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Congratulations Tam! I think that section eight is a good thing for people that use it in order to advance in life and that need help. Lets be honest its not easy these days. Alot people take it for granted which in my eyes is bull**** a bunch of lazy ?. And its not right. Like me for instants I wish I can get section eight. I have a daughter now. I'm living a good clean life and I need a little help. I tried of living in the hood. I want to get out real real bad. I do not want to rise my daughter here. Its sucks
The vast majority of new Asian immigrants (assuming the Chinese students you are talking about are, or in the country on student visas) either live in large, extended families, everyone working so that the next generation will go to college or have a lot of help, financially, emotionally from the local Chinese community. Due to the American idea of "roughed individualism", most Americans assume that Asian immigrants work many hours ON THEIR OWN. I was married to one of those Chinese students so I know their "system" a little bit, and the Chinese community gives its own a lot of "perks", some of them illegal. Chinese are very hard-working and also expect their kids to go to college, very good characteristics, but I also know they are very community-based and very often eat meals together (daily), cooking together and sharing costs, help each other out financially, a system most Americans would see as socialism (or mooching) and be averse to. It is a very hard and cruel task master, this Western ideal of roughed individualism, very few other cultures embrace it, so don't compare the average American to the average Chinese.
The Chinese grad students arrive without their families. Helping each other out voluntarily is not "socialism", it's cooperation. Having the government confiscate your resources, and then having the government "help" people is not cooperation, it is cooercion. And it's seldom "mooching", because there is a certain amount of reciprocity needed to sustain any voluntary relationship, especially when all parties involved are running on limited resources.
Capitalism is all about cooperation, whereas socialism is all about coercion. There is absolutely nothing "socialist" about these people networking and helping each other.
To the point made elsewhere that claims that section 8 is necessary because of high rental costs -- maybe rents would be lower if the government wasn't putting a floor on them by subsidizing them.
All people like you are to be congratulated and respected for what you accomplished and how you feel about everything. Good perspective. Good luck in your life and to your son.
for the most part, welfare recipeints DONT work. if you make the tiniest bit of money, they yank your benefits. its much easier for them to say they have a disabled child, or a medical problem that prevents them from working. Welfare makes you go down to the welfare office on a whim, if u miss an appointment, they close your case ASAP. its hard to keep a crappy on-the-books job while on welfare.
Welfare recipients USED to be the ones that worked off the books, but the huge influx of ILLEGAL ALIENS stopped all that noise.
For the ones that dont know how to beat the system, they get put on workfare, in which they get trained and pushed into a job (usually a city job) and then they work to keep their benefits.
This is posted from the NYC point of view. im not sure how things might be different in the burbs, but in the urban areas, thats how it is.
Now keep in mind, welfare and section-8 are 2 very very different things. it kinda boils down to this
Lowest - Full welfare recipient. lives in projects for free, gets cash, food, medical, will prolly never work, will teach her kids the same values
Low - partial welfare. Lives somewhere (mom, boyfriend) gets cash food medical. depending on how many kids she pops out, she may go up or down the ladder
Middle - lil bit o welfare . section-8, food stamps, medical. probably only has 1 kid, and is somewhat stable. is a drug/bad boyfriend/another kid away from going down the ladder. Is also one good break from going up the ladder.
Upper - Section-8 . has a job, just doesnt make enough to handle life, but makes too much to get anything else. Again, prolly just 1 kid, but not enough education/work experience to get off assistance right away. usually has a job and goes to school.
