Some Common Questions About Living on Welfare

[Randomawkwardness]

Hey guys! So I thought I would do this quick little post to clear up some very common misconceptions people seem to have and the stereotype welfare has as a whole. I will delete any hateful or judgmental comments but other than that, read and do enjoy!

#1 All you buy is junk food.

Well, not exactly. If you look at the prices in a regular chain store, stuff can seem a little pricey. This usually makes my family resort to wholesale or cheaper stores and usually their selections aren't very healthy. We certainly don't go out and spend 300 SNAP dollars on chips and soda, but buying mac and cheese and quick fix meals are the only thing that keeps my family afloat. Plus, children shouldn't be deprived of a simple candy bar because we are poor. If it's on sale and they've earned it, we'll probably pick it up for them. So, I guess the answer is yes and no. We can't afford organic healthy things and junk food is really all we can afford and no, it isn't because we don't budget right.

#2 You sell your SNAP dollars for real money.

First of all, we would never stoop this low. Secondly, I'm not even sure how to do that. A SNAP card works just like most cards, you swipe and enter your pin. Giving someone your card would be like handing them your bank card and making them promise to only spend a certain amount. Chances are, you're going to get cheated and have to order a new card which can take weeks to arrive.

#3 You can buy fast food.

Oh man, do I wish this was true sometimes. Sadly, SNAP benefits can only be used at participating stores and only on certain items. You know the deli and hot food section at stores? Yeah, that's considered fast food even though it's a store item. Even some things like cake icing isn't covered because some of them don't have very high nutritional value. So, as much as I wish we could just get a 5 dollar meal at DairyQueen sometimes, that just simply isn't possible.

#4 Welfare Queens

Do they exist? Maybe. Is my family in that category? Definitely not. In order to even qualify for SNAP or TANF, you have to prove your income over and over. We had a guest stay at our house once and we had to prove our income again or be terminated from the program. It is really strict and I don't see how anyone could benefit from this other than what is intended.

#5 You buy lobster and expensive meats.

First of all, who would even eat lobster willingly? But on a serious not, as I said before, we simply can't afford that. The meat we do eat is either chicken or pork but pork is usually too much. I think out of this entire year, my family has had steak once and it was because it was on sale and even at that, it was two steaks for a six family household.

#6 You only have children so you can take from the government and not get a job.

I don't know anyone who would have children just to be on welfare for the rest of their life. Honestly, as unbelievable as it sounds, using welfare is very embarrassing. If there is anything on the belt that someone disagrees with, you'll get glared at. I remember one instance, at a store that definitely accepted SNAP as we had gone there plenty of times, the cashier refused to even check our items out. Want to know what we were buying? Protein bars because it was the only thing my older sibling would eat and they were considered anorexic. We had bought them before but the cashier didn't agree with how we were spending our benefits and refused to sell it. With that said, I don't know why anyone would go through all that trouble and embarrassment just so they didn't need a job. Even at that, most programs require you to actively job search or you will lose all of your benefits.

#7 You're just lazy.

Absolutely not. With my family in particular, I have a special needs sibling that needs my mother to be there for him every second. When she can, she gets a job and provides for us on her own. It's only when we fall into hard times that we truly need all these benefits.

#8 You're spending my tax dollars.

Honestly, this one is tricky. Are we spending tax dollars? Yes but they're not yours anymore once they go to the government. Regardless of that, it would be maybe a few pennies out of everyone's taxes that pay for mine and thousands of other families to eat. Is that really that hard when you're paying even more for some senator to have a vacation?

Please do feel free to ask anymore questions in the comments if you want, I'll try and answer. As a side note, SNAP and TANF are the only ones my family have ever been on. I'm sure there are other programs but we've never applied.

[WalterRadio]

Anyone who is poor in a developed country is so by choice. It is the result of her own bad decisions.

We should eliminate all forms of welfare.

We can set up soup kitchens and cots in industrial buildings, with a drug test to get in, so no one who isn't on drugs will starve or freeze. That is the sum of our responsibility to each other. Anyone who wants more than that should have to work for it.

