When I see the faux journalism like the story below in a liberal rag like Slate, I realize that facts, truth, perspective, and honesty mean nothing to people with an agenda and a story-line to sell. Slate and the pitiful excuse for a journalist decided they were going to write a story detailing the horror of food stamp “cuts” and they sought out a person who fit their sob story. The theme of the story was going to be starving poor people, drastic cuts, and blaming those dreaded Teabaggers for this tragedy. And anyone who wants to believe the drivel in this article will be highly satisfied. It doesn’t matter that the facts do not support the thesis and selecting one person to represent the plight of all 47 million food stamp recipients is the classic methodology of liberals. We should always create a national program or policy based on the circumstances of one person. The multitude of stories about SNAP fraud, the abandoned carts in Wal-Mart when the FSA were going to get caught cheating, and ongoing campaign to sign people up for SNAP when they didn’t have any intention of seeking this assistance aren’t even mentioned. The personal observations by thousands of people about the kinds of food purchased with EBT cards are nothing but racist rants by Tea Partiers according to the liberal MSM.
Whenever the food stamp issue arises emotions and vitriol rule the day. The liberals declare that anyone who wants to control the costs or reduce the number of people on SNAP is an evil person who favors starving old people. The far right wingers think all food stamp recipients are nothing but moochers and too lazy to get a job. I happen to believe the food stamp program is a necessary safety net program and I’m OK with my tax dollars going to fund it. But, here is where I depart from the liberals and their extreme ideology. Food stamps are supposed to provide a bridge for people temporarily down on their luck. During recessions people lose their jobs through no fault of their own. Unemployment compensation and food stamps are supposed to fill the gap until they can get a new job. You just need to review the historical data to see that the number of people on food stamps always rose during recessions and then fell after the recession was over. It happened in the early 1980s recession. It happened in the early 1990s recession. But something has gone awry in the last decade and specifically in the last five years.
www.fns.usda.gov/pd/SNAPsummary.htm
There has been a major entitlement mindset change. Food stamps should not be a lifetime underachievement award. You should not be entitled to food-stamps because you decided to drop-out of high school and you choose not to work or are unemployable based upon your ignorance or appearance. You should not be entitled to food-stamps because you chose to get pregnant for the 4th time by four different baby daddies. Food stamps is a program to help people TEMPORARILY down on their luck through no fault of their own.
In 2007 there were 26 million people on food-stamps, which was lower than the level of 1994. It had been on a steady but slow uptrend since 2000 and had settled around the 26 million level. The annual cost was not an insubstantial $33 billion per year. We then had a massive financial crisis and ensuing recession. The bottom of the crisis/recession occurred in 2009. As one would expect the number of food stamp recipients surged by 7 million to 33 million in 2009 and the expense increased to $54 billion. I had no problem with this expenditure. Then Obama and his Keynesian brethren passed their $800 billion “temporary” stimulus plan. They included $45 billion extra for food-stamps. The economy has been in recovery since 2010 I’m told by Obama and his liberal supporters in the MSM. Food-stamp recipients should have leveled off and begun to fall, since the economy has been recovering.
But a funny (not ha ha) thing happened on the road to recovery. Obama and his minions used the SNAP stimulus funds to advertise and encourage millions to sign up for food-stamps. His plan was hugely successful. He was able to increase the number of people on food-stamps by 14 million since the recession ended. The cost was driven up to $76 billion. Only a highly skeptical person would suggest that this was done to solidify the Democratic voting base. And this brings us to the TRAGIC cuts that will starve millions according to Slate and the rest of the liberal media. The fact that the $5 billion reduction is just the expiration of Obama’s temporary stimulus plan is ignored by the liberal media. It is surely the work of those evil Republicans.
