Why so much anger towards people on welfare?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am on SNAP. I have a child who is old enough to be in school for me to work, but I don’t have a requirement to work. There are many women who have kids but don’t work or work very little on SNAP. I do work, but definitely do a lot of wage planning - to not earn too much to receive any benefits.
As for the cashier, I don’t know. I choose self checkout whenever I can but at Costco it’s inconvenient because they don’t have handheld scanners to use by customers. I have never come across any hostility.

Fwiw it’s $200 per person max but it’s a great support for the two of us.

You’re on SNAP and have time to read DCUM and read about rich Bethesda complaints? How do you relate to the craziness that is their first world problems?

I used to be them! I am downwardly mobile.
I actually have more time now than when I was middle class. And on some ways life is easier, but I realize I am lucky because I have wealthy relatives and am financially literate and educated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I worked in a hospital where tons of patients were on all sorts of assistance yet somehow had the latest $800 phone and other accessories like nail tips done at a salon. Didn't add up... Not everyone was like that but there was obviously some abuse of the system going on.

Yes, the poor in this country live lives of crazy luxury… do you hear yourself?! The abuse has been well studied it’s an extremely small percentage of the whole. Perhaps those folks got gifts for their birthday or bought an expensive phone at a pawn shop? Perhaps her sister does nails? I mean come on now. I’m embarrassed that you are so petty and begrudge a poor person one nice thing.

I should pick your lifestyle markers apart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you can convince yourself and others that the poor are fundamentally bad instead of just unlucky, you can reassure yourself that it won't happen to you and also that you don't have an obligation to help.

Poor person here. I don’t think anyone except the government has any obligation to help.
As for why people are poor: I’d say it’s either low IQ which is inherited and leads to poor choices, or mental illness (sometimes very subtle like anxiety or lack of impulse control).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Working class who are just barely making ends meet (but without assistance) are the most bitter toward welfare. I was raised by parents like this. So much disdain for welfare because they worked very hard are still only had barely enough for the same existence. Back when grocery stores started allowing credit cards in my childhood, my mom totally judged those people and told me that anyone who used a CC couldn’t afford their groceries. It’s funny how the world has changed.

This is still very true. People ranting about billionaires are missing the point. We have the working working classes who are doing what they have always been told: work hard, keep your head down, get on with life, and find themselves just barely making ends meet and always struggling with rising costs of living, and they see all around them the non working people who get various forms of welfare, vouchers or disability, and who work minimal hours and seem to end up in the same place as they do despite working much harder and trying to do the right thing. There's plenty of abuse of disability payments. If you're a progressive affluent person living in Bethesda, you have preciously little idea what really goes on in working class areas. There's a reason why we have both the lowest unemployment in modern history AND the lowest rate of participation in the labor force.

Then we do have frustrations with that many people on welfare seem to repeatedly make the same mistakes over and over again that perpetually keeps them on assistance.

This is true, wage planning is absolutely a thing. No use in working too hard if that doesn’t get you far enough

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Working class who are just barely making ends meet (but without assistance) are the most bitter toward welfare. I was raised by parents like this. So much disdain for welfare because they worked very hard are still only had barely enough for the same existence. Back when grocery stores started allowing credit cards in my childhood, my mom totally judged those people and told me that anyone who used a CC couldn’t afford their groceries. It’s funny how the world has changed.

+1

there is a poster on the first page who explained that to keep SNAP benefits you have to make under a certain amount

It is a system we need to change and benefits need to phase out for people once they start working and earning an income instead of posing a hard cut off income.

Yes, the welfare cliff is real. It essentially punishes people for making slightly more money and trying to lift themselves out of poverty. It incentivizes people to make less. Some sort of phasing or sliding scale would be so much more helpful to people.

Person on SNAP here. There is a sliding scale but you don’t want to completely slide off because then you would need to apply again and also being snap-eligible makes it easier to qualify for other benefits
I honestly think it should be super restricted (eligibility) - it’s not right when people can keep having kids and getting more and more in benefits their whole life

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Americans take pride in you building oneself up while standing on the backs of others. Look at how we treat our elderly, how we treat those with disabilities, those living in poverty, etc..

Ah, yes, the United States is the only country the experiences this phenomenon.

Well, yes.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/10/06/us-ranks-near-bottom-advanced-nations-child-wellness-new-report/

And according to the OECD, among the elderly, the largest poverty depth – more than 35% of the income at the poverty threshold – is in Iceland, Korea, Mexico, Turkey and the United States. This means that in these countries the average income of those aged 66+ who are relatively poor is less than 65% of the relative poverty line income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, you have to remember how welfare used to work - if a couple had kids, they could double down on welfare by the mother filing for welfare as well as the father asing as they didn't marry. That has changed, but you used to double dip and people would game the system by getting huge amounts of welfare checks by pumping out kids and staying unmarried. Welfare incentivized single parent households. Many people who are against welfare still have that scenario stuck in their brains from a while ago. It did happen before.

It’s still a good idea to not get married, at least for poor people
You get more in tax benefits (HoH) and you don’t have to claim dad’s income when applying for food stamps (SNAP).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Working class who are just barely making ends meet (but without assistance) are the most bitter toward welfare. I was raised by parents like this. So much disdain for welfare because they worked very hard are still only had barely enough for the same existence. Back when grocery stores started allowing credit cards in my childhood, my mom totally judged those people and told me that anyone who used a CC couldn’t afford their groceries. It’s funny how the world has changed.