Your comments on your list are wrong. Not everyone does those things, but plenty of people do such that you cannot categorically deny it happens.

I have seen women so fat they can hardly fit through the checkout aisle with a cart full of expensive meat, chips, and soda, then pay for it with SNAP and then buy cigarettes with cash. Meanwhile, I have my bananas, potatoes, and whatever is on sale, in spite of my having an upper class income.

I have watched women use their welfare coupons to buy formula, then immediately sell it to someone outside the grocery store.

I met a 19 year old girl one time whose mother was encouraging her to get pregnant so they could get more welfare money coming into the household.

One guy was standing outside a post office one time, smoking and asking for money to buy something to eat. I said, "Get a job." He replied, "I'd love to get a job. But I can't find any." I told him to show up at a vegetable field at daybreak, about 3 miles away and he can work in the field all day (the people that actually do are all illegals, and he is an American). He replied, "I'm not going to do that!".

[DorkVader]

This is a false narrative about poverty, and you know it. Do a little research and you'd know just how hard it is for someone in poverty to get out of it, because the system is set up to keep them down. Why do you think public education is funded by tax bracket and not by need? Why do you think kids in impoverished neighborhoods are punished more often and more severely than kids in suburban schools? Furthermore what's the benefit of working a job that won't support your basic needs? We already know minimum wage in America won't pay rent, nor cover the cost of living. So your post office guy goes and picks produce for $7.25 an hour to do what? Have just enough money to be broke? Get real

[DorkVader]

Also the relevance of obese people on food stamps is what? You don't know if she had a disability or what caused her weight gain. You assume all fat people are greedy. You sit there and dare to police what's in other people's carts, when you have no idea what that woman eats on a regular basis. What if I told you most poor people are fat because foods that are bad for you are more filling?

[WalterRadio]

@DorkVader
Oh please. Open your eyes.

I grew up poor in rural Kentucky, where we ate squirrels and weeds, because my mother made the bad decision of divorcing my father. I made a decision that I was going to become rich, and therefore I did.

"just how hard it is for someone in poverty to get out of it"
It is hard because they f'd up their lives. My mother is still poor. I am rich. My brother is rich. My sisters who didn't get pregnant before marriage are upper middle half. My sister who did get pregnant before marriage is lower middle half. People are poor because they are stupid. It isn't hard not to be poor, it is hard to stop being stupid and to recover from being stupid in the past. There may not be a do-over.

"Why do you think public education is funded by tax bracket and not by need?"
Public education funding methods vary by state. Regardless, more state level money per student is given to poorer districts than to rich ones, to the obscenity of actually taking money from some districts. But time and again, it has been shown that funding is not correlated with performance. Some of the highest paid teachers in the country are in some of the worst performing schools. The extra money that wealthier districts gets is spent on football stadiums, auditoriums, and swimming pools. It has little to do with basic education.

"Why do you think kids in impoverished neighborhoods are punished more often"
Because they are bad kids. The Parkland massacre occurred because the liberal school district decided not to punish a bad kid. Bad kids should be severely punished so maybe they will get the idea that they should stop being bad.

"We already know minimum wage in America won't pay rent, nor cover the cost of living"
First of all, it DOES. One merely has to decide to live in a place that it is so. Secondly, minimum wage is for teenagers. Any adult working at a minimum wage job is either FOB or f'd up.

[WalterRadio]

"the relevance of obese people on food stamps is what?"
Because throughout human history until the very recent exception in rich countries, the biggest health problem poor people had was starvation. In rich countries today, it is obesity. That tells you right away that these people are not in absolute poverty.

"What if I told you most poor people are fat because foods that are bad for you are more filling?"
How about if I told you that fat poor people are fat because they have too much money to spend on food and are unwilling to get their fat ass off the couch and work? Give them less money to spend on food and they will buy less food.

