Money From the Poor

redblue22 said:

I think things would be more interesting if people had put down how much they think is going to the poor.

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Depends on how we define the term, as others have said. I know of welfare recipients in California who've made a decent living on it.

Unfortunately, some people milk the system and then some who truly need it (have a legitimate case and cause) can't seem to get help. It's a sad business all around.

No of course there's no safety net. Not when people work for a minimum wage that can't even support a single person in a 1 bedroom apartment in most areas lol. How can anybody save up and have a safety net when they have to live paycheck to paycheck?

There are too many issues going on with America economically.

redblue22 said:

I might have missed it. did anyone say anything about socking away money for oneself in case you lose your job, get sick, can't afford food, etc? there's no safety net for anyone. what would you do if you were in need?

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This should be done even if the government continues to take our money. Even if it is only a little bit at a time.

K9_Trainer said:

No of course there's no safety net. Not when people work for a minimum wage that can't even support a single person in a 1 bedroom apartment in most areas lol. How can anybody save up and have a safety net when they have to live paycheck to paycheck?

There are too many issues going on with America economically.

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There are other options for a minimum wage employee....having a roommate or two or renting a room in a private house are two. And then doing what it takes to not stay at minimum wage long term.

I don't mind welfare because I know that many oppressed people don't have the same opportunities as those who "work" for a living. I agree, why should they try to work if the system is deliberately designed to make them losers? I will stand behind them in their fight for equality. Even if that means that others will have to give up something. I am willing to give up something, but I want the privileged elite to give up even more. That is directly from Jesus.

Privileged people will never admit that they are privileged. They don't like civil rights. They hate them. If they had their way they would do away with the minimum wage altogether, basically going back to the days of slavery.

Being privileged doesn't automatically means that you don't acknowledge it, or hate civil rights, or want to go back to slavery. You don't even have to come from a super elite background to be privileged.

Privilege is benefitting from the situation of your parents basically, and benefitting from society for no reason other than the fact that you meet certain criteria that aren't even in your control, like your race, ethnicity and gender. If you're white, if you're cis-gendered, if you're male....Those are all things that unfortunately do get somebody ahead in the world. You're more likely to get a job, you're perceived as more trustworthy, more likely to get payed more than somebody else for the same job with the same education, more likely to get promoted.

If your parents made decent money and you grew up in a decent neighborhood, that's privilege. If your parents were able to put you in a good school, if they were involved in your school and helped you do homework, if they were able to pay for your college or helped support you through college, that's privilege. If they bought you a car or helped you buy a car, that's privilege. If you were able to work as a teen or young adult for experience and save that money because your parents were otherwise supporting you, that's privilege.

Kids born into poverty have an extremely hard time getting out as adults. It's not just "Oh work hard and you'll be successful!!!". They are literally set up developmentally, culturally and financially to fail. Children do not get the kind of attention or parental involvement they need to do well in school. They're more likely to deal with teen pregnancy, more likely to get involved in selling sex, more likely to get involved in using and/or selling drugs, more likely to drop out of high school because they have to work to help support their family and their brothers and sisters. All of these things get carried with them through life and keep them from breaking out of that cycle.

EazyMack said:

Depends on how we define the term, as others have said. I know of welfare recipients in California who've made a decent living on it.

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Do they sit at home watching TV? Or do they sit in front of a computer in an office?

You can't really say which one is contributing less to society.

So I support the first because that is more honest, and they probably get paid a lot less. There is no reason that the first should work harder and still get paid less. So I support his decision to contribute just as little to society as the second, while getting paid less.

In answer to the OP, I don't like to think about it as a hypothetical. It's a destructive idea to think of doing away with taxes. I wish that it was going to those in need. It should be used to create more equality.

If it's just going to things like military, it just shows how immature our society is spiritually. But that doesn't mean that I want to lower taxes. It just means that they should be cut off from things like military spending.

My BIL had two mandatory weeks off each year. He got paid about half his normal rate those two weeks. Guess which two paychecks my SIL used to qualify for government assistance? Re-qualified ever six months. He actually made really decent money and usually had a bunch of overtime on top of that. ... That is one way it is done.

redblue22 said:

If you don't get accepted, everyone says how it is too bad and you really need the help. If you get accepted, then you're a moocher milking the govt.

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There are some who deserve help. They are usually disabled (mentally/physically) or actually have no ability to find work.

Unfortunately, an enormous percentage of people on welfare simply do it because they can. In many states, welfare recipients actually have a better standard of living that those who work 40+ hours a week.

redblue22 said:

Ok, so there's fraud and lying in court. I question how easy that would be. Anything else?

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I think it is remarkably easy. I have seen enough of it to make me a bit jaded. My SIL actually was following the rules, so no real lying...she was required to show two paychecks a year ... with no one actually checking what their annual income was. She just figured out how to play the system and justified it in her mind because they "paid for it" with their taxes. She honestly didn't think she was doing anything wrong.

I see it all the time in the hospital when "poor" people walk in and pull their Medicaid cards out of purses that cost more than I make working two entire 12 hour shifts...and phones nicer that I could dream of owning.

radhead said:

Do they sit at home watching TV? Or do they sit in front of a computer in an office?

You can't really say which one is contributing less to society.

So I support the first because that is more honest, and they probably get paid a lot less. There is no reason that the first should work harder and still get paid less. So I support his decision to contribute just as little to society as the second, while getting paid less.

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The people who sit in front of computers in an office in my company are invaluable. I would not want their job, and we could not function without them.

I work in the fire/water damage restoration industry, helping people put their lives back together after a disaster. So, I can really say which one is contributing less to society lol. Your comment about that seriously amazes me. I hope I misunderstand.