Argument I just got in re: Food Stamps
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Heretic
Yeah. At some point, a certain degree of common sense needs to take over. Some sort of phone service is pretty much a necessity if you want employment. Employers do like to have ways to get ahold of employees in case of emergency and whatnot. Phones aren't exactly the dead end expense for people on assistance like booze-n-smokes are.ts1227;872592 wrote:Name one employer in this day and age that conducts the entire job application process, from mailing in the app, to interview scheduling, to anything else, exclusively by the mail.
If you want the people to get a job and get off of food stamps, they need more than a mailbox. Thus, they get a cheap phone line (most likely a regional cell phone plan here in 2011). -
rydawg5Walmart, "Thanks for your resume, Sir, how may we call you back?"
Welfare man "If you are a 2 mile radius, please contact me by a Walkie Talkie, ironically I stole one from aisle 7, OR please Write to PO BOX 407 Columbus, OH- Allow 3-5 business days for a return letter. I have to save up for a stamp. Also, when I need to call in sick, I will do so by writing a letter, who should I make the letters out to?" -
Sonofanumprydawg5;872608 wrote:Walmart, "Thanks for your resume, Sir, how may we call you back?"
Welfare man "If you are a 2 mile radius, please contact me by a Walkie Talkie, ironically I stole one from aisle 7, OR please Write to PO BOX 407 Columbus, OH- Allow 3-5 business days for a return letter. I have to save up for a stamp. Also, when I need to call in sick, I will do so by writing a letter, who should I make the letters out to?"
Weak. -
SonofanumpFatHobbit;872541 wrote:What if they use their smartphone to look for jobs on the internet?
Go to the public liabrary. -
Crimson streak
GoChiefs;872339 wrote:I mean, you're struggling, and on food stamps...but still had a cell phone?
Canceling my cell phone plan would have cost me around 500 so I didn't have the money to cancel it. It's not like we got a lot of money for food I was just saying I didn't abuse the system. -
Skyhook79
Thats debatable but its still a Gov't hand out paid for with tax revenues. Pell Grants could be for 4 or more years thats "sustaining" someone for quite a while. Maybe families should be drug tested before they get pell Grants?Scarlet_Buckeye;872472 wrote:Food stamps are for sustainability. Grant for college tuition are not for sustainability, but for intellectual improvement/development. Apples to oranges. -
GoChiefs
ts1227;872546 wrote:Yeah, people in poverty have always scraped the money together to have basic telephone access since it is pretty vital if you ever want to land a job. You just never outwardly saw it because it was a land line. But since land lines are dying off, it is more cost effective to get a cheap cell phone on a regional plan.
Actually, I know a few people who landed jobs without phones by using neighbors phone numbers or relatives. -
LJ
Scarlet_Buckeye;872575 wrote:#Fail.
Please explain to me how cell phones are a necessity for life. Sure they can easily augment one's life, but they are far from a necessity.
It's called stay at home and wait for the damn phone to ring.
So it's ok to have a $45/month home phone but you can't have a $45/month cheap cell phone? -
rydawg5LJ;872782 wrote:So it's ok to have a $45/month home phone but you can't have a $45/month cheap cell phone?
exactly.. -
bigkahunaLJ;872782 wrote:So it's ok to have a $45/month home phone but you can't have a $45/month cheap cell phone?
It's not even that expensive. You spend maybe $20/month if you go to walmart and buy a track phone or something. Hell do an add-a-line with a plan on Verizon... and spend $10.99/month w/o texting and internet. Just phone calls.
I'll agree having some kind of telephone communication device is basically a necessity in order to receive employment. The only other possible option is email, and the library gives teh interwebs away for free. -
LJ
Well the problem is, let's say my wife and I both went broke. It would cost $400 to cancel our 2 cell phone lines, or we could pay the cheapest plan at like $55 per month and have the use of 2 phones. Obviously 1 of those choices is the much smarter financial decision.bigkahuna;872924 wrote:It's not even that expensive. You spend maybe $20/month if you go to walmart and buy a track phone or something. Hell do an add-a-line with a plan on Verizon... and spend $10.99/month w/o texting and internet. Just phone calls.
I'll agree having some kind of telephone communication device is basically a necessity in order to receive employment. The only other possible option is email, and the library gives teh interwebs away for free. -
bigkahunaLJ;872926 wrote:Well the problem is, let's say my wife and I both went broke. It would cost $400 to cancel our 2 cell phone lines, or we could pay the cheapest plan at like $55 per month and have the use of 2 phones. Obviously 1 of those choices is the much smarter financial decision.