Well I see all kinds of comments on here and this one takes the cake. How can anyone really know what is going on in peoples lives that is on section 8, or welfare or food stamps unless you were on it yourself. Don't past judgment on people unless you been in there shoes. When i first had my child at age 19 i was working i didn't receive any help from anybody until my child had a bad asthma attack and was in the hospital for about two weeks i lost my job and had a big hospital bill. A nurse at the hospital told me to sign up for welfare to help pay for my medical bill so i did because i didn't receive unemployment because the job said i quit when i didn't. from welfare i received section 8 years later because my child became disable i had to be there for my child. Section 8 came in handy because i was unable to pay my rent. Living in the "hood" it is hard to do you see all kinds of people but i don't judge anyone i don't know The point is that section 8 help plenty of people and so do welfare- food stamps.I don't know where i would be with out it maybe homeless with my child. i was only on welfare for one year until my child asthma was finally under control still i receive section 8 because rent is was to high, but the city i live in is bad for my child to live in I've only receive section 8 for about three years now and still not able to pay rent on my own i don't get any welfare but i receive food stamps and i pay half of my rent so rent for me is not free I'm in school and trying to get a degree in Early Childhood Education and yes i want to move out of the "hood" before its to late i don't just sit around and do nothing and buy junk food for my kid and i don't get a lot of food stamps but the little i do get helps a lot. No i don't plan on doing this for ever but i need it until i get a better job and move out of the hood. This is just my life for now and still trying to better myself school, work, and taking care of my child as a single mother is hard to do but I'm doing it.
TLC03
It is great to see different point of views and I am so glad that you did not wind up homeless with your baby. But the reality is that a lot of the government programs do make people too comfortable and dependent.
My friend owns a couple of buildings and a lot of the tenants are on section 8 and food stamps. They drive nice cars and wear nice clothes but when it comes time to pay the $100 of rent a month there is always an excuse and some owe almost $1000.
It takes a lot of work and court dates to try to evict these tenants and after they are evicted there is a program in NYC where they send a moving company to take their belongings and put it in storage for them and help them move to a shelter. Then they help them find housing so the cycle repeats.
I find these type of programs make people dependent. I think there should be some type of cut off time for these programs.
I am going to have to agree with Alan it is a vicious cycle.
I agree, but also think it's wrong to paint everyone with a broad brush, and forget how many of the people getting section 8 are mentally or physically disabled with no hope of improving their lot. I have a friend who is mentally disabled, and her mother recently died, leaving her on the edge of homelessness. This young woman has $900 a month total to live on now, if not for state programs she would be living on a bench somewhere.
TLC03,
I hope you've taken an English writing class in your pursuit to be an Early Childhood Education graduate, because your grammar, spelling, and run-on sentences reveal a "ghetto" mindset. That's the #1 problem that faces welfare, section 8, you name it: girls with no morals that think that becoming pregnant will keep their boyfriend. Once the proud mama announces she's pregnant, said "boyfriend" disappears because he has no time for his 4th baby. So, jump in the welfare line, pop out a few more, make some dumb "disability" excuse ("back problems", asthma, "high cholesterol")--just glorified excuses that enable people not to work. And it continues. We need to start rounding up these loser baby daddies, and have them pound salt, or throw their sorry butts in jail for not keeping it zipped up.
I am talking about the people who take advantage of the system. I am well aware that there are people with mental illness and medical conditions who need the services.
But there are also many who take advantage of it and make it bad for others.
Do you think that everyone living in public housing or section 8 really need it?
what are you people crazy???? you must be nuts, ill tell you what, you take a 6 yr old boy, no car. no money, and no parents or help and see what you get, granted there should be drug testing id say, but you cant sit from where life is cushy and put down people less fortunate, im a single dad raising a son alone!!!!! his mother was a nut!!! without getting that help in the beginning of it we'd be homeless with no food, ive worked my whole life befor i paid my ****ing taxes for a reason, and when i needed it i collected some of it back for housing, wow what a bunch of evil mindless losers...wich is why i noticed people like you have lots of death and misfortune in other areas of life, what if i came here and said all blacks are ******s, you would disagree saying i donno all blacks, well you dont know everyone whose needed welfare, so the one or two you saw with junk food or vandalizing gives you no more right to judge then the 5000 blacks ive seen robbing, stealing, and selling drugs, you dont get to choose how you discriminate, you either discriminate or you dont....grow the hell up
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tam...gr8
