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It is articles like these that reinforce the lack of compassion I feel for people who CAN work but choose to live off the work of others instead. (As always, I want to make it clear my lack of compassion does NOT extend to poor children or to people who would LIKE to work but can't because of an indisputable disability. I do feel very sorry for those people.)
And, obviously, if people would rather go without "food stamps" than work or do something that will increase their chances of finding a job, they are not actually going hungry.
They probably Did the Math and decided that working for an effective 'wage' of $2 per hour wasn't worthwhile. You wouldn't take a job that pays $2 per hour but these people are to blame if they don't?
They probably Did the Math and decided that working for an effective 'wage' of $2 per hour wasn't worthwhile. You wouldn't take a job that pays $2 per hour but these people are to blame if they don't?
I think you are looking at it the wrong way. First, before i continue, we are not talking about people with kids. So, speaking for myself, if I were a single adult, I would not like it, but I WOULD (1) take a minimum wage job (or two or three of them) if that was the only work I could get, (2) take a roommate to split the rent and utilities, and (3) I would take the bus or ride my bike (lots cheaper than owning a car), if it was a choice of either that or being on "food stamps."
(As a matter of fact, I DID do this for several years as a young adult, and so did many others I knew.)
I think you are looking at it the wrong way. First, before i continue, we are not talking about people with kids. So, speaking for myself, if I were a single adult, I would not like it, but I WOULD (1) take a minimum wage job (or two or three of them) if that was the only work I could get, (2) take a roommate to split the rent and utilities, and (3) I would take the bus or ride my bike (lots cheaper than owning a car), if it was a choice of either that or being on "food stamps."
(As a matter of fact, I DID do this for several years as a young adult, and so did many others I knew.)
Well, it's not easy to ride your bike in Maine in the dead of winter. In fact, I would say it's almost impossible. And, Maine is very rural. Many places have no access to a bus system, or the bus system that exists does not get them to where they need to go.
However, 1 and 2 can be done. The fact is, people were freeloading, and now that the state has stated "no more", the drop in benefits IS telling. They weren't calling Maine the "welfare state" for no reason. Nonetheless, the big problem in Maine is that it is not easy to get a job. There ARE jobs, anyone saying that there are no jobs is full of it, but GETTING those jobs is not easy. I'm college educated, I have skills, and it still took me a long time to find one single full time job there. My first two years there were about working as many part time jobs as I could find.
Maine is not a business friendly state. And then you have the issue of anyone moving up to Maine facing the "from away" discrimination. (That is a strong word, but it happens.) If you are from Maine, your family has been in Maine since someone even thought of the name "Maine", then you can find work. If you don't have family that has been there for the last 500 years, it's a little harder.
Nonetheless, work can be found. It's not easy, I will attest to this. It's not fun, I will attest to that, as well. If you don't have a car, it's damn near impossible to find work because everything is so spread out. Heck, when my car broke, that was the end of my job 65 miles away. I had to find a way to make my own living...turned out to be a blessing, but not everyone can do that - they don't have the skills, nor the money for a high speed connection OR they don't live in an area that even offers a high speed connection to the internet to be able to do work for themselves.
It is good that they are cutting down on freeloaders, no argument there, but they also need to address the job situation. The problem is, they want jobs, but they don't want a single thing to change in their state.
3/4 of all SNAP recipients earn income. Most welfare recipients are already WORKING.
So you have no problems with the program being it effects so few people and still satisfies the republicans, excellent. This sounds like something both sides can agree on, lets see more of these laws.
So you have no problems with the program being it effects so few people and still satisfies the republicans, excellent. This sounds like something both sides can agree on, lets see more of these laws.
Not true. Democrats are threatened by people leaving welfare(as they have nothing else to offer besides other peoples money), they are fighting this tooth and nail.
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This Is What Happened When Maine Forced Welfare Recipients To Work For Their Benefits…
