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Welfare Queens. Well, not really, I hope.
Posts
Living off the ever abundant American welfare state really is the way to go.
Yeah, too bad I'm quoting from first hand experience as I worked on the appliances. My cousin is also one of my references as she is one of the fat lazy bums that got a free car, paid for house, food stamps and over $1000 a month. As she put it, "Why the hell would I want to get a job, I make more not having one."
Since when can you buy candy bars with EBT? I've tried it, it doesn't work
You can't buy energy drinks either
Kindly stop making shit up, please.
I could tell you some stories about the nastiest places I have cleaned out and the rent on the house was $900/mth.
The reason people complain more is that it takes the same amount of work but they can't ask the renter for a huge deposit.
Also, a lot of section 8 housing are scamming the government by providing shitty housing and pocketing the extra.
http://troublethinking.wordpress.com (Updated Wed) http://twitter.com/#!/Durandal4532
Ascetic, but yeah, that's true. Welfare/unemployment is not an enjoyable program to be on.
I wasn't sure, and Google wasn't being any sort of help.
Oh, well, if a guy on the internet is saying it, it must be true.
Gonna need citations if you want to argue something weird.
I personally believe it when I hear that the fraud rate is low, but I can't combat ignorance without some statistics. And there is a lot of ignorance around here, myself included.
My co-worked got a chain E-Mail today saying that all "real Americans" should refuse the new dollar coin that they are stamping. When she showed it to me my response was unflattering. This is the kind of thing I have to try to batter past with such feeble weapons as logic and reason.
Ed & Larry : "Doesn't matter."
I recently was gifted a thing in Steam. If it was from you, thank you very much!
Welfare queens might not be the best people, but they aren't the worst ... graduate students are the worst.
From 30 Rock
But people do that to normal apartments.
But blanket statements are fun!
And when you get on it, it's not "free" rent, it's subsidized. You still have to pay the lion's share yourself.
Welfare and EI are different in Canada, but that doesn't stop people from fucking up and calling them the same thing
Today he's still living off the government, but in much worse conditions over all I'd say. Apparently the feds frown on you when they find out you've been collecting welfare checks as well as selling drugs. They set him up with a nice little room though, and he always gets fed, & still doesn't have a job, so he's probably happy.
Other than that one example though, most of the people I've known on welfare had shit living standards, and nearly never anything new. THere was one family when I was growing up though, that had a really nice house, kids always had nice new shiny things etc, and the mom was on "permanent disability", not sure how much more/less money that gets from the government, but I couldn't figure out how they did it. Looking back now though, I think the mom may have also been a prostitute.
The goal of our founding fathers was freedom. The goal of our current politicians is control.
What state is this in?
And I just remember i used to hang out with that kid (hell he was one of the first kids to get a sega in the neighborhood). I say the mom might be a prostitute now, based entirely off the fact that there were quite often different dudes at her house when we'd go over to play sega, just a totally random thought that popped into my head 20 some years later
As for the other guy he got busted with a large amount of cocaine, weed, and small amount of meth IIRC. All I remember thinking is the world is probably better off with him in prison, than out.. he wasn't a very good type of person.
The goal of our founding fathers was freedom. The goal of our current politicians is control.
So the guy living large on the government told the HHS of the state that he's a pregnant migrant or something? I mean really how come all of these anecdotes of welfare queens people have are totally inconsistent with either the listed benefit amounts, eligibility, or both?
I know he had a "baby momma" I said I knew the guy, not that I did his finances personaly, and I know he got his groceries from a EBT card for a fact (I checked him and his "baby mama" out while working at a grocery store a few years back). Its quite possible he was living off his "baby momma" welfare checks(well... welfare debit) in addition to his drug selling.
My point isn't that people make it "livin' large on welfare" its that people on welfare may have other sources of income. I've personally known one person who ran an auto repair shop out of their own garage, illegally and would only take cash payment. They made a shit load of money in addition to their real mechanic job where they were properly taxed. They've long since moved out of state, and I have no idea how they are living now, but the point remains, people can make money and have the government not know about it for a long damn time, and just because they're on some sort of government assistance doesn't mean that's the only money they get.
Whether its whoring, selling drugs, or fixing peoples computers for cheap "as a friend" tons of people make money on the side. Fuck I've been offered a 10$/hour job "under the table" walking by small landscaping outfit that was doing some work and needed extra help before.
