getting rediculous: a nurse I work with has a sister who has 2 children (out of wedlock, as is the norm these days)...she works part time as a waitress and received a $12,000 tax refund (last year) thru the "earned income tax credit for children"...with the money she bought a set of fake boobs and spent the rest on a cruise...your tax dollars hard at work folks...and yes, this is a true story
Way OT...don't mind helping others who need help but this is
- Thread starter RAZORBACKERDAVE
- Start date
I can do one better for ya. I just found out that with me and my wife having 3 kids in just a couple months (3rd is due in July) and her only working part time that we would make more money if i would quite my job, of building parts for our military helicopters, and got on welfare combined with what we would get in tax income. And also that we could receive loans to purchase a house where the government pays 70% of the asking price for you. Let that all sink in and tell me that America inst so F'ed up right now its ridiculous. I was brought up that if your able to work you bust your butt to do whatever it is you make a living doing and you do your best at it but now days i see many others that are my age and younger that want to be paid but do absolutely nothing to earn it, and thats the normal now. And it pisses me off that i work every day and people set at home and make more money doing nothing and its my taxes that pays them. Total BS...
I live in Ireland currently. They are experiencing a similar economic crisis brought on by people that decided to live beyond their means.
Anyway, its no big secret that Europe has more socialist policies and issues, and though a lot of socialist policies can be beneficial and appropriate, they are never implemented or enforced correctly. Unfortunately, the term socialist is still a dirty, scary word in America and its hard to even have a decent conversation about it. But I digress. I just have a story.
I met a married couple that lives on the west coast of the country in Galway. The guy is from here and has been his entire life, but his wife is actually from Arkansas. They have a little boy thats just a few months old. The guy is a full time student, and the girl is a stay at home mom. Neither of them work, nor have they worked recently, but they get enough money each month from the government for being a student and a stay at home mom that they dont even have to contemplate working. They live in small but decently sized town house about a 10 minute walk from the city center of Galway, but they are considering moving out further into the country into something bigger, and they will also have to get a car when they move. Its not uncommon for people here to not have cars or drivers license. You can walk or take the bus everywhere you go, so its no big deal. The point is this. A young couple (theyre my age) with a small child and no employment between them has upward social mobility based on what they get from the Irish government.
Im not going to get political and preachy, so you can extrapolate from that whatever you want. But, I will say, the American and European systems are both terrible, and none of us seem to be anywhere near getting it right or fixed.
Anyway, its no big secret that Europe has more socialist policies and issues, and though a lot of socialist policies can be beneficial and appropriate, they are never implemented or enforced correctly. Unfortunately, the term socialist is still a dirty, scary word in America and its hard to even have a decent conversation about it. But I digress. I just have a story.
I met a married couple that lives on the west coast of the country in Galway. The guy is from here and has been his entire life, but his wife is actually from Arkansas. They have a little boy thats just a few months old. The guy is a full time student, and the girl is a stay at home mom. Neither of them work, nor have they worked recently, but they get enough money each month from the government for being a student and a stay at home mom that they dont even have to contemplate working. They live in small but decently sized town house about a 10 minute walk from the city center of Galway, but they are considering moving out further into the country into something bigger, and they will also have to get a car when they move. Its not uncommon for people here to not have cars or drivers license. You can walk or take the bus everywhere you go, so its no big deal. The point is this. A young couple (theyre my age) with a small child and no employment between them has upward social mobility based on what they get from the Irish government.
Im not going to get political and preachy, so you can extrapolate from that whatever you want. But, I will say, the American and European systems are both terrible, and none of us seem to be anywhere near getting it right or fixed.
Also, heres an interesting, very short video.
Iceland was having its own economic crisis. They fixed it by letting the banks fail.
President of Iceland
Iceland was having its own economic crisis. They fixed it by letting the banks fail.
President of Iceland
A couple of things...
1. I have a hard time believing this. The average food stamp allowance for a family of 4 is $500, while the average cash benefit for a family of 4 is $900. This varies state-to-state.
2. So you're saying you can go on welfare and have the government pay 70% of a new home? If this is the case why don't we see more welfare recipients in new homes? You may be spot on, but I need to know the name of the program before I buy this one.
For every blood sucker taking advantage of the system there are 4-5 people who REALLY NEED THE ASSISTANCE. I was one of three kids in a single mother household. My mom worked 50 hours a week and didn't make shit in wages, so we were on food stamps. What does that make me? Well, I busted my ass to get a degree (actually two) and now have a great job and a great family. And I don't mind paying a little extra in taxes so fewer kids have to live in absolute poverty with a gnawing pit in their stomach due to hunger.
