I know better than to think that I can change people ... I don't think I can.
Sometimes, though, I bite when given the opportunity to debate something that obviously isn't worth my time, effort or energy. I was highly inspired by Aubrey at
Way Too Much Aubrey a few months ago and her
post/rant about judgment of those who receive help and subsidies from the government. I have fought that battle myself with people in the Facebook world, and occasionally in person.
I remember sitting around the Thanksgiving dinner table with my family when I was 19. I was in the middle of my sophomore year of college and I was taking a core-required Black History class. I had always been liberal, always believed in feeding, clothing and sheltering the poor, but that class changed me. It wasn't about race, it was about people being told "you're not allowed to have children because you're poor," and then refusing to help them with birth control or abortions or even adoptions. It was about people being treated like second class citizens because of their economic background, not their skin color.
Back to my Thanksgiving dinner table ...
A discussion started because they asked how school was going, and I listened to my grandparents, my aunt, and one of my cousins all lay into me about how all poor people
are lazy and they worked for theirs, etc., etc., ...
At that point in time, I never thought I'd be on the receiving end of any kind of government benefit, but I stood up for those that did and do.
The ironic part about it all to me is that my family is a very Christian, God-loving family. They pride themselves, especially my aunt and cousins, on being very, very Christian, in knowing the Bible oh so well, in telling me how I've lived my life against it, and that others I defend have too.
Apparently they missed the part of the Bible where over 2000 verses in the new testament talk about taking care of the poor. Where Jesus tells everyone to give up all their posessions to help the poor. Apparently they missed that part.
What is also ironic, is that those are the parts of the Bible I clung to. Through Sunday School, Confirmation, my high school Bible classes, etc., I clung to the fact that Jesus loved everyone, especially the weakest and most "unlovable" of us all.
This really isn't a Thanksgiving post, or a religious post, but that background ties into the things I'm about to say.
When my ex-husband and I split up just over four years ago, I had no choice, I went to the county department of Human Services and applied for whatever they could give me. I was approved for Medicaid for my kids and I and Food Stamps. About six months later, in the lovely world of Facebook land was the first time I actually cried from something a "friend" posted. This is what they shared;
I remember being stunned. I didn't know whether to comment, to delete her, to ignore it ... I cried for a while and then I went back to comment and it was gone. She must have thought better of it, or somebody else commented, I don't know, I'll never know.
There are parts of this I agree with, from working in the health field. Smoking is not a good thing for anyone and there might be a problem with being able to buy cigarettes and beer while using Medicaid.
BUT
Medicaid recipients often work multiple jobs, but none of them are full time, so they don't receive medical benefits. For a family of four to be kicked off of Medicaid in the state of Colorado the family income has to exceed $2600 a month. The federal minimum wage is $7.25/hr. Minimum wage working full time works out to be about $1257/month. Can anyone in this country live on $1257 a month? Really? Then could you do it while paying medical bills because you can't afford private insurance, or paying the premium for private insurance? It is entirely possible for someone to work 80 hours a week, or two people to work 40 hours a week at minimum wage and still qualify for and need Medicaid. Are we going to start telling anyone that receives any kind of government money what they can and can't spend their money on? I know a disabled vet that gets a check every month because he is a vet (who did not become disabled in the line of duty), he turns around and spends his $1800 check on cigarettes and alcohol ... every single month, is that any better than someone on Medicaid that drinks occasionally?
What about government employees? Both my parents work for the State, should we be telling them what they should or shouldn't spend their money on because technically it is our tax dollars?
Okay, I digress ...
Nobody knows how long the girl in the letter was on Medicaid. Maybe she left an abusive husband, or maybe she was laid off just a few months earlier, maybe a lot of things happened to put her in those circumstances. The tattoos, the gold tooth, the phone, the shoes, they could all have existed before she was on Medicaid, or possibly they were gifts from a parent, a grandparent, a friend, anyone that cares.
I have seen many, many more things like this and the last presidential election brought out the worst in some people. With Romney and his 47% comments leading to a slew of hateful things spewing across my Facebook Newsfeed. Ann Coulter and her "makers vs takers" attitude that some have taken completely to heart. This isn't about politics, it's about basic human needs that some people want denied to people that live in a first world country. There are countries way worse off than we are that take care of their own better than we do.
Here are some facts:
- Government Benefit Fraud (with the exception of disability) is projected to be about 1-2%, which means that 98-99% of people on government benefits, legitimately qualify for and legitimately use their benefits.
