food stamps

[Cutehumor]

Originally Posted By: oilyriser
They should give out food stamps according to BMI.


I don't know how much of the county is obese, but that would wipe out alot receipents. I'm sure someone would post weblinks for everyone's viewing pleasure

 

[tonycarguy]

Don't they have limits on how long you can collect food stamps / welfare? If not, they should. It should decline every year until 4 years later when it declines to $0. I have no problem with government assistance for poor people, but it has to be done in a way that motivates them to become independent not encourage freeloading.

 

[CivicFan]

* 51 percent of all participants are children (17 or younger), and 65 percent of them live in single-parent households.
* 55 percent of food stamp households include children.
* 9 percent of all participants are elderly (age 60 or over).
* 79 percent of all benefits go to households with children, 14 percent go to households with disabled persons, and 7 percent go to households with elderly persons.
* 36 percent of households with children were headed by a single parent, the overwhelming majority of whom were women.
* The average household size is 2.3 persons.
* The average gross monthly income per food stamp household is $640.
* 41 percent of participants are white; 36 percent are African-American, non-Hispanic; 18 percent are Hispanic; 3 percent are Asian, 2 percent are Native American, and 1 percent are of unknown race or ethnicity.

 

[benjamming]

Originally Posted By: smokey1
if you removed all the assistance you'd most likely see a spike in social unrest ( crime , etc. ). Desperation only makes for poor decisions. The system helps to keep things in check.


Are you saying if it was removed in one fell swoop or just in general?

 

[smokey1]

what's the difference ? Either way not a good thing .

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
In a counterintuitive move, let's say you "fight" for five years for section 8 and you get a job offer hundreds of miles away, but you're not sure if it'll pan out... you stay put, because of the time invested.

If we actually had no waiting list, there wouldn't be a worry.


Most of the people on Sec 8 have jobs, but are low enough pay that the government pay part of their rent.

The process takes a long time too, you have the form filed and status approved, then you go apartment hunting which many landlord do not accept Sec 8. Once done, you have to use the government provided lease and agree to their term, an inspector come out to check the condition of the apartment to see if it meet the code (sometimes they fail the simplest thing like a bathroom vent is stuck at part open, or the garbage disposal is locked up). Then when all is done, that's 20 days gone having the apartment sitting idle.

Then you get a check every month from the government until they have a financial crisis, and your rent is behind for 1 month or 2. If the tenant suddenly start making more money, the government immediately reduce the amount they will pay. The tenant have to make up the difference or move to somewhere else more affordable. For some reason most of the Sec 8 tenants have problem understand that they need to pay when the government reduce their share of the rent, and would argue with you to death.

The biggest problem? we have a middle class / above average apartment and the Sec 8 tenants wear them out very very quickly. You have to give them a photo prove of the original condition of the apartment before they move in, to prove that they burn the hole in the counter top, stained the carpet, scratched the vinyl floor, etc before they would agree to the deduction to the deposit.


Like I said in the past, it is not a race issue, but an education level and social responsibility issue.

 

[benjamming]

smokey1,

Shocking pretty much any system will cause unnecessary problems that weening off the teet would prevent.

I guess we have very different reading of the constitution & the roles of the federal government. State government can provide all the assistance their constitution will allow - which in most cases is a lot.

 

[Gary Allan]

benjamming, you've got some assumptions there that will have their own subset of necessary consequences. This is a management of a bad situation.

Weening off assumes that there's available subsistence that isn't already being utilized. Sure, there are people on some form of assistance that are FULLY CAPABLE of engaging in toil. Does that automatically dictate that there is employment for them to engage in? Nope.

..and suppose we just totally ended any minimum wage standard so that (allegedly) everyone could "fit" somewhere (begging for the opportunity to shine your shoes) ..do you REALLY think that it wouldn't be even MORE exploited by those who profess to bring benefit with "tinkle down"? It would be a neo- "COME AND GIT IT, BOYZ!!! Com'in'git-it!!! (imagine wholesome "get your fill" smile) hogfest devaluing EVERYONE else in relative worth.

So ..who really gains in the evolution? Our stewards of commerce love a 5% unemployment rate. Just where are you going to pull the slots for even more people to extract from the environment, pull it out of your behind?