The interview below is quite revealing and tells me everything I need to know about the rag publishing this crap. They lead the story with declaring this as the largest cut in history for SNAP. Sounds horrifying. They wouldn’t want to clarify with some perspective. The reduction will put funding at the level of 2011, which was $42 billion higher than 2007. It is clear in the first answer from Debra, the SNAP recipient has no clue how much she gets per month and how much her cut was. She made it sound like she got a $70 cut, or 30%. If Slate had an ounce of journalistic integrity they would add this chart.
Debra is in a household of two. Her benefit got reduced by $20, not $70. So she has to cut out meat from her diet because her subsidy went down by 67 cents per day? Really? Reading the interview generates a multitude of questions in my mind and clarifies the entitlement mindset for me. Here are a few questions and observations:
- We hear about how little food she is able to buy for herself and her unemployed 21 year old daughter. I’d love to see a picture of these two ladies. I’m going out on a limb here and guessing these two hungry gals are both over 200 pounds.
- Why is Debra a single mom? Where’s the Daddy? Isn’t he responsible for his child?
- The story attempts to convince you they need the food-stamps to survive. Then you find out she is getting a disability check from the VA, getting an SSDI check, getting low income housing assistance, gets Meals on wheels food from her neighbor, and gets food from a food bank. Somehow she gets by on two meals per day. Me too.
- What exactly is her disability? I’m going to go out on a limb and guess “Depression”, or some other non-verifiable illness.
- We eventually get to the money quotes when the interviewer asks about her and her daughter getting jobs.
” Yes, I’ve thought about it, and my daughter is also considering it. But my food stamps, rent, VA compensation, and social security would be affected. I’d have to make a lot of money to overcome all the reductions, something like $15 to $20 an hour.”
“She wants to help and get a job, but it’s a catch-22. I’m on rent assistance, and if she gets a job, my rent goes up and my food stamp money goes down. But she’s got an interview at Target coming up and if it works out that will be an interesting challenge.”
And there you have the entitlement mindset. Debra has no plans to leave SNAP. The entitlement checks give her no incentive to work. Both SNAP and SSDI are supposed to be temporary assistance until the recipient can go back to work. People like Debra and her daughter have been enabled by the government to not work, look for work, or ever lift themselves up out of squalor. They are being paid to become permanent parasites on society. The excuse about jobs not paying enough is bullshit. In the real world, you start at a low level job, you work hard, get raises, move up the ladder, and eventually make enough money to support yourself and pay taxes.
My son is 16 years old. He will have his driver’s license in another month. He wanted a job. He applied at Dunkin Donuts two Sundays ago. They called him in for an interview at 2:45 on the following Wednesday. They saw he was a clean cut kid, didn’t weigh 300 pounds, didn’t have face tattoos or piercings, and hired him on the spot. They gave him his first shift 1 hour later. He worked 25 hours in the next five days, while having full days of school. They only pay $7.25 per hour, plus tips. He made almost $200 in his first week of work. He will make $700 to $800 per month and he has no skills or work experience. His three best friends all have part-time jobs working 20 hours per week. Debra and her daughter somehow think this type of job is beneath them. The thought of starting out as a clerk at Dunkin Donuts, working extra hours by taking other people’s shifts, proving to your manager you deserve a raise or promotion to assistant manager, and eventually managing your own Dunkin Donuts store is inconceivable to people like Debra, with their entitlement mindset. My son is able to get a job earning $700 to $800 per month while getting straight A’s in high school and this liberal rag – Slate – does a story about the horrific impact of a $20 reduction in food-stamps on two Free Shit Army troopers. What a joke the liberal MSM has become.
Never let the facts, truth and reality get in the way of a good liberal media sob story.
Meat Is the First Thing to Go
What it’s like to have your food stamps cut.
By Katy Waldman
“The excuse about jobs not paying enough is bullshit. In the real world, you start at a low level job, you work hard, get raises, move up the ladder, and eventually make enough money to support yourself and pay taxes.”