You guys want to see this country go to shit? Further marginalize the already-marginalized in our society.
I'm skeptical you have all the facts. As I understand the tax code--which I admit I don't keep up with-- that even with earned income tax credit she still had to pay that much (or quite close to it) in taxes to get a refund on it. If that's correct this $12k was "her" money originally, Like all tax refunds it's simply overpayment she had paid to the gov't that she got back. What she did with her refund might or might not have been a wise use of her money, but was her money.
I have a hard time believing this, too. I had a recent experience with a man who was injured & unable to continue his $40k/year job as a farm laborer. He is not totally disabled (SS found there are some "light duty" jobs he can do on a part-time basis although no one will hire him due to his age, injury, and limited education and mental capacity.) His wife is terminally ill and is on total disability from SS & SSI. Her total income is $600/mo. The family of 3 (one son) has her income, $140/mo in food stamps & gets $330/mo in housing assistance toward his $500 rent. Total income $1170/mo.
The home loan is thru a hud voucher program for purchasing instead of renting and the agent i talked to said it "can pay up to 70% of the asking price and that it may not be required to be paid back" was the word for word so there is likely restrictions to this loan but it is still up to 70%.
And for me making more on welfare... here goes...
I make 480ish a pay check and get paid every other week so we will round up to 1k a month (this is after 120 a pay check is deducted for insurance)plus my wife making 125ish a week so 500ish a month... so our income is 1500 a month...
On welfare i was told we would receive 300 for wic 575 in food stamps be eligible to rent a hud home and save around 400 a month worth of rent plus after 3 knee surgery i could get disability. Before the disability it would be right at 1300 so yeah i would be making more after adding everything up.
Now i know many people need welfare and have to have it but at the same time there are many abusing the system and i dont think there are 4 to 1 that need it either...jmo...
And for me making more on welfare... here goes...
I make 480ish a pay check and get paid every other week so we will round up to 1k a month (this is after 120 a pay check is deducted for insurance)plus my wife making 125ish a week so 500ish a month... so our income is 1500 a month...
On welfare i was told we would receive 300 for wic 575 in food stamps be eligible to rent a hud home and save around 400 a month worth of rent plus after 3 knee surgery i could get disability. Before the disability it would be right at 1300 so yeah i would be making more after adding everything up.
Now i know many people need welfare and have to have it but at the same time there are many abusing the system and i dont think there are 4 to 1 that need it either...jmo...
The circumstances you describe are similar to ones I see for many people & illustrate what I see as a flaw in the system. You're basically being told you're better off not working. I'd much prefer to see the things being offered to you used as a way to supplement the income you're making. You're barely making enough to get by, but it's much better for you to be working. Rather than penalize you for that, I'd rather see you make the $1500 plus get maybe 2/3 of the aid you'd get if you didn't work. That way you have the financial incentive to work, but also get the aid to live a bit better until you can get a job that pays you a good deal more. I'm just pulling ratios & figures out of the air, but something along the lines of getting your aid reduced by $1 for every $2-3 additional dollars you earn until your income is high enough that you need no aid at all.
I think it's a shame that your paycheck is reduced for health insurance. I'd have preferred a "medicare for all" or cheaper "public option" for everyone, but I hope you'll be able to take advantage of changes in the law to get adequate health coverage without having to go through your employer to get it. That's a terribly inefficient way for our country to handle health coverage, but that appears to be what we're stuck with for the foreseeable future. Good luck to you.
I think it's a shame that your paycheck is reduced for health insurance. I'd have preferred a "medicare for all" or cheaper "public option" for everyone, but I hope you'll be able to take advantage of changes in the law to get adequate health coverage without having to go through your employer to get it. That's a terribly inefficient way for our country to handle health coverage, but that appears to be what we're stuck with for the foreseeable future. Good luck to you.
I don't like to say that people caught in these welfare circumstances are taking advantage of the system. The system is there and once you fall in you are forced to make your decisions based on the system you are a part of. NE is right, the system needs to be designed so everyone that falls in will make decisions to climb out. It sounds cruel but the system must make it uncomfortable for people so they seek freedom from the system.
FDR came up with the nation's 1st Federal elfare program.
But he made people work on Public ork's projects so taxpayers got something for their money and set a two year limit on it.
Moynihan warned America back in 1964 what would happen to society bif the Federal Government paid women to have kids but only out of wedlock.
But liberals didn't care. They had people to entrap into perpetial poverty.
But he made people work on Public ork's projects so taxpayers got something for their money and set a two year limit on it.
Moynihan warned America back in 1964 what would happen to society bif the Federal Government paid women to have kids but only out of wedlock.
But liberals didn't care. They had people to entrap into perpetial poverty.