- Welfare/TANF "lifers" do not exist - there is a 48 month lifetime limit on cash welfare benefits (however there is no limit on Food Stamps or Medicaid) - this is also why it's not true that people benefit by just having more babies
- Welfare/TANF is not a living wage - TANF is about $570 for a family of four in the State of Colorado, that is not a living wage
- Welfare/TANF recipients DO work or go to school - TANF requires it's recipients to volunteer 22 hours a week or attend classes (their classes, not college classes) 22 hours a week, there are some exceptions for those with children under the age of two (although they provide childcare, so usually that isn't an exception) and those that live in extremely rural areas
- That 22 hour work requirement means that if you are doing your volunteer work for a family of four you are working for $5.98/hr which is $1.27 below minimum wage. This completely defeats those that say that people on Welfare are "lazy" and should just go find a job, they would much rather work for minimum wage, I'm sure.
- Any amount of money you take in is subtracted from the TANF benefit you would receive, so if you get $100/month in child support, you receive $100/month less in TANF
- Food Stamps in most states do not pay for food in any kind of restaurant or Farmer's Market
- When surveyed 94% of Food Stamp recipients said they prefer to shop in stores with self checkouts and 44% will only shop in stores with self checkouts
- When surveyed 87% of Food Stamp recipients said they were judged by a cashier at some store, at some point
- Food Stamp dollar amounts, when full benefits are given, usually amount to more than the grocery budget of a similar size family (one of the things I happen to agree with, my food budget went up by over $100 when I qualified for full benefit food stamps, this is a place where they could probably skim a little)
- The majority of recipients of both Food Stamps and Medicaid are children, most in households headed by single, white mothers
- The majority of recipients of TANF are children, most in households headed by single, white or black mothers
- The Asian population receives the least amount of benefits, the Hispanic population only slightly more than Asians
- When the state of Florida drug tested TANF recipients less than 2% failed the test, which is believed to be the national average for drug users on government benefits, the state of Florida netted a loss of $45,780 by drug testing their TANF recipients. So, no, not every one on government benefits is addicted to drugs, not even 2% of them are.
Here's my story; I drive a car owned by my mom, I live in my mom's unfinished basement, where I pay no rent, and yes, I do enjoy the benefit of an HDTV and Cable, courtesy of my mom, I do have internet access and clothes to wear. I have a smartphone; my cell phone contract came out of my marriage with me, and because I keep using my upgrades and extending my contract I have no way out of it, except paying thousands of dollars if I wanted to. My father gives me money every year for my birthday, and most years I get a new phone with that money and my upgrade. I have a laptop computer that I bought with inheritance when my grandmother died and I use it and need it for nursing school. I was kicked off of Food Stamps for at least 12 months because I inherited a relatively small, but five figure amount when my grandmother died. Rather than be able to save that for my kids' college I now spend that on food because I don't have Food Stamps right now. I work about three quarter time most of the time, however I've been known to put in 90 hour weeks and I'm a full-time student, I am not lazy.
By the time I finish nursing school, I estimate that I will have been on Medicaid for almost seven years, and Food Stamps off and on for that same seven years. It will take me that long to get through school and get on my feet to be able to make a living wage. In the mean time, I
do work, which allows me to pay my cell phone bill, it allows me to hang out with friends now and then, it allows me to enjoy an alcoholic beverage now and then ...