It used to be this way. Not any more. Nobody gets promoted from Target, Walmart, grocery stores, gas stations, retail, or hospitality. Hell hardly anyone gets promoted in the STEM fields – cause what has happened is that the TPTB have realized it’s better to have a team of instantly replaceable, public school indocrinated, timid, mediorce automatons, than hire good talent – cause good talent might want to be rewarded / walk.
The ‘hard work’ thing is bullshit. That’s history. You see the bankster’s working hard? You see Obama working hard? You see our elected representatives working hard?
The idea of moving up the ladder – move up to where? management? How many managers are needed?
Wage Slave
I can’t help it that you are bitter about your plight. You actually think it is better for Debra and her daughter to suck off the teat of the state for their entire lives?
Don’t make your life representative of every person in this country.
I worked at an AM/PM minimart as a teenager. I had crap jobs in my early twenties. I got a low paying accounting job out of college. I passed my CPA. Got a little more money. Became a Controller. Worked hard. Landed an Accounting Manager job. Went to school at night. Got my MBA. Became a Treasurer. Got my CCM. And I’ve continued to move up the ladder. I have a good job. I work hard. I earn a decent living.
Don’t give me your crap about working hard being history. Your bitterness clouds your reason.
i am 100% against the food stamp program. it is billed as temporary and would likely be that if the populace was moral but too large of a percentage are moochers.
there is few things more permanent that temporary govt program.
if a person is ok with funding it i have no problem, but then that is charity with the govt handling the money exchange. if a person is not ok with it, then it is theft at gunpoint.
the govt can’t give anyone anything it hasn’t already stolen.
Food Stamp program isn’t charity, it is theft.
it is highly unlikely that people here don’t know someone down on their luck, help the people you know instead of being a tax cow whose funds are siphoned off so a soulless politician or govt drone can have his ego polished for “helping” perpetual members of the FSA with money they stole.
wage slave,
when i talk to people older than me, particularly those working in unions (public and private) they talk about working “hard”, they wrongly consider putting their time in as working hard.
anyone i know worth a damn had shitty jobs early on, did them well, learned from them (typically they didn’t want to do that crap forever) and progressed.
it is important and hard work can get people ahead but they also have to have talent.
there are too many out there that think they are supernovas when in fact they are dim compact flourescent obama bulbs.
The pity of the liberals knows no bounds. In fact, they have so little respect for human beings in general, that they see absolutely no point in allowing them to learn and grow from consequences of poor judgment or bad behavior. The promotion of victimhood is perceived as a more noble and logical strategy. They refuse to see, despite the evidence all around, that people rise or fall in proportion to the expectations that are placed on them. One wonders now much longer this charade can go on. Considering that the liberals continuously seek to enlarge their pitiful flock, a happy future looks less and less likely for any of us.
Note to Wage Slave: I have to agree with Admin. Hard work and the ability to get along with people can still reap rewards. All three of my kids have recently been invited to take promotions at work.
Liberals, aka progressives, are forever looking around for someones whose lives they can control. Convinced that they know best about damn near everything, Liberals want to interfere in your lives and mine… and they want the power to do it. Liberals are society’s meddling mother-in-laws.
To get power, Liberals trot out worst case examples and try to play on people’s compassion and guilt. Unfortunately many uninformed and emotional voters – mostly women – belive the Liberals and give them the power they want. Some immediate good gets done but it’s at the long term detriment to the people and our country.
The solution… as I’ve written before, quit voting for the Rs and Ds and anyone else who wants to increase State power at your expense, mine and that of other Americans.
I thought the “S” in snap stood for supplemental. These fucks don’t give a shit how much of your money they steal. They have no remorse and the liberal press will continue to march out these fuckwits in order to bolster their bullshit arguments. I stated in an earlier comment that 2 weeks ago I was in the Brockton Market Basket here in Massachusetts. That store would not be in business without the EBT cards, and it is the single busiest supermarket I have ever seen. People with multiple carriages piled with meat and junk food, rarely any fresh fruit and vegetables. I was the only idiot paying for his groceries with his own hard earned money. Boy, what a dope.
