Sounds like a perfect idea. We needed food stamps once too, and I would have gladly just gone and picked up what we needed to survive. Well, as long as there weren't protesters throwing rotten tomatoes or something. People can be ruthless.
Food Stamp Solution
I will preface this by saying 10 years ago I lost my job unexpectedly and reluctantly applied for food stamps. I was given 124.00 a month to feed myself on while trying to find a job and get on my feet again. If not for this benefit I would have been in a bad bad situation. So I am not saying food stamps are bad, I am saying this would cut out a lot of waste and stop crack heads from using our tax dollars to fund their criminal activity....
We should go back to what we used to do.... every saturday at pre determined locations, holders of food stamp benefits were given commodities.... Milk, flour, sugar, bread, cheese, beans, rice and a few canned veggies. This was enough to sustain someone, not have a party with it, but you were given basics. If we stopped giving out debit cards and started this system again, the cost of the program would decrease, people would get what they needed and fraud was almost non existent. And I think you would see lazy people or those that use the system stop using it because it would mean standing in line, and not getting what you want but only what you need.
We should go back to what we used to do.... every saturday at pre determined locations, holders of food stamp benefits were given commodities.... Milk, flour, sugar, bread, cheese, beans, rice and a few canned veggies. This was enough to sustain someone, not have a party with it, but you were given basics. If we stopped giving out debit cards and started this system again, the cost of the program would decrease, people would get what they needed and fraud was almost non existent. And I think you would see lazy people or those that use the system stop using it because it would mean standing in line, and not getting what you want but only what you need.
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It looks like 10% of food stamps recipients are single mothers. What about them, though? That's one of the big problems with blanket solutions. Sure, they could get a job, but what about child care? Have you heard of daycare syndrome? Kids don't thrive in daycare. What about the cost of daycare? I pay $10/hour for a private babysitter right now. I'd feel lucky to find a $15/hour job in town, I mean, that'd be great pay for our area. How do you make those numbers work?
Child support from the father is based on his income, so if he's a lout, that single mother bears a huge burden to provide for her kids. In my mind, that's what the welfare system is intended for. Not, of course, the ones who have babies just to get more money, but the down on her luck single mom who, perhaps, chose leaving over staying in an abusive marriage (a friend of mine is in this situation now).
Child support from the father is based on his income, so if he's a lout, that single mother bears a huge burden to provide for her kids. In my mind, that's what the welfare system is intended for. Not, of course, the ones who have babies just to get more money, but the down on her luck single mom who, perhaps, chose leaving over staying in an abusive marriage (a friend of mine is in this situation now).
Because it isn't always that cut and dried. Every woman who bears children is not a whore. My kids all have the same dad and I was married to him for years before we had our first. What if, a few years down the line, fed up with the stress of unemployment that he'd been through, he decided to start beating me, or, even worse, my kids? How would I have foreseen that? It happens all the time. My friend had no idea her husband would be abusive until many years later. She held on until it seemed she would survive only if she left. She should have kept her legs crossed? How is that her fault? Would you look her in the eye and tell her tough luck? Stay and be beaten until you die in order to keep your kids fed, because you don't deserve help.
I completely agree with you. It's a serious problem, the least of which is the taxpayer burden. It is affecting our entire society. But it is those people who really need help that make finding a solution so tricky. I don't know what should be done. I don't think my friend should have to put her kids in a toxic daycare so she can work and let strangers raise them, but neither do I think her entire livelihood should be based on government help. I often go back to the missing community in our society. Before, she could have counted on help from church and family. These days, church and family figure the government's got it and they stay out of it. Although in her case, she does get support from both but it doesn't pay the bills. Just no good answer to it.
But what would be the intended outcome for someone like my friend? If the current way of parenting, which typically involves daycare and public school, isn't working, do we push for more like that by forcing her to work? The rest of it is easy. People who don't have kids or people whose kids are already in school need to get a job. It's easier now to find commuting jobs, so maybe there could be programs to encourage those employers to hire people, like single mothers, who need an alternative option to the 9-5. Then again, as an employer, I'm not sure *I'd* want to hire welfare recipients. Too many bad apples.
I don't dispute that many recipients are taking advantage of the system - that's the problem. But the problem with finding a solution is how to keep helping the ones who do need it.Just an example. I roommated with a female who was collecting welfare. Her baby daddy, was an illegal and working under the table. They lived together. On paper, he was nowhere to be found.
Ask again about single mothers collecting from the system.
This case might be unique. Or it may just be more common than you think.
I'd take that 10% down to more like 2%
As for not working a 9-5, I'm with you there. I haven't "worked" in 5 years and before that my job was from home, on my terms. I'm highly unemployable because I don't take orders. I've found ways, be it hawking my wares at markets, writing, online retail or whatever. I do it now because I need to know I can provide for my kids.
But getting the knowledge to get there takes a starting point and there are many who don't even know the potential exists, let alone where to look for it. Which is why I try to be free with what I know because there is so much you can do from home without having to join the rat race.
You're right, though. So many people are unmotivated. I don't think it is always that they're lazy, but just so used to being downtrodden that they believe they aren't capable of more. I know, I know, there are jerks, but I believe most people are not. Still, I am surprised -- and disappointed -- by how many people want to know how I do what I do but don't actually take the next step to improve their lives. (Not you, by the way, I'm talking people who ask me specifically.)
It's funny you make the point about rentals and gardening. I was thinking about that when I talked about my friend earlier. She wants to get out of town so she can do those things.
There is always a way to make it work. When we were on food stamps, we were a family of 4 trying to live on $556 a month. I didn't see another choice but hated every minute of it. That's also part of why I prep, garden and produce my own meat, so I'm not caught in that situation again. We did have some preps then, by the way, and used them rather quickly.
So in a long winded answer to your question, yes, some people will never even try.
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