Put me in charge of food stamps. I’d get rid of Lone Star cards; no cash for Ding Dongs or Ho Ho’s, just money for 50-pound bags of rice and beans, blocks of cheese and all the powdered milk you can haul away. If you want steak and frozen pizza, then get a job.
Bag of Rice
Pot of Beans
Put me in charge of Medicaid. The first thing I’d do is get women Norplant birth control implants or tubal ligations. Then, we’ll test all recipients for drugs, alcohol, and nicotine and document all tattoos and piercings. If you want to reproduce or use drugs, alcohol, smoke, or get tats and piercings, then get a job.
Put me in charge of government housing. Ever live in a military barracks? You will maintain our property in a clean and good state of repair. Your “home” will be subject to inspections anytime and possessions will be inventoried. If you want a plasma TV or Xbox 360, then get a job and your own place.
In addition, you will either present a check stub from a job each week or you will report to a “government” job. It may be cleaning the roadways of trash, painting and repairing public housing, whatever we find for you to do. We will sell your 22 inch rims and low profile tires and your blasting stereo and speakers and put that money toward the “common good”.
Dodge Charger w/ 22" Rims
Before you write that I’ve violated someone’s rights, realize that all of the above is voluntary. If you want our money, accept our rules. Before you say that this would be “demeaning” and ruin their “self esteem”, consider that is wasn’t that long ago that taking someone else’s money for doing absolutely nothing was demeaning and lowered self esteem.
If we are expected to pay for other people’s mistakes we should at least attempt to make them learn from their bad choices. The current system rewards them for continuing to make bad choices.
Thanks for posting my letter. I wrote it as a letter to the editor at the Waco (Texas) Trib. My cousin (a Democrat) works on Ft Hood and a co-worker handed him his I-Phone and asked him to read a letter his brother in Mich had sent him. Half way through it he said “My cousin could have written this” and as he scrolled down he saw my name. It’s a small digital world.
I googled “Put me in charge” and found it on many sites. Thanks again for getting what I consider common sense out to the people.
Alfred W Evans
1SG, USA(Ret)
Gatesville, Texas
Respectfully submitted by SilenceDogood2010 this Twentieth First Day of December in the Year of our Lord, Two Thousand Ten.
It lessons my pain when I read comments such as yours. Working for a living is not criminal and the idea of it, should be re-enforced at every opportunity. A truly well stated piece.
Darn right I’ll vote to put that attitude (assuming it’s backed by commensurate actions) in charge.
Excellent points and much too practical to actually happen.
It’s heartening, and frustrating, to know that there so many fine American citizens who still believe in the principles that built a sound society only to be defeated by what’s become something slightly short of a criminal cartel that runs this country. And I don’t mean necessarily the government although the majority at the Federal level are in the least complicit.
As had been stated in various phrasings, “The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money. ”
The day is 80 years past and we are living in (with) the veracity of this assertion.
So the question seems how *do* we turn around an 80 year downward spiral of vote grabbing via entitlement bribery, started by no less then FDR that continues to this day, that panders to the least common denominator and thereby continually degrades America’s social structure?
My ancestors were quite conversant in how to treat tyranny; but that was 1776. What now?
Put me in charge of 21 year olds who think they know everything and have never walked a mile in those shoes but can dismiss people’s hardships with such a cold heart. What does she suggest the children (half of all aid recipients) do? She really should check her facts before she spouts off. Half of all families on government aid are off of it within one year. Another 20% are off by year two. 90% of families do not take assistance for more than 5 years. That means that for most of the years of their lives, people who receive assistance are working, like you and me, and paying taxes, like you and me, and hoping to never have to need assistance, like you and me. And yet, here they find themselves, maybe due to death, or injury, or illness, or a variety of other reasons So why is it that when they are working, “THEIR” money is going to fund these programs, but when they need assistance it’s “YOUR” money ??? Most people on assistance have paid into a system that now victimizes them when they use the system that they paid for !! WTF ??? Stop kicking the poor. they have a hard enough road to travel. If you know someone abusing the system, then TURN THEM IN because they suck and deserve to be prosecuted. And, 21 year old female, if you think that people receiving aid have it so well, then just try it. You could be living the good life that you imagine these people are leading. Start by getting a low paying job. Then save all you can to buy a T.V., then give it away. Remember, no alcohol, no soda, no chips, no tobacco, no car that is NOT a shitbox…..Oh 21 year old, you are too young to have no heart.
We have a constitution that allows people the right to the pursuit of happiness.
It doesn’t mean the government will take care of them, it doesn’t mean the government will give them free medical, dental, vision care, housing, food, vehicles or anything. It means they have the right to pursue these items and to be able to get a job and an education and improve themselves.
They want me to support them then I have the right to tell them where to spend my money and on what. Bag of rice, sounds good to me as does the rest of the letter by Mr. Evans.
Interesting…but, you need to open your eyes as to who really gets Medicaid, Food Stamps and Government housing.
Those who are disabled and can’t work or can work, but, can’t find a job, or have a job in a sheltered work place where they are allowed to be paid less than half of minimum wage make up a large precentage of those recieving Medicaid and Government subsidized housing.
The number of people who qualify for food stamps has skyrocket in the past few years. They include children whose parents are unemployed (have you heard about the lack of jobs out there?) or underemployed and the elderly on Social Security.
Should those that are sick or disabled or who can’t find a job or are working but can’t afford health insurance be deprived of what the rest of us can have? Should children whose parents are working, but, can’t find affordable housing be deprived of subsidized housing? Should grandma who has worked her whole life have to only eat rice and beans?
It’s nice to be healthy and have a good paying job and be able to sit back and dictate what the ever growing number of poor in this country should and shouldn’t have…but, it’s wrong IMO.
Oh…and if women on Medicaid have to be sterilized or have Norplants then those millions of baby’s daddy’s should be forced to have vasectomies and pay tons of child support.
People such as Obama’s Aunt and who I suppose now has won some kind of free pass but was an illegal alien living in public housing and who is very verbal about how America owes illegal aliens a living!
Yes I know there are disabled Veterans and other disabled persons, like my late uncle who had to be carefully taken care of by my grandmother who was never on assistance.
These people who come here to have their babies so they can have whatever they want because of the “anchor baby rule” (WHAT IDIOT DREAMED THAT ONE UP?)
Read up on how much ‘undocumented immigrants’ cost our city, state, county and federal government! Not just for welfare but for the housing of those who are in our prisons for crimes they have committed against U S citizens!
There are single mothers who scrape and do without a lot to go to school to train for better jobs and they are not on “public assistance’ either.
There is definitely a lot wrong with the system but the government has dug us into such a big hole that we are way over our heads in debt and they just keep printing more money!! If you or I did it, we’d be arrested for counterfeiting!
As with most liberals you totally missed the point. You use your “Tale Of Woe” as an excuse to make everyone subject to the almighty government.
What he said—and YOU ignored—was, if you have money for alcohol, you neither need nor deserve ours. If you have money for a big screen TV (something I cannot afford), you neither need nor deserve ours. If you have money for the latest nail styles and tattoos, you neither need nor deserve ours. If you have money for HoHos and Ding Dongs, you neither need nor deserve ours. If you have money for a drug habit, you neither need nor deserve ours. If you have money for the fanciest wheels and high end tires just to impress your “Homies”, you neither need nor deserve ours. NONE of those items are life sustaining (unless you’re a liberal) and therefore should NOT be even considered when someone else is picking up the tab!!
Wake up you lazy Marxist. You’re being duped big time. You’re what the Socialists call a “Useful Idiot” because you moan and cry for the poor, elderly and downtrodden while the system you’re using them to advocate for is taking you, me and everyone else to the cleaners and destroying our way of life.
(BTW, I have a friend who refuses to enter any casino in this country because he said he’s so fed up with having Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security thrown in his face as necessary for the elderly to survive and yet when you look at the average age of 90% of the people in casinos—IT’S THE ELDERLY!!!! So guess what, Donna, IF THEY HAVE MONEY TO LOSE IN LAS VEGAS, THEY NEITHER NEED NOR DESERVE OURS!!)
