Elections have consequences. That is something that people who won the last election like to smugly say to people who lost the last election. This is nowhere more true than in Michigan since the recent election of Republican Governor Rick Snyder, former chairman/coo/president of Gateway, who with the assistance of a Republican majority in the legislature, has instituted some sweeping changes.
The latest change is that there will be an end to cash assistance welfare for families who have received more than four years of help. This starts October 1-just as school is starting up and winter is coming.
Lansing— The state Legislature on Wednesday passed a 48-month lifetime limit on welfare benefits expected to cast more than 11,000 families off the welfare rolls on Oct. 1 — including more than 29,700 children, according to state officials.The cumulative time limit will save $77.4 million in the budget year that starts Oct. 1, but Democrats and child advocates said they fear it will cause a humanitarian crisis as social agencies are flooded with families who can’t pay for rent, utilities or other essentials.
Gov. Rick Snyder, who proposed the cap as part of his 2012 budget, is expected to sign the bill into law.
Judy Putnam, spokeswoman for the Michigan League for Human Services, said: “The impact is going to come … when families lose a key source of income and may not be able to pay the rent just as the school year is getting started and kids are settling into classrooms.”She added that many nonprofits and charities also have been slammed by the recession.
Wayne County will be most affected, with 6,560 families losing the cash assistance. Genesee County will see 1,533 families come off the rolls, with 600 in Muskegon, 385 in Oakland and 371 in Saginaw.
Statewide, 11,188 adults and 29,707 children will lose their benefits in just over five weeks. By September 2012, there will be 13,789 families to drop off the rolls, said Sheryl Thompson, acting deputy director of field operations for the Department of Human Services.
Thompson was not able to give a breakdown of adults and children by county, but she said the average family includes one adult and two children. DHS Director Maura Corrigan announced earlier this month that the agency would no longer grant extensions to clients who have exceeded the five-year federal limit on cash assistance. Thompson said most of the families who will lose their benefits Oct. 1 have been on the rolls five years or longer.
Republicans said Michigan no longer can afford to allow families to stay on the assistance plan for four years or more. Rep. Kenneth Horn, R-Frankenmuth, noted that food stamps, Medicaid and child care payments will continue for those kicked off cash assistance. “This should be a strong statement for Michigan residents that (cash assistance) should not be a lifestyle,” Horn told members of the House before Wednesday’s vote. The measure passed largely along party lines in both chambers. Link to Detroit News Article
Now I was prepared to be exceedingly wroth but upon reading the article and doing some more research I learned that the current federal lifetime limit on welfare cash assistance is just five years. States are allowed to exempt up to 20% of their case load for hardship reasons, which Michigan announced it would no longer do. So perhaps moving from five years to four years is no big deal? Perhaps.
However Snyder and his merry band of right-wingers also just recently overhauled the Michigan budget and tax structure. I don’t intend to dive down into the nuts and bolts right now but the big picture is that pensions are now taxable, the limit for state unemployment payments was reduced, the Earned Income Tax Credit was cut, business taxes were cut and aid to schools was cut. The only problem is that in the real world where states have to balance their budget, cutting taxes leads to less revenue coming in and that has to be made up somehow. How fortunate then for the Republicans that the amount of money they expect to save from the welfare cuts happens to be the exact amount of the probable budget shortfall from the tax cuts.
What an INCREDIBLE coincidence!!!!!!
Poverty, Schmoverty! Look at the big picture people!!!
Although it’s not national news the way something would be if it were happening in California or New York, the ugly truth is that Michigan has a very serious problem with child poverty. It’s risen 64% over the past decade.
That’s right 64%!!! That’s a lot of children living in homes with impoverished parents-a lot of people working low pay dead end jobs or unable to find jobs.
More than 36 percent of all Michigan children younger than age 18 were living in a household in 2009 where no parent had full-time, year-round employment, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s annual Kids Count Data Book released today. That compares with 31 percent of children nationally. The report also found that 12 percent or 281,000 children in Michigan had at least one unemployed parent in 2010 compared with 11 percent nationally. And 5 percent of Michigan kids were affected by foreclosures since 2007, compared with 4 percent nationally.
“This report shows with startling clarity how deeply the recession has affected families across Michigan,’’ said Jane Zehnder-Merrell, director of the Kids Count in Michigan project at the Michigan League for Human Services. “Unemployment and foreclosures are adult issues but ones that dramatically affect kids, too. These economic stressors place children at much higher risk of worsening health and education outcomes.”
Some 23 percent of Michigan children lived in poverty last year — with poverty calculated as two adults and two children living on $21,756 or less, up 64 percent since 2000.
With the news that the Federal COBRA subsidy is ending I guess now would be a particularly bad time to be unemployed in Michigan. The other thing to consider is not only will these welfare cuts hurt some undeserving people but that increasing the labor supply at a time when there is already 9% unemployment is not going to have a particularly good impact on wages. Of course that’s if you’re an employee. If you’re an employer this is good news because your leverage over your current (low-skill) workers just got a little tighter. Don’t like your job? Shut up and grin or I’ll replace you with a welfare recipient. There is an effort to recall Snyder (it was started well before this latest news) but it doesn’t look like it will go anywhere.
Of course to be fair there IS another side to this issue. I don’t have much sympathy for it BUT at one point we didn’t have federal cash assistance for impoverished people. A four year lifetime limit is pretty long. If you can’t afford kids don’t have them. You have no right to other people’s money. Some people need a kick in the butt to get them moving. Quit hiding behind your kids and get your tuckus to work. We heard the same doom and gloom predictions when Clinton made changes during the nineties so quit your squawking and get a job.
I have to admit I know some people to whom I would have no problem preaching that last paragraph. But are they the majority of welfare recipients? I don’t think so. Not at all.
QUESTIONS:
What’s your take?
Is a 4 year lifetime welfare limit too stringent?
Should this wait until there is lower unemployment?
Should this be phased in over a few years?
Is this the morally right thing to do?
Article by Urban Politico
The Urban Politico is a collaboration of four writers, who hold each other in high esteem, to address social, political and other issues which resonate within the populations in which they feel most connected; race, age, socioeconomic and political status, personal experience and any other identifying factor that can join us, rather than divide us. The Janitor is an attorney in NYC and he and Godson worked together as organizers on the 2008 Obama Campaign. Godson, a published author, is currently Chief of Staff for a State Representative in Philadelphia. The Fed, as the name implies, is in the Federal Gov in Washington D.C. and works with law makers on the Hill. These 3 writers share very similar views on many issues, however, all 3 have a different perspective. This blog will be a platform that will bring forth many new and fresh ideas and concepts that are extremely noteworthy.
Urban has written 122 article(s) for us.
{ 103 comments… read them below or add one }
As both a former Michigan resident (was born and raised there) and a politically active (served for Delegate in Wayne county from 2008 to 2010), I will say that I’m sick of MI Legislators.
There are so many simple ways of fixing the budget, but you have idiots like Snyder that pop into office with no real concern or understanding of what the people really need, and he ends up redividing the districts and trying to rob impoverished city officials of their political power.
Sadly, politics has become a rat race for notoriety. Everybody wants to take credit for doing something in Michigan, but nobody wants to actually do the work (which more often than not involves compromising with the other side to get sh*t accomplished).