The current scam is to heavily advertise to the elderly, which they do on the AM radio, their demographic. They want the greedy geezers as hooked into the system as possible, because they know they vote. It is appalling, and it will not change until it collapses. I only hope to come out the other end with a modicum of freedom for me and my family.
Bob.
Mebbe the author of this article (oops, I mean, this indigestible wad of codswallop) can invite Debra and her daughter to HER house for a few meals a week, since I am sure the author is such a caring and compassionate person.
Oops, I meant to say that the author is a fascist pig that wants to use the force of government to confiscate the money from the makers to redistribute to the takers.
There, fixed it for myself.
Admin – Wage slave isn’t wrong. You speak of a different generation. We all admire these stories of working hard and progressing, but is this a reality for most these days? It’s not that we don’t want to work hard, I work hard at my shitty entry level job everyday. Jobs are drying up, this isn’t debatable. You post about the middle class disappearing and then berate this person for talking about the symptoms thereof?
How many are lucky enough to get an entry level job at a place that will even be in existence in 20 years? How many can work hard and move up into the ranks of companies that are ceasing to exist, moving overseas, or insourcing/outsourcing their labor?
As anecdotal as this is, from what I’ve seen over the past year and a half of looking at the job boards, the positions open are for managers with previous management experience and for technical jobs that require previous experience. It isn’t easy to move ahead. What is one to do? Work 80, 90 hours a week in hopes of possibly getting a promotion to something that barely pays anymore and requires more work? Are we just supposed to forget about having lives, marriage, having kids?
Why would anyone be loyal to a company in America when American business culture has blatantly no loyalty to their employees? They have proven time and again that they want wage slaves and that they’ll fuck over even the longest tenured people in their firm.
So why the fuck work hard when you get shit on from every angle? I love everything you write but your position on the Millennial generation is somewhat ambiguous. Sure there are lots of pieces of millennial shit but there are boat loads of us that wish we had the same opportunity as our parents and grandparents. When we complain we get bitch slapped. Love ya admin, but you know we’re fucked.
Eat, drink and be merry. But mostly drink.
Other things we know about her;
She has to give up her “chicken and turkey wings”. She also developed a pamphlet for schools to let the kiddies know how to get free shit. Community Organizer!! Neeeegrow!!!
She also does laundry now just once a month. So, not only does she get free shit, she stinks like shit.
No mention of toilet paper, or feminine hygiene products, so I pity the poor fucker who goes muff diving.
She says she “thought about it” when asked about CONSIDERING re-entering the workforce. She may be a smelly skank ho’, but she’s a funny one. Reminds me of Maynard G Krebs (Dobie Gillis) who said whenever he felt like working he would lay down until the feeling went away. And since this freeloading ho can’t get to the Soup Kitchen until 9:30, I’m thinking they’re related.
” I happen to believe the food stamp program is a necessary safety net program and I’m OK with my tax dollars going to fund it.” Admin.
I also agree that some people really need SNAP, but (there’s always a big butt) politicians love to use empathy as a way to keep a program working.
We are either for the poor or against the poor, that’s the presented argument. But the reality is we never look at the corruption, and banks (JPM) making millions off of these programs and the poor are used as pawns, as Admin has also pointed out.
pelosi was on the news again today, claiming once again that every dollar spent on SNAP, returns $1.79 to the economy.
Math is definitely hard for liberals, if a food stamp dollar returns $1.79, then why doesn’t my dollar? Is a SNAP dollar worth more? Is there something special? A SNAP dollar is a borrowed dollar, I create wealth in my business, so my dollar should be worth more as the taxpayer doesn’t have to pay the lender back. If there is a Keynesian on the blog, please help me, I feel so stupid.
Out here in the non-urban, non-corporate real world, hard work is what defines us. It’s not about working your way “up the ladder”, nor is it about advancing into a management position. It is who we are. If your neighbor is having trouble, you work your ass off to help them. If your community needs help, you work your ass off to help them. No matter what the situation, work like it will be your last chance to get something done.