However, this is a free country. If YOU think they need it to survive, You feel free to write them a check OUT OF YOUR ACCOUNT!!! But to spend other people’s money like you are now is, by definition STEALING!!!! But then if liberals had any basic fundamental economic knowledge and an ounce of integrity you’d KNOW that. So little miss pious “holier than thou”, how about you answer for stealing from millions of people to support YOU and YOUR fellow lazy blood suckers’ habits.
Funny thing, Donna, He didn’t say one thing that I didn’t teach and apply to my own kids. I gladly paid for their ESSENTIALS. And they were taught that anything above and beyond that was THEIRS to pay for through their OWN EARNINGS!!! That is the values I taught my kids. What are you teaching yours? I’ll bet your values—or LACK thereof—don’t extend that far.
I’m betting your values are, just sit on your arse, don’t bother studying in school, be as lazy as you want and just vote for the right candidate and THEY will see that you get everything you want by taking it away from someone else who DID work and study.
I’m betting you’re piety doesn’t cover stealing, does it?
Put me in charge of 21 year olds who think they know everything and have never walked a mile in those shoes but can dismiss people’s hardships with such a cold heart. What does she suggest the children (half of all aid recipients) do? She really should check her facts before she spouts off. Half of all families on government aid are off of it within one year. Another 20% are off by year two. 90% of families do not take assistance for more than 5 years. That means that for most of the years of their lives, people who receive assistance are working, like you and me, and paying taxes, like you and me, and hoping to never have to need assistance, like you and me. And yet, here they find themselves, maybe due to death, or injury, or illness, or a variety of other reasons So why is it that when they are working, “THEIR” money is going to fund these programs, but when they need assistance it’s “YOUR” money ??? Most people on assistance have paid into a system that now victimizes them when they use the system that they paid for !! WTF ??? Stop kicking the poor. they have a hard enough road to travel. If you know someone abusing the system, then TURN THEM IN because they suck and deserve to be prosecuted. And, 21 year old female, if you think that people receiving aid have it so well, then just try it. You could be living the good life that you imagine these people are leading. Start by getting a low paying job. Then save all you can to buy a T.V., then give it away. Remember, no alcohol, no soda, no chips, no tobacco, no car that is NOT a shitbox…..Oh 21 year old, you are too young to have no heart.
i love the way racists hide behind their blogs and internet.
you did leave one thing out in your little blog of such great advice and all for your “white american good wayof life in your world”..that all of you racists should give up your easy money of the food stamps and welfare that you suck up with your beer and trailer payments and your furniture (lawn chairs you sit outside of those trailers with), your guns and ammo, oh and lets not forget how you and your relatives suck up those medicare, medicaid, disability and social security checks, but aren’t willing to give up….
that you don’t mind right? people like you are the true christian jackasses of the universe..and guess what? you will have to deal with the only one that matters when your lives end…good luck with that..
Maddie, I’m a minority and non-Christian…and I agree with the letter writer. Calling me a Christian jackass is only half correct.
While I agree that we should not demoralize or demean those who need assistance, the present system does just that. The welfare system is not properly structured, planned or administered. But then, name one govt admisinistered program that is. Many of these points could/should be built into that system.
Your post makes little sense beyond the usual clichés and “race-card” ramblings.
The presumption that those of us that can see that the system is completely broken and will ultimately bring down the entire country makes us racists begs justification.
As to the issue of Social Security while I consider that, too, to be a fantasy program (unsustainable) there is at least some degree of connection between how much you have paid in and the benefit you will receive.
If you want to make something more than an empty rambling of specious clichés please post a cogent argument, supported by fact and source, that the current welfare system:
1. Has in sum improved the lives and well being of the majority of the recipients.
2. Is financially sustainable by the government.
Good luck with this one because the obvious facts are neither can supported.
I am currently on the dole for unemployment, having worked previously for 28 years and only receiving benefits for one week before now, my employers contributing to the insurance fund, thousands, likely tens of thousands of dollars. So do I feel guilty about receiving unemployment, yes. Not because I haven’t contributed to unemployment insurance, but because an inept and corrupt government has mismanaged the money in these insurance accounts so badly that money must be borrowed, adding to the deficit to pay for my benefit.
Charity worked when it was that, “charity”. Government welfare programs, are little more than transfer of wealth schemes, mismanaged, corrupt at their core, and designed not to curtail abuse, but hide as much of it as possible. Any private charity can do far more with far less, but that isn’t the goal or intent.
Why is it wrong to expect that money given in charity for food, for someone supposedly unable to provide for themselves is spent on basic nutritious food needs, not what most who pay their own way consider a luxury? It matters not whether you are white, green, yellow, black or orange, Irish or African, Catholic or Hindu, everyone who applies for assistance should be willing to accept certain conditions.
On the issue of Medicaid, again, what’s the problem? I saw no mention of sterilization, simply voluntary compliance with birth control, while you are admittedly unable to financially able to care for a child. Sure you have the right to reproduce, and along with that comes the responsibility to care for your children, in all ways including financially. As for the testing, I agree. If you can come up with money for drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, tat’s, etc… then obviously you either don’t need as much assistance, or you have no concept of prioritizing your spending based on need rather than want, so by all means test.
Housing? You can tell a lot about a person’s pride by how they live. Some people, barely getting by, living in a mobile home park, maintain an immaculate home and yard, while I’ve seen relatively expensive homes which are a total disaster. There is no reason why those accepting public housing assistance should not be expected to maintain the property, they are allowed to live in for free or at subsidized rental prices. Possessions, again touch on the understanding of the difference between want and need. You may want a 55″ plasma tv, but as long as someone else is providing for your need, your want’s do not matter. Donna does bring up some possible exceptions to this, but there are people out there who aren’t disabled or unable to work, and they should be willing to sacrifice want’s until they can meet their own needs.
An accounting of the finances of those requesting assistance is certainly not unreasonable, and if you are able to work, there is no reason why you couldn’t provide labor to the government to offset your benefits when possible.
The post sums it up best at the end, for many people on the fringes, a safe, secure, though impoverished (by American standards) existence, is all they desire. Without incentive to better themselves and become self sufficient, they will happily live on government assistance for life. Having people be responsible for their actions, accounting for their time and finances, making choices between wants and needs, are all parts of life we all live with day to day. Why should we expect any less from those receiving public assistance?
Maddie said “lets not forget how you and your relatives suck up those medicare, medicaid, disability and social security checks, but aren’t willing to give up”
I began stating that I am receiving unemployment, part of an insurance program for this purpose that I paid into. My mother is on medicare and social security, again programs which were designed as benefit programs which you specifically paid into with the expectation of receiving benefits later. Medicare and SS are broken systems though, due to corruption and mismanagement, so I will say end them today! My mother can live with us, we can provide for her medical care. We can assume the responsibility. That’s what it boils down to, responsibility. Take care of yourself and those around you, don’t expect someone else, meaning society through social programs, to do it. Remove the government from the equation and give all of the money currently being squandered on government assistance programs to charities which will actually help those in need, not trap them and turn need into a career.
When I had to be on foodstamps,( I was divorced and yes I was working full time and going to school full time and I had 3 children and my ex paid $380 a month in child support)…I didn’t see one charity coming to my aid. I have no family to depend on…it’s just me and my kids.
Presently I’m almost 60…I’m widowed, sick and can’t work, but, do to having not worked in the past 5 years I don’t qualify for SSI or SSDI nor do I qualify for Social Security.
My house is paid off and I get a small amount from the VA as my husband was a disabled Vet. My disabled grown child lives with me and he works at Goodwill …making $4.25 an hour and gets $400 per month from SSI SSDI. He is on medicaid and medicare.
We have all paid into these programs. Our parents and aunts and uncles have paid into these programs. I think I’m the only one in the family that ever used any of the programs, but, I’m glad they were there when I needed them.