I agree with you. I was just saying that it was probably cheaper than you mentioned at $45/month. That's all
So, it's not like their breaking the bank by having a phone where as going out and buying a flatscreen/booze or smokes every week/.... -
LJ
bigkahuna;872928 wrote:I agree with you. I was just saying that it was probably cheaper than you mentioned at $45/month. That's all
Just expanding further
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rydawg5why do people say "flatscreen" like they are some type of upscale electronic. In the mid-90, there was no way in hell you'd find a 36" tv less than $450, and 15 years later, Ihave bought a 42" off Woot for under $400
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Sonofanumprydawg5;873053 wrote:why do people say "flatscreen" like they are some type of upscale electronic. In the mid-90, there was no way in hell you'd find a 36" tv less than $450, and 15 years later, Ihave bought a 42" off Woot for under $400
It's a luxury item by both the normal definition and the economic definition.
$400 is how many weeks of food? -
O-Trap
I'm curious. Is there some sort of study to validate this? I'm not meaning to be contentious. I'm merely trying to clearly wrap my head around the topic.BoatShoes;871413 wrote:But this is the exception and not the rule...
For what it's worth, I live smack-dab in the middle of a neighborhood where virtually everyone is on some sort of governmental assistance, and unfortunately, I am not sure I can think of more than 2-3 people who are using it responsibly and are working to get off it. It's hardly the "one single mom" in my experience, but I also recognize that I'm not acquainted with enough of the country's assisted citizens to have an accurate picture.
Admittedly, I really did laugh at this, sad as though the situation really is.sleeper;871438 wrote:I don't really have a problem with food stamps per say, but they should only be a temporary assistance for those that need it. The only long term food stamp program should exist for those that physically/mentally cannot work. Can't afford food without food stamps? Go steal. I'll gladly pay for you to rot in jail.
Scarlet_Buckeye;871470 wrote:On another note.....my mom was recently selected as a juror in a trial involving an assault (between a boyfriend and a girlfriend). You know why the girlfriend assaulted the boyfriend?..... Because he took and hid her "foodstamp" card (which apparently is something similar to a debit card). The card was suppose to have $200.00 activated on it at midnight and said girlfriend was a crack cocaine addict. She became enraged when she couldn't find the card and he wouldn't give it up. UNBELIEVABLY, it came out as evidence in the trial that it is COMMON for these crack addicts to sell their "foodstamp" cards to dealers for crack cocaine. They get like $.50 to every $1.00 from the dealers.
Yep. Happens rather frequently here.
Crimson streak;871511 wrote:I'll admit I had food stamps for about six months when my gf was pregnant. At the time I just moved to pa and was having trouble finding a job and she lost her job. He'll I worked at taco bell for 6 months till I could find something better. My checks barely covered rent, car payment, insurance, cell phone. I ended up getting a better job through a help from a friend and soon as I got a job we dropped the food stamps. I was always raised to not live off the state and do things yourself. But he'll everything worked out I'm 21 and have a nice well paying job, and so does my fiancé.
See, you fit into the demographic that has handled them responsibly. I was the same way while "unemployed." Though I was not employed for 13 months, I was only on unemployment for 5 months, and it was purely a sense of duty. I wanted to be a contributing citizen, and not a burden.
Skyhook79;872275 wrote:Because of Matthew 25:34-40?
You have listed why people ought to be charitable, but our government is not dictated by said truth. As such, I should not "have" to from a citizenry standpoint. I don't even have to under the passage you mentioned. I ought to do so out of compassion, but that doesn't equate to obligation.
gport_tennis;872518 wrote:Now not everyone needs a smartphone....
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
lol'd
Scarlet_Buckeye;872575 wrote:It's called stay at home and wait for the damn phone to ring.
So you're not a fan of people going out and pounding the pavement looking for work? Huh, I would have thought differently.
rydawg5;873053 wrote:why do people say "flatscreen" like they are some type of upscale electronic. In the mid-90, there was no way in hell you'd find a 36" tv less than $450, and 15 years later, Ihave bought a 42" off Woot for under $400
It is still a luxury. I still have a 19" box television set, not because I cannot afford a bigger one, but because I have obligations that supersede my desire to count the hairs on Ben Roethlisberger's chin in hi-def.