We have 15 million illegal aliens in this country, and the vast majority of them are doing jobs that poor Americans are unwilling to do, such as tending the fields, butchering, and cleaning toilets. They refuse to work because they are given so much welfare that they don't have to. That is immoral and wrong because the rest of us are working so they don't have to.

[WalterRadio]

No one who grows up in the US who does these things will be poor as an adult:

1. Don't get pregnant until in a financially stable marriage.
2. Do get married and stay married.
3. Finish high school.
4. Don't do drugs or have other addictions.
5. Stay out of trouble with crime.
6. Be willing to work.
7. Insure what one cannot afford to lose.

That is the formula for middle class. Show me any poor adult and I will tell which of those rules she violated to make herself poor.

[DorkVader]

Wow @WalterRadio, you sound like a whole ass fool, but you do you. I'm done, goodbye

[WalterRadio]

@DorkVader
I may sound like someone who is disgusted at how I am forced to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in taxes that are taken from me and handed out to stupid lazy people. I did everything right in my life and I deserve every penny I have earned.

So keep your hand out of my pocket.

[DorkVader]

You act like your taxes only go to people on public assistance. Taxes are your civic duty. The same country that allowed you to be able to "bootstrap" your way to a better life is the one with their hand in your pocket. You can choose to believe that poverty is a result of stupidity or poor planning, but it's not. Statistics prove time and again that it isn't. And frankly, I find it disgusting you won't do your homework enough to see where your precious tax money is going, but will happily take it out on this girl and other people in tough situations. You can believe that bullshit all you want, but its flat not true. And by the way, if you were rich, you'd be tax dodging like the others fat cats. Seems to me, if you're paying that much in taxes you're probably middle class at best. Oh, and by the way oops! Your president is why you got fucked by your taxes, not the poor!

[DorkVader]

Public education in Maryland IS funded per county, with the richest counties receiving the most funds, while Baltimore city kids who have the most need, are given the short end of the stick year after year.

[COMMODOREII]

I have thought about these programs do to the fact my parents tried to get them to feed us kids who were struggling ourselves. Unfortunately we did not qualify. But in my research i did know that you can use your SNAP dollars to buy seeds. You might want to consider planting some fruits or veggies based on where you live that could help in supplementing nutrition. Other thing is in our family we had our Mexican culture to fall back on. Which state do you live in? The reason why I bring it up is that true Mexican food is considered poor people food and pretty cheap. At least here in Texas. But if you could get your hands on dried chile, corn tortillas, beans and rice. The idea is hope to help you guys out. I know what it's like to have to go everyday making sure you can put food on the table. Many items i mentioned are SNAP eligible and far cheaper and much more healthy and filling. If you want anymore ideas or even recipe ideas give me a pm and i will surely give some ideas. We should be taking care of each other. *hugs* ☺

[Randomawkwardness]

Oh yes, we do a lot of seeds and plants. The ground outside of our house isn't fit for growing plants though so its mainly indoor plants. Thank you for your suggestions though!

[COMMODOREII]

That sucks. What kind of dirt is it just sand and clay?

[Randomawkwardness]

I'm not exactly sure, we live in a housing complex so we only have a little section we can plant in and nothing, not even grass, has grown there for 4 years. I'm pretty sure they put something in the soil.

[DorkVader]

Shout out to you @Randomawkwardness for taking on this heavy subject in the face of these idiots that will try and shit on you and your family. I honestly don't understand why people have a problem with people eating, but I dont want to live in a world where my tax payer dollars won't feed my starving neighbors. Hunger is a huge issue in America and people conveniently forget how fucked up housing and employment really are for those of us who don't buy into the bullshit Trump train.

Food is a right. We're one of the richest 1st world nations on the planet and people are going to bed hungry, people are shamed because they receive food subsidies. Seriously? We're so ass backwards we think people deserve to starve?

[Randomawkwardness]

Thank you! Most act as if the poor class just leaches off of them when its not true. Most are just people who have fallen a bit and need a little help. People can be cruel sometimes.

