[wma152]

Originally Posted by mdovell

Work hard is subjective, not an absolute. If you think raw unskilled labor has a future it does not regardless of class. No one really "takes" from society. Money is printed up because if the fed ran ONLY on what was paid in we'd have to cut things significantly and a deficit would be impossible.

No one brags about living in public housing. Most of the time it's basic housing, nothing flashy.

Section 8 is a voucher system and acceptance means that the terms of the lease are based on the local housing authority. It might not be legal for a landlord to say they deny section 8 as a form of income. At the same point the landlord has no obligation to lower rents to make up for the difference. Let's say a rent is $1,000 a month. Section 8 pays $600. Ok fine the tenant has to pay the other $400. There's no obligation to actually lower the rent. I lived in a complex that although they never said they would deny section 8 no one really lived in there with it due to the amount (now about $1350). One manager told me by the time they see the rents and the amount their voucher would pay they wouldn't be able to afford the rest. Section 8 is not free money it comes with many stipulations.

The argument with social programs isn't so much that we are spending xyz amount but rather prevention. Here's a really simple one. Fluoride. It isn't expensive but sometimes you see urban areas that might not have it. Fluoride is a easy public good that improves dental health. It's easier to mandate that in a water supply rather than have medicade pay for braces and cavity treatments for kids. Dental care is expensive but prevention is far cheaper. some might say just brush the kids teeth and I get that but at the same point anything made with water that has fluoride in it compounds with the dental health of those that have it.

Pain and suffering is a bit hard to argue about when it comes to quality of life. If you live in public housing and say are relatively health and the elevator is out it might not be that big of a deal to go up a few flights of stairs. If you live on a 10th floor then it obviously is.

The media brainwashing people? On what exactly and how do you prove that? Can there be areas with limited food access? Sure but it depends on how you rank it. Sometimes I find people just look at larger chains and not smaller stores. So a Big Y or Stop and Shop gets counted for access but not say...C Town.

Again if you want to use welfare as a generic term please name the programs. there's housing assistance, phone assistance, assistance for food, single parents etc. You can't just lump it all into one because there are often income limits.

No one really takes from society? What do you call someone wanting to do nothing, and as a result of that gets these free handouts
from the gov't? Now they do not need to apply, but by applying, they are taking.

You know nothing about section 8, you pay a percentage of your income, the less you make, the less you have to pay.
It doesn't matter what the rent is.

And they are constantly building new low income apartments with brand new everything inside and out, while I'm paying full rent for a 60year old building.

Again, if you want to see how much money the gov't, private institutions, non profits,...etc spend on the poor, it's public information
easily found on the internet.

Again, using words and terms that doesn't reflect reality is brainwashing people to lean towards their ideology.

[BobNJ1960]

Originally Posted by wma152

Nah, not me, because some people wants to contribute to society by working hard versus sitting back and do nothing for themselves and just takes from society.

If they find getting free sh 1 t is so horrible, maybe they shouldn't even apply. That's how ungrateful people should be dealt with. I know if I do something good for someone, and they are ungrateful or complain, the hell with them.

I don't need to show anything, because it's public information and easily obtained information on how much money the gov't, private institutions, non-profits and private citizens give to the poor.

But if the media and politicians are going to brainwash people by claiming underserved this or that, they need to be called out.

We have a ton of unmotivated people, who are well suited for these jobs. These jobs require minimum, if any skills, thus they more often than not properly pay right around minimum wage.

Those in them built their lives up to the stage where such jobs are the only things they are qualified for by decades of bad lifestyle choices, starting with not thinking about what they wished to do as an adult in their formative years where the prudent obtained the education and training they needed to do far better.

[vision33r]

This is why China will beat the US because they don't motivate poor people to stay poor. There are far more income mobility in China than US than ever before because people are not motivated by handouts there. I know chinese people who have nothing and became millionaire in China by working hard, running their own stands, buying property, and reap the benefits of capitalism. Compare to the US, take handouts and stay on taking handouts. It's simply another form of slavery.