All this is fine if you don't mind a radical alteration in the standard of living.

Motivation and capability cannot [censored] you a job. It will only give you a better chance at those that are available.

The other shoe is always there waiting to drop.

Even in the most crude depiction ..food stamps keep the critters from foraging.

 

[mpvue]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Originally Posted By: eljefino
In a counterintuitive move, let's say you "fight" for five years for section 8 and you get a job offer hundreds of miles away, but you're not sure if it'll pan out... you stay put, because of the time invested.

If we actually had no waiting list, there wouldn't be a worry.


Like I said in the past, it is not a race issue, but an education level and social responsibility issue.


agree. in my neighborhood, rentals are about 55-60% of the housing. very transient by nature. most landlords are power brokers controlling 30-60 units or more. some are very good at gaming the system and making renting sec8 work for them. I dread anytime a house goes on the market here, because it gets grabbed as an investment property and the parade of tenants starts. some stay for only 6-9 months before they are on to the next.

 

[Gary Allan]

It's the contemporary transition of former working class industrial urban environments. The former cash cow was multi-units ..but most urban municipalities have put the burden on the multi-unit landlord with high fees for water sewer and trash ..while also adding penalties for tenant conduct. If the police get called to your address too often, the landlord gets a fine (here). This has led to two evolutions here. Single dwelling rentals are now profitable and are exempt from the higher water and sewer fees (substantial in terms of expenses to factor ROI). The other is not renting on a monthly basis. That is, making the dwelling fall outside of the current tenant laws ...making eviction an immediate event and not the protracted 90 day process. Virtually every sale in our town is turned into rental property. They just wait until the price dips low enough to make the numbers work.

 

[smokey1]

there are rentals in areas that are out of reach for many or put a financial strain on them from the cost of rent . This is due to high taxes ( higher rent ) and college students to compete with . Then there's 1st months rent , security deposit , and last months rent . Every region has it's issues .

 

[Cutehumor]

It was in the news this morning that obesity costs $1400 extra in health costs per person

 

[Kestas]

Per month?... year?... lifetime?

 

[jmac]

year

 

[Gary Allan]

That's funny money figures.

 

[jmac]

agreed

 

[oilyriser]

Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
Motivation and capability cannot [censored] you a job. It will only give you a better chance at those that are available.



I'm not familiar with that use of that verb, but with motivation and capability you can make your own job, if there is a competitive free market economy.

 

[benjamming]

Gary,

I agree that there is not going to be an ideal situation - utopia doesn't exist in America. However, you have to stay w/in bounds, which we are clearly out of, actually not even in sight right now. Then, and only then, can you work on problems. Otherwise, it just makes the web more & more tangled until it has to be cut down.

 

[Gary Allan]

oily: No matter where you extract from the collective pool of economic resources ..that's a channeling through you that otherwise would go somewhere else. Any self created job is getting the share of someone(s) productivity that can't be sequestered from the environment. If I buy a new car, that's xxx amount of $$ that isn't going to Joe's pizza (whatever). If I use the services of some ambitious motivated entrepreneur ..that's xxx amount of my productivity that can't go elsewhere.

That is, it's a formula for only so many. You cannot profess it to be a "solution" for all. Hence it's a potential remedy for some ..with qualifications. Those being that you're in a pool of less motivated, less ingenius, and less ambitious individuals.

btw- most of the homeless I deal with are quite motivated to scrap and whatnot. Now it doesn't necessarily produce a grand lifestyle unless you consider doing your toil for your daily drink ..productive ..but..


benjamming- Utopia doesn't exist anywhere. It's beyond our ability to attain ..but so is the speed of light. Would one stop trying to go faster merely since there's an alleged barrier? Should one stop striving toward perfection simply due to it being a myth?

I don't see anyone offering much to get closer to it. I see mostly resignation to, and divestiture from, the situation.

I really don't care what social evolutions occur ..as long as they befall everyone commensurate to the amount they extract from the collective productivity pool. That should keep all selfish motivations out of the mix. I'll always rely on a sword that cuts both ways with equal zeal. Then, and only then, can self interest be a virtue instead of a corruption.

That, naturally, will never occur.

 

[smokey1]

you ever consider writing speeches for the PRESIDENT ?