The other day a kid was going around town passing out flyers doorstep to doorstep, offering complete computer diagnostics, spyware and malware removal, for a flat 20$ per computer. I'm guessing he didn't have a business license and doesn't report all the money he makes to the government to be taxed, and hell he might even do pretty well. Maybe better than all the other kids trying to mow and rake peoples lawns.
The goal of our founding fathers was freedom. The goal of our current politicians is control.
This. About the only way to "live large" on welfare is to make cash on the side and not report it. Which is, you know, illegal. And in this case, I wholly support the "if you see something, say something" mentality.
As mentioned, cellphones are no longer a luxury. Nor are they particularly expensive. And people also flip out when people on Section 8, WIC, etc. have "new" cars, completely ignoring the fact that a cheaper new car (or newer used car) can wind up costing no more than a used piece of shit, on a monthly basis...as I've learned since buying my first used car that's still under warranty.
I mean yeah, I pay $170 a month in car payments. But that's it. Whereas with my truck most years I'd wind up spending $1500 (or more!) on repairs, and at irregular intervals.
Man, the second Cleveland video is just as good, if not better. I love the slogan: "Cleveland...We're Not Detroit!"
As for fraud, I have no doubt it happens. But nobody has shown me that it happens often. Everything I read suggests single-digit percentages...so yeah, if I have to hand a few hundred a month to a few drug dealers in order to help out 97 other people who actually need it...oh fucking well.
I'm aware people fraud the system. People doing this are (by every source that wasn't a libertarian masturbatorium) the small, small minority. I would bet money that there is more fraud in the private sector in almost every area of business than there is in most state's welfare.
I see a lot of what I would call fraud at my job, but I also know that reporting it is usually a waste of time. If people want to go to the trouble of living their lives to the point of welfare qualification, it's often difficult determining which came first, the fraud or the condition that they now live in.
The thing is, a lot of able-bodied people and a lot of fairly-affluent people scam the system simply by not working within its boundaries. The question I have is whether or not the cost of the significant amount of oversight it would take to better enforce policies and audit Medicare/welfare qualifiers wouldn't eat up every penny you save from keeping the standards stricter.
Which isn't to say that we should just let shit slide. But like Feral said, if you seeing happening, tell somebody. Otherwise, get your ass back to work.
If she persists, report it to your supervisor and tell him that it's making you uncomfortable and/or you don't feel it's appropriate/professional.
The thing is, I wouldn't go so far to call this woman ignorant. She's actually pretty on-the-money. Millions of people game the system everyday to survive without working. It's not even all that rare.
The difference is, "surviving" is about all those people are doing. And unless they're drug dealers, those people probably aren't making all that much money on the side. They definitely aren't using their scam money to buy high-end appliances or build good credit or drive the newest cars or going on long weekends to Napa Valley.
They live like low-lifes because usually that's what someone who works very hard at not having to work is.
The Welfare Queen isn't a fictional character. She exists, wallowing in a pile of filth and depravity. But that's not who we want to be, so we all do the right thing. And life goes on.
Also on PSN: twobadcats
Ed & Larry : "Doesn't matter."
I recently was gifted a thing in Steam. If it was from you, thank you very much!
Wingnut welfare exists in the same reality where everyone is born with the same opportunities and only needs to work hard enough.
"Wingnut welfare" is the term used to describe the money you get for, say, having a right-wing blog that repeats talking points. You might not have any ads or a lot of traffic, but you can still get paid to talk about death panels or something. Or welfare queens, for that matter.
Also on PSN: twobadcats
i get about $1k a month from the guv'ment to live off of
who here thinks that allows me to be a "welfare queen"?
because after rent and utilities i actually have very little money left for food let alone anything else
so
they exploit the system and use it in a way it wasn't intended. they're committing a crime, they're criminals and should be prosecuted.
people who use the system the way it is intended are never in the position of truly being affluent or even particularly comfortable on it
unless, of course, they do shitty things like spend the money they should get for food for their three kids on a new TV
it's easy for someone on welfare to have the appearance of wealth if they're willing to forgo a lot and live a shitty life and, presumably, abuse their children
Shit man, I see it EVERY DAY in my city.
While I don't doubt that some of the cases you've seen support this view how can you be sure that every case you claim stems from this situation unless you know the family in question? Do you have a situation which allows you insight into these families?
Seriously, that's a real question, not sarcasm. There was a guy who did repair for section 8 housing a few pages back so I was curious if you have something similar which gives you this insight.