[parentologist]

Well, it looks as if this program is going to finally start. It makes me just furious, that the state overtaxes those who pay income tax, to the point where there is a huge "rainy day" fund (when the real rainy day fund is the taxpayers), and even beyond that, more money than the state knows what to do with, and then winds up giving money to those who already are on the receiving end of taxpayers' money, often fraudulently. The degree of fraud in enrollment in the Medicaid program is incredible, not to mention that since assets are not taken into account, only reported income, and the threshold for qualifying is lowest for pregnant women, basically any pregnant woman who is not well-covered by private insurance is on Medicaid, no matter how much they have in assets. Approximately half of children born in CT are born onto Medicaid, including those whose mother is here illegally - are half the children in CT born into families actually living in poverty?

Then there is how the money can be used. Funds can be used to pay for education, buy a home, save for retirement, or START OR INVEST IN A BUSINESS. First of all, Pell grants already cover the cost of community college education for all low income students. Most low income students who go for education beyond that receive a full financial aid package. But the real kicker is the "start or invest in a business" option. Based upon the number of fake businesses that sprang up to fraudulently qualify for pandemic relief money, this is where the money will go, to fake businesses that never did or will earn anything - the money will be diverted, as much of cash welfare benefits already are, and even SNAP benefits. The diverted money usually winds up being spent on illegal drugs and alcohol.

So now, not only can people choose to live a life never working on the books, never paying taxes, on Medicaid, SNAP, Sec 8, energy assistance, free phone and service, etc, but each child they have receives up to $3200 invested for them at birth, hopefully grown to an estimated more than 20K, claimable at age 18 for their fake lawn care or in-home hair care business. And the actual effectiveness of the program at reducing poverty can never be measured, since there is no true baseline to measure being born into poverty, since so many of the children born onto Medicaid are not actually born into poverty!

[Johnho771]

Nothing instils a hard work-ethic in an adult for being given $20k on his 18th birthday just for being born.

[CTlibrarian]

I'm all for helping those who are in dire straits, or permanently disabled, or such like. But give me a break here. My husband and I both work full time and are getting crushed by taxes. (Thanks, CT, for taking away the property tax credit on our state income tax.) I'm trying really hard to put some small amount of my own hard-earned money away for my kids' college expense. It seems like every time we turn around, the hard-working middle class are getting screwed around here. I agree 100% with an earlier comment that this will give more non-working folks reason to move to CT and sponge off of my taxes. How about improving roads and bridges with the "extra" money? How about getting rid of the car tax? How about giving more money to the school systems? Basically, how about investing in things that benefit the entire population, not just the non-working group?

[SteveM85]

It's a progressive state now guys, it's only going to get more so going forward. It's never going back. It is what it is now.
You have two options - deal with it or move

[WouldLoveTo]

Went back to see what I wrote on this and it was "biting my tongue". Well still biting but going to say worst idea ever.

[Stylo]

Bad idea. A $3200 community college boost would be far more palatable.

[CTartist]

Originally Posted by parentologist

Approximately half of children born in CT are born onto Medicaid, including those whose mother is here illegally - are half the children in CT born into families actually living in poverty?

50% seems high so I looked up the info and found this by state. This info is from the Census.
https://www.medicaid.gov/state-overv...ate/index.html

CT is 23% to 25% on Medicaid but that still seems high to me.

I am curious about the poverty rate now in CT. It must be much higher now I am thinking. This link says the CT poverty rate is 9.35% (the 9th lowest) so there must be different parameters in how they figure out who gets Medicaid.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/st...-rate-by-state

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Now about the topic of putting the money into an account and gaining interest. That is a good idea but just handing someone $11,000 is not a good idea. IMO there needs to be strings attached.

It needs to be for education then you buy whatever you want to buy and can afford. Education is the great equalizer.

My question is aren't there programs for children of poor parents to go to college now? IMO an 18 year old handed $11,000 is probably going to go down a rabbit hole if they get to do anything they want with it. It kind of reminds me of the scene in the movie "Stand and Deliver".

"All you see if the turn not the road ahead."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtYiJX_rxEY