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I have made more money and have been able to speed up my retirement under the Bush economy.
I see people around me doing the same.
Stop blaming him if your poor. If your poor its because you didnt take advantage of what I know is a free education under Bush. I had to pay every dime for mine, no freebies here as many others have.
There should be ZERO welfare, only should be given to those who have EARNED it if they need it, but no, if you have been anything close to being successful in your life you will never see a freebie handout, but if your a loser laze bag you can have it handed to you.
We now have produced a 4th generation group of losers.
Has anyone ever seen a skinny welfare taker? Not me!
Every single welfare taker should be forced to go out an pick up trash, spread gravel, wip weeds or anything to EARN their food and keep.
I am sick of feeding, housing and clothing lazy people out of my paycheck.
Too many ways to make money in this country to be poor. Way too many.
The people who are jealous of people with alittle money should wake up because most RICH people will pay you to do things they dont want to do. Easy money for ya!
If a man can show up in Florida with 500.00 and a pickup truck and turn a lawcare business into worth over a million in a few short years then you can to.
If a man can move to Tampa Florida and start washing windows and do over 100k per year then you can to.
If a man in Ohio can sell T Shirts and socks at a weekend flea market in Cincinnati and make 1000 per weekend so can you.
I a lady can make candles on the side "after work" and grow her business to having 8 full time employees and make 75k per year profits so can you.
If a lady can sell junk on ebay and make 3000 per month profit from working at home you can to.
These are just a "few" people I know personally and there are lots more can do this, then so can the lazy butted poor people who shoudnt be on a computer website whining, they should be creating something or working.
If you poor get the heck of the computer and find another job !
This conversation has deteriorated substantially. Poor people are poor for many reasons. Unfortunately poverty is often perpetuated by uneducated or undereducated dropouts brought up in poverty who have numerous children out of wedlock despite all the social, educational, and financial programs to prevent it. Too many people in poverty remain in poverty as a result of drug and alcohol problems leading to brief encounters and relationships which often result in a new life being born into poverty. Most often the child doesn't have the benefit of ever knowing who was their father.
Many of the problems of poverty can not be solved with money, governmental programs, or even the best educational programs available without addressing the root cause of what is really necessary for most people to break the poverty cycle: family, love, safety, values, and education. Without these core components it's an uphill battle.
I have always found Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs to be true. Many of the components I stated are related to his works.
This conversation has deteriorated substantially. Poor people are poor for many reasons. Unfortunately poverty is often perpetuated by uneducated or undereducated dropouts brought up in poverty who have numerous children out of wedlock despite all the social, educational, and financial programs to prevent it. Too many people in poverty remain in poverty as a result of drug and alcohol problems leading to brief encounters and relationships which often result in a new life being born into poverty. Most often the child doesn't have the benefit of ever knowing who was their father.
Many of the problems of poverty can not be solved with money, governmental programs, or even the best educational programs available without addressing the root cause of what is really necessary for most people to break the poverty cycle: family, love, safety, values, and education. Without these core components it's an uphill battle.
I have always found Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs to be true. Many of the components I stated are related to his works.
I agree, to an extent. It may be an uphill battle, but its not impossible because many of us have achieved under the same conditions. They don't need excuses, they need encouragement and a little tough love.
I worked in the Telecommunications field. At the age of 14 I received Comp TIA A+ certification and at 16 completed Cisco Network Academy via online correspondence for my CCNA all while attending high school. My parents divorced when I was 16, and I ended up living in my vehicle which I could not maintain. I racked up $8,000 in fines which at 23, between voluntary jail time and payment plans, I am still working to pay off. I was kicked out of school on a drug distribution charge and put immediately in jail from class. The drug was an empty bottle of vitamin supplements in the back window of my car that I was taking to combat my poor nutrition and lack of sleep.
I have recently just turned 23 years old. I had been laid off until today for 2 months since Christmas with no notification. I filed unemployment last week and applied and received my first food stamps yesterday. Today I was fired. It is hard being young to find good work in my field at decent pay. It always requires national travel. I am poor, have been and will continue to be most likely until I go to college. Due to a myriad of reasons I do not qualify for FAFSA funding and because of credit debt up to my eyeballs trying to stay afloat, refuse to see the sense in getting a student loan to payoff after graduation when it is so hard to pay the debt that I currently have.
I am not lazy.
I feel trapped and angry.
I have made a personal decision not to procreate because of the burden and weight I feel from an overbearing class system and the fear of not being able to provide for my child.
Qualifying for unemployment is looking sketchy. I may have to appeal, even if I don't, I am still looking at a 3 week wait from today before I receive any money. The food stamps are helping, but it took 4 times of driving 30 miles (gas cost) to receive them. 3 times I was denied. The 4th and final time I dressed ridiculously and acted "high" and incompetent and received emergency benefits on the spot.
I do not, have not, will not do drugs. I have morals. I am not lazy. I am using government programs. I focus until tears to make the most of my limited resources and channel my anger into constructive ends to try to make my life better.
It is not getting easier.
This is not an example of the use of hyperbole.
Why am I poor? Extrapolate.
If there are 100 seats available on a train whose rails lead to a better life and 300 potential travelers, whose job is it to make a better train?