By the way…my son saved for almost a year to get a tattoo…one that honors his older brother who passed. I see nothing wrong with the needy saving to buy something they want. He also uses his money to pay for his Special Olympics events. Should he not be able to do those things in your eyes??
“When I had to be on foodstamps,( I was divorced and yes I was working full time and going to school full time and I had 3 children and my ex paid $380 a month in child support)…I didn’t see one charity coming to my aid. I have no family to depend on…it’s just me and my kids.”
Was it was a conscious decision to have 3 children? It is always conscious, unless religion or health reasons, prevent the use of contraception. Was it a conscious decision to divorce? Were there choices you made in your life which placed you in a job which couldn’t support your family? A learning disability would qualify as something beyond your control, but your writing belies that. I suppose you live in an area without community spirit. We have charities which do indeed help, but the simple fact remains that money which could be donated to charities, is confiscated by the government to be used for purposes it is inept at handling and wasteful of the dollars themselves. My point being that government is not a solution to charitable issues, which includes assistance for the needy. No family? Later in your response, you mention the parents, aunts and uncles who paid into the programs. Perhaps you are speaking more of the “depend” part. That goes along with the breakdown in family values, partially brought about by government intervention and manipulation of the family.
“Presently I’m almost 60…I’m widowed, sick and can’t work, but, do to having not worked in the past 5 years I don’t qualify for SSI or SSDI nor do I qualify for Social Security.”
I do have empathy for your situation. Widowed? Do I assume this was a spouse after the prior divorce, or the ex.? I don’t suppose you’d be a widow if divorced, so we will go with the second spouse. And you haven’t worked for 5 years. Did you work prior to that? Life Insurance? That gets back to the conversation about choices. Some would say, “I couldn’t afford life insurance”, but reality dictates, a policy with a reasonable death benefit, only costs the amount of a few “something special’s”. It all is dependent on priorities and choices made. I know this is an oversimplification, and may not apply in your situation, and if not, you deserve every bit of assistance you can get, but for many, especially the healthy, that is what it all boils down to, choices and priorities, with the expectation that society is required to pick up the slack, regardless.
“We have all paid into these programs. Our parents and aunts and uncles have paid into these programs. I think I’m the only one in the family that ever used any of the programs, but, I’m glad they were there when I needed them.”
I’d need a few specifics here to be sure which programs you are speaking of. Sure, Medicare and Social Security are, or at least were supposed to be funded by payroll deductions, but how are these others funded? General fund? If so, then the reality is that they are funded by deficit borrowing and the growing of the national debt. and enslavement of generations to come, just to pay the interest on the bill. Sure, there are other areas of government waste and abuse, which should be eliminated or at least the waste be eliminated, more so than these type of social welfare programs, but the original discussion is the one I’m responding to.
“By the way…my son saved for almost a year to get a tattoo…one that honors his older brother who passed. I see nothing wrong with the needy saving to buy something they want. He also uses his money to pay for his Special Olympics events. Should he not be able to do those things in your eyes??
Being disabled, if you are speaking of a learning disability, your son is an exception to any discussion of my and the original poster’s intent for responsibility in those receiving taxpayer funded benefits. However, if he were physically disabled, he should not be excepted from the responsibility of making intelligent choices and decisions, in caring for himself. Life is full of priorities. First you feed yourself and your family, then clothe and shelter yourself (which is priority?) Then you provide yourself a little something in reserve, for the time when the bad times hit. Only then do you consider the luxuries, regardless how large or small. It’s irresponsible to buy the TV, and expect someone else to buy the food.
My sincere wish for you is better health, your son living a full and happy life, and that you are able to financially get back on your feet. Until then, it sounds like you are the type of person that deserves assistance, but there are many others out there, unlike you, who are abusing the system.
Before anyone puts the Sgt down for his views, lets consider how many people are collecting fraudulently,
how long have they been on welfare, (generations in some cases), dependent children (one mother with multi absent fathers), women who have made a career having one baby after another to bolster the monthly check. If this make me a racist, please educate me, what’s wrong with the facts I’ve presented, then there is the question of illegals draining local and state treasuries. We need someone to draw a line, why shouldn’t welfare recipients be put on public works if able and available, why should these same people enjoy a higher standard than people who are working at minimal salary jobs paying their own way. There will always be indivuals requiring assistance, but not at todays numbers
I am upset by the packs of teenage girls who are getting pregnant and think having their babies are “free” Many of them have complicated deliveries and end up with c-sections, and weeks of hospitalization for their infants. I have seen, in one small community, more than 25 girls under 20 years old with one or two children who talk about the birth of their babies being free. They all get set up on the WIC, medicaid, free stuff band wagon and go for the ride. For some of the more ambitious, and they are few and far between, they also look at this as an opportunity to receive grants and assistance towards a college education and state that they will not get married until they are finished with college because it is “free”. The ones that I know that get family help, in the form of free housing, utilities, everything provided for their infants by family and friends, i.e. diapers, strollers, car seats, cribs, and clothing strive to not make anymore money than necessary so they won’t fall off the welfare rolls. I know of several people who had a fit when their children were taken off of MO. Healthnet because they had earned to much money, but have flat screen T.V.’s, Blue Ray DVD Players, multiple tattoos, credit card accounts, artificial nail and hair coloring appointments, and party almost every weekend. When are we going to wise up. As long as these benefits are given out with no strings attached more and more people are going to get on the band wagon. I am so frustrated over this. As I write out my IRS check, and give up a much needed vacation or some other form of enjoyment I would like to use that money for, I’m supporting someone’s irresponsibility. With all of the birth control methods available I know the majority of these girls are getting pregnant on purpose. Believe me it has become a profitable enterprise or so many people wouldn’t be doing it.
I should have added in my previous reply that the costs in the form of employee taxes to support these programs is among the factors that have been driving businesses from the US to foreign locations.
I’ve been self employed almost all of my adult life and had a restaurant business from 1978-1986 during which time I had on average at any given time about 10 employees.
What those that have never owned or had to manage the financial matters of a business don’t realize is that the real cost of an employee, not including any benefits such as health care, is at minimum about 25% more than their hourly pay and more typically about 40% over.
That is if the employee is being paid $10.00/hour the cost to the employer, with taxes and all, is about $14.00. When success in business is often defined as bringing about 10-12% of total sales to the “bottom line” (profit for the owners) a 25-40% increase in the cost of employees is a huge factor.
I decided I had enough of it after I sold the food business in 1986 and have been working as a solo professional ever since. What little work that needs done for the business that I don’t handle I out source to a virtual assistant.
Here in the US that is treated as non-employee, professional services and thus is just an line item expense (1099) for contracted services.
No taxes, no taking many hours of my own time or paying someone each year to figure out the latest crap with the tax laws to remain compliant or similar.
I make a payment via PayPal to someone somewhere in the world, total those payments at the end of the year and make a single line entry on my US Federal Tax form Schedule C.
In sum the costs of all this vote buying is much greater then it’s breeding of dysfunctional communities and the creation of a a bankrupt government.
1st of all, the economy is BAD- there are folks out there who’ve been out of work the better part of a YEAR. So, if I lost my job today (gainfully employed for the last 22 years, no assistance)….should I give up those things I’ve bought while being employed? Really? So the TV I have that I paid for WHILE EMPLOYED would have to be confiscated? Ok, wow. Selling it would only provide me what? A month of food maybe? So the Coach purse(s) I own wouldn’t be allowed either- nevermind that I bought them or they were gifts to me. I guess someone poor isn’t entitled to anything then, huh? What a demeaning attitude. Yes, the system is broken in many many ways- but you are failling to realize that a majority of the actual recipients of the benefits are children/elderly/disabled.
70 cents of every actual welfare dollar (Food stamps is not technically ‘welfare’) is spent on nursing home care.
also, we lay alot at the feet of the mother’s (primarily) in a bad situation (why three kids? why divorce? How judgemental!)…but what about all these men who are not supporting their children? Shall we brand them too? Make them eat rice/beans until they start paying child support?