I dunno. I think they should just cut it altogether. For years is long enough to where you are pretty much a worthless leach. Drop em after that long will be serious problems. Like caring for a bunch of kids you had when aboard the gravy train after benefits are cut. Now instead of one broke person thay could have contribute, you got three who can’t contribute. I say have it forever or not at all.
Man you really don’t know, do you?
READ MY COMMENTS BELOW…
Learn to spell correctly and also you never understand until it hits you.
Wasn’t meant for you sorry. For the person above you.
Learn to spell correctly and also you never understand until it hits you. It’s no gravy train and I have seen middle class people reduced to rubble because their company went under or got laid off and you have to work for minimum wages when you have a house you can’t sell to much to go on your in another world and out of touch. I am doing well but friends and family around me that are good people are losing work due to Wealthy Republican greed. By the way no Gravy train still is not enough to live on. once you have a $2000 of worth like car which you need for a job state cuts you off. Don’t get on here without research.
If the state’s hands were tied I dont see an issue with them having to cut back to four years, its not like they are slashing the program all together. Only issue is they are cutting the program at a time were unemployment is high and most of those who are on state assistance are usually persons wih limited job skills or no more than a highschool or trade school education.
Yeah, I think 4 years should be enough time to get it together..shame that the kids have to suffer in all this. So sad.
Before the great recession the average time spent on TANF was somewhere around 35 months according to a study in 2006. Now, the state of Michigan prior to the economic meltdown led the country with the highest unemployment rate. With the unemployment rate being what it is today, and in particular in Black America… you’re right…. 4yrs is enough time to get it together. #GTFO
Here’s something to think about: The families who receive assistance beyond the federal 5yr limit are hardship cases = people who for medical reasons and otherwise aren’t able to work who havew CHILDREN. When are we going to stop believing the righ-wing hype and constantly co-signing on bullshit?
I think the timing is terrible, but honestly how long can cash assistance last? I think the answer lies more in job creation and job training rather than just cutting back. You make a great point about hardship cases and maybe the 4 year cutoff shouldn’t be a one-size fits all solution.
Who said anything about balling? But if I’m a middle class dude struggling to make ends meet and housepoor after buying a new home in a cul de sac community, then the economy crashes and the subdivision can’t sell as quick now you have people renting there on section 8, complete with pit bulls and ngrs in wife beats out on the stoop paying Eight bucks a month to live there, that’s a problem. Its not a matter of people balling its the fact some people work hard for what they have and others reap the benefits of tax dollars. Ill give steve jobs a tax break so I can enjoy mp3s, but I don’t want my tax dollars being spent so people can sit up and have kids when I can hardly afford them.
I just came back from NC a few weeks ago and this was all I saw. My step dad bought 1 of those little mini mansions in a ritzy subdivision 6 yrs ago. Now 4 of the houses (its only 13 on his st) are being rented as s8. It looks like a glorified hood smh Crown Vics everywhere
Then they wonder why the black family is so jacked up. What incentive does a single mom have to be with a man when she can do better with uncle sam and live in a mini mansion?
The general perception of people on assistance “ballin’ outta control” is the general perception. You may not have said it prior to my respose. However, listen to yourself in the response above. A woman living on Section * is a problem? Negro please! Number one, miss me with that bullshit about your tax dollars. The truth is, only about 6% of federal tax dollars go to these programs. That’s right; 6 fukin’ pennies on every one of your funky ass tax dollar goes to programs for the poor. And in most cases, they don’t even get it.
Instead of sounding like one of these right-wing idiots, I suggest you do some homework and know what the fuck you’re talking about. As the article states, the people being kicked off of assistance in October are the most vulnerable – they are fucking children stupid! Yeah, 29,700 of them. And, the only reason they were getting cash assistance beyond the federal 60 month limit is because they are hardship cases.
Stop being stupid.
Six pennies of my tax dollars, and lowering my property values by 50% by having no concept of ownership and acting like ngrs instead of homeoers is a freaking problem! And again, its not balling out of control, its them being handed a standard of living they did not earn and affecting the privileges and benefits of purple who did earn that standard of living. Why should anyone struggle to make ends, wonder if they can afford kids and day care etc. only so someone can move into the same damn neighborhood get.raises for having kids and not worry about rent and on to of all that send the neighborhood to the shyt ter. This isn’t right wing media. This is someone who bought a 150k first home, lived with other educated black folk, and watched the neighborhood change when section eight came. Yards didn’t get cut, ngrs on the stoop etc and in addition to the bad economy people who may have wanted to buy were driving by seeing that shyt. Again in its not baling, but they weren’t living like poor folk either. I had sacrificed and spent a long time to get what I head and some ignorant bytch.spreads her legs and get s on a waiting list and gets the same its a damn problem. And that six cents is about five hundred a year if you make fifty k. I can think of s moon things of rather do with that money than have some baby making chick take it so she can live in the same neighborhood as me and lower my property values by turning out into a low class rental community.
I can understand the concern of losing value in your home, but seriously what business is it of yours what kind of electronic appliances people on section 8 own? That doesn’t effect your bottom line at all.
If you don’t like owning a home in a section 8 community then here’s a thought: move!
Move minus fifty k you lost in home value because everytime a potential buyer drives by they see raggedy ngrs shooting the shyt on someones porch or in the street. No, what ends up happening is you become a landlord and move in other section 8ers and your lovely neighborhood you worked so hard to become apart of ends up a ngr utopia, or you stay and tolerate the shyt. But you understood the home value argument so that’s pretty much the gist of it. I don’t care what electronics they own. I just wished they cared about where they lived like someone who was actually vested in the property.
Being raggedy, living on section 8 and disrespecting one’s neighborhood are negative attributes that are not bound by color. These issues exist as much for whites as they do for blacks.
Now as far as depreciating property values, whatever is depreciating the value is largely irrelevant b/c it’s outside of your control. If the value is depreciating you have two options, cut your losses and sell now or hold onto it and watch it depreciate further with the hope that someday it will bounce back. These are the breaks of home ownership no matter where you live or who lives next to you.
no one said it was, in my case it was raggedy ngrs – black folk. You have a third option in democracy as well. advocate for policy changes against the cause of low home prices. Whether its section 8, shytty schools, or a toxic dump. In my case it was section 8.
what u say about single mothers on section 8 isnt all true. Im a single mom and i work hard every day and i keep my home clean as well as my yard . not everyone is like that .
The problem is the people on these programs are using the extra money they claim. instead they drift along like it’s always gonna be this way.A Gravy Train on Biscuit wheels. Black people spend $1Trillion Dollars a year on Electronics, weaves, and other nonsense The only part of it under $500,mil was Books. They don’t seek information on investing to make themselves better. They wanna have babies by every Tom, DICK and Harry and wonder why they single. the Guys are babied by their mommas to the point of not knowing how to be a man properly. There is Too much Individualism amongs NGrs to make any progress as a whole. The weak will just have to perish. Let the dead lay with the dead I say. I agree with that Tom from earlier and the racist guys on youtube that leave the comments about our dependant people.
