MissJacksonCA
10-Apr-2007, 11:10 PM
I'm expecting someone's gonna tell me to leave the country for saying this ... but i'm not just someone who bitches about what a stupid government we have... i'm someone who sees a problem and finds a solution... read onward and btw Terran just for you i'm going to attempt paragraphs
I'm watching NOVA on PBS only because its like 4am and I still can't sleep and they're talking about poverty and showing the lives of several people who are living in poverty, several of whom are on government welfare programs...
This one woman we're going to call Shawanna is a black woman who's about 200 pounds and she's on welfare assistance and has 3 kids. I'm amazed that any woman on welfare can afford to get her nails done either by a friend or professionally. I know my nails cost me about 100 bucks a month and that's relatively inexpensive. I digress... she's going to school to get a degree that would give her access to a pay raise and a better job in the health care industry. Currently working for a nursing home she winds up getting a raise and its not much its like an extra 200 dollars a month. Well the government then says that since she got a raise that some of her welfare benefits are going to have to go down. So they take away 300-400 in benefits from her every month (bear in mind my mind is fuzzy at 4am so I dont recall the exact amount) which leaves this woman with even less money at the end of the month that before she got her raise. Eventually she's forced to decide whether she wants to keep her raise and the promotion that goes with it or stay at her old pace and just keep sponging off the governmet. At this point she can sponge off the government all she wants because they're so ass-backwards. But she continues with her raise and schooling and eventually gets off the governments teet.
Next story...
A middle aged woman we will call Ramona is now divorced and with two children and no child support. Granted there's agencies that force child support but they dont always work. So she's got a minimal education and lives out in the boonies basically and works for a local diner. Of course she barely makes ends meet and to help ease the burden she gets free groceries from a local program for those who cant afford to buy their own. Eventually her house gets foreclosed on because she can't afford the mortgage on one income and she's devestated because where's she gonna move and how can she afford to move? It doesn't help her not having any phone or computer access. Eventually she meets a man and they move in together and then well... i'm sure eventually her story is going to repeat itself...
Why doesn't the government offer incentive to women to go back to school to get a degree to get a job to be able to sustain themselves. Additionally some therapy sessions with women in a similar situation would not only give her a support network but it would help the women form more relationships post-divorce that can help them out since when most people divorce you're not the one who's granted the mutual friends. And further i'm sure as a result of having not paid her phone bill she wouldn't be able to get local phone service hooked up at her home by Bell South or whomever but the government should be able to give those in need cheap local phone service. I know there's companies who are willing to give people with bad credit pre-paid home phones for an obscene rate but the government shouldn't let a business rape the consumers like that. Further the government needs to do more to force men to pay child support. Here in SC they put men in jail for not paying but there's so many loopholes its ridiculous. A man can purposefully get fired or demoted just to have to pay less and not be put in jail ... and really men do that.
Next story...
The next story is about a black man in his 40s living in San Francisco. He rents a one room crap shack in a residental hotel. This place is so ugly is makes Cabrini-Green look like the Hilton. He works as a security guard for a local business and he fights constantly for better wages and for his union. He's not on any government program he's simply showing how hard it is to live in any city on what they call minimum wage which in most cities isn't a liveable wage. This guy I felt the worst for. He is divorced and he does pay child support but he pays so much he's left with virtually nothing. He winds up losing his job which doesn't have any union but pays more than the job he ends up getting which has a union and guarantees a steady raise... but here's the clincher... to make as much as he did at his first job it will take him 4 years or so to get back up there. WTF
I'm torn because I think some unions are good and others like the Teamsters are bad. But what makes his story so great is that it begs for a liveable wage for employees who live in the area in which they work. For instance if you want the benefit of garbage men in your city... shouldn't you be able to give them a salary that lets them live there? Instead cities as expensive to live in as San Fran are essentially driving out the classes that they dont want to live there by not giving them wages that they can live on in the city. But then there's the cost of them driving to work and affording a vehicle. Its just crazy. Its essential for cities to establish a living wage and do what it takes to see that the bottom level workers in the city are getting it.
These were only several of the people from the program the ones I felt most affected watching. What galls me about our government is that we offer no incentive for people to get off welfare. Instead we only offer incentive for people to stay on welfare.
I worked with a woman who was 26 and had two children which isn't all that bad for her age... but they were 8 and 10. She had no education beyond high school and wasn't interested in getting one. She lived in an apartment for people who have low-incomes and got 400 dollars worth of food stamps every month. Not only did she pull in a good 800 dollars a week in tips but she was one of the highest earners in the restaurant. Of everyone at work she needed the government benefits she got the least. But wait there's more... she got promoted to manager and still kept all her government benefits. They never caught onto her. Its like they're not going to check in on you to see what you really make so we will just pretend you need these benefits until forever. She has no incentive to better herself its crazy. They should offer benefits to people only in exchange for someone trying to better their life. I dont get it WHY DONT THEY.
I pay a lot of money in taxes every year. I dont have children. I dont get any special exemptions or write offs. And after seeing where my hard earned tax dollars are going I feel like boycotting taxes until the government does something to get people who make a career out of scamming the government. And I'd like them to reward those who are interested in making a life for themselves enough to do whatever it takes to get off of welfare.