I worked in the Telecommunications field. At the age of 14 I received Comp TIA A+ certification and at 16 completed Cisco Network Academy via online correspondence for my CCNA all while attending high school. My parents divorced when I was 16, and I ended up living in my vehicle which I could not maintain. I racked up $8,000 in fines which at 23, between voluntary jail time and payment plans, I am still working to pay off. I was kicked out of school on a drug distribution charge and put immediately in jail from class. The drug was an empty bottle of vitamin supplements in the back window of my car that I was taking to combat my poor nutrition and lack of sleep.
I have recently just turned 23 years old. I had been laid off until today for 2 months since Christmas with no notification. I filed unemployment last week and applied and received my first food stamps yesterday. Today I was fired. It is hard being young to find good work in my field at decent pay. It always requires national travel. I am poor, have been and will continue to be most likely until I go to college. Due to a myriad of reasons I do not qualify for FAFSA funding and because of credit debt up to my eyeballs trying to stay afloat, refuse to see the sense in getting a student loan to payoff after graduation when it is so hard to pay the debt that I currently have.
I am not lazy.
I feel trapped and angry.
I have made a personal decision not to procreate because of the burden and weight I feel from an overbearing class system and the fear of not being able to provide for my child.
Qualifying for unemployment is looking sketchy. I may have to appeal, even if I don't, I am still looking at a 3 week wait from today before I receive any money. The food stamps are helping, but it took 4 times of driving 30 miles (gas cost) to receive them. 3 times I was denied. The 4th and final time I dressed ridiculously and acted "high" and incompetent and received emergency benefits on the spot.
I do not, have not, will not do drugs. I have morals. I am not lazy. I am using government programs. I focus until tears to make the most of my limited resources and channel my anger into constructive ends to try to make my life better.
It is not getting easier.
This is not an example of the use of hyperbole.
Why am I poor? Extrapolate.
If there are 100 seats available on a train whose rails lead to a better life and 300 potential travelers, whose job is it to make a better train?
There's a difference between being poor and being broke... given your age and skills, I doubt this is a permanent situation for you.
I had about 10k in credit card and student loan debt when I was a little younger than you. I had no car, couldn't find a job, etc. The whole drug charge thing is unfortunate... I hate the zero tolerance bs that schools feel the need to shove down everyone's throat... and I hate how the government feels they have the right to tell a person what they may and may not consume. I can see how if this is on your adult record that you can have a hard time finding a job.
But don't lose hope. Not all jobs require travel, and for those that do, if it's paid for by the employer, do it while you're young and not married. A+ and CCNA won't carry you too far now, but focus on skills that you can learn at home with little money. Throw together a linux box and learn the ins and outs of Apache, Samba, and NFS. Install Asterisk and some SIP softphones and delve into IP telephony. Learn Perl or Python for writing scripts, or PHP for web programming. All of these skills will put you into positions with higher demand. As many doors as college can open up, the cost could be a huge waste for you right now. I still don't have a degree and it hasn't mattered... and if I want one, my company will pay for me to go to school. Focus on the marketable skills and I bet you can put school on the back burner and let someone else pay for it in a few years.
While it's not much fun, doing work on the side can help you get though the lean times. Put up flyers at the grocery stores, put an ad on craigslist, give a free intro training class at a senior center to drum up business for more advanced training or work.
I'm not trying to be mean or cold with my suggestions... I was in a similar situation (minus the bogus drug charge) less than 10 years ago. I just know from first hand experience that while it's not easy, you can be in a much better place given some focus and a bit of luck. Just don't lose hope. If you want to chat in more detail shoot me a PM... I don't want to bore the folks here with too much geekspeek.
Good advice twojaiac. I would also suggest advertising as a Cisco tech to small businesses who don't want to pay $150-$300/hr to a large company for router/switch support. Having Cisco knowledge at a decent price is more important to them than any college degree. Be resourceful and creative and things can turn around. Don't depend upon taxpayers. If you need help, go to your local organizations,churches, families, and friends. They can better help you than the government.
It took me 4 months of constant searching and at least 50 applications to get their call back. I should have known where this would go when I found out they did not drug test.
Although I can carve out a living the way you mentioned twojciac, it does get difficult when the work just doesn't seem to be coming (though having tread the course, im sure you understand). I have worked like this in the past and am now preparing to do so again. I am going to start today by looking for smaller computer companies in my area who might contract my work. The idea of volunteering by the way is something I had not really thought about. Excellent idea.
In the past 3 weeks I have applied for roughly 25 positions in my field without a single call back. I feel they do not see how I can do the work without a pedigree. I have started to feel there is no other hope right now for genuine stability other than college or (as I am asked to believe) military service. However, it is nice knowing how far twojciac has traveled. I will abruptly cut this short seeing how I am failing miserably at being concise.
I have to say this. I have no problem helping someone who has fallen on hard times get back on their feet. They say something like 80% of Americans are a pay check away from bankruptcy (I can't remember the exact number).
I think at some point most people need a little help to stay above water.
Prole-keep your head up, this too shall pass and you will be better for it. Most of us have been in similar positions. I assure you if you keep pushing people will see your drive and determination and see what an asset you are. You have no idea how hard it is to find people with drive and work ethic today.
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The joy of Food Stamps.
