How does public assistance (welfare) work?

[Anonymous]

Food Stamps can be used for just about any kind of food at a grocery store, including soda, candy, cookies from the bakery, lobster, and ramen noodles.
They can also be used to purchase seeds for planting vegetables, but not flowers.
In some areas, they can also be used to purchase bows and arrows for hunting.

Also in some circumstances, food stamps can be used at specific fast food restaurants. This is mainly to accommodate those who do not have proper kitchen facilities to cook food.

[Anonymous]

OP, you can see for yourself. Public assistance doesn't work especially because some people choose this as a source of regular income for generations. That is a real problem, especially because their assistance comes from all of our paychecks and we watch them turn around and blow it. Flamers, I have one in my own family. Cousin under 30 never worked a day in her life and from her own mouth, "never will, what for, the government pays me," She drinks away all her money and doesn't take care of her 7 children. She makes no contributions to society and doesn't give a shit. I have seen this attitude over and over again. Why do you keep having babies when you can't afford them?

I find it odd that on DCUM the posters are quick to blast people who do work but may not budget well and don't have money left over from their big paychecks. However there is so much sympathy for the poor who don't want to better themselves, keep taking handouts and have a sense of entitlement.

On the flip side I also know or have friends who were born into poverty and welfare and now have an education and make six figures. These are the go-getters who could have stayed in poverty and continued the cycle but choose to do better for themselves. They didn't sit around expecting a handout and someone else to feed their children.

Happy New Year

[Anonymous]

If posters say this type of support is temporary, why are some people on it their whole lives?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

On the flip side I also know or have friends who were born into poverty and welfare and now have an education and make six figures. These are the go-getters who could have stayed in poverty and continued the cycle but choose to do better for themselves. They didn't sit around expecting a handout and someone else to feed their children.

Happy New Year

Don't forget that they were lucky; it takes more than education and hard work to make a successful career.

As for your alcoholic relative, do you really envy her life? It sounds terribly sad to me -- is there any possibility for getting her into therapy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If posters say this type of support is temporary, why are some people on it their whole lives?

Employment discrimination, for one thing. Employers have always preferred to hire job changers instead of someone who is unemployed, and someone who has never held a job is even more likely to be looked at suspiciously. Many people on welfare don't have the kind of connections that lead to employment, like a relative with a small business who can hire a kid for a summer job, or even a friend with a job who can help them find openings. If you are really concerned, the next time you need an entry-level worker, look for someone who is currently on welfare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I find it odd that on DCUM the posters are quick to blast people who do work but may not budget well and don't have money left over from their big paychecks. However there is so much sympathy for the poor who don't want to better themselves, keep taking handouts and have a sense of entitlement.

I agree with this. How many times have we seen vitriol directed at the dual-income family who comes up short at the end of the month ("so irresponsible!" "cut the cable and cell phones" "grow up and live within your means" "bet you regret all that student debt now!"), but here we have myriad posters insisting that OP MYOB.

The squandering of public resources IS our business, though I'm stumped as to the solution. (A realistic solution, that is. If I were empress, we'd have the cleanest streets in the world, because picking up trash would be a requirement of receiving public assistance.)

[Anonymous]

Yes, these are the people wasting our tax dollars. They should fine them for having more kids. This is very typical of illegals and anchor babies.

[Anonymous]

[youtube] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzspsovNvII&sns=em[/youtube]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Popping out child after child with no means to support them is disgusting. The idea that this woman might be ignorant about birth control after popping out 7 kids is ridiculous.

Not really. I used to work in a shelter. A woman I was working with had six kids, and she asked me one day why men kept getting her pregnant. And then they would leave. I took the question to be more of a philosophical thing - why are these men ditching her, etc. No. She really wanted to know why she was getting pregnant. No one had ever told her, she was highly uneducated, and clearly once you're pregnant, a doctor would assume you knew why. In her case, she didn't, and she was too ashamed to ask anyone until somehow, she found it in her to ask me. I certainly don't think this is the norm, but I also refuse to believe this is the only woman who didn't know.

As the posters acting like we all have so much more sympathy for welfare recipients than for six figure incomes who come up short, well obviously!! One set has massive opportunity they're squandering. One set has nothing but obstacles. Once you're on welfare, it's actually quite difficult to get off. Once you hit a certain income level, which is really low, you no longer qualify. This doesn't allow for any nest egg or any savings to get accumulated. My "get off welfare" plan has always been to allow some double dipping for no more than XX number of years/months, whatever you choose, let them develop a nest egg and some savings, couple that with financial management classes (I had a volunteer come in to the shelter and offer checkbook balancing/financial management classes - they had never heard this stuff before) and give them a fighting chance to get off welfare.

[Anonymous]

If you are really concerned, the next time you need an entry-level worker, look for someone who is currently on welfare

We hired someone like this in my agency a few years ago. She still works there. She is a perfectly intelligent woman, and was always capable of doing the work, but we had to work with her a LOT on things like showing up on time, calling in if one of her kids was sick as opposed to just not showing up, completing boring assignments in addition to the ones she was more interested in. She is an acceptable worker at this point, but it took a lot of patience and perseverence for both her and us. I think she just wasn't used to the workplace norms, and it took time for her to get accustomed and understand what the expectations were. I'm glad she works with us, but I can see how a lot of businesses might not be as willing to put in the effort.

[Anonymous]

Yes, people who haven't held jobs may well need mentoring. It's good to hear that your agency was able to handle it and that people didn't just give up on her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If posters say this type of support is temporary, why are some people on it their whole lives?

Getting approved for disability is one way to ensure years and years of government assistance. If you get $800/mo of disability, you will be able to get qualify for housing assistance, food stamps, etc.

[Anonymous]

You can buy cold food in Dc with foodstamps.I was in line for the 3 dollar sandwich deal and over heard the lady on foodstamps trying to get prepared food. The clerk behind the counter told her that sushi was the only prepared food she could get for lunch. So my collegues and I got the 3 dollar sandwich deal while the welfare person got 15 dollars of sushi. Sound fair?

[Anonymous]

No, the "welfare person" had to eat something she didn't want because of some stupid rule. I only eat sushi in Japan; here I don't think it's safe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Getting approved for disability is one way to ensure years and years of government assistance. If you get $800/mo of disability, you will be able to get qualify for housing assistance, food stamps, etc.

Of course you have to put up with the minor inconvenience of not being able to walk, see, hear, or whatever.