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Did anybody notice these comments from the tent city residents :
Notice they use the word scheme when talking about SSI or assisted housing at least they are honest that they are not looking for work just looking for that free ride scheme. I also noticed one of the residents was a waitress, if she can not find a waitress job you would think it was time for her to move. Don't ya think I am working and poor but I have no pity for these fools.
I would not shed a tear if I heard the whole tent city froze to death during the winter. Survival of the fittest and these people are not fit. Most likely they will get their scheme on and the gvt{us} will help their sorry a$$es.
In the UK (the source of the article) scheme takes on a different meaning.
Quote:
• mainly UK an officially organized plan or system
a training/housing/play scheme
a pension/savings scheme
There's a new scheme in our town for recycling plastic bottles.
Class sizes will increase under the new scheme.
I am a home-owner and making the mortgage payments weren't easy when I was laid off my job in 2008 when the Great Recession hit, until I became re-employed 6 months later.
Nobody I know lost their homes because of property taxes, but rather because they missed a few mortgage payments and the banks foreclosed on them. Don't get me wrong, I am not defending high property taxes -- New Jersey just across the river from me has the highest property taxes in the nation and I sympathize with the homeowners over there. It was greatly exacerbated when Governor Christine Todd Whitman vowed not to raise any state taxes and the counties had no choice but to raise property taxes to pay for police, fire dept., schools, trash pick-up, jails, etc. because these services received less from the state.
property and school tax for homeowners in metro area ny were 10-15k when I left NY...1999. NJ and NY are worse now, some on this forum who are paying 500 dollars for school taxes have no clue of the local, state and municipal issues up north-its more complicated than just..blame obama-those taxes were insane 15 years ago and continue to drive people out- NJ had a mandatory 30k state tax that my gf had to pay the state just for selling her house and moving to the south
I am a home-owner and making the mortgage payments weren't easy when I was laid off my job in 2008 when the Great Recession hit, until I became re-employed 6 months later.
Nobody I know lost their homes because of property taxes, but rather because they missed a few mortgage payments and the banks foreclosed on them. Don't get me wrong, I am not defending high property taxes -- New Jersey just across the river from me has the highest property taxes in the nation and I sympathize with the homeowners over there. It was greatly exacerbated when Governor Christine Todd Whitman vowed not to raise any state taxes and the counties had no choice but to raise property taxes to pay for police, fire dept., schools, trash pick-up, jails, etc. because these services received less from the state.
How do you know they needed to raise taxes? Did you look at the CAFR reports? I keep seeing state CAFRs that are showing large surpluses of pure cream.(easy net billions)Yet they are talking austerity.
So unless you look at the real financial reports, you have no way of knowing what the actual financial situation is. All they talk about is the budget, which is where all the expenses go.
They thought itd be fun to default on the deficit too- Itll be fun and games...yeah I guess it is when you never owned property or paid taxes, and parents buy your food.
It is very sad to see but I to have to ask what was there situation before they ended up in the park in a tent. When my son was 3 months old my husband was laid off, I was not working and we had a new baby but because we did not live beyond what we made we were able to survive until he found another job (about 6 months). Now I am not saying that all of these people lived beyond their means but chances are they did.
TO be honest, Darkatt, I feel I didn't understand where you were coming from, as it appears we do feel very much the same way about "takers" of society. I felt you were being too harsh on people who have obviously lost everything, but I see that you feel they probably made bad decisions and so ended up in the woods in a tent.
I haven't ended up there yet . . . I have managed to hold on to 2 houses, cars, and personal belongings - and managed to put the last kid through college while hubby was out of work (for a year during that time). But I ended up with credit card debt (ever had to put your electric bill on a credit card? it sucks) wh/ I am working hard to pay off. And I had to defer maintenance on my property, wh/ reached critical mass this summer, so I had to juggle around funds (borrowed off one of the remaining TSAs) to take care of that.
Hubby ended up in hospital, HUGE medical bills . . . wiped out savings paying for those. I felt we should have spread out payments and hung on to the cash as long as possible, but hubby is "old school" and wrote out the checks. There went our savings account.
So yes, we are making it. Our net worth looks a lot better on paper than it "feels" in reality, lol. I kept ONE STOCK . . . managed to hang onto a few mutual funds and several 401 Ks. It made me sick to borrow off them along the way but thank God I had saved and put aside so I had them.
