Funding cuts leave many without home heating assistance in Macon
 

http://www.macon.com/2010/12/16/1379...y-without.html

i don't wanna be too judgmental, but if you're gonna complain about being turned away from the Energy Assistance Program (it helps with home heating bills in the winter,) maybe you shouldn't do it in front of your big ass TV.

http://media.macon.com/smedia/2010/1...filiate.71.jpg

Yet the TV has nothing at all to do with whether or not someone can afford heating. So yeah, you're being judgmental. There's no way that things could have been going better for her two years ago and/or she got it as a gift and/or it's really none of anyone's damn business.

Oh look, the article:

Yes, she probably did buy the TV during "better days" but she shouldn't have taken that picture. It just looks....bad.

She didn't take it.

But the point is it shouldn't look like anything. People should remove heads from anuses and think before judging.

But I did think. I think she should sell her $1500 TV and buy a $150 Vizio from Wal-Mart and use the remaining $1350 to pay her utilities. ;)

If you go through life living beyond your means it WILL eventually catch up with you and bite you in the ass no matter your income level. I believe there are people more deserving of public assistance, like the people out there that have already pawned and eliminated their luxuries such as cable television. I'm sick of people taking advantage of the system, as should you. If the only people who used public assistance where the ones who truly needed it, there would be more money in the coffers to help them. Why should a woman who has a 50in flat screen TV and a woman who can't afford to get her children a winter coat get the same amount of assistance?

I was in line at a grocery store once and the man in front of me only had a bottle of ketchup and a 24 case of Bud Light. He ran each item as a separate purchase, pulling out a $20 bill to pay for the beer than whipping out his foodstamp EBT card to pay for his ketchup. :rolleyes: I was tempted to ask him why he could spend $20 on beer but couldn't spend $2 on a bottle of ketchup. What bothers me the most about this is that there are people who's only source of food IS FROM THE FOODSTAMP PROGRAM.....NOTHING ELSE! If we could knock these cheaters and slugs off the program we would be able to give the people who really need help more than just $250 (or whatever the amount is) a month for food.

Someone who buys beer is not cheating his foodstamps. You realize that assistance is more effective if we don't wait for someone to get down to the absolute last straw before helping them, right? If you lost your job, wouldn't you prefer to get help sooner, so you could get back on your feet, rather than wait until you had nothing left? If you wait til the last minute you're going to have a much harder time regaining the status you had before. And I'm not talking about who has the biggest car, I'm talking about owning a car, having a mortgage, the things that require equity.

You've now assumed that this woman lived beyond her means because she had a TV. When you get a spreadsheet with her financials before and after, let me know. The idea that she could sell a used TV for anything close to what she paid for it is unlikely. And if you're making up scenarios why not make one up that actually favors the person you're looking at instead of judging that person for not living up to the standards you set for them - not for yourself as you're not there. That TV could have been a present from someone more well off, it could have been something they saved a very long time for and selling it could break the camel's back, but mostly it's not any of your business, nor the government's business when it comes to aid.

The myth of the welfare queen lives on *sigh*

I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt. I could see a scenario where neighbors are hanging out and someone is heading to the store for ketchup and asks if anybody else needs anything from store so someone else says "Here's some cash, pick me up a case of beer?" Stuff like that happens all the time in my neighborhood.

There are also guys in my neighborhood who will do car repairs or home repairs and refuse cash for payment and ask for a case of beer instead, which is a cheaper option than paying a mechanic or carpenter/plumber, etc.

All kinds of scenarios are possible.

YES, I'm assuming this woman is/was living beyond her means just like you are assuming she isn't. Fruad happens Drolefille, don't act like it doesn't.

Fraud is a very tiny percentage. I've worked for Public Aid, it most certainly exists but the actual data doesn't support every person you see buying cheetoes in the grocery store along with their cigarettes as a fraud.

And I hope that if you're so quick to judge someone who gets food stamps and buys a case of beer that you never ever treat yourself to anything, or buy anything frivolous unless you enjoy being hypocritical. It is possible to work full time and qualify for assistance, it's possible to have two full time jobs in the family and qualify for WIC and medicaid. These people are defrauding the government, they're poor. I'm glad that those standards are what is used to grant assistance and not yours.

If you're happy being judgmental fine, but this post started out with "I don't want to be judgmental, but..." and that's what I'm addressing.

The bolded doesn't relate because everything I own or buy is bought with MY OWN MONEY.

Whatever, I didn't realize that receiving public assistance means you never get to have anything special ever. (And don't tell me you've never received any assistance, subsidized loans, tax breaks, or even help from your parents who got write offs for you.) We should just hand out beans and gruel at the workhouses, that was more efficient.

LOL, let's not get too dramatic now. Essentially what I'm saying is-

How about we give less to the lady who owns a 50in TV and cable television and more to the lady who has never been able to afford either in her lifetime.

And I'm saying that I'm glad your standards aren't the ones used, for a lot of reasons.

Hell you don't even know if she has cable but you're sure judging her hard.

With a bomb ass set up like that It would be a shame if she didn't have the HD package.......but if you look really really close you can see an Xbox and a cable receiver in the picture.

Thing is, I don't care. Being unemployed for a year means she needs assistance per the qualifications; if she sells everything she has and pays for power for 3 months it's not like more money for assistance is going to open up magically and she'll only be worse off the next time.

Surprisingly there are asset limits on many public assistance requirements, a TV and XBox aren't enough to throw it off.

As I said, judge away, but don't pretend you're not. Thankfully the rules don't care.