No, we are not rich!!

[fakereadhed]

And lastly, if you legitimately qualify for an entitlement program, I think you are a fool to turn it down out of some sense of eliteness...do you think that a corporation would turn down a tax break or not take advantage of a loophole if it made them richer?

Corporations are not exactly my idea of good role models, especially when they are finding loopholes.

 

[MrsPete]

I am compassionate about it. And I know people are struggling in this economy. But she married him KNOWING he had no ambition. KNOWING he was content to work as little as he could get away with. KNOWING he had other issues. And then she CHOSE to have children with him.

I have a relative who fits this bill. Did she really think that a high school drop out with no work history and no job skills, a drug problem, and a criminal record was going to be able to provide her with a nice middle-class life?

Being family, I know for a fact he's had more opportunities than I ever had -- he just didn't take advantage of them. Okay, he isn't really smart, so the world of higher academics was probably never going to be an option, but he certainly has had other choices available to him.

 

[L107ANGEL]

I must be the only one who DOESN'T know someone "working the system." And I really doubt these stories of people rolling in it while working the system...I just don't see how their standard of living can really compare to someone working an honest job. If you are truly concerned about waste, look into defense contracts.

And lastly, if you legitimately qualify for an entitlement program, I think you are a fool to turn it down out of some sense of eliteness...do you think that a corporation would turn down a tax break or not take advantage of a loophole if it made them richer?

Interesting read!
Uhm, I don't think I DESERVE anything..... I would love to say I dont care about the second bolded
I do, however I think about more than this.
Sorry, but you don't take if just because its there right?

 

[MrsPete]

I must be the only one who DOESN'T know someone "working the system." And I really doubt these stories of people rolling in it while working the system...I just don't see how their standard of living can really compare to someone working an honest job.

I know a couple people who fit this bill, and you're right that they don't have as much as a middle-class family, but they ARE living as well as the working poor. No, better than the working poor because they have the benefit of all their free time. I'm not saying I'd want to change places with them -- not for a minute -- but it does make you mad to go to work every day, economize every way you can, and see other people getting by without bothering.

Often ignorance goes along with "working the system"; for example, the wife in the post I described above doesn't cook. Doesn't cook. Maybe they have some crackers or sandwich makings in the house. If they have money, they eat fast food. If they don't have money, they show up at a relative's house and hope for a meal. If they can't manage one of these things, they don't eat. And they have two small children. Family members have offered to show her how to cook simple, inexpensive things, but she "doesn't like that kind of food".

Also, many of these people have help coming in -- at least sporatically -- from family members, help that vaults them above their means at least temporarily. The family I was describing was GIVEN a house by a relative. Without that, they'd be homeless.

 

[Muushka]

I must be the only one who DOESN'T know someone "working the system." And I really doubt these stories of people rolling in it while working the system...I just don't see how their standard of living can really compare to someone working an honest job. If you are truly concerned about waste, look into defense contracts.

And lastly, if you legitimately qualify for an entitlement program, I think you are a fool to turn it down out of some sense of eliteness...do you think that a corporation would turn down a tax break or not take advantage of a loophole if it made them richer?

Call my husband a fool. When he got laid off in 93 they were offering reimbursement for retraining/college . He opted to pay for 2 years college himself, not taking the money. And trust me, we are not wealthy. It has to do with not taking every single free thing that comes down the pike. At the time I thought he was nuts, but soon I understood why he did it.

Fool? Maybe, but not to me. Elitist? nope.

 

[acejka]

As someone who has been on the system and knows plenty of folks on the system, I can say that it is a tremendous amount of wasted money that's only function is handicapping people.

I was on there for about a year after I had my child. I knew it was not a way of life I wanted for myself or a mentality that I wanted to pass on to my daughter(as it does tend to become a pattern). I used every resource available to me through the government(and there were tons) to go back to school and start a career.

It's flawed in the sense that as soon as I started working and trying to get on my feet everything stopped.....every dime. I don't understand why it's not set-up more to help people make ends meet than to fully support grown, able-bodied people. They give way more stamps than are necessary to provide for the families. Every person I know that receives stamps (friends and family members) sell hundreds of them every month. They're not on drugs, that's just spending money. Some states have the free cell phone, which I don't understand. I can see a discount or free landline, but a cell phone. The folks I know with those phones, give them to their kids and the mother has her blackberry or droid. There are foreign owned stores that will accept ebt for minutes on your phone, alcohol, cigs, whatever... they just ring it up like you purchased groceries. I have friends that live totally rent free,don't work but have either a drug dealing boyfriend living with them or a man working a legal job with them. The point is that there is income coming in there that is not being counted. So these people are living rent free, getting free phone service, free food, a utilty check, and free healthcare. At the end of the year, they let various folks claim their kids on their tax returns and get thousands of dollars that way. I went to a local tech school my first two years and there were people that made a career of going to school. The government puts no limits on achieving AA degrees, so you would have people that would just keep coming back because between the balance from the Pell and other programs offered for low-income families they would receive thousands of dollars each semester to spend how they pleased. I know women that are married with both parents working and have went to DSS and said their husband left them just to get benefits. The scams are neverending. The scammers don't think it's a big deal because they think the government is this entity with an infinte supply of money, they don't think about the hard working folks that are not only supporting their own family but having to support all these other dead beat folks and their children too.

