Advice for relocating from Dumfries to DC/(More) Northern VA

[pdc29]

Spencer, I think you're missing a really key point. I pointed it out before but you might not have seen it. If the reason I was eligible for Section 8 was that I had chosen to go to graduate school, you'd have a very solid point . But....it's not. I had Section 8 before, and decided that a life of government assistance was not for me. Even if I wasn't in school, I would still qualify for Section 8. Even if I picked up a second, part-time job, I would still qualify for Section 8 (and I'd be stuck on it forever). But I don't want that life, and I don't think anybody should. I think that these programs are there to help people get to a place (whatever that place may be within reason) that allows them to become productive members of society, because we have way too many leeches.

So all of these points your making about graduate school being a luxury and your money paying for my graduate degree are for naught. They're totally separate from each other, and you shouldn't conflate them

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by pdc29

Spencer, I think you're missing a really key point. I pointed it out before but you might not have seen it. If the reason I was eligible for Section 8 was that I had chosen to go to graduate school, you'd have a very solid point . But....it's not. I had Section 8 before, and decided that a life of government assistance was not for me. Even if I wasn't in school, I would still qualify for Section 8. Even if I picked up a second, part-time job, I would still qualify for Section 8 (and I'd be stuck on it forever). But I don't want that life, and I don't think anybody should. I think that these programs are there to help people get to a place (whatever that place may be within reason) that allows them to become productive members of society, because we have way too many leeches.

So all of these points your making about graduate school being a luxury and your money paying for my graduate degree are for naught. They're totally separate from each other, and you shouldn't conflate them

My money pays for your housing assistance. Because you have housing assistance, you do not have to get a second or third job to make ends meet and pay for your entire housing by yourself. Because you do not have a second or third job, you have some time available that enables you to go to graduate school. So,without my money and the housing assitance, you would not be able to attend graduate school.

They are not separate at all, as my money DIRECTLY enables you to go to graduate school.

[pdc29]

Negative, you're still conflating. I would not be able to get a second or third job because the child care expenses would become astronomical, even exceeding what a government stipend would cover. I'd eventually be fired when I kept missing work due to lack of reliable child care, and that'd be the end of that. Then I'd be back on government assistance and you'd be back to complaining about your tax dollars. I've already broken down the time I actually spend in classes and doing schoolwork, it does not allow for a second, or third job. The FPL for a family of 3 is around 60K. That's what HUD has set, not me so don't start about how you know families or people that make it work, it's their calculation. Any job (second or third) that would actually hire someone who could work...six hours a week (HA!) combined with my primary job would not put me over the FPL, so I'd still be on assistance. And I doubt I'd be able to pay any sort of rent after I was done with health care expenses (I don't think I need to break down health care costs for a special needs child, I'm sure you can use your imagination), transportation expenses (there'd be a lot, as you'd be working some very late hours and would not be able to rely on public transportation), and child care (don't get me started). Everything would simply evaporate in terms of earnings.

Your tax dollars would be contributing to the program regardless of whether or not I decided to attend school. And you've modified your wording. Before you were "paying for my degree" (not). Now that we've debunked that fairy tale, you've taken issue with the fact that I can even attend grad school. Well how about this? All assistance recipients will get 2 or 3 low paying jobs and remain on assistance forever and ever and keep eating up whatever the distribution of that 9 cents out of your tax dollar is. How's that? Because they're still going to qualify for the program.

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by pdc29

Negative, you're still conflating. I would not be able to get a second or third job because the child care expenses would become astronomical, even exceeding what a government stipend would cover. I'd eventually be fired when I kept missing work due to lack of reliable child care, and that'd be the end of that. Then I'd be back on government assistance and you'd be back to complaining about your tax dollars. I've already broken down the time I actually spend in classes and doing schoolwork, it does not allow for a second, or third job. The FPL for a family of 3 is around 60K. That's what HUD has set, not me so don't start about how you know families or people that make it work, it's their calculation. Any job (second or third) that would actually hire someone who could work...six hours a week (HA!) combined with my primary job would not put me over the FPL, so I'd still be on assistance. And I doubt I'd be able to pay any sort of rent after I was done with health care expenses (I don't think I need to break down health care costs for a special needs child, I'm sure you can use your imagination), transportation expenses (there'd be a lot, as you'd be working some very late hours and would not be able to rely on public transportation), and child care (don't get me started). Everything would simply evaporate in terms of earnings.

Your tax dollars would be contributing to the program regardless of whether or not I decided to attend school. And you've modified your wording. Before you were "paying for my degree" (not). Now that we've debunked that fairy tale, you've taken issue with the fact that I can even attend grad school. Well how about this? All assistance recipients will get 2 or 3 low paying jobs and remain on assistance forever and ever and keep eating up whatever the distribution of that 9 cents out of your tax dollar is. How's that? Because they're still going to qualify for the program.

If there were no government assistance programs, how would you survive? You would find a way; just like most people in this country. And what is the difference if I used the terms "paying for a degree" or "paying for graduate school"? Essentially, it is the same thing, because one is expected to get the degree if they attend the school. I'd get even more upset if I was paying for someone who just planned on attending, but never get a degree.

[pdc29]

That is an irrelevant question because the programs do exist and there is no use in creating scenarios in which we act as though they don't, because to some extent social safety nets of some sort will exist. You didn't answer my question: which is preferable for you? That one has 2-3 low paying jobs and stays on assistance forever, or chooses a career path, obtains the education necessary and gets off the program? Don't bother with "It's preferred that the program doesn't exist", because that's not likely to happen in either of our time. What I meant by the difference in your use of language was that at first you insisted you were paying for actual degree itself (like tuition). Once you realized that wasn't true, you turned to expressing outrage that I was able to attend school in the first place. (My exact language was "You've modified your wording. Before you were "paying for my degree" (not). Now that we've debunked that fairy tale, you've taken issue with the fact that I can even attend grad school) Do you see what I mean?

[marie5v]

Originally Posted by spencgr

My money pays for your housing assistance. Because you have housing assistance, you do not have to get a second or third job to make ends meet and pay for your entire housing by yourself. Because you do not have a second or third job, you have some time available that enables you to go to graduate school. So,without my money and the housing assitance, you would not be able to attend graduate school.

They are not separate at all, as my money DIRECTLY enables you to go to graduate school.

Give it a rest. You have completely hijacked the thread and are not even on topic at this point and haven't been for a while. I've seen tax dollars go to worse use than temporarily supporting a needy family. I've seen money that could support this family for a year literally go into a dumpster thanks to government waste, lack of oversight, red tape, and corruption. If I could choose where my tax dollars go I'd gladly vote for them to help other people instead of going into the pockets of greedy contractors and incompetent paper-pushers.

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by marie5v

Give it a rest. You have completely hijacked the thread and are not even on topic at this point and haven't been for a while. I've seen tax dollars go to worse use than temporarily supporting a needy family. I've seen money that could support this family for a year literally go into a dumpster thanks to government waste, lack of oversight, red tape, and corruption. If I could choose where my tax dollars go I'd gladly vote for them to help other people instead of going into the pockets of greedy contractors and incompetent paper-pushers.

I gave it a rest five months ago. And then someone resurrected it and then you questioned one of my comments. If my comments were so off-topic, why did you respond to one?