OceanAnnie
I guess I have a thing against
- Joined
- May 5, 2004
You aren't alone.
NC welfare recipients can buy booze and tobacco products with taxpayer money
- Thread starter TuTu4U
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You aren't alone.
Dasani's story was powerful. Thank-you for sharing.
Yes. Powerful. Two unemployed parents that choose to sleep and do drugs all day with 7 children. I read the story and was not moved at all. I was disgusted that the government just hands those people money. The cycle is never going to end.
I like how Dasani already uses racial slurs at the age of 11. Poor kid. She is off to a very bad start and welfare is not helping her one bit. The only thing that is going to help these people is if they stop giving birth to babies they don't love enough to take care of.
Seven kids? Lordy, Lordy.
ETA:
There are some great comments in the Comment Section of that story. Here are a few that are perfect+++
D"ramatic changes in aid need to be instituted. When you apply, you are basically saying that you can't care for yourself. If that's the case, than I think you should be treated as such. Birth control, drug testing, diet control should be mandatory until such a time that you are back on your feet. People (like the parents in the article) have no reason to be responsible for anything, and people argue that we need to do more for them"
"Does it pull on our heart strings? Yes. But making us emotional doesn't change the fact that for whatever reason, giving people "free" money isn't working. I'm a 21 year old from Brooklyn. I work hard from 9-6 at a business firm, and attend SUNY night college for my Bach.'s . I make a little over $30,00/year, on which I pay an astonishingly high (to me) 20% in taxes. I don't qualify for financial aid, or anything remotely government related- food stamps, welfare or a free cellphone (as Dasani's stepfather).
Many readers will feel that the "rich" must be taxed more. But why do I deserve to be punished for working hard, so that I can create a future? Why do the people who are really trying, who aren't wasting money on gold teeth, deserve to suffer because Dasani's parents don't work? And why are my taxes going towards Dasani's parent's drug addiction or cellphone, when my own city refuses to give me financial aid for my education because I "make too much"?
leebee
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 14, 1999
So any suggestions on what to do instead of helping financially and hoping somehow the kids survive? Take the kids (current and subsequent) and put them into the foster care system? You're still paying for it. Leave the kids and the parents alone until the kids become victims of sexual predators, drug lords, or just starve to death in the streets?
So you missed the part where the father lost his first wife and ended up homeless because he couldn't work. Where the mother was raised in poverty surrounded by drugs. Where the kids sleep on rusted mattresses and are afraid to use the bathroom alone. Where the government doesn't provide the basic services they are legally requires to so that people can get off welfare. Where the kids are traveling almost two hours to attend school at the school they started in.
But I guess if you only want to see the bad that is what you will see.
No I didn't miss it at all. I read it.
He (Supreme) was a barber. He is still able to work. He still cuts hair. He just works under the table so he doesn't have to pay taxes. And then he spends his money on what ever they want. I would bet my bottom dollar it is spent on drugs, alcohol and cigarettes.
Did you read how they get close to $2500 a month cash just handed to them? They live for free and the kids get free breakfast and lunches. He works under the table and the mom refuses to work.
Yet they have tons of children and gold teeth.
My suggestion? Mandatory birth control. Will never happen, but it is the only solution to people who are not able to take care of children, but feel they must continue to have them.
leebee
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 14, 1999
It really is not pot stirring. Many people feel this way. Read the comments on the NYT page.
I think most woman that can't provide for their children would feel great relief to gain control over their reproduction. Do you really think destitute women want to have baby after baby and watch them suffer? Do you think they enjoy seeing their babies sleeping in feces covered mattresses like in the story?
lsyorke
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2002
Pretty much covers it!
Lets see minimum wage in NYC is $8 an hour. So if she worked 40 ours a week she may bring home $1400 a month, before taxes. Add in day care expenses, she is actually losing money working. That's if she could find a job because as a homeless woman she is not exactly easily employable. One of those problems with the current welfare system. Want people to work but they are only eligible to work minimum wage jobs that would mean cutting off benefits.
Many states do not cover birth control under medicaid.
Its easy to look on the outside and judge. Its easy to say they should do this and that. I do it with my daughters birth mother but I haven't lived her life growing up in foster care, not knowing her mother, looking for someone anyone to hold onto. Are those parents perfect, heck no, but the relatively little money spent on them is a cost I am willing to bear so that the kids have a chance, at least over tax breaks for corporations making billions and billion a year.
I see a kid determined to get out of the cycle. Determined to get to school (and get her siblings to school). Determined to find a way to make money honestly.