Many of the single parent households on benefits wouldn’t even QUALIFY if they were receiving the court ordered child support their children need. Ever thought of THAT?
“Wow, what a judgemental lot some of you are.”
[WE are PAYING for the right to be judgmental but more on this later.]
“1st of all, the economy is BAD”
[Caused by Democrats from Barney Frank to Chris Dodd to Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barack O’bummer and to some extent even George W.]
“ – there are folks out there who’ve been out of work the better part of a YEAR.”
[To quote the Democrats, Elections have consequences. You voted for these people so DEAL WITH IT!!!]
“So, if I lost my job today (gainfully employed for the last 22 years, no assistance)….should I give up those things I’ve bought while being employed? Really? So the TV I have that I paid for WHILE EMPLOYED would have to be confiscated?”
[No one said that. But you shouldn’t be out there buying a brand new big screen and WII and getting cable TV with all the premium channels. If you need help for subsistence, that’s one thing. But if you’re looking for free toys that’s another. Try not to mix the two.]
“Ok, wow. Selling it would only provide me what? A month of food maybe? So the Coach purse(s) I own wouldn’t be allowed either- nevermind that I bought them or they were gifts to me. I guess someone poor isn’t entitled to anything then, huh? What a demeaning attitude. Yes, the system is broken in many many ways”
[Who broke it??? Look in the mirror and if you feel guilty that’s YOUR problem. YOU should fix what YOU broke on your own dime, not someone else’s. When you can freely expect someone else to pay for things YOU break, you’re free to be careless and “break” anything you want at any time.]
“- but you are failling to realize that a majority of the actual recipients of the benefits are children/elderly/disabled.”
[Who would have help from family/friends/religious organizations/charitable organizations/etc. if the government didn’t confiscate our wealth and hand it over to union cronies, fake green energy companies and wall street campaign donors.]
“70 cents of every actual welfare dollar (Food stamps is not technically ‘welfare’) is spent on nursing home care.”
[Which wouldn’t be necessary if the government would stay out of it. The price of care would be lower and quality better.]
“also, we lay alot at the feet of the mother’s (primarily) in a bad situation (why three kids? why divorce? How judgemental!)…but what about all these men who are not supporting their children? Shall we brand them too? Make them eat rice/beans until they start paying child support?”
[Did I impregnate the mother? Divorce her? Then why is it MY bill to pay? I am divorced and I did pay child support until my girls were on their own. So why are you punishing me? As for branding men who don’t step up to their duties and pay their support, we USED to do just that. Our Judeo-Christian values taught us that but today that makes us right-wing, religious extremists.]
“Many of the single parent households on benefits wouldn’t even QUALIFY if they were receiving the court ordered child support their children need. Ever thought of THAT?”
It doesn’t matter WHAT I’ve thought of or haven’t. No matter what the person’s situation or how they got there or how much of each dollar goes to what, the real question is who is responsible and who should pay for bad activity? The hard working person who takes responsibility for their own actions—good and bad? The one who saves? The one who starts a business and tries to give countless others an opportunity to share the wealth (IF they work for it)? Or should the hard times those people are having maybe be the consequences OF THEIR OWN BAD ACTIONS and CHOICES!!
My family helped a relative out financially when her husband went to jail. And she complained about us voicing our opinion. I told her she was living off our money and a fact of life is, when you take my money, you get my opinion (I know. Liberals just want the money and for everyone to just shut up and give it to them.) We have setup savings accounts for grandkids but guess what? We’ve already told the kids, based on their JUDGMENT when the grandkids turn 18, they MAY NOT get the money. If they’re drugged out, worthless, leeches they won’t get a dime. If I do that for my own kids and grandkids, what’s wrong with applying the same principle to perfect strangers? Why should I—based on YOUR JUDGMENT—be liable for someone else’s self-screwed up life??? What gives YOU the right to PUNISH ME for a total stranger’s life, especially when most of the wealth you’re taking from me isn’t going anywhere near those people anyway??
I suggest YOU START being a little more judgmental. When your President and YOUR Congress takes money that could go to the “children/elderly/disabled” and gives it to their campaign donors and policy cronies, why don’t YOU JUDGE THEM a little more harshly?
I like how you presume to know what I think or feel or who I even vote for.
Listen, point is regardless of whose fault it is (what administration, whatever) the fact remains that there are those less fortunate of us that need HELP.
You are hell bent on also blaming others- hell, I’m pretty sure you voted George W in not once but TWICE. No one is “punishing” you. I’d damn well rather see my money go to assistance for the poor than in corporate welfare. I’m sorry, it’s funny to me that the same people who are “Christian” and “Holier than thou” are quick to want to turn a blind eye to the poor. As if the foodstamp/welfare industry comes anywhere CLOSE to balancing a national deficit. These same people who made of these same “bad choices” are the same people that the extreme right doesn’t want to be able to have an abortion (as one example). Who are we to judge ANYONE? Oh, maybe you are “perfect” and have never done wrong- but guess what? You’d be the FIRST person on EARTH to have ever done so other than Jesus.
Don’t attempt to patronize me, you don’t know me. I’m trying to get everyone to see that we are going to cut off our nose to spite our face over help for the poor- which is NOT where the real issues are ANYWAY.
Yes, a client should not be buying big screen TV’s etc when they are on welfare. But I’m not inhumane enough to think I can dictate to them everything in their life. Everyone doesn’t have nor was raised with the same value systems. It’s just so easy to point our anger at the poor. I find that amazingly sad.
Furthermore, if you truly think clients of the system are actually all living it up- you are blind to reality. Cash assistance, for example. affords NO ONE extra money for anything like that anyway. Food stamps, for a majority of households, barely cover the food needs for the family. Just because a small percentage do one thing, doesn’t mean they all do.
These are all the same people who will be shopping @ wallyworld before the day is over buying all the chinese chit they can get putting they money on the fast track back to china.We need our manufacturing brought back to America.
yea f**k those people who god allowed to be physically/ mentally disabled, poor, unlucky, young, women, black, Mexican, and in the same unfortunate situation as most Americans right now. Because I’d much rather all this money that should be spent on needy Americans continue to be spent on researching dating websites and video-games, keeping marijuana users in jail, painting fruit, and making pink slime. It makes so much more since to either let people starve and die in the elements, or drown there lives in supervision then to just delve a little deeper into why someone needs a welfare check.
next month instead, of getting my food stamps, when my kids tell me there hungry I’m going to say, “Well i think its wrong for the government to give me money just because my two jobs aren’t enough to feed you, if you want to eat you’ll have to get a job; because it doesn’t matter that your a child, or incapable of something, you have to do it anyway if you want to live because the world and me don’t care if i cant provide a life for you.”
A long time ago, there was an earnest plea from a “FAMILY with Lymes Disease.” Most of the material contained in the family’s blog appealing for help is contained in the “Put me in charge” e-mails. As the multitude of comments about this e-mail attest, this 21 year old female either “has a great plan!” or has been bashed around for that plan and it’s solutions. This lady’s opinion ONLY agrees with a newspaper article in the Waco Tribune-Herald.
The author of this opinion letter, not a real plan with real solutions, has already identified himself as Alfred W. Evans in his letter to the Waco Tribune-Herald and is also posted in this discussion. He also wrote to TheVeteransVoice.com and SILENCEDOGOOD2010’S BLOG, which was reposted on BlackShards, and thanked them for posting his letter. “I googled “Put me in charge” and found it on many sites. Thanks again for getting what I consider common sense out to the people.” This 21 year old female is receiving credit for your plan and your solution, Mr. Evans. Most of the heat and derogatory remarks are directed toward her and not to you, Mr. Evans. Do you care that this is happening? Why do you allow this to continue on this way? Better her than you? Some military operations use intelligence and deception to accomplish their mission. Food for thought. More on this further down below.
To read more, see my posted comments on the Amazon discussion “Put Me In Charge!” This is the link to those comments.
Aw, this was an exceptionally good post. Taking the time and actual effort to produce a great article… but what
can I say… I procrastinate a whole lot and
never seem to get anything done.
