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    EatTheCheeseNicholsonHamilton Nolan
    4/21/15 3:14pm

    The sad thing is, we need benefit reform - but not in the way that right-wing assholes think we do. And nobody on the left can say it without opening up the floor to Tea Party folks who want to just tear the whole thing down.

    Really, it’s the opposite. It is far too hard to get benefits. Being on welfare is almost a full time job all by itself.

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      s3rp3ntsEatTheCheeseNicholson
      4/21/15 3:39pm

      So much this. I nearly lost the one job we had in the house trying to help my Mom get on disability, which took about 10 months from the time I started to help her, which was about 3-4 months after she started on her own. I wanted to quit so many times - so very many times - but our situation just wasn’t tenable on a single income. It was either food and shelter, or all her medical appointments and drugs.

      The difficulty just made a horrible situation worse. It was demeaning, demoralizing and cruel, especially given my mom’s condition (TIA) which has led to terrible brain damage. She just couldn’t understand what was going on, and why we had to go from office to office to office. In the interim, we visited all of DC’s emergency rooms at least twice...

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      EatTheCheeseNicholsons3rp3nts
      4/21/15 3:41pm

      That’s absolutely terrible, I hope you and your family are doing well.

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    flamingolingoHamilton Nolan
    4/21/15 3:15pm

    I’m pretty sure disability counts as welfare. Social Security is also welfare. Yes, you pay into both systems, but the amount you pay in does not usually cover what you pull out. You’re still relying on other people’s contributions.

    Categorizing certain parts of the safety net as “earned” and others as simply mooching contributes to the shaming of people who use things like food stamps.

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      Orlandu7flamingolingo
      4/21/15 3:27pm

      I’d like to see someone with a mortgage interest deduction explain to me how they “earned” that juicy handout of a tax break.

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      Blatheringflamingolingo
      4/21/15 3:29pm

      It’s the new GOP talking point, to separate the money the Olds are receiving as “earned” (“I paid in!” posts from my parents on FB every few days) even if they are pulling out twice what they put in.

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    Motorized Mega-SatanHamilton Nolan
    4/21/15 3:27pm

    When I first moved to the US, I couldn’t work for several months because of my immigration status so my wife worked two waitressing jobs to support us. I’ve been unemployed for long stretches, had my car repossessed, narrowly avoided eviction, written checks I knew would bounce so I could buy groceries. I’ve had to go hat in hand to roommates because I didn’t have rent. I’ve had my power and internet cut off. I’ve paid for gas in nickels. I’ve borrowed money from friends, my parents, roommates. I’ve been injured without insurance and faced four figure medical bills I could’t pay.

    Eventually I dug my way out of that hole and everything is ROSY AS FUCK now. And yet, I was still lucky, because reading these stories reminds me that I always had some level of support. I never took benefits because there was always an out, a way to buy food, a place for me to sleep. I was never going to starve or end up on the street. I didn’t have dependents. I didn’t have to worry about childcare. I’m not disabled. I wasn’t trapped in the middle of nowhere.

    The bootstraps comments are on their way, so fuck you all in advance. We can talk when you live on $15,000/year.

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      weirwoodtreehugger3Motorized Mega-Satan
      4/21/15 3:34pm

      I'm really hoping nobody takes the vertigo troll out of the greys but it will probably happen any minute.

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      Eshin242Motorized Mega-Satan
      4/21/15 3:34pm

      Well... the poverty line for a single individual is lower then that. $11,770.00. In many cases for benefits if you are not near or below that you will not qualify.. I dare anyone to try and live on that for a year without public assistance.

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    kmkinger1Hamilton Nolan
    4/21/15 3:58pm

    My father is a welfare and benefits fraud investigator in Santa Clara County (ie. the heart of Silicon Valley) and has been for the past 10 years. He has told me stories of people living in mansions with Audi’s and BMW’s in the driveways collecting welfare and food stamps, students going to Stanford University living in the dorms and being bankrolled by their parents while collecting welfare for children they don’t have - the stories are INSANE and the lengths people go to collect the benefits, lying and falsifying documentation. But he’s also told me stories of people who have really needed it, similar to the ones we are reading about today, and how he’s employed to bust the abusers so the ones who need it don’t lose out.

    I have been pretty fortunate to be employed and paid a good salary since I graduated from college, but reading these stories is heartbreaking. There truly are people out there who need these benefits and would not survive without them. While it is a small group that abuse them, they’re abusing the hell out of them and making the ones who truly need it look bad which is so so unfortunate.