However, my car is nearly 22 years old (hey! it is a BENZ! LOL) . . . we rarely eat out . . . I am a penny pincher . . . and I managed to hang onto my credit score through thick and thin.
I see folks in dire circumstances and I will be frank - I picture myself in their shoes, cause altho we have managed so far . . . all it would take is another hospital bill, hubby out of work . . . another tornado tearing up our property and out of pocket costs that insurance doesn't cover (yes, that happened to us this last decade, too) . . . and I envision myself in retirement - in a nasty old 1970's mobile home on a lot in Florida somewhere, paying $400 a month rent and eating beans and cat food.
You see, we aren't much different, just a misunderstanding in communication. I wasn't putting them down for being where they are, I was stating that but for their actions or lack of, they are where they are.
You fully understand, as do others, that there are always options. Instead of calling a plumber, learn how to fix things yourself. Duct tape works WONDERS fixing things. we learn how to keep things running far beyond their normal life, so we can keep what little money we have and spend it on food and essentials. We juggle, we scrimp, we sell what we don't need, we look for bargains, we go to salvation army or goodwill and get clothes and spend 15 $ and get whole lot of stuff, instead of 30$ on a pair of jeans.
It's not easy, but then you, like myself and others here, have NOT taken the easy way out and have not given up. We don't expect someone else to pay for our lives, and we step up to the plate and do what needs to be done. We set the example for our children, who see that you don't need handouts to survive, it can be done by taking responsibility and doing what needs to be done.
BTW, I have NEVER been against accepting help for the children, in the way of medical assistance, etc. I think what goes around, comes around, and keeping the children healthy is a GOOD use of my tax dollars.
When I was laid off, yes it got ugly. Wiped out the savings, wiped out the 401K, but at no time did I ever consider that we wouldn't make it, or that we would lose the roof over our heads, or starve. I can tell you juggling 4 part time jobs in a week, isn't the easiest thing I ever did, and yes, it was HARD to keep going, but I had a responsibility to my children and myself, so like you, I found ways to keep going, as have others here.
If we can find ways to do it, why can't the people who are in these tents. And to add insult to injury, they are looking for ways to "SCHEME" the system in providing for them. To do that, they are reaching into the pockets of every single taxpayer, and yes that means US! While you are working to keep your head afloat, that tax money being taken away from you, is money that will be used to fund someone else's life who has decided that it's easier to get someone else to pay for them, then for them to do it themselves.
I am a home-owner and making the mortgage payments weren't easy when I was laid off my job in 2008 when the Great Recession hit, until I became re-employed 6 months later.
Nobody I know lost their homes because of property taxes, but rather because they missed a few mortgage payments and the banks foreclosed on them. Don't get me wrong, I am not defending high property taxes -- New Jersey just across the river from me has the highest property taxes in the nation and I sympathize with the homeowners over there. It was greatly exacerbated when Governor Christine Todd Whitman vowed not to raise any state taxes and the counties had no choice but to raise property taxes to pay for police, fire dept., schools, trash pick-up, jails, etc. because these services received less from the state.
So, which of the above services do you think that people living in one part of the state, should fund for people in another part of the state? Local fire departments? Maybe trash pickup?
Local property taxes, are used to pay for those services specific to each locality. Why should I in one city, be paying for your trash pickup in another city across the state from me? State taxes pay for STATE government functions, and State issues. Local property taxes pay for those items specific to each locality.
While millions of Americans hold their collective breath as Wall Street wreaks havoc with their life savings and retirements, residents of Tent City, a tiny makeshift community about 70 miles south of New York City, have more immediate concerns: finding their next hot meal.
For this collective of homeless and unemployed former landscapers, service industry workers and military veterans, the mention of "tarp" is sure to start a conversation about temporary rooftops, rather than a debate over President Obama's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.
It seems like a scene straight from "The Grapes of Wrath," but this is no Great Depression novel. This story takes place in 2011, and this Lakewood, N.J., tent city is one of dozens of such encampments across the United States, where unemployment has reached 9.1 percent and approximately 3.5 million people are likely to be homeless in a given year, according to recent estimates by the National Coalition for the Homeless.
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I am working and poor but I have no pity for these fools.
Really???
