Any of you on government welfare programs?

Man when i worked at the grocery store 1 through 15th watching the foodstamp customers with 4 basket flourish had me salty......then they hop on the bus or a cab.

I used to think what kids are are eating like that ...becuase these same people would be back in a week.
 
str8cashhomie said:
I volunteer at a food cooperative and we give an 8% discount to people who pay with EBT (electronic benefit card aka food stamps). The people who utilize that benefit run the spectrum -- elderly, disabled, college students, young parents, hard-working people in low-paying jobs, etc. 

There is a huge stigma in our society about people living off "government handouts" but it doesn't make any sense. 

Think of how much money the gov't spent on bailing out the banks in 2008 (FYI: $700 b-b-billion!), and how many more billions they give away each year to oil, nuclear energy and agriculture companies to keep them "profitable." Then the CEOs and other execs of those companies get enormous salaries and bonuses, and nobody raises any concern or thinks about that as a "handout" because its called a "subsidy" or "tax break" and not "welfare." 

Try to think about it that way before judging anybody on Food Stamps or being embarrassed about using them yourself. You're accepting a few hundred dollars a month towards something as basic as eating, which should be a basic human right in the first place.

With all that said, if you need to lie to get the benefit or aren't using it for the intended purpose, then that's just plain old dishonesty. 
Click to expand...

best post in the thread right here.
 
My dad tried to get me on the *****.....to get steaks for the summer time [emoji]128528[/emoji][emoji]128528[/emoji][emoji]128528[/emoji]
 
I was always on free lunch in elementary and middle school. My mom raised me and my sister solo and she was terrible with money. Our lights and gas/electric would get turned off but my mom would have a new outfit to show for it.

Point being if nothing else some of these government hand-outs are really good for kids and make it hard for irresponsible parents to really screw their kids over who depend on them for food. (not saying my mom was irresponsible as a whole but you get the point and yes you can still game the system and buy yourself nothing but lobster tails but thats not the norm for these families) I used to know every day when i went to school i would have a hot meal which was nice growing up not having to worry about that.
 
str8cashhomie said:
Thanks @StillJustBlaze


@NazDrowie
 Universal Basic Income crossed my mind but I didn't want to jack the thread. This concept makes complete sense to me, but it feels so so far from the current American mindset. I just don't ever see it getting support. Not that I support the Affordable Care Act as it is written, but our society can't even agree that health care is a basic right. 

If anything, I feel like we are going in the opposite direction. Most people don't appreciate the historical context of revolutionaries in this country who literally fought and died for the 40-hour workweek and paid vacation time. In our present economy, the possibility of a family surviving off of one middle-class income is unimaginable.

When the industrial/technological revolution began, lots of economists and business people predicted a rapid decline in work hours and the rise of a "leisure class." Imagine most of society living a very comfortable lifestyle working 10-20 hours a week. Obviously, this has never really come to be the case. If anything, people are working more than ever to keep up with inflation, and real wages (when adjusted for inflation) have not really risen in decades. (If the concept of "inflation" is unfamiliar to anyone, it basically means people are getting bigger paychecks, but they can't purchase nearly as much for the same amount of money.) This gives the illusion of being richer without that actually being the case.

There are examples of other nations where the opposite has happened (e.g. Germany) but that may be an entirely separate conversation to be had. 

I think this is a really important point that gets left out of the conversation about US debt. Each dollar the government prints is a promise that they will be able to tax the income of future generations to pay back that dollar plus interest. It's a guarantee that we, and our children, and their children, will continue to generate revenue for the Federal government in Washington (i.e. tax dollars) by working, in order to pay back their creditors.

Let that set in... and consider the lengths that may be required to guarantee this reality. 
Click to expand...

There is over 600 working people in USA just to say. Why can't we pay even $1 or $5 out of everyone paycheck weekly to have free healthcare?

At $1 a week each that's over 600 million weekly in the pot. More then enough to cover everyone
 
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Superb said:
There is over 600 working people in USA just to say. Why can't we pay even $1 or $5 out of everyone paycheck weekly to have free healthcare?

At $1 a week each that's over 600 million weekly in the pot. More then enough to cover everyone
Click to expand...
you cant be serious.  Do you have any idea how much is spent annually on healthcare in the US? much more than $600,000,000 * 365
 
plansb said:
you cant be serious.  Do you have any idea how much is spent annually on healthcare in the US? much more than $600,000,000 * 365
Click to expand...

$5 each that's over 3 billion weekly..more then enough to cover that 600million
 
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Superb said:
Exactly
Click to expand...
Ok, so there are between 100,000,000 to 150,000,000 people working, im not sure on the exact number.  

I will take the upper limit of 150,000,000 and do some simple arithmetic for you.  150,000,000 * ($5*52) = 39,000,000,000 

thats 39 billion annually if every worker kicked in $5 per week, how does that cover 3 trillion dollars in health care costs?
 
my uncle's friend was telling us how he buys food stamps off other people then goes and uses them at the store. Keep in mind, he looks extremely Mexican. He said, one week, the lady will tell him, "hey Mr. Johnson," the next week it's "Hey Mr. Roberts!"

:rofl: :smh:
 
I used to buy stamps off folks with drug habits back when I was in college. My fridge was always on fleek
 
rillo561 said:
A lot of your service men are on it....why do you hate the troops?
Click to expand...
Those people don't have their priorities straight, or have a ton of debt. Either way, it isn't the militaries/governments fault they can't budget. 
 
That's a load of bull ****.

I had WIC and it wasn't because I couldn't budget or because my "priorities" weren't straight. It was simply because I didn't get paid enough to support a wife and kid.

99.9 percent of service members will qualify for some type of government assistance. The average salary of a service member is only 25k.

Granted rank, martial status, and hazard pays change this. But BAH isn't considered an "income" persay. When applying for assistance it doesn't count but when applying for a loan it does.

I'm sure I could have gotten food stamps or other assistance of some type but the WIC for my son was more than enough help.

And before you ask what my expenses where I will gladly tell them. Had 2 car payments which where 300 a month car insurance was about 250 or so. Didn't have cable, had Internet that was 50 a month. Cellphone bill was 120 a month for 2 phones. Lived on post so all my BAH was taken to live that's 1300 a month. Gas was probably another 200 or so a month. I rarely go anywhere and the wife was always taking my sons to parks and stuff like that. Electric bill was ify. Sometimes it would be free. The way post living handles it is like this: there is a neighborhood average, if you are on that line the govt. pays it, if you fall below that line they send you a check for "conserving" your energy, if you fall above that line you pay the difference.

This is not including the things I would have to buy for my job. IE: haircuts, razors, shave gel, new socks (everyone who is army knows those green socks can't hang long), random things that I would have to get for the field, also going to the field married personnel had to buy their food or MREs, uniforms and boots (being a construction engineer my uniforms would be trashed in a couple months or so).

My biggest cost by far was groceries. I can't even put a monthly number on that but let me tell you it was a lot.
 
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If you're single living in dorms/barracks provided to you, and have food covered, you shouldn't be broke. Same goes to those married getting BAH and BAS. The only people I've seen that have it rough are junior enlisted with 2 kids and a wife, and even then they are still able to pull it off. Any more than 2 kids at that stage in a military career and your priorities aren't in line, as people should have more sense than to birth more children than they know they can support. 
 
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