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One could also ask why so many go to college but cannot afford to pay for it without loans and grants.
The amount of student loan debt is staggering and the amount of student loan defaults is even more.
A lot of us have been put into positions of financial distress because of the actions of someone else and I would venture to guess that the original poster was in a different situation when those children were born.
I would be guessing though since I do not know for sure.
When one is left with no money, no job and everything that can be pawned taken so the other can go and play with their underage playmate there is no way they can take care of themselves and their child properly without some sort of help. Hopefully it can be temporary and they will stop getting the help from welfare as soon as they can manage on their own.
Since your post quoted mine, let me address your concern.
I agree.
I paid my way through college. My parents paid for my first year; after that, I was on my own. I worked and I studied. Not much time to party, but that wasn't why I was there.
There should be NO, as in ZERO tax funded college loans. None!
I think it is important that we have a social safety net. I have no problem with SNAP, social security, medicaid, or any other entitlement program that promotes the general welfare of the country. What I do have a problem with, however, is how entitlement programs have become so associated with politics. The way I see it, the democrats have cultivated a reliable voting block that is addicted to government money(and I'm not talking about the military-industrial complex), and they have abused this dependency to push an agenda that only tangentially, if at all, helps the poor. On the other hand, the republicans manipulate the working class into fearing and resenting the poor as their main campaign strategy. It is a sad state of affairs when the people most vulnerable to economic policy changes are subject to the turbulent winds of popular political opinion.
I don't get it either. My brother and SIL decided to wait until were able to care for children before having them. They both finished their masters and got their careers going. They now have two kids. Seems like a reasonable thing to do.
I was happily married, successfully employed spouse, owned a house and business. One day he decided he no longer wanted that life and disappeared.
People need to remember that things like SS, food stamps and welfare programs were originally created to protect widows and their children. The ones who actually need it, remember them?
Food stamps for families with a perfectly good, healthy man in the house? That's an idea I cannot get behind.
..
With some of the low wage jobs I can understand a working father needing to support his family.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
41,937 posts, read 36,951,955 times
Reputation: 40635
Quote:
Originally Posted by eddie1278
"freeloaders"
If you want to get technical you can say people are freeloaders using this website not paying for it. Someone else is using their own money to pay for the servers and employees and you "freeload" here. Same with most sites on the internet like google, youtube, facebook, craigslist. Most of those sites work off of advertisements where a small portion of people make the sites money while the others "freeload".
If you want to call people "freeloaders" then pay for all of the websites you use. I read facebook electricity bill every month for all the servers is over 3 million a month. Are you going to pay for your usage? Of corse you wont. Someone else has to pay for you to talk about welfare recipients
Not true at all. Facebook, like most of these sites, are actually making money off of me. I'm not freeloading. My being there is making them profits. They should be thanking me for effectively giving them money.
We live in the wealthiest country in the history of the world and we are trying to begrudge people food. People will always have their stories about the person on food stamps with the 5 slabs of Filet, but there is no real evidence that this type of behavior is widespread.
I think everyone should close their eyes and think of a welfare, SNAP, etc. recipient and see what comes to mind. For the people that go on and on about freeloaders, this image looks different than they do (even though this image may not reflect reality). Therefore they lack empathy. It's clear we lack empathy for people we think are different from us in some way.
As far as the anecdotes everyone has, I am really suspicious. From what I have heard, SNAP assistance comes by means of a debit card. How in the world do you have any idea of how this person paid for the Filet. I am not that intrusive when I am in line at the grocery store and certainly don't care what method of payment the person in front of me is using.
Furthermore, when someone is buying flat screen TV's, how do you know whether they are on federal assistance?
How do you know what type of cars these people drive or what's in their homes?
What I think is happening is that someone sees someone that looks like their mental image of SNAP recipient, sees that they have nice things and then start all the assumptions and teeth gnashing begin.
If the people telling these stories really do have all of this firsthand information, then you should examine how much of an interest you are taking in strangers' lives.
Until very recently the Farm Bill and SNAP assistance were tied together. The Farm Bill is basically welfare for rural people. People will disagree with me, but basically what we are doing is giving cash to people who are working jobs that don't make ends meet, the same as the large majority of SNAP recipients. Many people on farms have large families, families they couldn't afford without government assistance. If we followed capitalistic motives, these people should also be "trying to better themselves" or moving to a place or industry that will pay more money. But no one says this. In fact the GOP House has voted to separate SNAP and the Farm Bill, fully funding the farm bill while gutting SNAP.
Now close your eyes and imagine what a beneficiary of the Farm Bill looks like.
Do you think that these mental images make a difference in how we treat these two groups?
We really need a reexamination on how we view poverty in this country.
If you want to get technical you can say people are freeloaders using this website not paying for it. Someone else is using their own money to pay for the servers and employees and you "freeload" here. Same with most sites on the internet like google, youtube, facebook, craigslist. Most of those sites work off of advertisements where a small portion of people make the sites money while the others "freeload".
If you want to call people "freeloaders" then pay for all of the websites you use. I read facebook electricity bill every month for all the servers is over 3 million a month. Are you going to pay for your usage? Of corse you wont. Someone else has to pay for you to talk about welfare recipients
Question. Are the people who run this site and pay for the servers forced to do so?
Taxpayers are forced to foot the bill for welfare.
This site stipulates rules. You can't post photos with nudity. You can't make personal attacks. You can't use cuss words. You can't advertise your business.
Why can't the taxpayers make some rules? How about no assistance if you test positive for drugs? If you have money for drugs, why do we have to provide food? Instead of EBT cards, let's give vouchers for vegetables, bread, cheese, butter, milk, bread, chicken and fish. Why should we be forced to purchase sodas, candy and other unhealthy foods that can lead to health issues for which we must also pay the bill?
The vast majority of people have no problem with helping out those in need, but when we hear the argument that OUR MONEY should be accessible in strip clubs, porn shops, casinos, etc.
A database of 200 million Electronic Benefit Transfer records from January 2011 to July 2012, obtained by The Post through a Freedom of Information request, showed welfare recipients using their EBT cards to make dozens of cash withdrawals at ATMs inside Hank’s Saloon in Brooklyn; the Blue Door Video porn shop in the East Village; The Anchor, a sleek SoHo lounge; the Patriot Saloon in TriBeCa; and Drinks Galore, a liquor distributor in The Bronx.
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) _ Maine lawmakers have dealt the final blow to Republican Gov. Paul LePage's proposal to ban the use of electronic benefit transfer cards to buy alcohol, cigarettes and lottery tickets.
In a veto statement yesterday, Patrick slammed his reform-intent rivals for “political grandstanding” with their efforts to ban EBT buys of guns, porn, tattoos, jewelry and manicures, insisting reforms were already on track without the Legislature’s meddling. That drew return fire from irate lawmakers.
Niceguy, you make an excellent point. How WOULD people know who is on SNAP & who isn't just by seeing what they're driving or their tv? Are they making note in the grocery store line who is using their card, then following them out to their car, then following them home & then proceeding to look into their windows? You're correct. What is happening is a whole lot of assumption, based PURELY on skin color, going on.
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