Quick question, how exactly do those "9 out of 10 handout seekers bucking the system" (an absurd statement Bonnie) adversely affect your life? Can you point to any single incident where your lifestyle was diminished or hurt by seeing this?
I find it incredibly hypocritical to assume that those on assistance are taking handouts, especially when millions of dollars is paid in child support and maintenance daily to people that misappropriate those funds and use them for their own support, yet we aren't calling them names are we? We don't make outrageous assumptions about their moral make up or ethicacy do we?
As to your question, my daughter is a single mother of twin boys and receives no support as it is tied up in court at present. The father has given her exactly $112.00 for his children in 9 months. She had to drop out of college with a year to go to pick up a second job to supplement her income. Unfortunately, many jobs don't start you off with a living wage. She had to get assistance in the way of food stamps or whatever. She's now "one of those people" with her hands out. Yes, she's one of those lazy, good for nothing, scourges of society that has assistance and a cell phone. A cell phone I pay for, and guess what, she buys a lottery ticket now and again in hopes that maybe her luck will change someday and she won't have to feel people's disgusted stares while she's in line to buy food for herself and two mixed race twin boys. Yep, she's the whole package of everything that makes many cry themselves to sleep at night on the pillows that you can't buy with food stamps. Oddly enough, the same type pillows my grandchildren will soon need but will have to pay cash for. So maybe she goes to the store and purchases some steaks and seafood for someone to pay them back for the pillows they were kind enough to pay in cash for.
Now you may think she's the exception and not the norm. You'd be wrong, but some may think it. One way to help eliminate these issues would be to raise minimum wage to a livable income, but that won't ever happen because everyone thinks they're somehow getting fucked by that notion. People need to be able to look down on the person taking your order, paying them a wage commensurate with their efforts ruins that for many. Some would call for elimination of the program all together because they don't want their hard work benefiting the downtrodden in the way of tax dollars. Of course, most of them are completely ignorant as to how little of their taxes pay for social programs, but ignorance is bliss for many.
There is certainly some graft in all social programs, which would include fraud and such. Oversight and strict adherence to the guidelines set by merchants would most likely eliminate some of it but not all of it. I don't know of any system that is without flaw. I would certainly like to see people be more compassionate and not just assume that the guy having a tall boy after a eight hours of day labor making fifty bucks a day is a piece of shit person.
Maybe I'm different, but a handout to me, is something for nothing. A one term congressman receiving a salary for life paid for with real tax dollars, for instance, is what I would call a handout, but that's just me.
You know, it's kind of weird, back during the birth of this nation, society and community were important, a building block if you will, to the construct of our nation. So important was it to the forefathers of our nation, they wrote it into the constitution and declaration of independence. Nowadays the only time the creators of our nation are important is when someone wants to invoke the second amendment rights. Kind of sad if you ask me.
Hope this helps,
FDC