I'm watching NOVA on PBS only because its like 4am and I still can't sleep and they're talking about poverty and showing the lives of several people who are living in poverty, several of whom are on government welfare programs...
This one woman we're going to call Shawanna is a black woman who's about 200 pounds and she's on welfare assistance and has 3 kids. I'm amazed that any woman on welfare can afford to get her nails done either by a friend or professionally. I know my nails cost me about 100 bucks a month and that's relatively inexpensive. I digress... she's going to school to get a degree that would give her access to a pay raise and a better job in the health care industry. Currently working for a nursing home she winds up getting a raise and its not much its like an extra 200 dollars a month. Well the government then says that since she got a raise that some of her welfare benefits are going to have to go down. So they take away 300-400 in benefits from her every month (bear in mind my mind is fuzzy at 4am so I dont recall the exact amount) which leaves this woman with even less money at the end of the month that before she got her raise. Eventually she's forced to decide whether she wants to keep her raise and the promotion that goes with it or stay at her old pace and just keep sponging off the governmet. At this point she can sponge off the government all she wants because they're so ass-backwards. But she continues with her raise and schooling and eventually gets off the governments teet.
Next story...
A middle aged woman we will call Ramona is now divorced and with two children and no child support. Granted there's agencies that force child support but they dont always work. So she's got a minimal education and lives out in the boonies basically and works for a local diner. Of course she barely makes ends meet and to help ease the burden she gets free groceries from a local program for those who cant afford to buy their own. Eventually her house gets foreclosed on because she can't afford the mortgage on one income and she's devestated because where's she gonna move and how can she afford to move? It doesn't help her not having any phone or computer access. Eventually she meets a man and they move in together and then well... i'm sure eventually her story is going to repeat itself...
Why doesn't the government offer incentive to women to go back to school to get a degree to get a job to be able to sustain themselves. Additionally some therapy sessions with women in a similar situation would not only give her a support network but it would help the women form more relationships post-divorce that can help them out since when most people divorce you're not the one who's granted the mutual friends. And further i'm sure as a result of having not paid her phone bill she wouldn't be able to get local phone service hooked up at her home by Bell South or whomever but the government should be able to give those in need cheap local phone service. I know there's companies who are willing to give people with bad credit pre-paid home phones for an obscene rate but the government shouldn't let a business rape the consumers like that. Further the government needs to do more to force men to pay child support. Here in SC they put men in jail for not paying but there's so many loopholes its ridiculous. A man can purposefully get fired or demoted just to have to pay less and not be put in jail ... and really men do that.
Next story...
The next story is about a black man in his 40s living in San Francisco. He rents a one room crap shack in a residental hotel. This place is so ugly is makes Cabrini-Green look like the Hilton. He works as a security guard for a local business and he fights constantly for better wages and for his union. He's not on any government program he's simply showing how hard it is to live in any city on what they call minimum wage which in most cities isn't a liveable wage. This guy I felt the worst for. He is divorced and he does pay child support but he pays so much he's left with virtually nothing. He winds up losing his job which doesn't have any union but pays more than the job he ends up getting which has a union and guarantees a steady raise... but here's the clincher... to make as much as he did at his first job it will take him 4 years or so to get back up there. WTF
I'm torn because I think some unions are good and others like the Teamsters are bad. But what makes his story so great is that it begs for a liveable wage for employees who live in the area in which they work. For instance if you want the benefit of garbage men in your city... shouldn't you be able to give them a salary that lets them live there? Instead cities as expensive to live in as San Fran are essentially driving out the classes that they dont want to live there by not giving them wages that they can live on in the city. But then there's the cost of them driving to work and affording a vehicle. Its just crazy. Its essential for cities to establish a living wage and do what it takes to see that the bottom level workers in the city are getting it.
These were only several of the people from the program the ones I felt most affected watching. What galls me about our government is that we offer no incentive for people to get off welfare. Instead we only offer incentive for people to stay on welfare.
I worked with a woman who was 26 and had two children which isn't all that bad for her age... but they were 8 and 10. She had no education beyond high school and wasn't interested in getting one. She lived in an apartment for people who have low-incomes and got 400 dollars worth of food stamps every month. Not only did she pull in a good 800 dollars a week in tips but she was one of the highest earners in the restaurant. Of everyone at work she needed the government benefits she got the least. But wait there's more... she got promoted to manager and still kept all her government benefits. They never caught onto her. Its like they're not going to check in on you to see what you really make so we will just pretend you need these benefits until forever. She has no incentive to better herself its crazy. They should offer benefits to people only in exchange for someone trying to better their life. I dont get it WHY DONT THEY.
I pay a lot of money in taxes every year. I dont have children. I dont get any special exemptions or write offs. And after seeing where my hard earned tax dollars are going I feel like boycotting taxes until the government does something to get people who make a career out of scamming the government. And I'd like them to reward those who are interested in making a life for themselves enough to do whatever it takes to get off of welfare.