This article should be read by the individuals who abuse the welfare system; there are two types of individuals, (1) the truly less fortunate and (2) the individuals who abuse the welfare system.
SilenceDogood2010's Blog 
Amen, aaaaaaa men! Goodbye 1.5 inch acrylic nails and the $100 + hair weaves. Got to be living on YOUR earnings, now!
Posted a link to your wbelog with the letter by Alfred Evans.
Letter by American Patriot Alfred W. Evans, 1SG, USA (Ret) about Food Stamps, Medicaid, Government Housing etc…
http://onwardjames.blogspot.com/2010/12/letter-by-american-patriot-alfred-w.html
Merry Christmas…
Edmund Onward James
Conservative
Lake Simcoe, Ontario, Canada
It lessons my pain when I read comments such as yours. Working for a living is not criminal and the idea of it, should be re-enforced at every opportunity. A truly well stated piece.
Darn right I’ll vote to put that attitude (assuming it’s backed by commensurate actions) in charge.
Excellent points and much too practical to actually happen.
It’s heartening, and frustrating, to know that there so many fine American citizens who still believe in the principles that built a sound society only to be defeated by what’s become something slightly short of a criminal cartel that runs this country. And I don’t mean necessarily the government although the majority at the Federal level are in the least complicit.
As had been stated in various phrasings, “The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money. ”
The day is 80 years past and we are living in (with) the veracity of this assertion.
So the question seems how *do* we turn around an 80 year downward spiral of vote grabbing via entitlement bribery, started by no less then FDR that continues to this day, that panders to the least common denominator and thereby continually degrades America’s social structure?
My ancestors were quite conversant in how to treat tyranny; but that was 1776. What now?
Happy New Year 2011 to All.
Mike Shafer
Pittsburgh, PA USA
Put me in charge of 21 year olds who think they know everything and have never walked a mile in those shoes but can dismiss people’s hardships with such a cold heart. What does she suggest the children (half of all aid recipients) do? She really should check her facts before she spouts off. Half of all families on government aid are off of it within one year. Another 20% are off by year two. 90% of families do not take assistance for more than 5 years. That means that for most of the years of their lives, people who receive assistance are working, like you and me, and paying taxes, like you and me, and hoping to never have to need assistance, like you and me. And yet, here they find themselves, maybe due to death, or injury, or illness, or a variety of other reasons So why is it that when they are working, “THEIR” money is going to fund these programs, but when they need assistance it’s “YOUR” money ??? Most people on assistance have paid into a system that now victimizes them when they use the system that they paid for !! WTF ??? Stop kicking the poor. they have a hard enough road to travel. If you know someone abusing the system, then TURN THEM IN because they suck and deserve to be prosecuted. And, 21 year old female, if you think that people receiving aid have it so well, then just try it. You could be living the good life that you imagine these people are leading. Start by getting a low paying job. Then save all you can to buy a T.V., then give it away. Remember, no alcohol, no soda, no chips, no tobacco, no car that is NOT a shitbox…..Oh 21 year old, you are too young to have no heart.
We have a constitution that allows people the right to the pursuit of happiness.
It doesn’t mean the government will take care of them, it doesn’t mean the government will give them free medical, dental, vision care, housing, food, vehicles or anything. It means they have the right to pursue these items and to be able to get a job and an education and improve themselves.
They want me to support them then I have the right to tell them where to spend my money and on what. Bag of rice, sounds good to me as does the rest of the letter by Mr. Evans.
Thank you Mr. Evans
Donald Wahlstrom
Interesting…but, you need to open your eyes as to who really gets Medicaid, Food Stamps and Government housing.
Those who are disabled and can’t work or can work, but, can’t find a job, or have a job in a sheltered work place where they are allowed to be paid less than half of minimum wage make up a large precentage of those recieving Medicaid and Government subsidized housing.
The number of people who qualify for food stamps has skyrocket in the past few years. They include children whose parents are unemployed (have you heard about the lack of jobs out there?) or underemployed and the elderly on Social Security.
Should those that are sick or disabled or who can’t find a job or are working but can’t afford health insurance be deprived of what the rest of us can have? Should children whose parents are working, but, can’t find affordable housing be deprived of subsidized housing? Should grandma who has worked her whole life have to only eat rice and beans?
It’s nice to be healthy and have a good paying job and be able to sit back and dictate what the ever growing number of poor in this country should and shouldn’t have…but, it’s wrong IMO.
Oh…and if women on Medicaid have to be sterilized or have Norplants then those millions of baby’s daddy’s should be forced to have vasectomies and pay tons of child support.
Nope…don’t think I’ll put you in charge.
People such as Obama’s Aunt and who I suppose now has won some kind of free pass but was an illegal alien living in public housing and who is very verbal about how America owes illegal aliens a living!
Yes I know there are disabled Veterans and other disabled persons, like my late uncle who had to be carefully taken care of by my grandmother who was never on assistance.
These people who come here to have their babies so they can have whatever they want because of the “anchor baby rule” (WHAT IDIOT DREAMED THAT ONE UP?)
Read up on how much ‘undocumented immigrants’ cost our city, state, county and federal government! Not just for welfare but for the housing of those who are in our prisons for crimes they have committed against U S citizens!
There are single mothers who scrape and do without a lot to go to school to train for better jobs and they are not on “public assistance’ either.
There is definitely a lot wrong with the system but the government has dug us into such a big hole that we are way over our heads in debt and they just keep printing more money!! If you or I did it, we’d be arrested for counterfeiting!
As with most liberals you totally missed the point. You use your “Tale Of Woe” as an excuse to make everyone subject to the almighty government.
What he said—and YOU ignored—was, if you have money for alcohol, you neither need nor deserve ours. If you have money for a big screen TV (something I cannot afford), you neither need nor deserve ours. If you have money for the latest nail styles and tattoos, you neither need nor deserve ours. If you have money for HoHos and Ding Dongs, you neither need nor deserve ours. If you have money for a drug habit, you neither need nor deserve ours. If you have money for the fanciest wheels and high end tires just to impress your “Homies”, you neither need nor deserve ours. NONE of those items are life sustaining (unless you’re a liberal) and therefore should NOT be even considered when someone else is picking up the tab!!
Wake up you lazy Marxist. You’re being duped big time. You’re what the Socialists call a “Useful Idiot” because you moan and cry for the poor, elderly and downtrodden while the system you’re using them to advocate for is taking you, me and everyone else to the cleaners and destroying our way of life.
(BTW, I have a friend who refuses to enter any casino in this country because he said he’s so fed up with having Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security thrown in his face as necessary for the elderly to survive and yet when you look at the average age of 90% of the people in casinos—IT’S THE ELDERLY!!!! So guess what, Donna, IF THEY HAVE MONEY TO LOSE IN LAS VEGAS, THEY NEITHER NEED NOR DESERVE OURS!!)
However, this is a free country. If YOU think they need it to survive, You feel free to write them a check OUT OF YOUR ACCOUNT!!! But to spend other people’s money like you are now is, by definition STEALING!!!! But then if liberals had any basic fundamental economic knowledge and an ounce of integrity you’d KNOW that. So little miss pious “holier than thou”, how about you answer for stealing from millions of people to support YOU and YOUR fellow lazy blood suckers’ habits.
Funny thing, Donna, He didn’t say one thing that I didn’t teach and apply to my own kids. I gladly paid for their ESSENTIALS. And they were taught that anything above and beyond that was THEIRS to pay for through their OWN EARNINGS!!! That is the values I taught my kids. What are you teaching yours? I’ll bet your values—or LACK thereof—don’t extend that far.
I’m betting your values are, just sit on your arse, don’t bother studying in school, be as lazy as you want and just vote for the right candidate and THEY will see that you get everything you want by taking it away from someone else who DID work and study.
I’m betting you’re piety doesn’t cover stealing, does it?