First off everyone doesnt get on assistance from spreading their legs and having babies! Some of us are on it because we actually need it. I will use myself as an example I was a fulltime student, worker, and mother of two. I rented a townhome saving to buy my first home. In 2009 i was granted guardianship of two teenage boys to keep them out of the system and the state gave me $273 a month to help care for them. Now if you have teenage boys you know that that has to be spent on groceries so all the other expenses were on me. but at the time i could afford. In 2010 i bought a minivan something to fit my new family of 5. three months later i was in a car accident because the other party was in a rush. i still cant work but im not eligble for cash assistance because 1 dr that works for the state doesnt think my injurys are severe enough although i have had 3 opinnions and they all said working could make injuries worse. so in order for me to care for my kids i had to terminate my guardianship and use my savings. so while you are on here judging people you should ask yourself what would you do if it was you. people like me look for sitting jobs and because i have experience in other fields and not secretarial im told i dont qualify. although i am a test away from being a RN i cant get a job in a hospital for billing or anything so to you and the republicans in office i say UP YOURS!
is every sob story on welfare gonna come in here and talk about why they should get some of my check? How are you different from the homeless guy that curses me out cuz I don’t want to be bothered?
Here’s my sob story for the two weeks ill be working 110 hours per week to meet a deadline. My 10k check will be about 7k after taxes. I too am saving to meet a goal. I wish not a single red cent of my tax money went towards women having multiple children on section 8 and people using food stamps to buy fried shrimp.
My point is everyone has a story wether it’s welfare fraud or actually needing it your down talking people like your GOD and your not! You dont have a right to judge anyone if anything you need to be judging yourself you racist prick! You will never know anyones reason of needing assistance unless they told you and i too paid my taxes and my social security but i lived well without the money that was paid without complaints so if you need the that extra 500 dollars a year you need to get a second job and get over it cause unless your in office or GOD there is nothing you can do about it! GOD has plans for you and after reading just a few of your comments they are not anything nice. And thats just speaking from the heart! and baby your broke you went from them taking 500 to 3000 stop making shit up and get a life!
Its called contract work you ignorant bytch. Hours go up, pay does too; also, taxes. Chew on that for a second.
I dont have to be god to not like how my taxes get spent. I can talk shit about it, fuss up a storm, and also, vote for people who also dont give a phuck about your sob story enough to subsidize them. Also, fuck your god.
With your last comment i dont have to say anything cause there is ONE GOD so burn in hell you broke racist motherfucker!!
Burn in hell you broke motherfucker
Burn in hell you broke motherfucker
Burn in hell you broke motherfucker
Burn in hell you broke motherfucker
Burn in hell you broke motherfucker
Burn in hell you broke motherfucker
Burn in hell you broke motherfucker
Burn in hell you broke motherfucker
Burn in hell you broke motherfucker
Burn in hell you broke motherfucker
Burn in hell you broke motherfucker
Lol…i want to join your religion. Where do I sign up?
PWNED!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Do you realize that once state takes over kids it going to cost more when they are homeless and the crime rate is going to sky rocket and that means more money for prisoners than to assist them with cash benefits? Remember they only get max $269 cash a month. Ewwww that’s a Gravy train? lol
Sure, cutback unemployment benefits, now Cash Assistance to the most vulnerable (the few who qualify to receive said assistance beyond the federal 60 month limit) who actually need it – if you think people who get cash assistance are ballin’ outta control go fuck yourself. Meanwhile, the Governor, Rick Syder sneaks in legislation that extends tax breaks to wealthy corporations, appoints “emergency overseers” who shit on democracy by taking away the power of an elected mayor and city council in Benton Harbor to allow a developer to take city land to build a golf course and resort, and also don’t get me started on the public school closings and indefinite teacher latoffs all done with the intent to usher in the for-profit charter school model that is advocated by one of the states wealthiest corporations (Kellogg) who actually pays a salary to Detroits Negro “emergency financial manager!
Don’t get me started….
“if you think people who get cash assistance are ballin’ outta control go fuck yourself”
Actually, my girl was just tellin me of a case with one of the LPN’s she works with who makes over $15 an hr and who is living off assistance and brags about the extra money she gets every month…supposedly, before she got on her feet and got her certification she was dependant on the money to live…not to say there are many like that but there are some who do milk the system….
This young woman is the exception, not the rule. It seems you understand that. However, there are many that would hear this young woman’s story and think that this is the norm, when its not. There are individuals who game the system and their are individuals who game the tax code. In both cases, it’s wrong. Cutting everyone off is not the solution. Reform the program, require, people like this young woman to certify and make it so there are more recipients like this young woman, who are on the system and able to go and make something of themselves, like becoming an LPN. Form alliances with community colleges that help people go to school and better their lives. That’s what MI should be doing.
Maybe it’s my naivete, but I think the % of people who milk the system or purposely leech are pretty small, compared to those who are actually in need
That premise being said, I think cutting cash assistance in a time where unemployment is high and Michigan specifically is not a position to “create” jobs, is a bandaid to the problem. With cash assistance being cut, I’d expect to see crime to rise exponentially. Like child support, there seems to be a perception that people who collect cash assistance and other federal/state benefits are using the $ for superficial/erroneous things. Also consider the families out there who are on welfare because they’re taking care of their relative’s kids (the parents are either strung out or in jail) Or people who worked in the auto industry for 10+ years, but are now jobless and have a family to support. It’s alot of factors to consider when discussing the welfare population.
In a thriving, self-sufficient economy, 4 years would be ideally enough time for a person to learn job skills, take up a trade, whatever. But in this economy, it just doesn’t add up to cut people off
Excellent point!
I dunno. You got ten thousand adults and thirty thousand kids. Im sure some had those kids before welfare, but im also sure a sizable portion had them after. As far as I’m concerned that is leaching the system.
Read and learn about how the system is funded:
http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2002/0302friedman.html
http://www.ourdime.us/102/budgetinfo/how-much-do-we-spend-on-welfare/
Again, knowing is half the battle….
You’ve hit the nail on the head and no you are not being naivete. The percentage is small. There are a lot of myths surrounding welfare and this is one of them. What’s going to happen next year, when the budget is short again, who will they look to screw? Fire, Police? This type of irresponsible decision making only makes things more difficult for the citizens and not just the poor people, the well to do people, as well. Now crime will go up and they will have no one to blame but themselves.
In our society we have (at least in theory) made it a priority that it’s better that 100 guilty people go free than one innocent person be wrongfully convicted. Similarly we used to think that it’s better that one shiftless person get a few handouts s/he might not need than for 100 deserving people to get nothing.
Now we seem to think that it’s better to burn down the village just to be certain we get that one person who’s gaming the system and too bad about the others who are legitimately needy.
I don’t have any truck with lazy people or folks who can’t seem to be bothered to look for work but always seem to be around at dinner time. I know some of these folks intimately. They’re a pain. No doubt.
But I don’t think they’re the majority of people on welfare. And I’d rather give direct cash assistance to needy folks than to give tax cuts to corporations who are just gonna turn around and pay CEO’s higher salaries and/or expand more overseas. We’ve tried the trickle-down economics. It doesn’t work.
Michigan has a stubbornly high unemployment rate and has for quite some time. It is of course even worse for black people. If folks look at the map where the highest number of cases were they pretty much line up with counties with high numbers of black folks. Shredding the social net further at this time doesn’t seem compassionate or very wise.
Exactly!
We would like to think better, but the ‘baby out with the bath water’ argument is a failed one for the reasons you’ve stated.
