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Yeah as long as you have food stamps ---- 47 million Americans are on them, a lot of them women and children.
A lot of these people are single but a lot of them are also families. So obviously it doesn't always work out so well. Especially in these times.
[Oleg, with no food stamp program, what do poor families in Canada do? ---]
Some go to "food banks" - where people have donated surplus food..It is disgusting- nothing but starch- expired can goods...mostly garbage that people who donate would not eat themselves- Others on welfare..really do not get by..They might be comfortable for a week...once bills are paid - I see them struggle...Our poor can not be seen..They are a hidden lot- Once a month on "check day"...they are out and about..spending and acting normal...after a couple of days they are broke and hunker down...visiting food banks for some pasta and beans...The poor in Canada are basically in storage. I am amazed that in the USA..You have as many people on food stamps as there are citizens in the whole country of Canada.
Actually our population is about 35 million...and you have 47 million Americans eating by the grace of tax dollars? Not good...The food stamp idea sounds better than what we have - our poor are forced to eat throw away food...Americans at least with food stamps can buy fresh real food...
In my case because I have family and extended family..I survive without having to lower my pride ...My charity arrives privately- I take care of a couple of old dogs that belong to one of the daughters and the trade off is a bit of cash and groceries. There is an old hotel across the way..mostly filled with transients and welfare recipients. It is kind of horrid...They receive a check for $580. Their rent is $500 - they attempt to live on 8o bucks - most of them are out panhandling for food...most assume they are homeless..Canada will put a roof over your head..and then slowly drug and starve you to death..
Our social safety need is by indirect design made to slowly kill the undesirables and what they consider non compliant or non producers. There really is not real social safety net.. It is so odd- They do not give them enough money to eat but will gladly supply people thousands of dollars in pharma product...most of which keep the poor and stupid - dull....
A few years ago I used a food bank...*It was degrading....Two years later I went back...I saw the same people...they were skinnier and in worse health...I never went near that place again...It is disgusting.
People in America assume we have a socialist society in Canada. We don't - it appears so on the outside..but underneath is a grotesque rotting under belly. The poor in Canada suffer slow and gradual genocide. It's not a pretty scenario.
----
That other comment I was responding to wasn't my personal opinion. I was demonstrating the issue to what someone wrote about wanting better for their children. With each generation, people desire more. That's why many people have more than one or even more than two cars, when one may have been the norm. That's why there are multiple TVs in the home instead of the one some grew up with (if that). Why in modern homes people want bathrooms for nearly, if every bedroom, instead of just one. Why houses are more than twice the size they were 60 years ago. People want more and more conveniences. I was using that poster's post about wanting better as an example as how good intentions can go out of whack.
Wanting more than one bathroom in a house is NOT an intention gone out of whack. Trust me on that.
Assuming that there is a father and a mother, and that the parents pay for child care, the monthly cost for that in Phoenix,Az is around $600. That's pretty crazy. Aside from burning out and using the crap out of your family by using them as child care, this is roughly how much it costs. My friend Daniele continues to have children. She's now on her 5th. And complains daily about the costs and how they can't afford food and pay the electric bill. Car insurance? Shoot, they haven't had that for years. These are just tips of the iceberg costs. Feeding an infant is cheap, unless that infant is lactose intollerant. Than its expensive. Baby formula is not cheap. Then these infants grow up. They start needing real food. You know, full meals, three times a day. Then, oh, teens need after school activities. Not exactly free. Having kids is not cheap. Too many people, too many friends with kids on welfare.
Perhaps when people ask those without children, "So when are you going to start a family?", they should really say, "So when are you going to put some money away, get your Moderator cut: language together, become more responsible and less selfish, and start a family?"
Last edited by Green Irish Eyes; 11-05-2012 at 07:40 PM..
If only people who could Really afford to have kids would have kids it would be a major shortage of kids in this world. My husband and I sure as heck could not afford to have our son at the time but at some point we just have to make the decition to have kids or not to have kids with or without money.