Put me in charge of 21 year olds who think they know everything and have never walked a mile in those shoes but can dismiss people’s hardships with such a cold heart. What does she suggest the children (half of all aid recipients) do? She really should check her facts before she spouts off. Half of all families on government aid are off of it within one year. Another 20% are off by year two. 90% of families do not take assistance for more than 5 years. That means that for most of the years of their lives, people who receive assistance are working, like you and me, and paying taxes, like you and me, and hoping to never have to need assistance, like you and me. And yet, here they find themselves, maybe due to death, or injury, or illness, or a variety of other reasons So why is it that when they are working, “THEIR” money is going to fund these programs, but when they need assistance it’s “YOUR” money ??? Most people on assistance have paid into a system that now victimizes them when they use the system that they paid for !! WTF ??? Stop kicking the poor. they have a hard enough road to travel. If you know someone abusing the system, then TURN THEM IN because they suck and deserve to be prosecuted. And, 21 year old female, if you think that people receiving aid have it so well, then just try it. You could be living the good life that you imagine these people are leading. Start by getting a low paying job. Then save all you can to buy a T.V., then give it away. Remember, no alcohol, no soda, no chips, no tobacco, no car that is NOT a shitbox…..Oh 21 year old, you are too young to have no heart.
i love the way racists hide behind their blogs and internet.
you did leave one thing out in your little blog of such great advice and all for your “white american good wayof life in your world”..that all of you racists should give up your easy money of the food stamps and welfare that you suck up with your beer and trailer payments and your furniture (lawn chairs you sit outside of those trailers with), your guns and ammo, oh and lets not forget how you and your relatives suck up those medicare, medicaid, disability and social security checks, but aren’t willing to give up….
that you don’t mind right? people like you are the true christian jackasses of the universe..and guess what? you will have to deal with the only one that matters when your lives end…good luck with that..
Maddie, I’m a minority and non-Christian…and I agree with the letter writer. Calling me a Christian jackass is only half correct.
While I agree that we should not demoralize or demean those who need assistance, the present system does just that. The welfare system is not properly structured, planned or administered. But then, name one govt admisinistered program that is. Many of these points could/should be built into that system.
Your post makes little sense beyond the usual clichés and “race-card” ramblings.
The presumption that those of us that can see that the system is completely broken and will ultimately bring down the entire country makes us racists begs justification.
As to the issue of Social Security while I consider that, too, to be a fantasy program (unsustainable) there is at least some degree of connection between how much you have paid in and the benefit you will receive.
If you want to make something more than an empty rambling of specious clichés please post a cogent argument, supported by fact and source, that the current welfare system:
1. Has in sum improved the lives and well being of the majority of the recipients.
2. Is financially sustainable by the government.
Good luck with this one because the obvious facts are neither can supported.
Who said anything about race?
I am currently on the dole for unemployment, having worked previously for 28 years and only receiving benefits for one week before now, my employers contributing to the insurance fund, thousands, likely tens of thousands of dollars. So do I feel guilty about receiving unemployment, yes. Not because I haven’t contributed to unemployment insurance, but because an inept and corrupt government has mismanaged the money in these insurance accounts so badly that money must be borrowed, adding to the deficit to pay for my benefit.
Charity worked when it was that, “charity”. Government welfare programs, are little more than transfer of wealth schemes, mismanaged, corrupt at their core, and designed not to curtail abuse, but hide as much of it as possible. Any private charity can do far more with far less, but that isn’t the goal or intent.
Why is it wrong to expect that money given in charity for food, for someone supposedly unable to provide for themselves is spent on basic nutritious food needs, not what most who pay their own way consider a luxury? It matters not whether you are white, green, yellow, black or orange, Irish or African, Catholic or Hindu, everyone who applies for assistance should be willing to accept certain conditions.
On the issue of Medicaid, again, what’s the problem? I saw no mention of sterilization, simply voluntary compliance with birth control, while you are admittedly unable to financially able to care for a child. Sure you have the right to reproduce, and along with that comes the responsibility to care for your children, in all ways including financially. As for the testing, I agree. If you can come up with money for drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, tat’s, etc… then obviously you either don’t need as much assistance, or you have no concept of prioritizing your spending based on need rather than want, so by all means test.
Housing? You can tell a lot about a person’s pride by how they live. Some people, barely getting by, living in a mobile home park, maintain an immaculate home and yard, while I’ve seen relatively expensive homes which are a total disaster. There is no reason why those accepting public housing assistance should not be expected to maintain the property, they are allowed to live in for free or at subsidized rental prices. Possessions, again touch on the understanding of the difference between want and need. You may want a 55″ plasma tv, but as long as someone else is providing for your need, your want’s do not matter. Donna does bring up some possible exceptions to this, but there are people out there who aren’t disabled or unable to work, and they should be willing to sacrifice want’s until they can meet their own needs.
An accounting of the finances of those requesting assistance is certainly not unreasonable, and if you are able to work, there is no reason why you couldn’t provide labor to the government to offset your benefits when possible.
The post sums it up best at the end, for many people on the fringes, a safe, secure, though impoverished (by American standards) existence, is all they desire. Without incentive to better themselves and become self sufficient, they will happily live on government assistance for life. Having people be responsible for their actions, accounting for their time and finances, making choices between wants and needs, are all parts of life we all live with day to day. Why should we expect any less from those receiving public assistance?
Maddie said “lets not forget how you and your relatives suck up those medicare, medicaid, disability and social security checks, but aren’t willing to give up”
I began stating that I am receiving unemployment, part of an insurance program for this purpose that I paid into. My mother is on medicare and social security, again programs which were designed as benefit programs which you specifically paid into with the expectation of receiving benefits later. Medicare and SS are broken systems though, due to corruption and mismanagement, so I will say end them today! My mother can live with us, we can provide for her medical care. We can assume the responsibility. That’s what it boils down to, responsibility. Take care of yourself and those around you, don’t expect someone else, meaning society through social programs, to do it. Remove the government from the equation and give all of the money currently being squandered on government assistance programs to charities which will actually help those in need, not trap them and turn need into a career.
Well said.
Nice dreams Liberte’.
When I had to be on foodstamps,( I was divorced and yes I was working full time and going to school full time and I had 3 children and my ex paid $380 a month in child support)…I didn’t see one charity coming to my aid. I have no family to depend on…it’s just me and my kids.
Presently I’m almost 60…I’m widowed, sick and can’t work, but, do to having not worked in the past 5 years I don’t qualify for SSI or SSDI nor do I qualify for Social Security.
My house is paid off and I get a small amount from the VA as my husband was a disabled Vet. My disabled grown child lives with me and he works at Goodwill …making $4.25 an hour and gets $400 per month from SSI SSDI. He is on medicaid and medicare.
We have all paid into these programs. Our parents and aunts and uncles have paid into these programs. I think I’m the only one in the family that ever used any of the programs, but, I’m glad they were there when I needed them.
By the way…my son saved for almost a year to get a tattoo…one that honors his older brother who passed. I see nothing wrong with the needy saving to buy something they want. He also uses his money to pay for his Special Olympics events. Should he not be able to do those things in your eyes??
“When I had to be on foodstamps,( I was divorced and yes I was working full time and going to school full time and I had 3 children and my ex paid $380 a month in child support)…I didn’t see one charity coming to my aid. I have no family to depend on…it’s just me and my kids.”
Was it was a conscious decision to have 3 children? It is always conscious, unless religion or health reasons, prevent the use of contraception. Was it a conscious decision to divorce? Were there choices you made in your life which placed you in a job which couldn’t support your family? A learning disability would qualify as something beyond your control, but your writing belies that. I suppose you live in an area without community spirit. We have charities which do indeed help, but the simple fact remains that money which could be donated to charities, is confiscated by the government to be used for purposes it is inept at handling and wasteful of the dollars themselves. My point being that government is not a solution to charitable issues, which includes assistance for the needy. No family? Later in your response, you mention the parents, aunts and uncles who paid into the programs. Perhaps you are speaking more of the “depend” part. That goes along with the breakdown in family values, partially brought about by government intervention and manipulation of the family.