And the comments about these people not enjoying living in poverty....there are some folks that truly don't have anything but a lot of these people wear name brand clothes, both them and their kids have NICE cell phones, they have nicely furnished residences, nice cars, carry $200 purses, have flat screen tvs throughout the house, computers with internet service, etc. These people are not living badly. Why would they work when they know their needs will be met by the "government"? The problem is that they have come to expect other people to provide their necessities so they can spend their money how they please.

There is no reason these people can't work somewhere, doing something. Childcare and transportation to and from work is provided. So what's the problem? If they're not working, make them do some type of community service..... I bet you'd see more of them going to work. And I think they should stop increasing benefit amounts after 2 children. Why keep having children you can't afford? I stopped at one, because I knew that's all I could afford as a single mother. Birth control is free, so there's no excuse. I don't mind helping people that are trying to help themselves but all this money being spent to keep up lazy people can be going to meet other important national needs.

I agree.

I worked with a couple of girls who lived off the system. Yes they came to work, but they stated that if they didn't "the state would make me stay home with those 3 kids all day, and I need to get away from them" UM HELLO should have kept your legs closed after number 1 if you can't stand having them like you claimed. I tried reporting her, got nowhere. She also told me that she hoped she didn't get any promotions or raises because that means she will have to start paying some rent-funny she was paying nothing while my DH and I were working our butts off to pay 1750 on a 2 bedroom place and who's "man" had all high end name brand clothes, and a brand new car with rims? It certainly wasn't mine. She'd also go online and order purses and shoes from coach and have them delivered and then say they never showed up because UPS left them on her doorstep in a bad neighborhood, and she refuses to pay for something
that got stolen... meanwhile she was in brand new coach shoes and purses. Her kids were in jordans I think (the shoes that rappers wear) UM they were 4 2 and and infant! Why do they need those??

I could go on and on and on... these are just the highlights she would brag about. Couldn't get her reported anywhere. It was sick.

And *I* was the rich one just because I choose to save and work on my debt instead of ignoring it.

UGH. my vent over.

 

[Free4Life11]

Interesting read!
Uhm, I don't think I DESERVE anything..... I would love to say I dont care about the second bolded
I do, however I think about more than this.
Sorry, but you don't take if just because its there right?

I don't think I deserve anything either, but if the government says I qualify for something, why wouldn't I take it to better my life? The only thing I ever really got was a (small) Pell grant and subsidized Stafford loans...of course I took them! And now I've graduated, have a good paying job which in turn means I pay higher taxes, and society benefits. Look at taxes....there are so many entitlmeents and nobody bats an eye, child tax credit? You bet that's en entitlement, but nobody I know would turn it down.

I don't mean take take take just because it's there, I mean take what you qualify for so that you can better yourself and your family's life!

As far as corporations, their goal is to maximize profit for shareholders. But my point was more....everyone knocks the single baby mama drama on food stamps, but I imagine all the baby mama's combined are small potatoes compared to all the corporate shenanigans they pull to reduce the taxes they pay.

I'm not saying I'd want to change places with them -- not for a minute -- but it does make you mad to go to work every day, economize every way you can, and see other people getting by without bothering.

I just can't see being mad over it. If anything I think it's pathetic to not want to better your life when you have the opportunity to do so.

Call my husband a fool. When he got laid off in 93 they were offering reimbursement for retraining/college . He opted to pay for 2 years college himself, not taking the money. And trust me, we are not wealthy. It has to do with not taking every single free thing that comes down the pike. At the time I thought he was nuts, but soon I understood why he did it.

Everyone is free to do what they want, but I can't understand doing this. If it made him feel better, then good for him, but to me it's just not logical.

 

[wvjules]

Everyone is free to do what they want, but I can't understand doing this. If it made him feel better, then good for him, but to me it's just not logical.

Ditto. That's a head scratcher for me.

 

[AmberHeartsDisney]

im not rich either, we save for what we want

 

[Muushka]

snip...


Everyone is free to do what they want, but I can't understand doing this. If it made him feel better, then good for him, but to me it's just not logical.

