Wow. Listen to all the armchair experts....
Have ANY of you actually ever had to use public assistance of any kind? It's easy to make judgement calls when your belly's full. Have you ever tried to 'make a living' at an $8 an hour job?
There are some months I would KILL to be able to eat hamburger or chicken.. Usually it's Ramen noodles or when I can afford it, some cheap hotdogs. On weeks when I actually can get some extra work-I get to go to Hometown Market and get the '5-for $20' cheap cut meat special and eat like a king. Well, a king that doesn't mind chewing gristle, anyways....Protein is protein and beggars can't be choosers...
I am eligible for food assistance usually 3 or 4 months out of a year due to the seasonal nature of my job.
I try to avoid having to use it because, like the proverbial 'long-haired country boy' in the Charlie Daniels song, "I ain't askin' nobody fer nuthin' if I can get it on my own."
Until two years ago-I never ever had to apply for assistance in my life. (It amazes me that people who manage football teams or who 'consult' on things (basically get paid to run their mouths and sign stuff) make so much money while folks around here who transport cargo that is more sensitive than nuclear waste and more valuable than gold bullion get paid less than the guy who sweeps the floor in McDonalds).
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Sez Chuck:
"Well if you are going to go through life with a high school education you are setting yourself up for minimum wage job so why would you reproduce?"
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Because I have a beautiful, college-bound 18-year old daughter that could and would cold kick your ass for making that statement...THAT'S why. As I understand it, that's the way it's supposed to work...Your kids are supposed to have it better than you did. That's part of the problem around here, I think. The whole "you're worthless unless you're college-educated" mentality.
Without the myriad minimum-wage workers that do jobs that are beneath you 'intellectuals', all you eggheads would probably be dead in a month's time. (or suddenly working a minimum-wage job to survive  .
Not everybody came from a big, cozy insular family where everything went according to the socially acceptable rules of life. Some of us didn't get the breaks you got. But that's OK with most of us minimum wage workers. All we want is to be able to make a modest living as productive members of society however we can.
We'd appreciate ya not begrudging us a hand up every now and again. We know that you're only one or a couple paychecks away from joining our ranks.
My personal opinion? I tink Bestworking has the right idea. Eliminate wasteful spending by making everybody involved more accountable.
The admins as well as the recipients.
If I remember correctly, recipients of public assistance are supposed to list any and all assets owned on the application. That way they can be liquidated should there be any instances of fraud or abuse.
Getting Section 8 housing and drive a late-model Lexus?
Getting Food stamps and yakking on the newest Android phone?
Luuuuuuucyyyyyyyyy....Ya got some 'splainin' to do.. So does Ricky...
I think if weight was a factor in determining eligibility for benefits-most of the people on them around here would be immediately disqualified. They's some fat mutha#$%ers 'round here.
Maybe if DHR workers would be able to make follow-up inspections to households of recipients like child welfare does, a lot of waste and abuse and fraud would be eliminated. 'Course that costs more money to do that, but maybe the expense would be justified by the savings from eliminating the waste.
I dunno. Makes sense to me.
@Contendah: I smoke. You're absolutely right about the lower economic classes and tobacco addiction. I dunno why that is....Mebbe some day I'll ask the pipe-smoking professor to explain it to me.
I don't however buy cigarettes by the pack. At today's prices-that's just ridiculous.
While I can't seem to curb my addiction to nicotine-I HAVE managed to figure out how to be poor more efficiently in that respect. For some years now I have been making my own smokes that are just as good as store-bought ones for a fraction of the cost.
$17 gets me three cartons worth of tobacco and tubes. For a smoker-Ya can't beat that with a stick.
I manage to save $380/month between my wife and I making our own smokes-enabling me to more comfortably pay for rent, utilities, car insurance, and food.
Cigarette smoking is really the only vice I've got left. LOL. Ya wouldn't wanna know me if I suddenly hadda quit.
@Seven: Yeah, we have a car. Just barely. Weekends are for spending underneath it patching it back together. If we didn't already have it when we got here, we wouldn't have one now.
Cars are not a luxury for us. We can't afford to live close enough to where we work to walk or ride bicycles. There's no public transportation, otherwise we'd probably use that.
We don't drive anywhere we don't absolutely have to. My tires are flat-spotted from sitting. At today's fuel prices, even an old economy car like ours is a hop inna nuts to keep fueled. Some weeks I'm only working for the gasoline to be able to get to work the following week. If it wasn't for my old, stripped-down motorcycle that gets 62MPG on a 2.9 gallon tank-There's some days I wouldn't be able to make it to work. (It's my primary mode of transportation in the nice weather because of the fuel economy....Well, that and I live to ride. )
Yes, I have basic cable and bottom of the line internet. I live on the wrong side of a goodly hill to be able to use free TV. Believe me, I've tried. I can only get the antenna up so high without needing a tower I can't afford and honestly, without 'net access, I think my wife and I would go bats#!t crazy as we're social critters-strangers in a strange land far from home who can't afford to much get out and do things here-so being able to keep in contact with friends and, well, ANYBODY outside of our home helps keep us fairly sane and in touch with other people. Prolonged isolation is not good for people. I know this from experience. It bends yer head funny after awhile.
We have a washer and dryer which I've rebuilt several times using kludge fixes. Why should I not be able to keep my clothes clean so I can look presentable to the public I work for? I may be poor but I'll be danged if yer gonna be able to tell it by looking at me. I got my pride-dented some as it may be, usually it's the only thing I have to my name that's worth anything.
I got a free Obongotracphone,too. It's an old-school simple brick of a thing capable of voice and text (which I hate doing because I have to hit the same dang keys mutiple times, but it's way cheaper than talking at 1 minute per message, but again-beggars can't be choosers. I'm lucky to have it atall should I ever get run off the road by someone on public assistance driving a new Cadillac while texting on a new Android. At least if there's still an ounce of life left in me-I can call 911 and say goodbye to my wife from the ditch I'm laying broken in.) It also enables me to be able to get called into work early should we have a 'tornado' day so I don't miss the early dismissal and an afternoon of work.
I hardly use the free 250 minutes a month I get and they don't roll over.
DHR can visit me any ol' time to check up on me. I'm trying to do it the right way and would prefer not to have to need any assistance atall, but alas....the situation says otherwise.
/end/of/rant/
But yeah....I think Best has the right idea. Make everybody accountable.