+1

there is a poster on the first page who explained that to keep SNAP benefits you have to make under a certain amount

It is a system we need to change and benefits need to phase out for people once they start working and earning an income instead of posing a hard cut off income.

Yes, the welfare cliff is real. It essentially punishes people for making slightly more money and trying to lift themselves out of poverty. It incentivizes people to make less. Some sort of phasing or sliding scale would be so much more helpful to people.

Person on SNAP here. There is a sliding scale but you don’t want to completely slide off because then you would need to apply again and also being snap-eligible makes it easier to qualify for other benefits
I honestly think it should be super restricted (eligibility) - it’s not right when people can keep having kids and getting more and more in benefits their whole life

I think when a family with multiple children goes through job loss or medical debt or some other hardship, it’s helpful when the safety net provides food for the amount of kids they have. But that’s just me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one hates poor people.

But, I do judge. I have a sister who is a partial quadriplegic. That means she has no use at all of her legs, and only partial use of her arms.

She can't get out of bed to get a drink of water. It's a huge effort.

But, she worked and supported herself throughout her life. She was never on any kind of public assistance. She's retired now and lives off her savings and social security.

In the past this would be a motivating story. Today, I would hope that someone in this position would be able to receive some type of benefits, at least something like free public transportation, help from non profits, like meals on wheels.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in the Midwest in the 1970s, in the urban core. My mother was a SAHM. My father was self-employed. They struggled to make ends meet. When we went to the grocery store, my mother would sometimes comment after we left, how full the grocery carts would be of the people using food stamps (no EBT card at the time). And how they usually bought junk my mother couldn't afford to buy. And they had more children, sometimes in diapers and no shoes. And they would buy cigarettes. I think the buying of the cigarettes was the kicker. LoL. Lots of judgment.

Actually her personal judgment and behavior seems pretty good.

I agree actually. We should be providing people with enough food to eat but not junk food or cigarettes.

SNAP beneficiary here. Once someone is getting snap, more money is freed up to buy junk or whatever stupid things
I don’t know the answer to this one

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My neighbors get SNAP benefits. I know this because I have gotten their mail about it multiple times. They also drive multiple Mercedes, no one goes to work, everyone has enough money for constant pot and they get Door Dash several times a week.

It's hard not to judge when you see things like that, but I try to give them some grace.

How do you know what is in their mail?
I am on snap and correspondence comes in plain white envelopes from the county social services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Working class who are just barely making ends meet (but without assistance) are the most bitter toward welfare. I was raised by parents like this. So much disdain for welfare because they worked very hard are still only had barely enough for the same existence. Back when grocery stores started allowing credit cards in my childhood, my mom totally judged those people and told me that anyone who used a CC couldn’t afford their groceries. It’s funny how the world has changed.

+1

there is a poster on the first page who explained that to keep SNAP benefits you have to make under a certain amount

It is a system we need to change and benefits need to phase out for people once they start working and earning an income instead of posing a hard cut off income.

Yes, the welfare cliff is real. It essentially punishes people for making slightly more money and trying to lift themselves out of poverty. It incentivizes people to make less. Some sort of phasing or sliding scale would be so much more helpful to people.

Person on SNAP here. There is a sliding scale but you don’t want to completely slide off because then you would need to apply again and also being snap-eligible makes it easier to qualify for other benefits
I honestly think it should be super restricted (eligibility) - it’s not right when people can keep having kids and getting more and more in benefits their whole life

I think when a family with multiple children goes through job loss or medical debt or some other hardship, it’s helpful when the safety net provides food for the amount of kids they have. But that’s just me.

Yes but if despite already being on benefits they produce more kids…

[Anonymous]

SNAP recipient again. I live in subsidized housing. Many of my neighbors have new expensive cars.
Some have real jalopys though

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I worked in a hospital where tons of patients were on all sorts of assistance yet somehow had the latest $800 phone and other accessories like nail tips done at a salon. Didn't add up... Not everyone was like that but there was obviously some abuse of the system going on.

Yes, the poor in this country live lives of crazy luxury… do you hear yourself?! The abuse has been well studied it’s an extremely small percentage of the whole. Perhaps those folks got gifts for their birthday or bought an expensive phone at a pawn shop? Perhaps her sister does nails? I mean come on now. I’m embarrassed that you are so petty and begrudge a poor person one nice thing.

I should pick your lifestyle markers apart.

Or... There was actual abuse of the system going on. The worst case I still recall was one lady who would come in at 10pm, have us sign her visitation paper (she got money for each visit), stay for 10 min then head out to the club, never to be seen until the same time the next night. Meanwhile her baby was vented and fighting for its life. This went on for several months until the poor baby sadly passed away without anybody there except staff. We heard the lady got arrested a few months later for fraud- she apparently never told the welfare office the baby passed away and was trying to continue collecting benefits. So take a seat there, friend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The cashier at Target basically told the customer in front of me, my register doesn’t not accept welfare money loudly.
It’s not the first time cashiers have try to embarrass people out loud.

I would have asked to see a manager if I had witnessed this. Cashier should have been fired on the spot

yeah because there's a long line of the best and brightest lining up to take that awesome target job that pays so well they probably qualify for SNAP and doesn't have benefits.