This topic always makes me think of this song:
It's the first of the month ...
[video=youtube
ArF9k2SbQk][/video] -
Manhattan Buckeyemajorspark;872287 wrote:Fox guarding the hen house. But a minimum number of hours for community service for all able bodied individuals each month should be required to get a check.
This plus 1,000,000.
I love my wife's family, and respect her stepfather, who is as big of a Libertarian as there is. He is a devoted believer in the concept that social welfare should come with some sort of community service - as much in theory I agree with him in reality that isn't the answer. The costs of a program of such outweigh the benefits. Some people are just jerks, too many people in power haven't lived in the reality of lower class America, I don't have the answer but I do know from experience that the people in the trailer park half of mile away aren't going to change because you give them food stamps or anything else. They will continue to be jerks. -
Tobias Fünke
My views on programs for the poor:
Yes to mandating a moderate amount of public service (e.g. Picking up trash on a high way or sweeping streets). The tough part is having the personnel to oversee this, but perhaps you can register churches and whatnot that are offering programs. Ironically it's the middle class volunteering to feed the poor, when the poor have nothing going on all day and could easily pitch in.
No to restricting the use of phones. That's idiotic. While smartphones are ridiculous, so is the idea of cutting someone off from the outside world.
Yes to drug testing.
Yes to offering low-cost doctor appointments, preschool and child care, etc.
Yes to mandating attendance to said programs. You lose the right to be a bad parent if you're on welfare and food stamps and whatnot. Too many kids are already screwed by the time they get into the school system. I believe NYC had a program where they paid the poor to go to appointments and put their kids in education programs, and while paying them is ridiculous, mandating it for the monthly check should happen. -
rmolin73
Tobias Funke I'm on board with all of those proposals. -
Scarlet_Buckeye
Standard in American living? Probably. Essential to landing a job? Definitely not. Really worth needing when one is collecting food stamps? I'd argue HELLLLLLLLLL NO.rydawg5;872591 wrote:True, it's not a necessity. Regardless, communication with a phone is pretty standard in American living, and if someone couldn't afford food and a phone, I would think they'd qualify for food stamps. -
Scarlet_Buckeye
As a college graduate, I could walk into a McDonalds (without a mobile device) and land a job in a heartbeat.ts1227;872592 wrote:Name one employer in this day and age that conducts the entire job application process, from mailing in the app, to interview scheduling, to anything else, exclusively by the mail.
If you want the people to get a job and get off of food stamps, they need more than a mailbox. Thus, they get a cheap phone line (most likely a regional cell phone plan here in 2011).
As a product of a project development, it would probably be more difficult (i.e., landing a job instantly just by walking into a McDonalds and applying for one), but I'm sure if this person spent an entire day walking in-and-out of lower end places, they could find something to get them started (without the need of a mobile device). -
Scarlet_Buckeye
This.Sonofanump;872633 wrote:Go to the public liabrary.
Or explain to the manager that you have fallen upon hard times and you cannot afford a mobile device at the time. I'm sure they would understand and not mind figuring out a way to help you.
People are so g.d. quick to think of excuses rather than thinking of ways to solve the issue. Pisses me off. -
Scarlet_Buckeye
There's a huge difference between the two, and if you can't see it, then I don't know what to tell you.Skyhook79;872656 wrote:Thats debatable but its still a Gov't hand out paid for with tax revenues. Pell Grants could be for 4 or more years thats "sustaining" someone for quite a while. Maybe families should be drug tested before they get pell Grants?
For one, receiving Pell Grants is usually because the government sees you as a prospect and is trying to help provide you with the education you need to better yourself and make a decent income / wage so that you're not riding the welfare train for the next 10+ years.
HUGE difference, pal. -
Scarlet_Buckeye
Bingo.GoChiefs;872764 wrote:Actually, I know a few people who landed jobs without phones by using neighbors phone numbers or relatives. -
Scarlet_Buckeye
I'm talking about BlackBerry / smartphones. I know SEVERAL of my friends who have BlackBerrys, yet they're riding off of the system (i.e., collecting food stamps). Why the F do you need a BlackBerry with a data plan if you're collecting food stamps? Because "everyone else has one"? Then motivate your lazy ass and DO SOMETHING!LJ;872782 wrote:So it's ok to have a $45/month home phone but you can't have a $45/month cheap cell phone?