Lawmakers Find $21 a Week Doesn't Buy a Lot of Groceries

[Kevin]

I started reading, but will admit that I gave up when they started on the guilt trip about us being the richest country, etc. etc.

If you don't want to live on food stamps, get a job. If someone can survive on the current food stamp budget, power to 'em. The government should only provide the very basic minimum needs. If food stamp recipients want to be able to afford some cheese for those chips, they can enter the work force.

[OneTimeSBX]

kevin, kevin, kevin...

not everyone on food stamps has no job/has 18 kids/lives in the ghetto/is mooching off the system.

a lot of elderly people get food stamps. should they be allotted only a "minimum"? i worked as a teller for 2 years, and there were elderly getting social security checks for 500 bucks a month...you tell me where in the US you can live off of that! people who are laid off of very well paying jobs find themselves on them for a while. hell, i got laid off from Capital One (one of about 250 employees), had zero income, 800 dollar rent, and a car note, a child, and my unemployment was under a thousand a month. and guess what? i didnt qualify. not everyone can just up and find a job that pays more, or sometimes find a job at all. had i recieved them, (and only because of my child did i even go there...) i would have used them until a new job came along. i would have used them for what they were meant to do!

its not the people, its the system. it needs to be monitored more. i'm sorry, but there needs to be a system that handles things, like having a time limit for being on it, and maybe other programs that give out the actual food, not just the means to go get whatever you want...the ones who need it cant get it, the ones who dont need it, have it.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by OneTimeSBX

kevin, kevin, kevin...
not everyone on food stamps has no job/has 18 kids/lives in the ghetto/is mooching off the system.

It does happen though.

a lot of elderly people get food stamps. should they be allotted only a "minimum"?

I'm assuming that they're going to use that food stamp money in conjunction with their social security benefits. So yeah, the minimum works for me. For anything above poverty, it's their responsibility to save for retirement, not mine to pay for it.

i worked as a teller for 2 years, and there were elderly getting social security checks for 500 bucks a month...you tell me where in the US you can live off of that!

Again, not my problem. Also, clearly, the elderly you were dealing with were living somewhere and not starving to death.

people who are laid off of very well paying jobs find themselves on them for a while. hell, i got laid off from Capital One (one of about 250 employees), had zero income, 800 dollar rent, and a car note, a child, and my unemployment was under a thousand a month. and guess what? i didnt qualify.

You'd have probably qualified for TANF. I looked over the requirements, they must have determined that you had sufficient resources to not require food stamps. From the literature I found, $2,000 in "household resources" or above cuts you out of TANF/food stamps.

not everyone can just up and find a job that pays more, or sometimes find a job at all. had i recieved them, (and only because of my child did i even go there...) i would have used them until a new job came along. i would have used them for what they were meant to do!

Food stamps were meant to keep people from starving. Apparently, you nor your child starved.

its not the people, its the system. it needs to be monitored more. i'm sorry, but there needs to be a system that handles things, like having a time limit for being on it, and maybe other programs that give out the actual food, not just the means to go get whatever you want...the ones who need it cant get it, the ones who dont need it, have it.

Well, those sorts of things sort of exist. There are tricks, however, to reset the clock. TANF, I believe has a three year limit if you have less than a HS education and less than 6 months of work experience, only one of course if you're college educated. A lot of people fill out applications and occasionally take jobs at places only to quit and have their clocks reset.

Welfare should be a hand up, not a way of life as it has become for so many.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by Kevin

It does happen though.



I'm assuming that they're going to use that food stamp money in conjunction with their social security benefits. So yeah, the minimum works for me. For anything above poverty, it's their responsibility to save for retirement, not mine to pay for it.



Again, not my problem. Also, clearly, the elderly you were dealing with were living somewhere and not starving to death.



You'd have probably qualified for TANF. I looked over the requirements, they must have determined that you had sufficient resources to not require food stamps. From the literature I found, $2,000 in "household resources" or above cuts you out of TANF/food stamps.



Food stamps were meant to keep people from starving. Apparently, you nor your child starved.



Well, those sorts of things sort of exist. There are tricks, however, to reset the clock. TANF, I believe has a three year limit if you have less than a HS education and less than 6 months of work experience, only one of course if you're college educated. A lot of people fill out applications and occasionally take jobs at places only to quit and have their clocks reset.

Welfare should be a hand up, not a way of life as it has become for so many.

And Keving you know as well as I do a college education doesn't guarantee you a job to put you in a lifestyle where you wouldn't have to worry.

And with the amount of kids graduating now already in debt with staggering student loans, 1/2 of thier paycheck from the first post grad job, may very well have them running out to go get them stamps and stay on that ramen noodle diet for a little longer.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

And Keving you know as well as I do a college education doesn't guarantee you a job to put you in a lifestyle where you wouldn't have to worry.

Nope. But neither should your fellow citizens.

And with the amount of kids graduating now already in debt with staggering student loans, 1/2 of thier paycheck from the first post grad job, may very well have them running out to go get them stamps and stay on that ramen noodle diet for a little longer.