There is no perfect system. No matter if it comes in the form of government assistance (which MUST be flexible enough to help the majority of folks knowing not 100% will get served and/or some will cheat the system) or a private plan (which will simply drop those who don’t turn a profit – rightly/wrongly). So, to argue about the exceptions to the rule is intellectually dishonest. IMHO.
We would like to think better, but the ‘baby out with the bath water’ argument is a failed one for the reasons you’ve stated.
Co-sign!
Deserving? Not the best choice of words considering you have to do more than exist to deserve something. Who deserves to have their every need attended to? I work and each breath costs me money from the food I eat to the place where I rest. I don’t know where this exception bs comes from. If you are having children on welfare you are gaming the system. Why should people support, or even reward that?
Moreover make the ish fair if you have to have it? Why only parents or handicapped? If you care so much about the kids don’t reward parents that continue to have then once on welfare. If you care about people, can’t a childless woman or man fall on hard times? The system has made a child a commidity to women and we wonder why families are so tattered. Be like europe and make sure everyone has healthcare, food, and shelter. Then you take kids out of the equation.
I am not talking about having one’s every need attended to. =)
I am talking about cutting back welfare assistance to desperate people in order to balance a budget that includes new tax breaks for the wealthy and for business and also includes new taxes on pensions. So in a time of economic desperation my state is saying that those who are least able to make it must pay more while those most able to survive must pay less.
I don’t think that’s right.
I do think that as a basic right of citizenship that if someone with children has exhausted their unemployment benefits, the support of friends or family, and whatever meager resources they have then yes they do deserve a hand from the rest of us so that the children do not starve or go homeless.
This might have been a different post if there were 3% unemployment, real wages were growing through the roof and income and wealth were growing. That’s not the case right now.
This comes down to different economic theories of growth combined with some resentment of the poor. Snyder and like minds believe that low taxes on business will lead to economic growth in Michigan. In order to pay for their budget they are reducing services for the needy, making cuts to education, and taxing pensions. I do not abide with that.
Now we seem to think that it’s better to burn down the village just to be certain we get that one person who’s gaming the system and too bad about the others who are legitimately needy.
Because we’re operating off of misinformation and “welfare queen” imagery.
Some people believe that government – as an extension of our collective will – should help people who are in need. Other say “fuck those people! It’s all about me!”
To the latter, we’ll pray for ya.
What the people who say “fuck those people” don’t realize is that, a “fuck those people” action plan and mentality leads to them ultimately “fucking themselves.” They cut their nose off to spite their face. It’s stupid and immoral. We are only as strong as our neighbors. I just don’t understand why people don’t get that.
I don’t think the children deserve it, but out of grace society should provide for the children by making them a ward of the state. Instead of supporting grown women they should take the money and make a quality foster care program. This would go on a few years before women would stop getting pregnant in such haphazard manners.
Food, shelter, water…sounds like the state has their needs covered.
Anyway, I think we should be raising taxes and cutting entitlements. Or alternatively, just have a socialist state.
Wow man your obviously just upset no girl would ever let you get her pregnant. Get over it bud nobody wants you. By the way I have a kid work more than you I’m sure and don’t get any type of assistance. And have no problem helping people and children in need you are a waste of space get off the computer and get a life
Here we go again, balancing the budget on the backs of poor people. I don’t know what it will take for people to understand, you CANNOT give tax cuts to wealthy individuals and corporations and then attempt to recoup the money from social programs or lower taxed individuals.
I completely understand that cash assistance has federal limits and state limits, but once a state agrees to grant extensions and make special accommodations, you can’t cut people off overnight. This is all apart of the Republican plan and agenda to kill the economy and our chances of a full recovery.
All I know is crime rates are about to be at a all time high. For those who do work & make an honest living pray because the ones that don’t & are not properly equipped for job placement/ in other words the people that are getting cut off cash assistance. They are coming for you & everything you own. Crunch time, when families have no where to go, homeless they will intrude. Everyone pray and prepare for the worse. Amen
I went to a carryout fish joint last night. They also sell raw fish, like a market. This guy with liquor on his breath was in there with this hideous looking chick. He was rapping to me about the place. I felt like entertaining him so I lied and said I had never been. He went into his drunk theatrics about how good it was. Then at the end he was like and they take food stamps. I was like what? He was like for real im not lying I got about a hundred in my pocket right now my lady ordering right there. She had ordered 101 dollars worth of fried and boiled fish and shrimp. Seven to fifteen bucks a plate. My check, which feds took eight hundred dollars out of this week, after working seventy plus hours a week, only allowed me a measely six buck sammich. I mean I guess I could have splurged on the lobster, but I have some goals in life. But Im not gonna lie that two cents of every dollar I’m taxed or the forty dollars from last pay period may have went towards a better meal for myself. Im glad they were eating good however.
Nice..I would love to see some opinions after a few of these posters have been through the welfare roles once or twice. There are people who game the system and so what? You can’t be more angry at them then you are with the people that game the system. The government and corporations is what has us all scrapping over the 1-4% per dollar issue. Yes, your spare change paycheck is tight and stubborn, it’s not the fault of Qeesha or Leslie and her 6 rainbow colored babies.
Michigan will be burning like the UK in no time. I say 1 month after this bullshit goes into effect. My family lives in MI and there are more shootings then ever before. My brother carries a firearm with him in his truck as he goes about fixing your utilities..Why?? Because people are now calling in working people (Cable, PSE&G, the Water Company) and then robbing them!!! He refuses to work alone and he and his partner carry their legal guns.
You might be mad at the babies. You might be mad at the “welfare Queen mothers” but you’re gonna really hate when them Section 8 dudes and baby daddy’s come off the porch looking for the next meal. You’ll wish they had food stamps again when you got a heater demanding that hard earned paycheck out your pocket.
Good luck with that..
But you don’t hear me though…
if I got taxed 800 by the feds it means I was taxed at the highest bracket. Not spare change, but also not for quesha and donnell to sit up and eat prepared crabs and shrimp that’s been marked up. If she’s not working, why doesn’t that bytch cook.
Moreover, I could be mad at the banks and corporations, and sometimes I am, but banks hold my money, and steve jobs and bill gates gave me mp3s and windows so its not like they aren’t doing jack for me. What the fuck has keisha and donnell done? Oh I forgot, they don’t do shit. Their value is what they do not do as long as they are placated by hard working peoples tax dollars, which is rob and steal. As if enough of that is not going on today. As if by taking dough out my check for them they are not already doing it. At least if they tried physically robbing someone the person being robbed can defend against it and if necessary put an end to their robbing forever by putting a cap in their a$$.
Yeah, you mad at a whole lot of things and I’m so sorry for that. Don’t think that others aren’t frustrated with people who have been living off of welfare, those that ‘are balling’ in your mind, are getting over. I had no patience for welfare and their restrictive bullshit; the system is designed to keep people on welfare, not to get them off welfare. Their children and society DO suffer, however, back to the original point.
WHAT IS TO BE DONE ABOUT IT?? You can cry and point and blame and have all the tantrums you want, but until something is DONE about these people and their children, you are simply rolling around on the floor kicking.
I promise you that the solution is not to exterminate each other, not that anyone cares if niggas kill each other off in MI, that would solve a host of problems except the one we are discussing…
WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN? I hate ignorant ass surface level solutions like ‘foster care’ as if someone wants an additional ‘urban’ child. If it doesn’t come with a subsidy check then no one cares. But you did say the children can have the subsidy, but what adult wants to be bothered with foster children…not many can afford the additional burden of another mouth to feed with or without welfare.