“Presently I’m almost 60…I’m widowed, sick and can’t work, but, do to having not worked in the past 5 years I don’t qualify for SSI or SSDI nor do I qualify for Social Security.”
I do have empathy for your situation. Widowed? Do I assume this was a spouse after the prior divorce, or the ex.? I don’t suppose you’d be a widow if divorced, so we will go with the second spouse. And you haven’t worked for 5 years. Did you work prior to that? Life Insurance? That gets back to the conversation about choices. Some would say, “I couldn’t afford life insurance”, but reality dictates, a policy with a reasonable death benefit, only costs the amount of a few “something special’s”. It all is dependent on priorities and choices made. I know this is an oversimplification, and may not apply in your situation, and if not, you deserve every bit of assistance you can get, but for many, especially the healthy, that is what it all boils down to, choices and priorities, with the expectation that society is required to pick up the slack, regardless.
“We have all paid into these programs. Our parents and aunts and uncles have paid into these programs. I think I’m the only one in the family that ever used any of the programs, but, I’m glad they were there when I needed them.”
I’d need a few specifics here to be sure which programs you are speaking of. Sure, Medicare and Social Security are, or at least were supposed to be funded by payroll deductions, but how are these others funded? General fund? If so, then the reality is that they are funded by deficit borrowing and the growing of the national debt. and enslavement of generations to come, just to pay the interest on the bill. Sure, there are other areas of government waste and abuse, which should be eliminated or at least the waste be eliminated, more so than these type of social welfare programs, but the original discussion is the one I’m responding to.
“By the way…my son saved for almost a year to get a tattoo…one that honors his older brother who passed. I see nothing wrong with the needy saving to buy something they want. He also uses his money to pay for his Special Olympics events. Should he not be able to do those things in your eyes??
Being disabled, if you are speaking of a learning disability, your son is an exception to any discussion of my and the original poster’s intent for responsibility in those receiving taxpayer funded benefits. However, if he were physically disabled, he should not be excepted from the responsibility of making intelligent choices and decisions, in caring for himself. Life is full of priorities. First you feed yourself and your family, then clothe and shelter yourself (which is priority?) Then you provide yourself a little something in reserve, for the time when the bad times hit. Only then do you consider the luxuries, regardless how large or small. It’s irresponsible to buy the TV, and expect someone else to buy the food.
My sincere wish for you is better health, your son living a full and happy life, and that you are able to financially get back on your feet. Until then, it sounds like you are the type of person that deserves assistance, but there are many others out there, unlike you, who are abusing the system.
Before anyone puts the Sgt down for his views, lets consider how many people are collecting fraudulently,
how long have they been on welfare, (generations in some cases), dependent children (one mother with multi absent fathers), women who have made a career having one baby after another to bolster the monthly check. If this make me a racist, please educate me, what’s wrong with the facts I’ve presented, then there is the question of illegals draining local and state treasuries. We need someone to draw a line, why shouldn’t welfare recipients be put on public works if able and available, why should these same people enjoy a higher standard than people who are working at minimal salary jobs paying their own way. There will always be indivuals requiring assistance, but not at todays numbers
I am upset by the packs of teenage girls who are getting pregnant and think having their babies are “free” Many of them have complicated deliveries and end up with c-sections, and weeks of hospitalization for their infants. I have seen, in one small community, more than 25 girls under 20 years old with one or two children who talk about the birth of their babies being free. They all get set up on the WIC, medicaid, free stuff band wagon and go for the ride. For some of the more ambitious, and they are few and far between, they also look at this as an opportunity to receive grants and assistance towards a college education and state that they will not get married until they are finished with college because it is “free”. The ones that I know that get family help, in the form of free housing, utilities, everything provided for their infants by family and friends, i.e. diapers, strollers, car seats, cribs, and clothing strive to not make anymore money than necessary so they won’t fall off the welfare rolls. I know of several people who had a fit when their children were taken off of MO. Healthnet because they had earned to much money, but have flat screen T.V.’s, Blue Ray DVD Players, multiple tattoos, credit card accounts, artificial nail and hair coloring appointments, and party almost every weekend. When are we going to wise up. As long as these benefits are given out with no strings attached more and more people are going to get on the band wagon. I am so frustrated over this. As I write out my IRS check, and give up a much needed vacation or some other form of enjoyment I would like to use that money for, I’m supporting someone’s irresponsibility. With all of the birth control methods available I know the majority of these girls are getting pregnant on purpose. Believe me it has become a profitable enterprise or so many people wouldn’t be doing it.
The Cost in Lost Jobs and Business Taxes
I should have added in my previous reply that the costs in the form of employee taxes to support these programs is among the factors that have been driving businesses from the US to foreign locations.
I’ve been self employed almost all of my adult life and had a restaurant business from 1978-1986 during which time I had on average at any given time about 10 employees.
What those that have never owned or had to manage the financial matters of a business don’t realize is that the real cost of an employee, not including any benefits such as health care, is at minimum about 25% more than their hourly pay and more typically about 40% over.
That is if the employee is being paid $10.00/hour the cost to the employer, with taxes and all, is about $14.00. When success in business is often defined as bringing about 10-12% of total sales to the “bottom line” (profit for the owners) a 25-40% increase in the cost of employees is a huge factor.
I decided I had enough of it after I sold the food business in 1986 and have been working as a solo professional ever since. What little work that needs done for the business that I don’t handle I out source to a virtual assistant.
Here in the US that is treated as non-employee, professional services and thus is just an line item expense (1099) for contracted services.
No taxes, no taking many hours of my own time or paying someone each year to figure out the latest crap with the tax laws to remain compliant or similar.
I make a payment via PayPal to someone somewhere in the world, total those payments at the end of the year and make a single line entry on my US Federal Tax form Schedule C.
In sum the costs of all this vote buying is much greater then it’s breeding of dysfunctional communities and the creation of a a bankrupt government.
Wow, what a judgemental lot some of you are.
1st of all, the economy is BAD- there are folks out there who’ve been out of work the better part of a YEAR. So, if I lost my job today (gainfully employed for the last 22 years, no assistance)….should I give up those things I’ve bought while being employed? Really? So the TV I have that I paid for WHILE EMPLOYED would have to be confiscated? Ok, wow. Selling it would only provide me what? A month of food maybe? So the Coach purse(s) I own wouldn’t be allowed either- nevermind that I bought them or they were gifts to me. I guess someone poor isn’t entitled to anything then, huh? What a demeaning attitude. Yes, the system is broken in many many ways- but you are failling to realize that a majority of the actual recipients of the benefits are children/elderly/disabled.
70 cents of every actual welfare dollar (Food stamps is not technically ‘welfare’) is spent on nursing home care.
also, we lay alot at the feet of the mother’s (primarily) in a bad situation (why three kids? why divorce? How judgemental!)…but what about all these men who are not supporting their children? Shall we brand them too? Make them eat rice/beans until they start paying child support?
Many of the single parent households on benefits wouldn’t even QUALIFY if they were receiving the court ordered child support their children need. Ever thought of THAT?
“Wow, what a judgemental lot some of you are.”
[WE are PAYING for the right to be judgmental but more on this later.]
“1st of all, the economy is BAD”
[Caused by Democrats from Barney Frank to Chris Dodd to Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barack O’bummer and to some extent even George W.]
“ – there are folks out there who’ve been out of work the better part of a YEAR.”
[To quote the Democrats, Elections have consequences. You voted for these people so DEAL WITH IT!!!]
“So, if I lost my job today (gainfully employed for the last 22 years, no assistance)….should I give up those things I’ve bought while being employed? Really? So the TV I have that I paid for WHILE EMPLOYED would have to be confiscated?”
[No one said that. But you shouldn’t be out there buying a brand new big screen and WII and getting cable TV with all the premium channels. If you need help for subsistence, that’s one thing. But if you’re looking for free toys that’s another. Try not to mix the two.]