You seem very kind. But, working is not even on their radar.
Their children are sleeping next to buckets full of urine and feces. But, when they get their $2000+ in free government money, the parents run to the pawn shop to reclaim gold teeth because "They feel the sudden, exquisite release born of wearing those gold fronts again."
Believe me, these aren't parents torn about finding proper daycare for their kids if they go back to work. Their kids sleep next to poo because the parents don't feel like getting up and going to the shelter's restroom. Proper childcare while they work doesn't even register in their druggie brains.
Why doesn't one work nights and one work during the day? Because they DO NOT want to work.
They simply want to hang out at the mall or sleep. With 7+ kids?
These people will never change and, sadly, Dasani will turn out to be just like them. She's already slinging around racial slurs and fighting. Poor kid doesn't stand a chance.
Throwing government money at them so they can wear gold teeth and hang out at the mall? What is that fixing?
Colleen27
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2007
You aren't alone. I feel the exact same way.
I grew up around (my mom's a social worker) and eventually worked in the welfare system in one of America's poorest cities. Now I live on the outskirts of that same metro area, in a blue collar area that has been absolutely devastated by the Great Recession and the loss of manufacturing jobs. I couldn't begin to count how many friends and neighbors have received assistance in the last 5 years, and none of them are living it up or enjoying it at all. But when you have children to care for you do what you have to do, even if it means swallowing your pride and applying for welfare when unemployment runs out and there are still no job leads on the horizon.
Gumbo4x4
Note to the ladies who forgot to
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2012
I won't disagree, but it doesn't mean I'm willing to overlook the fraud. Shoot, the best benefit of ending the fraud would be ending the stereotype others don't deserve.
luvsJack
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2007
That great comment is bellyaching about financial aid that he doesn't qualify for due to more than one factor.
He doesn't qualify for financial aid because at 21 he is still considered dependent on his parents. Its not the 30000 a year, its the combination of that with the income of his parents. When he is 24, he will qualify.
I don't think anyone wants to overlook the fraud. It's just that currently there are many checks and balances in place that the percent of fraud on the bottom end is quite tiny - yes it happens, but it's such a small percent that the cost of micromanaging it from the bottom end will cost more than it will recoup. Now, fraud on the top end, is worth going after. Doctors who submit millions in billings for patients that haven't been treated or stores that accept SNAP paynents for non authorized items - that sort of thing. There are limited recourses for going after fraud. Financially, I would rather they focus the fraud investigation on the big fish. (which has been very aggressive and has made a difference in the form of millions) vs going after the small fish which hasn't made much of a difference.
Example: look at how much states that tried the drug testing on welfare recipients spent on the testing vs. what they recouped. All that did was prove that a very small percent of recipients actually used drugs. And the only one who made out was the drug testing companies.
CandleontheWater
Forever in love with Hathaway Browne
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2007
The only way to definitely eliminate fraud would be to bring back the workhouse, where poor people are allowed access to only the most basic essentials required for life. Of course, this also strips them of their basic human dignity, but that is OK because they are "poor" and not worthy. It will also teach them their proper place, which is to be grateful to the hard working masses.
seems like a really compassionate and viable alternative that everyone would be comfortable with, right .
seems like a really compassionate and viable alternative that everyone would be comfortable with, right .
I live in NC.
I don't mind if someone collecting welfare buys some alcohol or even tobacco products. It would be a nightmare to control. I'd rather these things be done in moderation, but whaddya gonna do?
The one thing I DO mind: There is a convenience store I stop at frequently to get a bottle of water or a snack. On many occasions I see people paying for their purchases with food stamps and then purchasing LARGE amounts of lottery tickets.
I wouldn't mind a lottery rule that says if you win over a certain amount, say $100, in order to collect your name is searched on a database and if you are on government assistance you are ineligible to collect the prize.
Just my personal peeve.
I don't mind if someone collecting welfare buys some alcohol or even tobacco products. It would be a nightmare to control. I'd rather these things be done in moderation, but whaddya gonna do?
The one thing I DO mind: There is a convenience store I stop at frequently to get a bottle of water or a snack. On many occasions I see people paying for their purchases with food stamps and then purchasing LARGE amounts of lottery tickets.
I wouldn't mind a lottery rule that says if you win over a certain amount, say $100, in order to collect your name is searched on a database and if you are on government assistance you are ineligible to collect the prize.
Just my personal peeve.
Sounds like your friend, the RN, should get a different job.
Not sure why you would say that but yes she is about to retire, she has had it with a abuse she has to put up with.
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