A lot of folks rant and rave about welfare because of all the people who get it who don't "deserve" it.
They're lazy. They're exploiting the rest of us. They're "free riders." They're con men. They're Welfare Queens. They're shiftless. They're faking it. If they just looked for work, they'd find enough work to pay for their apartment, their food, their families, their health care. They're using all that money to buy vacations to Hawaii and Big Screen TVs. It's all a big scam. They're leeches. They just have sex and make more babies to get bigger checks.
They should be forced to find work in 30 days or be cut off. They should be forced to pick up trash by the road or be cut off. They should be forced to get drug tests or be cut off. They should be forced to prove they are real Americans, not sneaky Illegals, or be cut off.
Because that's how Jesus wants it. That's what Jesus said about taking care of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, the widow, the imprisoned. Right? I mean, it's right there in the Bible, right? Right?
(Note: Atlas Shrugged is not a lost book of the Gospels. No matter what Paul Ryan tries to tell you.) #ddtb
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slacktivist » Calvin and Chrysostom on the blasphemous idea of ‘the undeserving poor’
The Lord commands us to “do good to all men,” universally, a great part of whom, estimated according to their own merits, are very undeserving; but here the Scripture assists us with an excellent rule…
John Chrysotom is quoted: But, if they have to give something to a poor man, suddenly they themselves are the poorest of the poor!
And if they are balked at something they want, they are unjustly persecuted and their religion is being outlawed…
I have only known a few people who I wondered why they were on welfare (and I have lived in some pretty poor places). Most of the people that I know/knew actually needed help in some form as they WERE working more than one job and doing the best that they could and still couldn't get it. I have a friend right now that is truly disabled and can't work and the state cut his medical benifits…something he desperately needs – He worked hard most of his life until his heart and other ailments finally got the best of him. Ideas like that above just piss me off.
This is unrelated, but made me think of the conversation DH and I had yesterday. We are TRYING to buy a house but at every turn there is something else that is required. Yesterday – 8 days before closing – they decided we need flood insurance and the quotes we could get where almost 2k that we have to bring to closing since you have to have the first year paid in full up front. We can borrow money from a friend, but they don't allow borrowing money, it HAS to be a "gift" and it can only be from family – all this to prevent money laundering.
I told DH that this is why a lot of people can't get into houses is because they aren't allowed to borrow the money from people (friends). Sometimes you don't need a great deal of money, like us we just need a little to get through settlement, and their family may be tapped out or poor (like ours. He makes the most in his family and we have used every dime we have to get this damn house).
In an effort to prevent laundering they are preventing some people from having the means to just get to closing on a house. Our closing was supposed to be 7k+ but if we have to pay that extra it is going to be over 10K that we just don't have. Luckily the Realtor said don't worry about it, someone will pay it, even if it isn't us.
It isn't like we are deadbeats, I stay at home with the kids and DH works his butt off. He makes good money but the hoops you have to jump through are almost not worth it.
I do know for welfare their idea of poverty is extremely low – something below 24k a year I think on average. Even if someone did get a job at McD's if they had one or two kids they still wouldn't make enough money to qualify for anything. So, if someone isn't working so they can stay on welfare just so their kids can eat, I can see it since if they stopped working they may be struggling big time.
Yea, no kidding. The agent actually wanted to close both on the same day…we said no. LOL The LaPollas wanted a chance to put in new floors and such and Cliff ended up with Jury duty the day we were originally supposed to close – the seller is going to be out of the house by next week if she isn't already so she agreed to move it up. Plus side that gives us a week to get things together if need be, but still may not be enough time to get a waiver for the flood insurance.
I know of a woman who moved 3 times in a YEAR. I don't know how she did it. I told DH we are NOT moving…once we get in this house we are staying there unless something happens and we can't make the payment…even I will work 2 jobs if I have to. LOL I HATE THIS! 🙂
There are things about "moving" that I like — a new canvas to work on inside and out, a chance to go through our stuff, new opportunities, new things to learn …
But the logistics of house buying (and hunting, for that matter) are a huge PitA (having watched some good friends go through it of late). I look around at our own place and realize that, though we could very probably move into something bigger and newer and ritzier, we probably never will (willingly) until we actually need to downsize our lives or live in a single-story building. So we'll take that money and invest it into remodeling and upgrading what we have.
Any system developed is going to have flaws in how it evaluates people. A justice system is always going to free some guilty and punish some innocent — but the more you try to reduce one number, the more the other number balloons. We can never, for example, eliminate all welfare fraud, but the more we try by putting barriers in front of giving assistance, the more people who should get it will not.
It's said that the difference between a liberal and a conservative in law & order matters is whether they think ten guilty should go free to avoid sentencing one innocent, or ten innocent should go to prison to make sure you punish one guilty. I think there's an analogous paradigm around care for the poor.
From a government perspective, yes, I do think there should be some restrictions on who qualifies for care. But primarily because the resource is constrained. I hate cheaters as much as the next guy, but not so much that I want to see someone who needs assistance not get it.
Certainly the way that benefits cut off as income increases (even temporarily) servers as a perverse disincentive to find a job sometimes, unless it is a job that can completely lift you out of poverty.
Your real estate adventure sounds annoyingly realistic. There should never have been any question about the flood insurance from Day 1.
Apparently it was something over looked as it wasn't on the seller's disclosure. We think the daughter filled it out and not the mom who lives there. 5 other ppl on the block have been able to appeal flood insurance and won since they are calling this tiny creek a flood zone even though in the many years the town has been there it has never flooded (or at least enough to cause property damage). The problem with THAT is we have to contact FEMA to get a waiver and that takes time and it will probably certainly take longer than 8 days. We have to close on the 20th bc we are buying a house with the ILs and they care closing on THEIR house on the 30th so they HAVE to be out that week. BLEH!!!
And yes, the benifits thing sucks because they can get a min wage job and most of their benifits go out the window. If they are lucky they can get $20 in food stamps a month. That won't even buy milk and bread for a month…
House sales with timing are always … nerve wracking. I never understand how so many of them manage to work, despite the problems that inevitably crop up on both sides.
Yea. The lady I spoke about bought and sold 3 times in a year. I don't know how she did it. The house we are getting is in good shape and huge-it has a separate apartment complete with kitchen and living room for the ILs- so I told DH that we would just let the one of the kids live upstairs when the ILs pass and if nothing else there are quite a few family members that can't really afford their own place that we could let live there too for cheaper than somewhere else. We got lucky and didn't have to look for long, All the headache is coming from paperwork and the bank.