But we made it just fine. It was tough but I am not regretting anything.
If only people who could Really afford to have kids would have kids would have kids it would be a major shortage of kids in this world. My husband and I sure as heck could not afford to have our son at the time but at some point we just have to make the decition to have kids or not to have kids with or without money.
But we made it just fine. It was tough but I am not regretting anything.
The problem with waiting until you can afford them is this...... When you don't have kids, you have a tendency to spend money on non-essential things. Some of us became incredible money managers once those kids started arriving! We couldn't "afford" to have kids, but once we started having them, we were able to. Having children changed the way we spent our money!
People told me because I was just a poor musician who did a bit of acting on the side to make ends meet...that I should never have kids...I remember a conversation with my mother, when I announced that my current girlfriend was pregnant. Dear old pragmatic maw was horrified and suggested an abortion.
I could see this look on my mothers face...as if she might get stuck with the bill. That she might have to help in the rearing of the child to be. It was all economic to my mother...for me I was just happy that a woman was willing to bear my child and that I was going to be a father...It was a huge opportunity for me and I was not going to let it pass me by.
By hook and by crook we survived. I always made sure that the locations we lived in were upscale and even though some locations were cheaper...I avoided the projects and ghettos like the plague. Just because I did not have a lot of money did not mean that I belonged to the lower classes.
We relocated about every 7 years and always to better place. Eventually we had four kids...Family did come in handy. My sister owned a few properties in a private rural neighborhood..It was a stunningly beautiful location. Fields...woods...a lake and a closely knit community.
No matter what - I always managed to negotiate a wonderful environment for the kids. It was not about money - It was about brains and spirit. The first rule of thumb is...NEVER live where you know you do not belong. Location...People assumed we were rich..The lawns were always trimmed..there were beautiful flower beds....the kids were clean...and because I was an artist ...the house had good art...all the things that rich people had - I created myself....
If there was a hedge to be trimmed - I trimmed...all of my homes looked like a million bucks....The most important thing is privacy- Never let anyone know how poor you are..or how rich you might be.
The mistake my wife made was she trusted the wrong people and revealed our complex and shrewd system of living..she let them know we really did not have any money to speak of...Huge mistake..The envy and resentment because so intense we had to finally high tail it out of town..We were a happy family - I thought everyone was as happy as we were...not so...most hate their own lives.
I would get up early and hop in the car and drive into the city to work in the film business- My meals were catered..They dressed me..and the money was pretty good...I was living the dream....others were not...If you want to get by on next to nothing- You still have to be industrious..and as mentioned - keep your business to yourself- People will hate you if you are beating the system or that you have managed to escape slavery. PRIVACY...is so important.
So, I should have killed my son? I am sure you are talking about having many children when it is OBVIOUS you can't afford them, not that I should have killed him. I saw this situation ahead of time and had the operation. One son and one stepson is all for me (us). By the way, I am sure you are considering ONLY the monetary costs, not the emotional costs. I consider a person to be alive from conception.
Charles
People have been having "unplanned" children since time began. You can not put a price on reproduction. That would be like coming up to someone and saying- You can not reproduce yourself because you have not paid the bill? Yah even my own mother suggested that my first born should not be born. The world would be a worse place without my eldest daughter who I could not "afford"... She just got back from a four city tour - She helped organize these massive rallies for kids to attend...a great charity...where kids help other kids all over the world..I attended one event and there were 26 thousand kids there....The world is a better place in the fact that she was born...and she was NOT planned.
There are a lot of things people don't "need" but enjoy having for convenience or whatever reason. And if they chose to have 3 or 4 bathrooms over having kids, who cares. And who cares if their reason is, that they can't afford kids.
So what I'm getting from this is that your beef is they won't admit they want those things more than having kids? OP, do you make it a habit to ask people why they don't have kids? We have several friends who are childless and it NEVER crossed my mind to ask why.
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