About a week ago I saw this and posted it to my Facebook wall:
Then today I started systematically deleting people who had posted or shared the (very long list of) following things ALL in the last month;
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| This was probably either a very large family, or someone who just got their benefits, because when you get your first payout, it's retroactive to the day you applied, which means sometimes you get three months worth at once. |
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| Remember what I said about Hispanics being second to the bottom on the race chain and white, single mothers being at the top of the list for benefits? Yeah, people have no clue .... AND by the way ... you have to have a social security number to get government benefits ... you can't get them if you're an illegal immigrant ... | |
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| Some day maybe your parents will love you enough to buy you one too ... |
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| Posted by a stay-at-home-mom, which I was and I consider it a job, but I wonder where she would be if something happened to her marriage or her husband? ... She better not expect to become one of the 47% ... and um, if you paid more in taxes than most people make annually as you claim ... then you probably are "rich" ... |
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| A monthly Welfare check isn't enough to buy an iPhone ... |
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| No, poor people call money, money ... |
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| Um, I know a lot of people who voted for Obama and it had nothing to do with their votes being "bought" ... |
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| Yeah, because that happens, and if it does it's either stolen or was paid off before they were laid off and needed government benefits. |
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| Can we say racist? |
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| I don't know many or any that are taxed to a breaking point ... and those that receive benefits aren't refusing to work, 98%+ of them would rather work than get benefits, they would have much more money that way ... and they have to work if they get TANF anyway ... |
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| Taxes aren't stealing ... and under Eisenhower the highest tax bracket paid 90% taxes in order to help the poor. |
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| Again they usually do work for it, and the "material" possessions they have are almost always gifts or things they brought into their situations ... |
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| You can't live on Welfare alone ... |
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| Um I work hard and get good grades ... and I have a good job with crappy pay and no benefits ... |
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| The homeless, mostly what the government calls "ABAWD or Able Bodied Adults Without Dependents" don't qualify for any benefits in most states ... they don't get Food Stamps, Medicaid or TANF ... there is a short term (18 weeks usually) food stamp period for ABAWDs that lose their jobs unexpectedly, but that is it in most states ... the majority of America's homeless don't qualify for any beneftis ... and I've never seen a homeless guy with an iPod, but maybe that's just me .. |
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| I can see why people would think this looks bad ... but let me tell you a story ... in 2009 I wanted to throw my daughter a birthday party ... I scrimped and saved my food stamps the same as I would have done "real" money ... I couldn't afford decorations or games or a craft ... so I used my food stamps and bought all the stuff for "make your own pizzas" I bought a ton of candy to play games with (like balancing an M&M in a spoon and racing), I also used candy for the party favors ... it is completely possible that in the above image somebody saved and planned and was trying to make a special night for someone; for their birthday, or who knows, maybe someone got a job offer ... |
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| Nobody should expect an inheritance anyway ... |
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| In 2010 when my son was in the hospital over Halloween, my girls trick or treated extra to give him candy ... because it was the RIGHT thing to do ... he didn't not go trick or treating because he was lazy ... it's a good metaphor for looking at the bigger picture as well ... |
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| I can think of plenty of reasons to not share this ... |
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| This makes me have no faith in people ... |
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| Might be a good idea if just "going and getting a job" was as easy as it sounded ... especially one that actually pays a living wage ... |
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| I really hope his ex wife wasn't a SAHM when she was married to him .... but I think I know why she is his ex now ... |
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| And how exactly do you differentiate? ... You going to put security cameras in all their houses? I bet you find 98%+ of them aren't lazy ... |
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| Yep, must be why I work 40 hours a week and go to school full time too ... /sarcasm |
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| First off ... it's "you're" ... I don't have a nice purse, but if I did, it would probably be because it was a gift or it left my marriage with me ... |
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| Yeah that's totally what me and my little benefits friends do ... |
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| Yep, we sure are ... again I hate people ... |
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| There is big difference between human beings and other "animals" ... |
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| So if you receive benefits or vote for a candidate that supports you receiving benefits, you no longer have freedom? ... I don't get it ... we live in the USA ... we are all free to some extent and not to another ... |
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| Apparently everyone on Food Stamps is obese too ... |
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| Doubtful ... but maybe she has parents that help ... maybe she does her nails herself ... but I do maintain both an MMO account and a smartphone ... but those are literally my only two bills I pay every month ... |
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| I don't think this is how Lincoln would feel at all ... in fact he would probably oppose the work requirement on TANF because it is effectively slave labor ... but that is me guessing on something we will never know the answer to ... |
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| Guess I'm a moocher ... |
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| I seriously don't know what all this Obama free phone crap is about ... lol ... |
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| Actually ... you can't ... |
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| Yep, because we're all crack addicted ... and none of us have jobs to pay for our crack habit ... and we all have babies on purpose so we can take more of your paycheck ... yeah, that's it ... |
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| "How do you starve an Obama supporter? Hide his food stamps under his work boots." ... Awesome ... sounds like a good idea ... now back to the ABAWDs who stand outside day labor places at 3am hoping to take home minimum wage that day ... I bet they are starving anyway and they put on those work boots every day ... |
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| Yep, because that's how it works ... |
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| This chick was fired from her teaching job ... thank goodness ... |
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| Presents from other people happen ... even when you tell them all you want is money for food and gas ... sometimes parents and grandparents want to get you something "nicer" than that ... |
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| My work doesn't drug test, and a lot of places don't ... but I addressed this in my facts ... less than 2% will fail and it will cost you more tax dollars to do it ... |
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| That's right ... |
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| Oh, did I mention that we're parasites too? ... Awesome ... |
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Needless to say ... almost all of these friends have since been deleted from my Facebook ...
Edit: 1/9/2013
Deleted another one a week ago for posting a meme that said "if you can't feed 'em, don't breed 'em" ...