I don’t know what yall do out in the Mid-West, I know NJ has implemented a 5 yr limit on benefits and I honestly don’t see these people you speak of anymore. Our welfare makes work programs a requirement for getting benefits. Once people were forced to go out and do manual labor in exchange for their checks it became more beneficial for some to just go and get a job since they were going through the motions already. Maybe some ppl never had a job or job skills to help them obtain a job. How many people on welfare do you know personally, may I ask? Disenfranchised families to say the least. Not everyone has the benefit of being you or I.
I just know you can’t take away food, money and health insurance and think everything will be okay. Especially if this is the only solution one can find for ‘budget cuts’, surely there’s something with less of a priority then children going hungry.
I think that was the main point of this article.
Too bad for those kids, they shouldn’t have been born to shit for parents, I guess.
I’m still scared for MI; I won’t be visiting my family out there any time soon.
If you read between the lines youd see I’m not pouting and screaming. Everyone else in the fish place ignored, stuck their nose up at, and wished away drunk donnell but I sparked up a conversation and at the end he smiled and wished me a blessed day and I did the same for him. At the same time, I don’t approve of that lifestyle. It has nothing to do with them balling, clearly they are not. But why are you wasting a hundred dollars on food stamps on food that will go bad in two or three days? Its a mentality. I could have easily bought a lobster, or spent double what or triple what they spent, but I bought the cheapest thing because I have goals. Goals that include a plan, a plan that includes a budget. When people give you things you do not disclosure that aspect of life and end up in a fish joint spending 100 dollars on food for today and tomorow and eff the rest of the month or end up having to cheat to cover your lack of forethought. And what about the kids? Watching this type of shyt what type of adults do they become? I want all my people to have a plan and goals, welfare and handouts pervert goals by distorting cause and effect leading to a demented sense of reality.
And you don’t need foster parents necessarily. It could be a state run boarding school with dedicated staff. Finding could make this possible. They would be better humans for it. And parents could always retrieve them if they prove fit. I question the”love”of parents that continuously have kids with no way to provide for them. Its like animal hoarders. They don’t love thr animals but use them as a crutch, harming them in the process, to overcome their own emotional issues…
Well having to get help from DHS is something nobody want to do. Working for a city, getting laid off and taking jobs that one would not usually will take is something for politicians to look at.. I’m currently working towards my Maters degree and I’m unemployed is a hard thing to say, and everyday I wake up looking, hitting the pavement for work. So please to those who say put a limit on it shame to you. A lot of people out there are ashamed to know they have to use a bridge card. Tell some of this corporations and the state government to hire instead of passing judgement, because some people just may need help. If a person hasn’t walked in the shoes of a person that is having hard times, please do. Maybe knowing is half the battle…:)
why are we cutting the POOR how much money is Snyder and his fellow politicians making lets cut the RICH or cut there benefits. Who decides how much money they make and can live off of. When they are deciding a family can live off of 20,000.00 a year. pphhhaa
Another Example of Rich People Attacking Poor People and Punishing them for being Poor. I submit that this legislation is Un-Christian, Un-American, Mean-Spirited and most likely racist at its core. Anyone celebrating this death to human compassion should not be proud of themselves or this draconian act.
if the angry so called black is really black he would not blame all the poor for being poor. many poor persons hate the human services adc mentality system. and if the angry so called black man would not complain so much and give real solutions maybe he would not be so angry. futhermore if you got a better job and more education you would have money in your pocket. and if you were even remotely educated you would not call female black women b..ches or call black men the n word
If youre poor youre poor. Find a way out. They exist. Seriously. I dont have money in my pocket comparative to my goals. Im coming up short like so many others. But I am struggling amd striving and no one is giving me shyt. And the only class I amjured was the one where we studied calling women bytches.
well im giving u shyt as u call it and you have no money cause you are a so called black male with no skills or a gf you have no self respect for yourself or females so buzz off blue collar losa
You’re giving me shyt but it didnt come out of your paycheck so that doesn’t count. I assume you are on welfare or section 8 but take care of you’re property and or have five kids with a husband who died in a freak golfing accident when you went from the gilded gentry to ebt cards unexpectedly ams now habe no rent but work four jobs. Hopefully you are not in michigan if so you only have four measely years to get off these programs. I mean christ its not like you can get a colege degree in four years or otherwise enhance your marketability in that time.
WOW.. people realy can’t be that cold and narcissitic are they. i do not recieve welfare benifits but i do and have section 8. i do not treat my home or property any different than the home owners next door. i have been on section 8 for 11 years and thank god it was there, did i work HELL YES, i worked 3 jobs with 4 kids at home and one was disabled. was this my life plan, i think not, but then how would you know that your husband would die unexpectantly at the age of 31, and i would be left alone to fend for my self and children.so when you’re talking about your street and the terrible tenants on section 8 , i think hmmmm. because your langage and they way you’ve put yourself out there is very trashy, and homeowner or not i wouldn’t want your kind on my street. please abuse yourself first. and let people live as best as they can. i feel more sorry for you.
Just the fact you are on section 8 and therefore renting the property you lower home values in the area. Certain mortgage programs will not lend substantial sums to homeowers wishing to buy in areas that surpass a certain rental to ownership ratio. So even if you were like the homeOWNERS in my area, and built decks, gardened, and did other things to increase property value your mere presence adversely affected homeOWNERS bottom line. No one wants section 8 in their neigborhood. Even people for it, change their tune when they realize it is their home values which will be affected. If you invested hard earned money in your property you would not want them there either. Moreover the fact your husband died at 31 is unfortunate but I’m also sure your predicament places you as an extreme outlier for the typical recipient who has multiple kids and was never married.
wuteva!!!!!
4 get wuteva i wanna say somtin! i as a woman need help ok?? i have kids yes, and i get foodstamps and a ebt card or wuteva they call it. i need the measly checks 4 my kids ok , my black ex hubby wont pay ne child support. i did not have 4 kids on my own, it takes 2 2 tangle. so kiss my a***!
youre a mess. Four years of checks isnt enough? Since you are volunteering personal info. What have you done in the past four years to remove yourself from dependency on govt checks?
wut have i done? i worked @ burger king over 2 months b4 they laid me off just b4 i could get insurance. i took a basic computer class last year amd im going 2 school this summer. thats wut i have been doing. n 4years is not enough when u got kids i diskagree wit u
How long should it be?
Man you’re degrading yourself arguing with this chick. It’s like Christopher Hitchens and Madea having a conversation about politics.
i dont think it should b 4eva but at least 6 years. its 6 years 4 yo kids kids just b n preschool. may take 6 years 2 finish trade school git yo ged diploma. you wut um saying!!!!
That makes sense. Preschool and day care is pricey and can easily be more than a paycheck if you have multiple children.
Along with the checks, is there any other support? Does social services help j you find and pay for classes you are taking? Do they help with jobs?
Its a bad situation. But I am upset this stuff even happens in the first place. Four kids no ged, govt help…i mean good greif. Im sure you are a nice person but this shyt has to stop.
u wont som of dis ms.2qweez wut eva yo name is. wut a high iq u have 2 even think madea is somtin 2 watch @ the movies or on tv. thats the dumbest most ignorant program basically its stereotypes black folks. angry black dum bunny is not a man hes a lil boy pouting ova his lil plight n sorry low paying job that pays hardly no taxes ne ways. yall both should git married n have kids then put yo lil jobs 2gether pay som real taxes then come talk 2 me otherwise shut the f***K UP BOTH OF U!