It isn't a matter of not taking what you may or may not deserve to feel good. It is doing the right thing. We were not destitute. I was working full time at the time and we simply could afford the tuition and books at that time (state university, not too $$$$ of course, taxpayer funded, as I look back ).

And as our national debt goes up more and more, I really hope that people will be able to take an honest look at how they accept government aid. From social security to the government funding sporting venues (how the heck did that happen?) to the war effort (that has got to stop) to large extravagant education venues (that LA school that was built to the tune of more than half a billion dollars) to billions of dollars for trains that will not be used by many to out of control unions and their high pensions (oh good, more future debt!) and premier health plans. All of these things cost money. And the tax payer is getting fed up. And believe me, if they think taxing the "rich" will make everything all better, they need to be prepared for a very rude awakening.

 

[AmberHeartsDisney]

my friend posted this on facebook and i know its kind of off topic but kind of not?

"Dear Mr. President:
During my shift in the Emergency Room last night, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient whose smile revealed an expensive shiny gold tooth, whose body was adorned with a wide assortment of elaborate and costly tattoos, who wore a very expensive brand of tennis shoes and who chatted on a new cellular telephone equipped with a popular R&B ringtone.


While glancing over her patient chart, I happened to notice that her payer status was listed as "Medicaid"! During my examination of her, the patient informed me that she smokes more than one pack of cigarettes every day, eats only at fast-food take-outs, and somehow still has money to buy pretzels and beer. And, you and our Congress expect me to pay for this woman's health care? I contend that our nation's "health care crisis" is not the result of a shortage of quality hospitals, doctors or nurses. Rather, it is the result of a "crisis of culture" a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on luxuries and vices while refusing to take care of one's self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance. It is a culture based in the irresponsible credo that "I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me". Once you fix this "culture crisis" that rewards irresponsibility and dependency, you'll be amazed at how quickly our nation's health care difficulties will disappear.

Respectfully,
ROGER STARNER JONES, MD

In our "culture" its ok to not do the things you should and get something "free" out of the deal. I only posted the whole story because i thought the quote might not makes sense with out it

 

[Muushka]

Ditto. That's a head scratcher for me.

My friend and I were discussing income tax. She stated that everyone cheats on their taxes. I said that we didn't.

That was a head scratcher for her too.

 

[wvjules]

My friend and I were discussing income tax. She stated that everyone cheats on their taxes. I said that we didn't.

That was a head scratcher for her too.

Cheating on taxes is a whole different ball game than accepting a benefit that has been offered to you.

 

[Free4Life11]

Interesting article on MSNBC today

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39211644/ns/us_news-life

Record number of Americans living in poverty

WASHINGTON — The number of people living in poverty in America rose by nearly 4 million to 43.6 million in 2009 — the largest figure in the 51 years for which poverty estimates are available — the Census Bureau said Thursday.

The bureau said in a statement that the official poverty rate was 14.3 percent, or 1 in 7 of Americans, the highest proportion of the population since 1994.

The poverty rate for under-18s rose from 19.0 percent in 2008 to 20.7 percent in 2009, but fewer people 65 and older were in poverty, with the percentage rate falling from 9.7 percent in 2008 to 8.9 percent in 2009.

 

[rszdtrvl]

Wow!

I find it incredibly hard to believe that my vent on the BUDGET board about a family member who constantly calls us rich because we work hard for what we have, has turned into such a crazy chaotic thread.

This is bewildering.

 

[wvjules]

Wow!

I find it incredibly hard to believe that my vent on the BUDGET board about a family member who constantly calls us rich because we work hard for what we have, has turned into such a crazy chaotic thread.

This is bewildering.

No, this is the CB and that's how we roll.

 

[ols386]

I hate our welfare system. I work 12 hour days watching kids(daycare provider,36 years), and I see the fraud all the time. I am watching kids now and the parents do NOT work.I have reported this and nothing is done about it. I know of two people , just had a baby, on welfare and the system fixed their cars so they could go job hunting. 6 months later they still have not gone job hunting. I report things all the time and no one seems to care. It makes me just livid.

Who do you report it to?

 

[rszdtrvl]

I guess now it is :

 

[Free4Life11]

Wow!

I find it incredibly hard to believe that my vent on the BUDGET board about a family member who constantly calls us rich because we work hard for what we have, has turned into such a crazy chaotic thread.

This is bewildering.

Oh come on, these debates are fun...just like the good ol' days! This isn't even close to being chaotic...

 

[Mimi1965]

A vent :

Yes, we work hard.
Yes, we pay our bills on time.
Yes, we have money in our savings account.
Yes, we budget.

However, we are not rich. We work very hard for what we have. And your attitude for not giving you money when you don't work is not appreciated.

Vent over.

our relatives work , but are still envious and ask for loans