Poor in Northeast PA (Scranton, Columbia: houses, job market, buying)

[FightinPhils]

Originally Posted by Lehigh Valley Native

That is a great idea that the ACLU would throw a fit about

You're probably right...but most employers anymore have drug testing as a condition of employment....why not for welfare, SSI, etc?

[BLUEDIAMOND64]

Conor,

I agree with you whole-heartedly on the drug testing for welfare and SSI. I have had to take psychologicals for different jobs along with drug testing for employment. I have had random drug testing as well. I feel if there is nothing to hide then there is no problem taking a test.

[FightinPhils]

Originally Posted by TheHighHat

Conor,

I agree with you whole-heartedly on the drug testing for welfare and SSI. I have had to take psychologicals for different jobs along with drug testing for employment. I have had random drug testing as well. I feel if there is nothing to hide then there is no problem taking a test.

We'd solve the Social Security crisis practically overnight if we were able to weed out the people collecting SSI who are using drugs. I don't know why we don't do it.....

[NYRangers 2008]

I agree also. Hard working tax payers support the SSI system and we should have a right to know if our money is going to support someone's drug habit. Mandatory testing for anyone collecting SSI is a great idea.

[mm_mary73]

Originally Posted by Lehigh Valley Native

Please read the article in this link:

Family out to escape cash stranglehold | Wilkes-Barre News | timesleader.com - The Times Leader (http://www.timesleader.com/news/20071201_01_Dreams_SM_1a_ART.html - broken link)


Does anyone else think this family shouldn't be getting charity? They havent paid a mortgage payment in a year and now are filing Bankruptcy to keep the house. They got a mortgage they couldn't afford and are using the system to stay in the house for a year or two for free. The dad wants a new drill for Christmas, how about he asks for the money so he can make a mortgage payment.
The icing on the cake, he had a better, HIGHER paying job, but quit it because it was too stressfull......what? are you kidding me? the family is about to be homeless and your job is too stressful.
Maybe I am becoming too cynical as I get older, but these parents don't deserve any charity.

There but for the grace of God and my own determination! Why doesn't mother get a job as well? The kids are at school. If I had ever put this information in the paper for all my neighbors and children's friends to see, I'd have been childless; the children would've moved in with their father and evilynn

[nocturnal rooster]

Lets eliminate SSI altogether. Why should I have to work so much just to get by when these people are collecting my hard earned tax $$$ to do nothing?

[SteelCityRising]

As a 21-year-old, I know the Social Security system will likely have gone belly-up years before I'm ready to retire, so I don't really care too much about this issue. However, I agree with ConorsDad, TheHighHat, and NYRangers2008 about screening drug users from colllecting SSI benefits off the back of the tax payers.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by nocturnal rooster

Lets eliminate SSI altogether. Why should I have to work so much just to get by when these people are collecting my hard earned tax $$$ to do nothing?

Perhaps I have less sympathy for folks who are just about to retire or have just recently retired and expect the younger generation to bail them out when they had decades of prosperity to save themselves, but I do feel sorry for those folks who are in their 70s-90s and are collecting this income to survive off of because they grew up in a different era---one in which discretionary income to invest for retirement was much scarcer to come by. Today there is no reason why a dually-employed married couple (even earning the $7.15/hr. minimum wage) should be begging for government handouts other than just being inept at budgeting. Just setting aside $20 from each paycheck during your more formidable years to put into a Roth IRA, for example, will give you a great pool of money to draw from at age 60 without the burden of being taxed when you withdraw it. Folks who are just retiring today with zilch in their retirement accounts garner no sympathy from me---folks who retired in an era in which times were always tough NEED SSI or else they'll starve.

[Lehigh Valley Native]

Originally Posted by ScrantonWilkesBarre

As a 21-year-old, I know the Social Security system will likely have gone belly-up years before I'm ready to retire, so I don't really care too much about this issue. However, I agree with ConorsDad, TheHighHat, and NYRangers2008 about screening drug users from colllecting SSI benefits off the back of the tax payers.

It has been tried and ruled a violation of the the fourth amendment.

http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/press...e/pr031605.cfm

Time for new judges

[newjerseybt]

I would also like to add that there is a new mindset in today's society in which some feel that government is the answer to all their problems. After the Katrina disaster all I heard from many victims was that the government was not there to help. Johnson's Great Society programs never brought out the best in people but only held them hostage to a myth for decades.