You’re being goofy again…
As a single parent who has been on and off for many of years and yes over(4) this come at one of the worst time possible. I will make this short as possible, with all the bad that is going on and the homelessness and the murdering of children; michigan is about to have its highest death/ murder rate of children and a spike in abandond children. With the back up in child support or not receiving it at all due to dead beat fathers ( and some mothers) this is what happens. I don’t want welfare …I need it! as do many families.
What is Obama going to do when children are left to survive alone because its much easier for a person to shelter themselves than it is to shelter 2-3 persons. With the poor quality of shelters ( yes I’ve lived there too…bed bugs and all, back and forth in and out of hospitals because of the germs) .
whats going to happen when the single parents abandon their childen and the single parents ask the absent parent for more help and the child come up as a dead body / missing child (ren).
I can see both sides of this argument. I am a divorced mom, with 2 little girls, and had a dead beat ex husband at one point (he has now gotten better). I work full time at a semi decent job and make a semi decent wage. At the time of my divorce, I was left with a house that I couldn’t afford the payments on and both children in day care that cost over 1300 a month (which is actually pretty cheap for 2 kids in day care full time). I applied for assistance, I didn’t ask for cash or even insurance, I just asked for help with food but was told that I make too much money, which I don’t. I ended up losing my house and had to move in with my mother. I couldn’t even afford a $600 apartment and be able to supply food and electricity for my kids. We lived there for two years until one child could go to school full time and I only had to pay for day care for the younger one.
Unfortunately I know more than a couple women that receive help from the government that really need to get off their butts and get a job. This cut that they are doing could push a lot of them to do that, but there are also the women out there that aren’t able to get jobs because of health problems or mental issues. Instead of stopping things all together they could do better checks into a person’s financial life before just approving them. Even slowly cutting the benefits would be better so it gives these parents time to get on their feet. It’s like giving a child a meal, letting them take one bite, then saying oh wait, sorry you don’t get to eat the rest of that. The State has let these people collect for so long it should be the states responsibility to help wean them off assistance. Give them a warning; say “within the next you must attend job training or your benefits will stop” and start doing mandatory drug tests to receive welfare.
I’m not saying all women are abusing the system but there are enough of them that it takes away from people that really do need it or the ones that could use a little bit of help but don’t get it. The government could do so much more to make things easier but all they care about is who is going to put money in their pocket come the next election. I’m not saying there’s a simple solution but there has to be a better one. Kids should not have to suffer for their parents mistakes but at the same time the government can’t force people to stop having babies. The problem is no one wants to take the time to figure out how to help these people get the skills they need to get a job. We live in a world where everyone has the “how’s it going benefit me” mentality and its sad.
Thanks for your thoughtful response. Weaning people off might be a better move than yanking the rug out from under. Time will tell.
This is complete chaos! I totally agree with you Shady Grady… only time will tell. I am totally against boosting up CEO’s CFO’s etc. income and sending these poor children to fin for themselves in the streets. Time is hard enough as is trying to find employment and care for your basic needs then to pull the rug from under the feet of those who have no one else to turn to for assistance. Reformation of the program would be so much better than a cut off. BITTER BLACK DUDE <~~ you need to stop. Clearly you have no kids.. no life.. and no heart. Let them be a ward to the state?!? Take all of the bs you are talking about and shove it! Since you're a "MID-INCOME" type of low-life.. guess what NEWS FLASH! u will not get any benefits from this 60 millions cash cut.. nope.. so sit your happy azz down somewhere and continue living your average lifestyle that wont ever change no matter what the goverment decides to do with your tax dollar. LOL LMAO As for all of those poor children and parents that are getting cut off and have to find a way to survive in this ALREADY terrible economy.. my hearts goes out to you and I hope and pray you guys make it. BTW I have no children and I am a a full time working/ and going to school black woman who pays tax dollars and dont mind them going to assist the children rather than those who already have the money. OH AND BITTER BLACK MAN…i suggest you stay your bitter greedy azz across 8 mile becuz the next time ur azz is in a fish market over this way i hope ur next in line to get robbed down and detroit-style stomped and mopped in these city streetz by one of these citizens that are cut off. Good day!
If I were you I’d demand a refund on my education.
Bitter black dude: You have no idea what’s in store for you also. Meaning those of us who work that think we are safe when the topic of cutting social programs is projected. Unless your filthy rich you will suffer also in the coming years whether you work or not. People that are on social programs or welfare are out spending their money, But when they get cut off, that money they spend will no longer be circulating. The same holds true for those receiving unemployment benefits. A lot of people are and will continue to get laid off their jobs, and so many jobs have been outsourced so its not likely you will ever find another one fast enough. I am saying all this to say that we are all connected, Example: You won’t need that many bus drivers if less people are commuting to work, So a lot of bus drivers will get laid off. Less people grocery shopping you won’t need all those cashiers, Barbershops, Hair salons, the list goes on.
In other words those of us with jobs are right around the corner from losing everything. WE ARE ALL CONNECTED!
The reason why we are in the mess we are in today, is because of the thought process that you’re suggesting. The concept of us being connected, shows a poor understanding of our economic situation. Most social programs, only serve the purpose of keeping people at base level; so if a homeless guy is homeless, they’d much rather give him unhealthy food and food stamps, than give him an education and a way out of poverty. Social Welfare provides no motivation, for someone to go find a new job, or develop a new skill, since it’s mostly about keeping someone alive, which basically is the equivalent of working at a government job, without no possibility of receiving a promotion.
Basic economics states, that the only way to build an economy is to encourage innovation and entrepreneurs. Innovation opens up new markets, and entrepreneurs take advantage of that new market and hire individuals, from top to bottom. However, if money that could be used to enable market growth is instead used to keep people barely surviving, instead of encouraging growth, what the hell is going to happen?
Finally, though, I think it’s inappropriate to say that we should simply get rid of social welfare, without getting rid of corporate welfare. Over the years there have been several mergers with organizations becoming bigger, and bigger, and corporations have in term used their size, to take silly risks, because a. they don’t have competition and b. the government offers them insurance based on connections. Thus they’re not as interested in innovation and they’re not that concerned with becoming more efficient, I mean it’s like imagine what Apple would be doing if the Androids weren’t always at the back of their heels?
So if we get rid of corporate welfare, and social welfare, I think we can see a lot of our problems go away, and see us reach our true potential as a nation. Too many people are getting things for free, and aren’t thus motivated to demand more of themselves; they’re not “hungry.” Until we stop pushing for help and start pushing for freedom, innovation and entrepreneurship, our economic system is going to continue to collapse, plain and simple.
Absolutely not, We are in this mess due to mentalities like yours. You are obviously a republican that think attacking the poor will solve all problems. You also speak as if there are plenty of jobs to go around, And why didn’t you speak to the point i made about job outsourcing? People like you never think that hard times will effect them. For starters the ones who get cut off present tense/future tense who do you think there gonna rob and kill? Answer: People like you and me who are working that’s who.