[DorkVader]

It's incredible to me, when there are numerous studies out there that show poverty for what it is, and people choose to shit on the poor, as though their "tax money" is carrying them. They need to look at the rich, who aren't pulling their weight, the politicians who are overspending on useless directives and not putting the money where it needs to go. I'm glad you have a good head on your shoulders @Randomawkwardness. You will go far in your chosen field!

[WalterRadio]

" I dont want to live in a world where my tax payer dollars won't feed my starving neighbors"
Then why don't you pay as much as I do in taxes? In 2018 I paid well over $200,000 in federal taxes and about $65,000 in property taxes. I have no objection to how you use your money. I object to how you use my money.

"Hunger is a huge issue in America"
That is a LIE. The only people who are actually hungry are those who are too wacked out on drugs to eat. The majority of poor people are OBESE.

"Food is a right."
Absolutely not. Food is property. You have no right to my property. That doesn't mean I would let people starve (it will be a long wait for poor people in America because they are so fat). They can eat potatoes, rice and beans until they get a job. Guess what I ate most days when I was a grad student? Potatoes, rice, beans, and cheap pasta. How dare you think anyone deserves more from me than what I did for myself. People like you make me sick.

There are people in the world that genuinely need help because they do not live in a country with the opportunities that are available here. I give those people money to help themselves, for things like their college education, and if they are street children, fresh sandwiches.

Go spend some time in Bombay or Manila and come back and tell me about who is poor in this world. It won't be these lazy good for nothing poor people in the US.

[DorkVader]

@WalterRadio I make you sick? Feeling is mutual. Waaaah, you had to pay taxes! Make sure you harass your elected officials as much as you are harassing me on here. A very small percentage of your precious money goes to welfare anyway. Where does majority of it go? I'll let you figure that one out

[WalterRadio]

70% of federal spending is on entitlements. States and local governments also spend heavily on entitlements, but the amounts vary.

[Thotkiana]

Some of these aren’t misconceptions, they’re just not true for you...

[Randomawkwardness]

All of these are misconceptions. Show me one person who actually does any of this that you haven't read about on some Facebook or Instagram post.

[Thotkiana]

I don’t need to. This is just your experience. No stats, no nothing. You can’t speak for anybody. I think it’s not a a coincidence that when welfare was introduced single motherhood in the black community shot up from something like 20% to 70%

[DorkVader]

Really? Single motherhood in the black community shot up after the government found new and exciting ways to lock black men up. Ever wonder why marijuana is considered a schedule 1 drug along the lines of heroin? You sound ignorant as hell

[Thotkiana]

That is also a reason

[Thotkiana]

@askee R u black or white

[Gedaria]

I have mixed feelings about this. Here in the UK, the system is different , but with the same problems. We have food banks and are used quite a lot.
My problem is here they get into the benefit trap. They only work up to the hour they are allowed, if they work over they lose there benefit or part of them. Which doesn't help anyone specially the claimants. They don't better themselves... Only time have claimed any benefit was back in the 80s (out of work). Only on it for a few months couldn't wait to get off it.. Did'nt like being on it.

[engel23]

Welfare is what makes this country better. Help someone to get on it's on feet and then it will help. A few of those big athletes were in welfare, foster homes etc. With out that they would not be who they are. Ask those welfare haters what are they going to do to trump for all the froud he had committed

[bulletbob555]

Well well, quite a subject. I can say one thing people not having enough benefits on snap is a statement of our failure to teach social skills. Let me say that a few times I was put in a temporary situation that called for snap, that if you know how to cook from scratch, that I would have money left on the card every month.

[Rissyanne]

Sorry but it pisses me off when a see a woman with a bunch of kids use an ebt card while wearing a $300 weave... nails done... fake eyelashes. And carrying a designer purse. And yes I have seen this quite often

[Anonymous]

Who cares lol if they do all pf that cutting kt doesn't help me and I'm not even eligible for SNAP.
You got people wasting money on wars and government shut down and walls that do nothing.
What do i get for them cutting 700000 food stamps? It goes straight to the rich. it is different I get a raise or my rent becomes cheaper

[Opinion Owner]

,...

