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Have you ever tried to help poor people? Hunger is not that great a motivator.
All you have to do is look at 3rd world countries for more examples.
I disagree. I came from a third world country and I have been to many others myself. You would be amazed as what hunger can motivate people. Those people would take on break back jobs for pennies.
You actually don't need to look far. Just take a look at the illegal immigrants and the types of jobs they are doing.
Some people are too...I can only say stupid to do that.
FWIW, I worked with the public in a government capacity. A lot of the people in our country who go on public welfare programs for an extended period of time are not very bright and they need a lot of hand holding on simple things.
So my questions come from that perspective. There are a lot of people who won't help themselves because they don't know how to do so.
I have a friend (unemployed, single mom on welfare) with two college degrees and soon going back for a masters. She can't get a professional job because she is very ditzy and covered from head to toe in tattoos and piercings. She is 38 and still can't figure out why she is never hired despite going on countless interviews.
Some people are too...I can only say stupid to do that.
FWIW, I worked with the public in a government capacity. A lot of the people in our country who go on public welfare programs for an extended period of time are not very bright and they need a lot of hand holding on simple things.
So my questions come from that perspective. There are a lot of people who won't help themselves because they don't know how to do so.
Correct!
Unfortunate, the current welfare system does not provide much help in training these people to better help themselves. We have all observed how poor people make really bad choices. Not just life choices but also day to day. Anyone who denies this is a damn liar.
The problem of poverty cannot be solved by throwing money at it. That's what the current welfare system does, throwing money at it. Ignoring it, like how conservatives want to do, won't solve it either. Plenty of third world countries with no welfare system at all have extreme impoverished people.
Unfortunately, there aren't enough people with the will to solve the problem of poverty.
I'm liberal and agree with work requirements for all except the disabled. That said - are there jobs in Maine? My brother and his in-laws live in Maine, and it doesn't seem like there is enough work to go around outside of tourism season. Much of the state makes the bulk of their income in the summer. In the winter, aside from some skiing areas, there is not much work to go around. How does that work with this scheme?
We have friends who live in Maine. They owned a horse farm and it got to be too much work for the husband so they advertised for a manager. They could not get anyone. Nobody wanted to give up their "benefits". They offered a good salary and the job came with it's own apartment. They ended up having to sell the place.
I disagree. I came from a third world country and I have been to many others myself. You would be amazed as what hunger can motivate people. Those people would take on break back jobs for pennies.
You actually don't need to look far. Just take a look at the illegal immigrants and the types of jobs they are doing.
OK, you have a point. But that's not what I mean.
Let me rephrase. Hunger is a motivator for immediate decision based needs. But it is a terrible motivator for long term planning, or any kind of planning for that matter.
I came from a 3rd world country also. People may be motivated by hunger to do back breaking labor for pennies, but they will never be motivated to do any better.
We have friends who live in Maine. They owned a horse farm and it got to be too much work for the husband so they advertised for a manager. They could not get anyone. Nobody wanted to give up their "benefits". They offered a good salary and the job came with it's own apartment. They ended up having to sell the place.
They must not have been offering a reasonable salary. For the right salary people will do the job.
Much of Maine is very rural. It's likely that some rural people would have to drive an hour or so each way to get to an approved volunteer location. Being super poor, they might not have a car that's reliable enough to go that far for volunteer work, especially during Maine's winter. Maybe they don't even own a car. Then they'd have to walk to the volunteer location or get a ride from someone else.
There are some people that are so dirt poor that they really have these situations. It gets into the chicken/egg scenario. They don't have a job so no money for a car. But because they don't have a car they can't get to a job. They need the car to get a job but need money to get the car. I have seen posters here on city-data with this exact dimemma. They were searching for jobs but didn't have a car to get to work and didn't have money to buy a car. Many were young adults/just starting out in life.
You can bet that some of these people in this exact scenario just got their food stamps cut off. How they get themselves out of that perpetual hole, who knows. When you live in a rural area, if you don't have a car, you are pretty much stuck. City people have it much easier because of public transportation and because easier to walk to businesses due to less open space.
Max food stamp allotment for 1 person is $194/mo.
Thank your lucky stars you aren't dirt poor and stuck in a rut.
Thank you for explaining to all these clueless people what's going on in their own country.
America is a finely-tuned machine, that is set to propel some, and to finish others off - yes it's set this way, and those that think otherwise are just that - clueless.
I have a friend (unemployed, single mom on welfare) with two college degrees and soon going back for a masters. She can't get a professional job because she is very ditzy and covered from head to toe in tattoos and piercings. She is 38 and still can't figure out why she is never hired despite going on countless interviews.
I actually know a couple of this type. They use their lives to make a statement that there's nothing wrong with their appearance.
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