Why do so many people criticize those who recieve government benefits?
I am about to receive food stamps and I’ve been going around online trying to figure out exactly what you can and ca not buy with them. Most comments I’m reading are very critical and derogatory of people who are receiving, SNAP benefits, welfare, cash assistance, and such.
Everybody wants these people to get a job, buy only fruits vegetables and cheap cuts of meat with their stamps, and many complain that people are receiving the benefits for too long. These people have obviously never been TRULY poor.
I live in the country and I have to travel about 15 minutes to the nearest town to buy groceries, look for or go to work. The two closest towns are also small so there isn’t much employment opportunity. I’m married, pregnant, and have two 6 year olds. I have no job, but my husband is a full time Juvenile corrections officer.
We only have 1 car. Any job I find has to be specific hours so that I can use the car or during that time, or in which I know I’ll be able to get a ride. In my experience I spend more paying other people to take me to work than driving myself and others are not always reliable. I’ve lost 2 jobs because of that. Gas is expensive and when you are travel 15 to 35 miles for a job the amount of pay and hours has to be high enough to be worth it. 20 hours a week and 25 miles away leaves me with little or no take home money. It cost me more money to go to my last job and pay the sitter than I brought home. People don’t think about these things. I should pay money to work?!
I live where I live b/c the rent is cheap and all I could find that was affordable at the time. I live in a very small, very old 2 bdroom mobile home. My son and daughter are both 6 and have a bunk bed in their room which takes up their entire room. My bedroom is so small that 3 sides of my bed are against the wall. I have to crawl over my husband to get in and out of bed. There is about 13 inches of walkway along the open side of the bed. Its very cramped. Now I have a baby comimng with nowhere to put her. I’ll have to move and I’m not sure how I’ll ever afford it.
I have a propane tank thaat I have to fill to heat the house and use the stove. They will only come out and fill the tank if I’m putting in 70% or higher (about $900 worth of propane). I can’t get a budget b/c we rent. So, we heat our trailer with space heaters that aren’t very safe or effecient and I bought an electric skillet, microwave, and a small toaster oven to cook. I can’t even make a frozen pizza b/c it won’t fit in the toaster oven and I boil macaroni in the electric skillet (not easy). Most foods I buy are raw fruits and vegetables and frozen foods that can be put in the microwave or toaster oven.
When I inquired on another site about what types of frozen foods I could buy everybody started posting mean comments about how I shouldn’t be able to buy them. According to most people I shouldn’t be buying things like frozen lasagna or meatloaf b/c its cheaper to make and they consider it a luxury?! What? It isn’t cheaper to make first off, and I have limited cooking methods. I would love to be able to fit a caserole pan in my dinky toaster oven but it just doesn’t work. I realize I’m not eating as healthy or maybe even as effeciently as I could be but I don’t have a choice. I also have to buy drinking water b/c ours is so horrible.
I hate cooking how I do, I hate that my son and daughter have to share a room at 6 years old and have no space to play, I hate that I can’t find work, I hate that I have had to turn to government assitance, and I hate that our well water tastes like blood and is sometimes orange b/c of the high iron. But unfortunatley this is where I’m at right now.
It bothers me that people are so judgemental and critical. Everybody’s situation is unique. And just maybe that bag of doritos or liter of pepsi that everybody not on assitance thinks we shouldn’t be able to buy is the only litlle luxury people like me can have.
BTW …. I got pregnant on birth control. I haven’t been “breeding” as you so rudely stated. My children are both 6 and I didn’t intend to have more. And no… I didn’t miss a pill either.
First off, if you can’t afford it, why do you keep breeding?
Is that fair to them? (your kids)
I can’t afford YOUR kids either. (well, actually I can, but why should I?
Also, to me, it’s more to do with the scum gaming the system than the ones who truly need help.
Unfortunately their are many who have abused the system and a lot of people especially conservatives have a hard time understanding that sometimes people just need some help. They are trying to justify the corporations greed by saying the poor are the ones really destroying America. Attack and deflect is a tried and true method of winning an argument. Try not to take it personally, do your best and I am sure that one day you will be able to give back.
You don’t have money to feed the kids you have now, so you get pregnant again? See the problem here?
Good luck. I hope you guys get back on your feet and things get better; just stop getting pregnant with children when you are struggling as it is. I hope the food stamps help you and your husband feed your kids. I and others just hate seeing thousands scam this system. I was behind a woman at wal-mart who had fake nails and her husband had a 400 dollar phone and they were paying with foodstamps. After seeing too many of these people on benefits, it is really hard to spot those who really need it.
I understand completely. It’s all about compassion and being realistic. People making rude comments about anything of this nature have simply never been there before. NOONE has been in your shoes and lives your life so NOONE really has a right to judge you. People pass judgment by looking from the outside like “well, shouldn’t have put yourself in that situation, hmph.”. But if anyone with a heart or a brain really thinks about it, I’m sure you didn’t intend on being in the situation your in and things that could have happened to put you there are sometimes out of our control. I know the type of town you’re talking about and I know that type of economy. It’s plum depressing trying to find a job and better yourself when there are truly no opportunities. So all I’m saying is don’t pay attention to people with negative comments about the life you live.
Sounds to me like despite your circumstances you’re definitely not just a stupid woman. Have you considered online school? If you have internet access (which I’m assuming you do since you’re posting on here) you could try applying for financial aid ( http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ ) and sounds like based on your income and also the fact that you’re a parent you’ll have no trouble receiving grants/loans. Both my aunt and cousin are dirt poor and always have been, but receive a Pell Grant from the government for school that covers their entire tuition and doesn’t have to be paid back. There are so many different kinds of degrees and certifications you could get that could help you in the job search.