I'm not a response is possible. Are you trying to make a point here? Life is hard? Something like that?

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Nope. But neither should your fellow citizens.



I'm not a response is possible. Are you trying to make a point here? Life is hard? Something like that?

Point: "Go get a job" is not as easy as you make it sounds to get folks off of food stamps.

[squirrely girl]

well at least i'm not alone in the belief that having a job doesn't necessarily prevent you from NEEDING food stamps.

y'all would be DISGUSTED by the number of soldiers and their families that also collect food stamps in order to survive.

- m

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

Point: "Go get a job" is not as easy as you make it sounds to get folks off of food stamps.

Get a job, get an education, get a different job.

If folks are able to come across our borders, find work and make decent livings, why can't Americans work as well? The fact that we say that there is "Work Americans won't do" and that there are out of work Americans is insulting to the taxpayers which fund the laziness of those workers who refuse to do that work that "Americans won't do."

If they can subsist on this minimal $21/week, that's good enough for me. In nearly every case I've seen here, soldiers, etc., the $21/week is supplemental to their other income, so saying they're eating on $21/week is misleading at best.

[James]

I always kind of look of looked at civil servants as welfare recipients also . . but thats just me.

Originally Posted by Kevin

Nope. But neither should your fellow citizens.



I'm not a response is possible. Are you trying to make a point here? Life is hard? Something like that?

[preciousjeni]

When you don't have the means to get an education, you have to do your best. Many people out there have to drop out of high school to work and provide for their families and they often don't have the time to get a GED or finish high school.

I was just talking with a coworker yesterday about poverty. She started out on welfare and was raising three children on her own. She didn't have enough money or time to get educated and had to make do with a low paying job and little funding from the government. She and those like her who have little education often make poor life decisions because they don't know what is available to them. It becomes oppressive and breeds hopelessness. So many people in poverty are either depressed or angry. The angry ones sometimes resort to criminal activity to take what they need. The depressed ones fall further and further away from any chance of a better life as they settle into what they believe is all the only life they can achieve.

The coworker I was talking with is one of the few from the circle of people she grew up with who now has a decent job and good benefits for her family. She told me that she came to a realization that everything is a choice and she was making bad ones. How did she know this? Because she enrolled in the Welfare-to-Work program when it was still going strong. Through that program she began to realize how she could mold herself into the person she wanted to be, despite the hand that life had dealt her.

Today, there is a federal program that attempts to create possibilities for people who are traditionally in need of government assistance. It's called the Work Opportunity Tax Credit and it provides significant tax savings for employers who hire targeted job seekers from the following populations:

Qualified TANF Recepients
Qualified Food Stamp Recipients
Qualified Empowerment Zone Residents
Qualified High Risk and Summer Youth
Qualified Veterans
Qualified Ex-Felons
Qualified SSI Recipients

[see: http://www.uses.doleta.gov/wotcdata.cfm - The site needs to be updated however]

But, programs like this are successful only if people know about them. Many large companies have entire departments responsible for maximizing tax incentives. But, smaller companies often don't know.

If we're going to blame people on government assistance, we need to make sure we've done our part to educate them on their options as well as tend to their emotional needs.

[OneTimeSBX]

Originally Posted by Kevin

A lot of people fill out applications and occasionally take jobs at places only to quit and have their clocks reset.

oh yeah, ive seen that happen! i was rather shocked when i saw it and figured out what was going on...shouldnt that equate to some sort of fraud??

and as far as the elderly, not everyone had the type of job that offers a decent retirement. i am black and live in the south. not that it matters much, but where i live it makes a difference. my grandmother was a cook in a kitchen for 40 years. she had 8 children. in the small town she lives in, there were no decent jobs for blacks in the 30's and 40's. you cant very well move with 8 children either. especially since all 3 of their fathers were deceased (dont ask, cause i dont know!!) there was no 401k, stock options, etc.

i think the elderly in the next decade coming up will do better and better. but there is still a group who will never be able to make it, no matter what kind of preparation was done.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by OneTimeSBX

i think the elderly in the next decade coming up will do better and better. but there is still a group who will never be able to make it, no matter what kind of preparation was done.

I don't know...not with the govt always threatening to close out Social Security benefits and trying to raise the retirement age...

[Still BLUTANG]

Sometimes people just need to step outside of their comfort zone, or stop to realize that THEIR reality is not everyone else's reality. I applaud these congressmen for even bringing attention to this issue by making it personal.

[MysticCat]

Interesting article, but please note this post from the administrator of this site, contained in the Welcome to the News and Politics forum thread, which says:

Do not post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or you have permission from the copyright owner. This has been part of the site rules since these forums were started.

If you are posting a news article it is fine to post an excerpt/summary along with a link to the full article on the news publication's website.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Interesting article, but please note this post from the administrator of this site, contained in the Welcome to the News and Politics forum thread, which says:

thanks !!



here is the link !

http://www.newsobserver.com/nation_w...ry/574927.html