[nixon1509]

Can you buy dignity with food stamps. Teach a man to fish. If these entitlements are intended to help people they should be paid back with intrest.

[Randomawkwardness]

In some cases, you do pay back. You act as if they don't find other ways to get food, my mom can fish and we do grow our own plants however small. Not everyone lives in the country and can have a full acre dedicated to a crop or go fishing every day. Our nearest pond for fishing is 30 minutes away, now think of the gas for that. Having people pay back welfare with an added interest only makes the cycle continue and often time get worse. The government is heartless when it comes to collecting payments - rent and car payments can be pushed a month down. Lowering someone credit score and raising their debt to the federal govt is absolutely no way to help.

[nixon1509]

Teach a man to fish is a euphemism not literal

[Shamalien]

fuck a candy bar it's not your money you don't fking deserve it

you should be given a shower and a fresh change of clothes, a chance to get a job, that's it. Anything else should be charity. fuck government

[DorkVader]

Nice. She's 17 you twat. You're basically saying she and her siblings deserve to starve because one of them is special needs and their mom can't always work.

[Randomawkwardness]

Thank you for defending me @DorkVader, as for @Shamalien, thank you for implying my siblings shouldn't get anything. I myself can't get a job because all of the jobs in our town want 8 to 5 - right when I have school. I'm not willing to throw away my education so we can rely on my paycheck instead of benefits. Besides that, my paycheck wouldn't even cover all that we need and our benefits would be cut. I'm planning on getting a doctorate in psychology and I can't do that if I don't graduate highschool. I'm the oldest of my siblings and the only one available to work, the next oldest is only 10. Just because we rely on government welfare doesn't mean we're completely helpless. We have clothing. We have a shower. Believe it or not, my mom manages to pay her own rent Bill's. The only trouble we have is with food and it's because my mom is trying to feed 5 children. Oh and if you bring up my mom should get her tubes tied or use protection, she was heavily abused as a child and they can't tie her tubes because of severe scar tissue and she's allergic to most latex. We're not going to rid ourself of basic rights and act as subhuman just because we're poor.

[Shamalien]

Chocolate bars aren’t food goof, my parents didn't buy me chocolate bars, junk food, pop, candy, or any if the trash y'all probs waste other peoples money on

[WalterRadio]

@Randomawkwardness
"my mom is trying to feed 5 children"
See! Your mother f'd up. It is HER fault she is poor. Not mine. So keep your hands out of my pocket.

If you want some of my money, I will be happy to give you some; just give me a proposal on why I should give some to you.

I don't believe your "only jobs are 9 to 5" crap. There are fast food restaurants in every town. I worked my rear off when I was a teenager. You should have to as well.

[DorkVader]

Proposal: You're a citizen who benefits from living in this country. Quit your crying and pay your taxes

[Shamalien]

@DorkVader the average man pays far more into taxes in his lifetime than he withdraws while the average women withdraws FAR more than she pays

so don't get self righteous, leech

[DorkVader]

@Shamalien "The average man" can eat a dick. You want women to pay equal taxes, push for pay equality or shut up

[Shamalien]

@DorkVader good god woman you are so far from understanding what you need to understand that I would probs be better off just ignoring you. Calculate that pay gap again this time taking into consideration amount of hours worked and calculate it PER profession, and you will see that gap disappear. Not my fault women wanna be welfare queens and work low paying jobs, and every time society pushes for women to get into STEM they end up transitioning to another field anyway

[DorkVader]

@Shamalien please, do me the favor, you ignorant snot.

[Shamalien]

@DorkVader as you wish m'lady

[esotericstory]

Just grow crops in your garden.

[Rangers]

Freeloaders😒

[Randomawkwardness]

Obviously you didn't read it! But no worries, with today's drop out rates, I can't expect everyone to be educated enough to read.

[Rangers]

I read all of it, it was just a list of excuses

[terrancemac34]

Good take

[KaraAyna]

Nice take