“Ok, wow. Selling it would only provide me what? A month of food maybe? So the Coach purse(s) I own wouldn’t be allowed either- nevermind that I bought them or they were gifts to me. I guess someone poor isn’t entitled to anything then, huh? What a demeaning attitude. Yes, the system is broken in many many ways”
[Who broke it??? Look in the mirror and if you feel guilty that’s YOUR problem. YOU should fix what YOU broke on your own dime, not someone else’s. When you can freely expect someone else to pay for things YOU break, you’re free to be careless and “break” anything you want at any time.]
“- but you are failling to realize that a majority of the actual recipients of the benefits are children/elderly/disabled.”
[Who would have help from family/friends/religious organizations/charitable organizations/etc. if the government didn’t confiscate our wealth and hand it over to union cronies, fake green energy companies and wall street campaign donors.]
“70 cents of every actual welfare dollar (Food stamps is not technically ‘welfare’) is spent on nursing home care.”
[Which wouldn’t be necessary if the government would stay out of it. The price of care would be lower and quality better.]
“also, we lay alot at the feet of the mother’s (primarily) in a bad situation (why three kids? why divorce? How judgemental!)…but what about all these men who are not supporting their children? Shall we brand them too? Make them eat rice/beans until they start paying child support?”
[Did I impregnate the mother? Divorce her? Then why is it MY bill to pay? I am divorced and I did pay child support until my girls were on their own. So why are you punishing me? As for branding men who don’t step up to their duties and pay their support, we USED to do just that. Our Judeo-Christian values taught us that but today that makes us right-wing, religious extremists.]
“Many of the single parent households on benefits wouldn’t even QUALIFY if they were receiving the court ordered child support their children need. Ever thought of THAT?”
It doesn’t matter WHAT I’ve thought of or haven’t. No matter what the person’s situation or how they got there or how much of each dollar goes to what, the real question is who is responsible and who should pay for bad activity? The hard working person who takes responsibility for their own actions—good and bad? The one who saves? The one who starts a business and tries to give countless others an opportunity to share the wealth (IF they work for it)? Or should the hard times those people are having maybe be the consequences OF THEIR OWN BAD ACTIONS and CHOICES!!
My family helped a relative out financially when her husband went to jail. And she complained about us voicing our opinion. I told her she was living off our money and a fact of life is, when you take my money, you get my opinion (I know. Liberals just want the money and for everyone to just shut up and give it to them.) We have setup savings accounts for grandkids but guess what? We’ve already told the kids, based on their JUDGMENT when the grandkids turn 18, they MAY NOT get the money. If they’re drugged out, worthless, leeches they won’t get a dime. If I do that for my own kids and grandkids, what’s wrong with applying the same principle to perfect strangers? Why should I—based on YOUR JUDGMENT—be liable for someone else’s self-screwed up life??? What gives YOU the right to PUNISH ME for a total stranger’s life, especially when most of the wealth you’re taking from me isn’t going anywhere near those people anyway??
I suggest YOU START being a little more judgmental. When your President and YOUR Congress takes money that could go to the “children/elderly/disabled” and gives it to their campaign donors and policy cronies, why don’t YOU JUDGE THEM a little more harshly?
I like how you presume to know what I think or feel or who I even vote for.
Listen, point is regardless of whose fault it is (what administration, whatever) the fact remains that there are those less fortunate of us that need HELP.
You are hell bent on also blaming others- hell, I’m pretty sure you voted George W in not once but TWICE. No one is “punishing” you. I’d damn well rather see my money go to assistance for the poor than in corporate welfare. I’m sorry, it’s funny to me that the same people who are “Christian” and “Holier than thou” are quick to want to turn a blind eye to the poor. As if the foodstamp/welfare industry comes anywhere CLOSE to balancing a national deficit. These same people who made of these same “bad choices” are the same people that the extreme right doesn’t want to be able to have an abortion (as one example). Who are we to judge ANYONE? Oh, maybe you are “perfect” and have never done wrong- but guess what? You’d be the FIRST person on EARTH to have ever done so other than Jesus.
Don’t attempt to patronize me, you don’t know me. I’m trying to get everyone to see that we are going to cut off our nose to spite our face over help for the poor- which is NOT where the real issues are ANYWAY.
Yes, a client should not be buying big screen TV’s etc when they are on welfare. But I’m not inhumane enough to think I can dictate to them everything in their life. Everyone doesn’t have nor was raised with the same value systems. It’s just so easy to point our anger at the poor. I find that amazingly sad.
Furthermore, if you truly think clients of the system are actually all living it up- you are blind to reality. Cash assistance, for example. affords NO ONE extra money for anything like that anyway. Food stamps, for a majority of households, barely cover the food needs for the family. Just because a small percentage do one thing, doesn’t mean they all do.
These are all the same people who will be shopping @ wallyworld before the day is over buying all the chinese chit they can get putting they money on the fast track back to china.We need our manufacturing brought back to America.
yea f**k those people who god allowed to be physically/ mentally disabled, poor, unlucky, young, women, black, Mexican, and in the same unfortunate situation as most Americans right now. Because I’d much rather all this money that should be spent on needy Americans continue to be spent on researching dating websites and video-games, keeping marijuana users in jail, painting fruit, and making pink slime. It makes so much more since to either let people starve and die in the elements, or drown there lives in supervision then to just delve a little deeper into why someone needs a welfare check.
next month instead, of getting my food stamps, when my kids tell me there hungry I’m going to say, “Well i think its wrong for the government to give me money just because my two jobs aren’t enough to feed you, if you want to eat you’ll have to get a job; because it doesn’t matter that your a child, or incapable of something, you have to do it anyway if you want to live because the world and me don’t care if i cant provide a life for you.”
Sept 28, 2012
A long time ago, there was an earnest plea from a “FAMILY with Lymes Disease.” Most of the material contained in the family’s blog appealing for help is contained in the “Put me in charge” e-mails. As the multitude of comments about this e-mail attest, this 21 year old female either “has a great plan!” or has been bashed around for that plan and it’s solutions. This lady’s opinion ONLY agrees with a newspaper article in the Waco Tribune-Herald.
The author of this opinion letter, not a real plan with real solutions, has already identified himself as Alfred W. Evans in his letter to the Waco Tribune-Herald and is also posted in this discussion. He also wrote to TheVeteransVoice.com and SILENCEDOGOOD2010’S BLOG, which was reposted on BlackShards, and thanked them for posting his letter. “I googled “Put me in charge” and found it on many sites. Thanks again for getting what I consider common sense out to the people.” This 21 year old female is receiving credit for your plan and your solution, Mr. Evans. Most of the heat and derogatory remarks are directed toward her and not to you, Mr. Evans. Do you care that this is happening? Why do you allow this to continue on this way? Better her than you? Some military operations use intelligence and deception to accomplish their mission. Food for thought. More on this further down below.
To read more, see my posted comments on the Amazon discussion “Put Me In Charge!” This is the link to those comments.
http://www.amazon.com/forum/politics/ref=cm_cd_et_md_pl?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx1S3QSZRUL93V8&cdMsgID=MxWO5OCGPDJ0JC&cdMsgNo=143&cdPage=6&cdSort=oldest&cdThread=Tx3NHPY21DIJ5Y#MxWO5OCGPDJ0JC
You may also want to visit The Veterans’ Voice at http://www.theveteransvoice.com/Put-me-in-charge.html
The following articles are from the Wacotrib.com
“Gatesville man surprised letter to the editor is an Internet phenomenon,” dated February 26, 2012 at http://www.wacotrib.com/news/140458333.html
“LETTERS: Readers sound off on Alfred W. Evans, oil drilling,” dated March 3, 2012, at http://www.wacotrib.com/opinion/141269653.html
Charles Kranichfelt
Aw, this was an exceptionally good post. Taking the time and actual effort to produce a great article… but what
can I say… I procrastinate a whole lot and
never seem to get anything done.
This article should be read by the individuals who abuse the welfare system; there are two types of individuals, (1) the truly less fortunate and (2) the individuals who abuse the welfare system.