Again, you seem to rely more on the stereotypes about poverty than anything else. "These people" as you call them don't drive around in pimped out Caprices with rims that go over your hood level, have an xbox360 hooked up to a 50" plasma, swap food stamps for cigs, or go around dealin' to get that money under the table so that they can stay on welfare. That is just asinine, and it demonstrates your lack of understanding both of poverty and the programs that help alleviate it such as welfare, medicaid, WIC, etc.
Well like I said I know it's not 100%, nor did I bring up donk cars. Two families when I worked for a pharmacy would come in each week with welfare coupons enough that had me fill each one of their SUV's to capacity with baby and diabetic gear. one was a lexus and the other a mercedes.
It was well known that one sold these items for profit and the other mailed it all back to her country.
I am not sure what rock you live under, but I guess the national food stamp fraud that's occuring is simply FUD. Not many are actually selling their food stamps to buy not needed items...it's all a myth.
Also we all know most on welfare end up off in 6 months to a year and become model citizens right? lolz.
But hey, look I never said get rid of it. I said regulate it tighter. So on to your next laugh:
Have you ever been poor or lived in an impoverished neighborhood? If so, then you'd realize that these stereotypes are the rare exception, not the rule. Many poor put in more work in any given day than most of the high-rollers here on Anandtech. Sure, they may own a car, a television, a refridgerator, or a microwave, (none of which may even be reliable) but lets face it, those things are damn cheap and can be had for free. Yet, you begrudge them from having anything more than a roof over their head. Just because you accept government assistance does not mean that you give up your rights or your dignity. Suggesting that they do just shows contempt for the poor.
Actually after my parents got out of the military post-vietnam war they were struggling. They actually qualified for welfare, but could get by without it so they did. They often just had pasta with butter if they were lucky with myself and my brother eating proper baby food. My dad worked during the day and went to night classes. Once we were of school age, my mother started working as a checker or whatever else would allow her to be able to pick up my brother and I when school ended. As my dad's career shifted into gear we moved up in the world.
I had a lot of nice things growing up, but I didn't extend that once I left home. One of the first things I did purchase was my own health insurance. It was more than half my car payment (it went between $125 and 175/month)...it sucked and even though I knew I'd be cared for if I did get hurt / sick...I wasn't about to make someone else cover that.
In my early 30's I struggled up until about 5 or so years ago. The product of a bad divorce and another relationship 5 years after it that had both women liquidating all assets and running up major debt. The second time I was a college student so had nothing to fall back on. I focused on self-growth and building my career. During this time many ATOT'er liked to make fun of that. Today I am successful, I give a lot to charity and other causes.
So back to your points...no I don't begrudge anyone for having bare necessities, but that is all they should have. The same way I was forced to sell off my shit to pay for bills, so should they.
The problem is we aren't focused on keeping people from getting to the poverty level, we are focused on helping them once they get there. Bankruptcy used to be a key element to our economy. You pushed the limits to make yourself better but occasionally you failed and were faced with financial ruin. Today it's almost impossible to get bankruptcy protection unless you are a business owner. Either way as part of it, you sell all your shit or the trustee comes in and does it for you. Right down to knick knacks.
You don't get to keep your TV, you don't get to keep your car unless its worth the amount of a beater.
When I delivered food as a teenager (after also working another job right after school), I saw a lot of the families that had their kids on the reduced / free lunch programs. They had nicer cars than my parents, nicer furniture, their kids dressed in the newest fashions and had all the toys. But hey, their parents worked under the table. AWESOME! free stuff.
One of my good friends is a Social Worker. Her services are paid for by the state/county and often she is sent out on DCS investigations to counsel the families. She sees all this abuse and reports much of it. So many get confused thinking she is not the police and not really DCS that they light up a freaking bong right in front of her and their kids. She's seen food stamps traded for pills. So I have no idea what I am talking about here.
Your dignity aspect though is one of entitlement and the same thing with privacy rights. It's in our best interests to do the due diligence on anyone needing assistance and due to their piss poor management of their lives keep on them to keep them moving forward.
We give every opportunity now to succeed in school, yet our children keep coming out and being failures despite going to those magnet schools, taking those free internships, taking those scholarships, etc.
Until we put our foot down and make being on welfare difficult and not so fun, then people will stay on the ride.