Further more, it will actually cost more to incarcerate than it would to just give them their checks. You were raised not to care about children going hungry or homeless but i wasn’t, So don’t expect me to sit here and pretend like this country works for everybody because it does not. I have a neighbor their 19 teen year old daughter that’s in college was only given enough financial aid to cover one semester. And i already spoke about the job crisis.
So its not just about cutting people off social programs its apparent that America doesn’t give a damn about the working class nor college students that are trying to better their lives either. That’s why i said in my first post we are all connected, After people on social programs get screwed me and you are next in line. AND I HOPE YOU OWN A GUN BECAUSE YOU WILL NEED IT!
All this talk about getting a gun do I don’t get robbed or killed bla bla makes me want to preemptively go bucking on broke people. I wonder if this is what cops think when they are beating the heads in of black people. I know one thing it sure a hell don’t make me want to give them shit but harsher prison sentences
Innovation and entrepreneurship only happens when people reach a certain level of material comfort. If you are a man with a family can you really afford to strike out on your own and build the next Google,Facebook, or Amazon knowing that the way our social safety net is structured your only one hospital trip away from losing it all. You want innovative research than why do we make our universities prohibitively expensive? Is that having a chilling effect on our production of engineers and scientist? And if it isn’t is the 6 figure debt load of people in their early 20′s ( unprecedented in the world) hindering their ability to build businesses rather than service debt?
I work in downtown dc. Tons of homeless people everywhere. I always try to look them in the eye and tell them I don’t have any money to give them. I used to say sorry or worse ignore them, but I grew out saying sorry because I have nothing to feel sorry for, and I don’t ignore because they are human, and again I’ve nothing to be ashamed about.
Anyway, today im walking this guy asks me for money. I look him in the eye and say no. He asks, not even a dime? Feeling charitable I reach in my pockets then my phone rings and I forget about him and go into kinkos. This guy comes in and asks the kinkos associate for a five dollar bill for his ones. Guy gives it to him. Then he pulls out another modest wad of money and and asks for a ten for two five fives. Anyway dud had been hustling and had at least thirty bucks from what I could see.
Minimum wage is 7.25 an hour and is taxed. Dude haf no disability or played no instrument. Just your run of the mill drunk bum making bank. Who knows how long it took him or if he stole it etc.. Just saying. I thought this story was appropriate since this threads about getting something fr nothing
You might have been looking at what amounted to his life savings. That money might have been a bus ticket home , or a night off the streets. Who knows? And he does sell something is valuable to a lot of people walking by on the street. He sells a momentary sense of superiority. For a .25 or a .10 you can play temporary Solomon distributing favors to the plebes.
Is it a momentary sense of superiority? This one homeless guy heckled this middle aged white dude in what had to be a five thousand dollar suit. Told him he dropped something. Guy ignored him. He repeated it louder. Kept ignoring him. Then he said it was his phone number, and that he was gay. I cracked up. He looked like he had it rough but damn if I wish I couldnt talk to some of the crackers I encounter everyday like that. In a sense, he has something on me and im concientious enough to see that. At the same time, I dont shouldnt have to pay for his meals anymore than he should have to pay for the sense of self I lose everyday doing what I do. Like I said a couple times before, if you want to have a socialist state and let everyone off the hook including me I’m all for it but I sacrifice alot including and up to parts of my mortal soul to be posting for some cat outright scoffing at shyt.
Lol, ok you want to go, let’s go.
First things first, I spent a third of my life growing up and going to school in a third world country, where people worked as maids and drivers for the equivalent of $20 a month; so if we’re talking about poverty, trust me, I’ve seen a lot more of it than you can possibly imagine.
Secondly, I’m not a republican and I’m not a democrat either; there was a reason why I included an end to corporate welfare in my comment above. Either way, what I am, or what party i affiliate with, is insignificant. What I care about are results.
Good intentions don’t necessarily lead to good results, and I’m sorry lady but your good intentions are simply more of the same. In fact they’re the status quo in the black community. My ideas on the other hand are based on things I’ve learned not from white people, but more so from Chinese and Indian communities (The people who stole all the jobs), which all black people should learn from.
Both of the above communities, started off from a period of dirt poverty, hell in the 60′s there were several blacks in Africa, who were living better lives than the people of the previously mentioned races. For many years, the leaders of these nations, thought just like how you think now. They thought let’s dedicate the majority of our intellect and resources to keeping people out of poverty – and what was the result? Billions living in poverty.
However, in the 80′s, these two nations decided to come about with policies that encouraged economic growth and innovation. They started bringing in business men and capitalist from the west to build infrastructure. They started sending their brightest and most intelligent citizens to England and America, to figure out ways to bring about growth, and then these newly educated people came home.
Fast-Forward, 30 years later, India and China are making the western world shake in their boots, with all the growth and economic influence they have. Now granted, do they still have poverty: yes of course – millions. However, is it better to have millions in poverty who have have a way out, or to have billions in poverty with promised stability? I’ll leave that to you and your conscience to figure out.
Finally, India and China aren’t perfect, but their rise came about because they decided to be competitive. Uplifting the poor, is a great and noble thing, but it’s more efficient to help the poor when you can offer them jobs, and in order to offer them jobs, you have to own companies, and in order to own companies, you need to have capital. So when it’s all said and done, we can do it through the way of compassion (your way), or we can do it through strategy (the economic way). People can do as they please, but at the end of the day, I think we’ve seen the best the compassionate approach has to offer.
This was @Lifeisntfair
That is a myopic view of history. What you have is rock bottom low tarrifs/ mixed with almost non-existent employee rights and environmental regulation. This makes it more advantageous to produce and ship rather than produce domestically. But they aren’t special people who work harder and smarter than Americans. They were just lucky that we care more about investor profits than we do protecting our domestic markets. Which I might add is the exact opposite way they do business in China and India. I don’t have a problem with having a base line that people aren’t allowed to fall below in our society.
I agree it’s a myopic idea, but my point is that they’re better off than they were before. Far better. I don’t think any civilization gets it right from the start.
As for a baseline in society, we do have a population of 300 million people. The problem with a baseline, or a safety net, is that it encourages inefficiency. I’ve worked both private and government jobs in my lifetime, and government jobs, where people have a lot more safety and security, more times than not, are poorly run. People are a lot less creative, a lot less ambitious since there isn’t room for promotion and a lot less likely to take responsibility. The same thing goes for a baseline, it simply encourages people to stay where they are.
I’m not saying that there’s not more we could do for the poor, but I’d like to hear something new and profound, that isn’t already in the mainstream, because we’ve been trying most of those ideas for years, and it hasn’t led us anywhere. Plus, I believe that black people need to aim to be competitive not aim for being harmonious, especially when it comes to economy, because everyone else is playing the competitive game.
Personally, I have no problem with a robust social safety net like France or Sweden or the U.K. We all seem to have this fuck you mentality as if we aren’t all interconnected. That little Black or brown kid you refuse to properly educate is the same one filling up your prisons tomorrow. And how much lost intellectual capital do we lose as a nation because we have millions of food insecure children in our very low quality public schools? What’s a bigger threat to our long term stability as a nation. 3 or 4 million young Black people undereducated and unemployed inside America or a few thousand terrorist outside of it? We spend trillions fighting one and quibble over the expenses of the other. But I know the image of the fat Black welfare mammy with a fur coat ,rollers and a child on her hip in one hand and Cadillac keys in the other has been burned into your retina. Even though that isn’t the reality of the average welfare recipient.
