUSE far too many use it as a way of life and pass on that same mentality to their children.

"Where is the incentive to go work one of those dreary, often miserable low-wage jobs if welfare pays more?"

Unfortunately this mindset of choosing not to work continues to plague the country, almost bankrupting the system that was designed for the many truly in need of assistance and NOT for the scammers who choose this as a way of life.


"So you may as well get used to having a large number of people on government assistance."

There will always be abusers to any system that provides help to the folks truly in need.

[Shirina]

You have it backwards. The welfare system is broken BECAUSE far too many use it as a way of life and pass on that same mentality to their children.

You're drinking the kool-aid if you think the lion's share of welfare recepients are lazy couch potatoes who choose not to work. The kind of person you're talking about is a relatively small percentage of recipients. Whether someone chooses to make welfare a lifetime occupation has nothing to do with the issue of health care gaps and the inability to save money to get out of a bad situation.

I'm really flabbergasted by the conservative mentality -- the same mentality that complains about food stamps but says not a word about the $10.5 billion per year in subsidies the government pays out to oil companies (who are making record profits). I remember watching Glen Beck trying to convince his audience that the government shouldn't cut oil subsidies because "$10.5 billion is just a drop in the bucket." Yeah, let's just take the money from poor people, instead.

Or how about the $10,000 per student the government pays the JR England trucking company. Because of this subsidy, JR England brings prospective truck drivers to its school by the busload and crams them 8 people to a dorm room. For every thousand people they bring to the school, they weed out about 950 to 990 of them. But no matter, they still made $950,000 to $990,000 in taxpayer money. And they do this every couple of weeks! They even bring in the homeless just to pad their numbers and rake in the government money.

I bet you didn't know about that, eh? This is just one of an untold number of corporate schemes and swindles going on right now, sucking up tax money to line the pockets of people who are already richer than emperors.

But conservatives never complain about that. It's those damned poor people, propaganda thrown around by the extreme right to divide the nation and distract us away from the people who really have their hands in your pocket.

Unfortunately this mindset of choosing not to work continues to plague the country, almost bankrupting the system that was designed for the many truly in need of assistance and NOT for the scammers who choose this as a way of life.

I agree that the system is designed for those truly in need and not for those who are able-bodied and want to avoid working. But here's the problem: The extreme right-wingers (no, not ALL conservatives, just the extremists) have been putting out the propaganda for years about scammers and abusers. They want to work the public into a big enough frenzy over this issue to make it impossible to tell the difference between someone in need and an abuser. Can you tell which is which just by looking at a person using food stamps? If the frenzy is big enough, the people in need are forgotten because, well ... the prevailing mentality says that if you're on welfare, you're scamming and abusing. Conservatives will SAY that they don't mind if people in need use the welfare system ... but "people in need" becomes an abstract concept. The real people, the people actually using the system, aren't in need. They're all scammers.

Something to think about.

Like I said, there are things the welfare system could do to make welfare a viable leg-up instead of a non-viable hand-out. The vast majority of Americans want to work. They want to feel productive, to be useful. Americans are still the most productive workers in the world. However, there aren't enough jobs that pay enough to satiate the need for work. People get stuck on welfare because they can't make enough to be financially independent. College tuition is soaring to the point where the debt is hobbling an entire generation so they can't just drop their welfare and attend school .... and well, I don't mean to belabor the point.

All I'm saying is that people need to stop focusing so much on the scammers. Every system, no matter how fool proof, will have ways to exploit it. What we need to focus on is helping those who really need the help, getting them back on their feet, and pointing the finger where it really belongs.

I don't think you really believe that 101 million Americans are just plain lazy.

[poopay]

"You're drinking the kool-aid if you think the lion's share of welfare recepients are lazy couch potatoes who choose not to work. The kind of person you're talking about is a relatively small percentage of recipients."

Denial is more than just a river in Egypt.


"I'm really flabbergasted by the conservative mentality"

Pretty evident from your past postings.


"I agree that the system is designed for those truly in need and not for those who are able-bodied and want to avoid working."

At least we both agree on this.


"...scammers and abusers..." "Can you tell which is which just by looking at a person using food stamps?"

Of course not, but neither can you (the one who professes) " is a relatively small percentage of recipients"


"there are things the welfare system could do to make welfare a viable leg-up instead of a non-viable hand-out."

Once again, we are in agreement.


