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OHH the bashing hour again -- feel better about self now? the only reason to knock anyone on welfare is so you can feed your pride... It has been proven only about 4% abuse the system- more steal on Wall Street - and by MUCH higher figures than those who misuse welfare-
now let's talk about businesses that file bankruptcy...
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
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The most frustrating thing about the anti-welfare crowd is their insistence that these people "get a job", but make no effort to help them secure a job, and if that job doesn't pay enough to live on IF they get it, then "oh well...."
Everywhere I go now days people are talking about lazy people living on welfare. But other than one relative, I don't know anyone living totally on welfare.
(I am not talking about older people on Social Security)
I am not talking about someone getting a few hundred dollars in food stamps or Medicaid to help with their health care.
What I am talking about is someone who is being totally supported by the government. The government sends them a check for living expenses. Pays their rent, food and utilities. They don't work, they just sit home and relax and wait for the welfare checks to come in all paid by the taxpayers.
Do you know anyone like this and what is their story?
I grew up in a lower-middle class neighborhood in the late 70s, early 80s. My parents still live there. It was pretty much evenly distributed between lower middle-class black/white, working families.
My parents still live there, but it is a very poor neighborhood full of rentals and condemned houses. Dad is very friendly with neighbors and most of the moms that live there are young, single, multiple children living off a variety of government assistance programs. Even those that want to work can't because of childcare costs. The dad's are all deadbeats. There's no time or monies available for education or training. It's hopeless for those that want more. Some of the income they do receive out of government assistance programs is derived from illegal, cash under the table, activities.
The black families that lived there when I was still at home... they were mostly intact and received no public assistance. And those children mostly went on to successful careers.
I am an on again / off again Meals on Wheels volunteer. I meet several elderly people with multiple chronic health issues who live on SS, alone. There's one blind woman who rents a closet, yes a closet, in a family's town home. She is one of the most delightful clients we have. She is grateful to have a roof over her head and feels safe.
Dunno what you mean by 'welfare', please be more specific. AFAIK, the feds do not send welfare checks to anyone, if by welfare you mean Aid to Dependent Children or the like. Those are state programs.
My brother lives on SSDI. He is not allowed by SSDI rules to work even part-time for money, so he doesn't, even though he'd love to. (He's extremely honest.) He does do volunteer desk work for an organization that supports his disability. He gets not quite $900/month.
He is a (very) right-wing christian, and is a faithful R voter.
Most people on SSDI can make something like $700/mo without losing benefits. If he wants to work he should ask about it.
The most frustrating thing about the anti-welfare crowd is their insistence that these people "get a job", but make no effort to help them secure a job, and if that job doesn't pay enough to live on IF they get it, then "oh well...."
My ex was a NY city detective. She arrested a perp for credit card fraud (stolen credit card).
When they went through his wallet they discovered 3 welfare IDs with his picture and 3 different names.
They were not allowed to do anything about the cards because it was federal jurisdiction. The only thing she could do was tape the cards together and drop them in a mailbox ( like they were lost).
She could have gotten in trouble for doing this. Some system!
My brother would love to work full-time. It's not his fault he was born on the spectrum. He's had many jobs, but can't keep them because he just does not understand how to get along with people and he cannot conform his behavior to an employer's expectations. It's not that he doesn't try - it's that he can't. People are pretty much a complete mystery to him. He depended on my mother while she was alive.
Both my parents, when they were living, and his other siblings have always worked and have paid plenty of taxes. I don't begrudge my brother, or any of the 100 or so other people living where he lives.
My 15yo stepson is also on the spectrum. He will likely never be able to sustain himself without assistance. GA does have a program that allows him to simulate independence as closely as possible once he is 18. And the high school works closely with that program to transition students that are eligible. Hell, the kid is taking a college-level culinary class and cooks better than his mother or I do.
That's what government assistance programs are designed to do. To help those that want to help themselves or cannot help themselves.
Of course, we will always support him however needed.
Last edited by Mad_Jasper; 03-13-2017 at 07:39 PM..
Most people on SSDI can make something like $700/mo without losing benefits. If he wants to work he should ask about it.
We asked an attorney. His advice was No.
My brother's disability claim rests on the fact that he is incapable of meeting an employer's expectations due to being on the spectrum. It's not like, say, a damaged leg, where it's clear whether a particular job requires full use of a leg or not.
Our fear was - and is - that if he took a job, then he would lose his SSDI, and thus his housing, due to being employed. And then would follow his typical work experience - a not-much-better-than-minimum-wage job lasting less than a year, in a high COL area - and then he'd have to re-apply for the SSDI and housing all over again. His current housing situation is the very best we could have hoped for (believe me, I know.) We were incredibly fortunate to find it for him. Odds are very long against it being available if he were ever to leave it and then want to come back. Heck, he can't even move to another unit in the complex w/out getting on the waiting list again - which he can't, because you have to be not living in subsidized housing in order to get on the waiting list for the waiting list for subsidized housing. (It is common in more populated areas to have a waiting list for the waiting list for subsidized housing. Where I live now, the waiting list for the waiting list is open for only a couple months every two years or so.)
Oddly, once he is old enough to collect regular SS, he will then be able to work on the side if he wants, and if he gets fired, oh well, it won't affect his SS.
the only way to "completely live off of gov't welfare is to qualify for paying 30% of your income for rent (subsidized housing/section 8). And those waiting lists are long...many years
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