    I recently watched a documentary on netflix about a woman in TN living off of government assistance - its essentially a visual of what all of these stories are saying on paper. She has health problems she cant afford to treat because she uses her assistance for her children. I wish I could remember the name — its very eye opening. I just want to do something more to help, but don’t know what else besides contributing to food banks and shelters.

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      ThePriceisWrongkmkinger1
      4/21/15 4:05pm

      I know someone who works in state assistance, and she can vouch that about 98% of the cases she deals with are legit people who need assistance and would probably die without it.

      Volunteer/donate to your local food banks/shelters, help with awareness campaigns, ask your job to sponsor a food drive or participate in a volunteer day at a local shelter/free medical clinic. There’s ways we can all help, just be sure that the only time we are doing it isn’t at Christmas.

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      zombiepandakmkinger1
      4/21/15 5:26pm

      Actually, welfare fraud is a lot like voter fraud. People assume it happens all the time, but the reality is that every time they audit roles they find very little actual fraud. And you can legitimately be receiving SNAP and drive a “fancy” car or live in a big house; the value of homes are not considered as a matter of federal policy, and whether or not the value of your car is taken into account is determined by the states, and most states don’t take it into account. Because are you going to make someone move or sell their car before they get food assistance? It may not look good in anecdotes, but it does make sense for the aggregate.

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    DesperatelySeekingSolutionHamilton Nolan
    4/21/15 4:11pm

    I’m one of the above contributers. If anyone here knows of any virtual assistant, transcribing or customer service work that can be done from home and doesn’t require me to pay for it please email me at desperatelyseekingsolution@gmail.com

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      browniesaregoodDesperatelySeekingSolution
      4/21/15 7:18pm

      Try appen, leapforce and lionsbridge. All good work-from-home jobs.

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      yurkillinmekinjaDesperatelySeekingSolution
      4/22/15 12:34am

      I suggest you make a profile on o-desk. They take some % of what you make but it’s minimal, and their tracking system is really good. You choose how to list yourself (virtual assistant, transciptionist, translator - whatever are your skills), and you can take tests to prove your skills to beef up your profile.

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    libwitchHamilton Nolan
    4/21/15 3:55pm

    “Waiting room was full of kids, loud cell phone conversations in many languages, people with veils or tattoos covering themselves.”

    Oh my gods. The HORROR. Those tattoos might infect you. How terrible that you were forced to endure that.

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      Brad Connerslibwitch
      4/22/15 10:01am

      Right? Especially for a benefit recipient, that sounds mighty classist.

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    GirlwithNoName64Hamilton Nolan
    4/21/15 3:34pm

    The problem I see with a lot of these stories is that these individuals are trying very hard to distinguish themselves from the individuals that they view as less deserving or somehow morally beneath them as well. So what if you didn’t know the father of your children? Would that make the kids less hungry? Would you somehow be able to survive on fewer calories per day? What if you did get HIV from just sleeping around with random guys? Should you not have access to the medication you needed to save your life?

    While I get that these people are playing their own versions of respectability politics (“I did everything right, but I still ended up on welfare, but I totally needed it!”), it implies that the moral judgments against those that didnt do “everything right” are somehow valid. And I bet that some of these people would pass judgment against others on welfare for reasons that they do not deem equally as “valid” as their own—and are really part of the problem of stigmatizing the use of social benefits.

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      SpringSprungHamilton Nolan
      4/21/15 3:10pm

      All of these people’s problems could be solved if they just bought more limes. And were also rich and could go back to that lifestyle when it’s not enough food.

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        UrbanNunEnthusiastHamilton Nolan
        4/21/15 3:21pm

        I should not have to choose between meds and food.

        :(

        And the HIV+ story made me tear up. How awful.

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          BigjackHamilton Nolan
          4/21/15 3:33pm

          I got reduced lunch at school as a kid. Does that count?

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            PunditGuyBigjack
            4/21/15 4:08pm

            Me too. And yes, it counts.

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            BlatheringBigjack
            4/21/15 5:27pm

            My mom refused to apply because she didn’t want the other kids to see me paying less. I think all schools ought to just provide meals as part of the mission of caring for the kids.

            Then again, a town near me recently got a federal grant so that all elementary kids would get free lunch and parents objected because socialism.

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