Years ago when my family had fallen on hard times my husband and I finally came to the conclusion it was either apply for welfare or take our family to a shelter.We made the choice to apply for welfare.We were granted it BUT WE WORKED FOR IT.Welfare figured out how many hours at minimum wage we’d have to work for the amount of welfare we got so my husband worked half those hours doing street cleaning ect. I worked at the welfare office filing and helping others fill out their applications for welfare.To us even though we were getting welfare it was a job we earned every penny and food stamp dollar we got.Since I was in the main lobby the first half of my day helping others believe me some of the things I saw and heard really got my blood boiling,I watched as people would take their diamonds and gold off and put in their pockets/purses before the case worker called them back to work on their case.I listened to girls tell others how they get pregnant and have more and more children just to get more food stamps ,they would sell them for $50.00 in food stamps for $25.00 in cash.I’d look at how most were dressed in their designer clothes and tennis shoes and wonder how in the world these people were able to live in this fashion when my family struggled to make ends meet even with the little assistance we got from welfare.Yes some people are deserving of assistance but from what I saw at least 35% are not.I think that if someone applies and gets welfare they should be put on birth control and like my family the parents should have to work for their assistance .Educate them lord knows we have plenty of closed schools that they could open a few of them up to help train skills to the recipients so that they can in turn get a job and provide for their families .We can do a lot but bottom line is there’s no good paying jobs out there how do you provide for your family when no one will hire you even with skills.Michigan is burying itself at a fast pace and we owe it all to our wonderful government Hail to the rich. Down with the poor………….
It’s about time someone stood up, and put an end to that free bee money, and set the standard for all the other States to follow. Coloreds need to stop expecting anything except they have to fend for themselves like the white folk. Cracker should not have to pay for people who don’t work for no reason.
I can see if someone is sick or crippled, Hell even Retarded citizens work and pay the bills.
I recently heard in Ohio welfare Coloreds and Appalachians,”Yeah even worthless Crackers collect welfare and ADC”. They have to start passing drug tests to get their free money, and if the fetus has a heartbeat it can’t be aborted. I believe slowly our Federal Government will shut off Welfare and ADC, and finally the Coloreds and Appalachians will have to go to work, and that will be a great day, imagine the boost to the economy………And put all them stinken metal scrap thievers on chain gangs.
and today’s winner of the the low self-esteem sweepstakes is…
u sound so racist………
Judge says, not so fast.
http://detnews.com/article/20111005/METRO/110050353/1409/Judge-keeps-41-000-Michigan-residents-on-welfare-rolls
Just a thought………………Go after the deadbeat parents who don’t pay support for their children and run free! Yup,I said free…………..FOC does nothing to enforce.
Yes!! End state aid programs and treat the minority people equal… Give them equal paying jobs, equal education, and let them live in your neighborhoods!! It’s about time we realized that oppressing people is criminal and should be stopped!!
Next we need to go after the deadbeat mom’s that squat on thier rumps and pillage from dad’s who work hard to support thier lazy A**’s..
Equal Shared Custody is the answer… Nomore mom’s & prosecutors living off dad’s income…
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/abolish-law-felony-non-support.html
what about those who where on it years ago found a job, kept it for a while then lost it. Now they need a little help getting by till a new job comes along has to suffer. i understand the shut off of those who have been on assistance consecutively for many years but what about those who did work, was on it off and on between the years. that should show the state that its not being used as a crutch but as a temporary relief in times of need.
I would say 4 years of assistance should be enough….. I also think those on assistance should be forced to have a permanent birth control implanted prior to their 1st assistance acceptance. (fine, you made a mistake and need help getting on your feet… no problem. It IS A PROBLEM when you do not take responsibility for your actions and assure that your problems do not snowball) 2. There should also be mandatory monthly drug testing and proof of seeking employment much like those are forced to do on UIA. If I am forced to provide a drug test for employment to help you in your time of need …. I expect to know I’m not “throwing money out the window.”
If your information is included in someone receiving assistance. . .. such as a boyfriend living with his girlfriend that live with their parents who receive disability…. all involved should be forced into some type of “self improvemtent programs” School, Work shops, Job, Counselling, Physical Therapy, Parenting Classes… if people are working their butt’s off while you sit at home smoking cig’s and going out to eat at Burger King. . . something is wrong!! If I am working 40 hours . . . I expect to see 40 hours from each person of self improvement!!
Maybe it’s as simple as if you choose to have a child that you can not afford…. give your dedication to the Armed Services. They will educate you and make it possible for you to care for your child. This is an excellent choice for improvement.
I do not agree with buying luxury items like chips, pop, candy, pre-packaged foods, steak!! I also feel if you have money in your pocket to buy fake nails, alcohol, drugs, nicotine, pet’s, a new car or a home. . . you should be responsible to pay back what you “needed” in assistance.
Every year I watch these same individuals who are receiving assistance go out and buy that much needed brand new flat screen tv with their earned income tax credit. I feel they should have these earned income credits sent to the state for reimbursement for funds needed for their emergency assistance in supporting a life they are choosing for themselves and their child/children.
4 years is enuff time. I say cut them off not only welfare,next should be food stamps,WIC,section 8,free school lunches,heating assistance,telephones,medicaid…THE PARTY IS OVER SISTERS GET OFF YOUR FAT ASSES AND SHOW US THIS INDEPENDENT WOMEN SHYT YOU LOVE TO BRAG ABOUT…the party is over
if you sorry mutherfuckers as men would get off your assesa and take care of what you made the woman wouldn,t be forced to take a hand out stop livin on your moma driving 40k cars and your kids don,t have a decent coat from my own experience i took care of four kids by myself and did it by working i much rather work then wait for taxes to bhanded bak to me in pennies meanwhile you got mf livin and scam the system they whole entire life so how dare you critize some body for seeking help when they need it food for thought **
Should have been phased over a 4 year period cutting 25% each year. Have they considered that people that can’t find jobs because Business owners taken jobs else where especially over seas for slave labor. Granted some have rode the gravy train for years with no intention of getting off but you have the hard working people that are willing but can’t find jobs that support them or their families. What about sick hard case people. What happens when they are tossed to the street and lose custody of their children and they go into foster homes and state takes over and the cost now sky rockets and many will take to a life of crime which again costs more for courts and state prisons. For God sakes I am Ok but kicking them all off at once at the worst time get ready for serious consequences that will increase over time. They the Republicans are good at making money but lousy at common sense like we are seeing in the GOP line up with Perry, Mitt, and moon bound Newt!! They are out of touch with humanity and I see the people starting to come together to start fighting back. Biggest problem with Democrats are they don’t get out to the polls to vote and get sick of politics but I can promise you that greedy Wealthy Republicans understand how is important it is to vote and now Michigan slackers that didn’t get to the polls and vote Democrat can shut their mouths if they didn’t vote!! I always said their are more Democrats than Republicans but if you don’t vote what good is it?
As far as I’m concerned, what is the point of voting anymore.Republicans, Democrats, they’re all crooked. And to all the Obama fans, Im sorry, he’s not the great black hope we all thought he was. Not only is he taking away welfare for the needy, but he’s taking earned income credit for the working parents. I’m sorry, but as much money as Obama is spending in his personal life, the whole country should be getting welfare checks!!!