But like I said, pay no mind to the ignorant people and their ignorant comments. You do what you have to do to feed your family.
I have said in the past and firmly believe that a drug test should be required for any kind of government assistance. That really weeds out the undeserving.
Wow an entire page of all the reasons you deserve welfare. Maybe try writing a half page on how you can try to improve your life. Good job on the third kid they’ll up your money and foodstamps too.
Because you are unwilling to do the difficult things in life like provide for the children you decidied to have those of us busting our ass Driving 15 mins to work paying for a baby sitter to goto work.
And honey if you gotta go on welfare the whole cheap rent thing ain’t working for you anyway. It’s called move to a city and get a job and low and behold you can afford rent on a place where your kids are sleeping in the same room.
I guess your baby gets to sleep in the dresser drawer? WTF Why are you breeding.
Well here are a few reasons –first I know of only people that abuse the system I have a friend that inherited a $500,000 farm and just keeps having kids , he putters around with a few cows as if he is a farmer and gets all the gov benefits and sits on his rear I have another that faked a mental problem when on special drugs for it and finally got a disability and now he got his vasectomy reversed so he can have a child (he had a job at home depot before this but got caught stealing), I also know two more friends but you get the idea. anyway you may be an exception but did you ever consider that the reason your unable to live on one income is because of government programs .We cant help Americas poor by making America poor. Before president Johnson began his war on poverty we had good paying jobs and moms stayed home now with all the spending we have more poor than when he began,and the worst is still to come since we borrow 40cents for every dollar government spends
BECAUSE MOST OF THEM DON’T DESERVE THEM
I’m a veteran, and I’ve had some pretty decent jobs at times. Now, I find myself in difficult straits, and I’ve found it necessary to get food stamps. In my mind, it’s no different than collecting Social Security. If I meet the legal requirements, I’m going to collect the benefits.
Furthermore, there’s this thing called the excess shelter expense deduction, which kicks in once your housing expenses, including rent and utilities, exceeds half your adjusted gross income. In essence, what it means is that higher rent means higher food stamp benefits in some cases.
My personal circumstances are such that I can increase my income by either buying a car, or moving to a more central location where I can walk to work. My mother has offered to help me with the car, once I am able to make payments. But I’ve decided a more expensive apartment would be the better option, because the food stamp program effectively helps me pay for it. That’s just good financial planning, though I guess some people would call it gaming the system.
I recently had a problem, where I made a little money, and was excessively penalized for it when they recalculated my benefits. I appealed the decision, and have apparently won, though I’m still waiting for the judge’s decision to arrive in the mail.
Ultimately, I hope to get myself to a point where I no longer qualify for food stamps. In the meantime, I’m not going to let the rude comments prevent me from doing what I need to do to get my life on track. Nor am I going to feel guilty about having a Big Mac or a pizza every now and then, or maybe even a drink.
I recently put up a website to help people with food stamp related issues, especially appeals. Who knows, if the right person sees what a good job I’ve done with it, it might get me a job.
I’m sorry you just can’t seem to pull things together. But I’ll tell you what my problem is with welfare recipients. When you accept welfare money you are exercising your rights and acting legally. But you’re also taking money from the taxpayer (essentially your neighbor), and using it yourself. Your neighbor can’t do anything about it because it’s perfectly legal, and lots of guns back up the legal system here in America. Now I hope you understand, you’re forcing money from your neighbor. And I don’t care what your excuses are for needing what isn’t yours. Good luck, hope you find work.
AMAZING! I found this. http://milanstreet.info/128492/fruits-%26-vegetables
People abuse the system and do not set priorities. Many people on food stamps could feed their own families if they got rid of their expensive cell phones with unlimited texting and shut off the cable and the internet. Priorities are totally messed up. Instead of giving up their luxuries,they would rather rely on other to feed and support their families.
I see it every day where I live. The people above me are on welfare,neither of them work even though they are both in their 20′s and perfectly capable of doing so. They both have expensive cell phones and just bought a 42 inch plasma tv the day before the super bowl. That is the kind of abuse that ticks people off.
Very few people look down on those who truly need some help and are also trying to help themselves by living within their means.
You say you live where you live because it is cheaper. Well is it really cheaper? You have no access to public transportation. You don’t have a car and you lost your jobs because you had to rely on other people to take you to work.
You also have to purchase water, that is expensive. Imagine if you didn’t have that expense each month? And imagine if you rented a place that had an actual oven/stove? You wouldn’t have to hate cooking.
I grew up in a small town, I see your point about finding jobs. So, why not move to where there are jobs?
You are complaining about how awful your life is there but, you seem oblivious to the idea that people are nomadic. We can move to where there is more opportunity for us.
I see your point about Pepsi and Doritos being a luxury. But, you know what? A lot of times, those of us not on assistance don’t have the cash for the Pepsi or Doritos either. And when we are paying cash for our groceries and do not have the luxury of having our food paid for, it makes us angry when we see someone on food stamps buying something we cannot.
ETA: For what it is worth, there is a case going on in Ohio right now. It is a mom who went to jail for school fraud. She has been in subsidized housing since 2004. She could have lived with her father but, she said she needed independence. Her “independence” required the US tax payers to provide her with low income housing and a whole host of other free stuff. She is the reason I get angry about people on assistance. She did not need housing. She wanted it. She admitted it on trial. She said she had 2 household. She had another place to stay. So, as long as she was getting her piece of the pie, she didn’t care if other people had to pay for it.
You got me… I find this. http://smarterdeals.info/127212/frozen-pizza