"All I'm saying is that people need to stop focusing so much on the scammers"

That's exactly what the scammers are hoping for as well.


"I don't think you really believe that 101 million Americans are just plain lazy."

Hopefully the number has not reached that proportion yet.

[poopay]

[mtman]

Oct 5, 2013 10:14:45 GMT -5 poopay said:

I don't think you really believe that 101 million Americans are just plain lazy.

Of course not.....500 thousand are probably justifiably on food stamps.....But the other 100.5 million are moochers, freeloaders, and bums.

[beags]

People get stuck on welfare because they can't make enough to be financially independent.

Bull, we were on welfare, as was my cousin. We were off it in a year, AND we moved to a different state. My cousin stayed in the same state and it took her two years to get off it. You can save money while on welfare, and you can even save enough to move. Where there is a will, there is a way. There is always a way to better yourself and do it legally. The above statement of yours is the largest excuse out there, and people like you buy into it everytime. The system works, I know, I was on it.

College tuition is soaring to the point where the debt is hobbling an entire generation so they can't just drop their welfare and attend school

Do you look into anything before you speak? For the people on welfare, college assistance is out there for them. All they have to do is ask, and it is paid for 100%. This is another cop out the lazy use and people like you buy into it 100%. How do I know this? Well, I know this lady 3 doors down from me. She has three children, varying from 1st grade through 6th grade. She wanted to educate herself. She went to the financial aid office at the college. She has a full ride, she pays nothing, and she is getting a degree to help herself. Not only that, BUT the financial aid office told her about this program that she could apply for because she did not have a vehicle to get to college. She now has a vehicle to get to college. All paid for by the government. I don't mind this, as I said, she is using the system for what it is meant for. A hand up to get yourself back on your feet. This is a woman who had dropped out of school because she got pregnant, tested and got a GED. She is now going to college on that same welfare system you say is designed so that people cannot get ahead. People on welfare have every opportunity to go to college.

[beags]

All I'm saying is that people need to stop focusing so much on the scammers

you are wrong. That is exactly what this country needs to focus on. They are ruining the system for those who truly need it. As much as everyone complained about it, Michigan had it right when they decided to give people a maximum of five (?) years on the welfare system and then they were off. Why did they have this correct? Because they are giving these people every opportunity to better themselves. If they don't take those opportunities (high school diploma, then skill center or job training center, or college education) is that the fault of the government, or the fault of the welfare recipient who didn't take advantage of these opportunites?

[beags]

If all you do is make excuses for people, you enable them to stay in their situation.

If you show them how to get out of it, and give them the opportunities to do so, THEN you are helping them.

[poopay]

Well spake beags, well spake.

[poopay]

bump

[Forever Sunshine]

Oct 17, 2013 21:00:36 GMT -5 beags said:

If all you do is make excuses for people, you enable them to stay in their situation.

If you show them how to get out of it, and give them the opportunities to do so, THEN you are helping them.

That's very true, beags. But, there first has to be opportunities. Where do we show them opportunities when there are no jobs to be had? Companies, manufacturing especially, needs to be enticed back into this country. Jobs need to be created in order to create opportunity. I don't see that happening, at least not in my area. The unemployment rate in the county where I live is the highest in the State.

In order for manufacturers to come back they need to be able to turn a profit and with wages as high as they are in this country, among other things, they can't turn a profit.

[beags]

Well here they give the businesses a tax reduction for the first two years. That has been drawing them in. (I know the democrats are against this, as are the liberals because the rich should give to the poor or whatever) BUT it does draw them in and it does bring in jobs that pay over minimum wage. It also brings in full time jobs.

Unfortunately, those jobs fill up fast. If you aren't lucky enough to catch wind of them immediately (before it hits the papers most times) you will never get your chance to have them. The unemployment rate being what it is, the jobs fill up fast by word of mouth. The saying being in the right place at the right time definately fits. I got my new job by someone saying Hey, they are hiring on the spot at the unemployment office, get your ass down there.

Down there I went. The company was indeed setting up interviews on the spot at the unemployment office and hiring on the spot. On the same day it was in the paper. But some people don't get their paper until after 3 pm. By then those jobs were filled.

If you were on state aid, with no job, getting unemployment and going to the unemployment office, as you should be doing, (I think it's required) everyday, you would have had that opportunity. What else do you have to do when unemployed or collecting state aid? Look for jobs, that's what you have to do.