Feds: Too few Americans ‘turn to government for assistance’

[VMI77]

http://washingtonexaminer.com/feds-too- ... DvIhGzCz8B

“Given that only 15 percent of you turn to government assistance in tough times, we want to make sure you know about benefits that could help you,” USA.gov announced today. The ”government made easy’ website has created a “help for difficult financial times” page for people to learn more about the programs.

[RoyGBiv]

Makes me sorry I ate a big breakfast today.

[mamabearCali]

You know my husband and I went through very hard times. Right after our first was born my husband lost his job. We did not know of the benefits we were "entitled" to. I knew of wic and asked for help so we could feed ur son, but it worked out better for us in the end. We were very motivated not to stay in the most uncomfortable place we were at. Therefore we were only eligible for wic for 4 months. The people at wic when I said "no thanks give the money to those who need it" wanted me to keep with the benefits. I simply did not keep the appt after canceling twice and them not taking no for an answer. Help is nice and needed and food assistance was greatly appreciated for those four months, but making poverty comfortable is condemnable.

[RoyGBiv]

making poverty comfortable is condemnable.

QFT

[jimlongley]

You know my husband and I went through very hard times. Right after our first was born my husband lost his job. We did not know of the benefits we were "entitled" to. I knew of wic and asked for help so we could feed ur son, but it worked out better for us in the end. We were very motivated not to stay in the most uncomfortable place we were at. Therefore we were only eligible for wic for 4 months. The people at wic when I said "no thanks give the money to those who need it" wanted me to keep with the benefits. I simply did not keep the appt after canceling twice and them not taking no for an answer. Help is nice and needed and food assistance was greatly appreciated for those four months, but making poverty comfortable is condemnable.

I was laid off from a very lucrative technical support engineer position in November of 2001. I immediately filed for unemployment, and just about the time the waiting period ended I was picked up as a contractor at $55.00/hr (for a 40 hour week only, no OT or travel pay) as an on the road 100% technical trainer. The deal was that I would be on the road for 3 weeks and "on the shelf" for 1, and that the on the shelf week was for R&R but also for resupply, revision of course materials, and visits to the home office in MD if necessary. The on the shelf week was unpaid except for documented and approved hours. Essentially 13 weeks of vacation per year on top of the exorbitant pay scale, and especially since my prior job had paid $36.00 per hour for a full year, I figured that I had gotten a raise and all those on the shelf weeks were "Paid Vacation."

I told unemployment that I had secured this job, and they told me I still had to call in every week and report how many hours I got paid for, so I did my duty, and unemployment paid me for every one of those on the shelf weeks, despite my protests. Since I was not being paid for that time and I had filed a claim, they were going to pay me. They even went so far as to contact my employer and confirm that those hours were unpaid.

Fast forward a few years and another layoff (different company, actually I was fired because I broke my finger on the job, but as an engineer I was not supposed to be in the field so Worker's Comp got all over my employer for having me do things I was not supposed to be doing, but there is no record I was fired for that) and I started to pick up occasional 1099 contractor work doing site surveys for a friend, but some of the broken field walking I was doing aggravated my knee to the point where I could barely walk (the knee has since had two surgeries and the second was to replace it) I begged off doing more for him. I had followed the rules and reported my income to unemployment, and when I reported that I was no longer doing that, the kicked me off unemployment, fined me $700.00 and despite doctors' affidavits, stated that a knee swollen up to the size of a basketball was not adequate reason to "quit" a job. I filed for bankruptcy and never paid the $700.00, so I guess I can never go on unemployment again.

[mamabearCali]

That stinks Jim. Gov benefits are a racket. Especially if you are legitimately injured, good luck getting anything. Now if you are a leech trying to not rework a day in your life.....no problem you can mooch forever.

[jimlongley]

That stinks Jim. Gov benefits are a racket. Especially if you are legitimately injured, good luck getting anything. Now if you are a leech trying to not rework a day in your life.....no problem you can mooch forever.

Yeah, and in the middle of all that, many months between a couple of other layoffs, I cashed in a couple of hundred thousand in retirement plans to pay bills and mortgage, and still wound up filing bankruptcy, at which point I found out that if I had filed before I cashed in those plans, they would have been protected.

So much for trying to do the right thing.

[karder]

I spent years creating industrial videos for agencies such as the workforce commission and housing authority as well as others as an independent contractor. What I found the most disturbing is the number of people who make a lifestyle off of living off government benefits. There is a whole segment of society that knows how to tap into dozens of lines of government support and collect benefits with no intention of getting back into the workforce, and it is generational.

I remember recording video at the ground breaking of a public housing complex in the late 80's. During the shoot I was speaking to a young 20 year old woman who told me she had grown up in public housing and was really excited about the new project because now she could move out of her mom's apartment and get her own public housing unit. She was a healthy, normal 20 year old and the idea of moving out of public housing was not even on her mind.

We have a system that completely dis-incentivizes (sp?) people from getting off the government dole and taking care of themselves. I have seen it first hand. Anytime you have a class of people who would "take a pay cut" if they got off government benefits and got a minimum wage job, you have a broken system. (No, raising minimum wage is not the answer).

[jimlongley]

I spent years creating industrial videos for agencies such as the workforce commission and housing authority as well as others as an independent contractor. What I found the most disturbing is the number of people who make a lifestyle off of living off government benefits. There is a whole segment of society that knows how to tap into dozens of lines of government support and collect benefits with no intention of getting back into the workforce, and it is generational.

I remember recording video at the ground breaking of a public housing complex in the late 80's. During the shoot I was speaking to a young 20 year old woman who told me she had grown up in public housing and was really excited about the new project because now she could move out of her mom's apartment and get her own public housing unit. She was a healthy, normal 20 year old and the idea of moving out of public housing was not even on her mind.

We have a system that completely dis-incentivizes (sp?) people from getting off the government dole and taking care of themselves. I have seen it first hand. Anytime you have a class of people who would "take a pay cut" if they got off government benefits and got a minimum wage job, you have a broken system. (No, raising minimum wage is not the answer).

As a young boot telephone man I got some of the "character building" assignments. Another guy and I spent days installing telephones in the apartments, as yet unoccupied, in Albany NY's flagship public housing project. A few weeks later I was back there doing "follow ups" (If you did an install and it had a trouble report within the first month, you were sent back to follow up on your own work.) The elevators were already disabled because people thought they looked like bathrooms and used them as such, including the control panels. Apartments that were brand new just a short while before were already infested with roaches and I replaced more than one rotary dial telephone that would not dial anymore because of the roach infestation.

I was glad to get out of there and work in the boonies and would always cringe in disgust if assigned even one repair there.

Long since closed, torn down, and gone, thank God.

[karder]

I've seen those types of things too Jim. People moving into brand new units and absolutely destroying them in a matter of months and then shaking their fist at the government for forcing them to live in squaller. Watching the people nursing off Uncle Sam while bitting the hand that feeds them as the upper crust liberals scream for social justice was like taking a trip down the rabbit hole, every time I went to one of those places.