It’s not about posturing, it’s about gratitude. The best advice I could give people like Debra would be to just start working, even if it’s volunteering at the local shelter or whatever. The change in mindset that comes with productivity and accomplishment is its own reward. Once those people realize that they are still real humans with talent they have never used, they can then become something other than parasites. Go ahead and try it FSA soldiers (a rhetorical challenge, I realize, since none of them are likely to ever see it here). You’ll be amazed at how good you feel after working hard to help someone else, even if at first you think there’s nothing in it for you.
Hell, most folks where I come from would rather work digging ditches for nothing but food than take a handout from the government, particularly since the handouts are all borrowed money. Work is what we’ve forgotten with all the focus on easy living and getting something for nothing. There is no such thing as a free ride. It’s all an illusion. Time to get to work before it’s too late. Work like your life depends on it, because it does.it
Food stamp program needs to go back to the way it was in the 30’s. Beans, rice, maybe some meat, cheese & milk, all packaged for you to pick up once a week with your stamp at the supermarket. No lobster, doritos, mountain dew, and whatever booze & smokes you can deal for at the local bodega.
My favorite line after being asked if her daughter still lives at home:
“Yes. She can’t apply for her own benefits until she is 22.”
WTF.WTF.WTF. Great mom, we have our own in house training for the Future Fukwit Parasites of America. I am sure glad that the FSA has someone practicing in the minor leagues so they can move up and bolster the team at the age of 22. I am sure mom is psyched that her daughter wants to reach for the stars and become another leach on society like mom. I can hear it now, ” I know its hard dear, but if you fill out all the paperwork while you are young you can be set for life.”
Fuckity fuck fuck fuck
Bob.
Forward Idiocracy
So sorry. I’m not buying it.
Life always sucks. I was 17 years old in 1980 during the worst fucking economy ever. Interest rates were 20%. Unemployment was 11%. Inflation was out of control. I worked two shit jobs in my freshman year in college.
I was fucked over by the corporation that I gave 14 years of my life to. I was unemployed for three months. I got another job at higher pay than the one I left. I hated it. I found a job where I felt I was valued and think I’m doing some good.
There are 143 million people employed. Getting educated, working hard, and giving your best effort makes your chances of success much higher. They don’t guarantee anything.
Life will always be hard. That is no excuse for not trying. Feeling sorry for yourself or being a parasite of the state reduces you to an animal.
Forward I
Young people for the most part are not motivated to work hard. I am 51 years old lift heavy weights on a regular basis and can work circles around “men” half my age.
As far as getting a job I can go to any city in this country and get a job, how you might ask, pick a privately owned company find the owner look him in the eye, introduce yourself and shake his hand with a firm grip. Tell him I would like the opportunity to show you a work ethic from days gone by. I will work two weeks without pay and at the end of those two weeks if you are not throughly impressed run my ass off. Be the first one there and the last one to leave, keep your head down, mouth shut, and bust your ass. Within a very short time the man would rather loose an eye as to have you quit.
I don’t ever worry about not having a job related to the fact there’s just no competition out there for a man that knows how to make his boss money.
It’s not about you, it’s about the man with the checkbook.
“pelosi was on the news again today, claiming once again that every dollar spent on SNAP, returns $1.79 to the economy.”
That has to be the stupidest shit I’ve heard this week. I’m glad I didn’t actually hear/see her say that shit, I would have thrown up. Or perhaps we’re wrong. I’m sure Krugman has an equation to show how that works.
Oh I almost forgot, it’s a plus if you are not covered in tattoos with metal hanging out of your face.
Where to start?
On VA disability and SSDI? A tramp for a daughter who’s bidding her time until she can sign up for disability? They’re getting food stamps AND still leeching off of “meals on wheels” and food banks?
They don’t want to work, it might cut into their free shit. Un-be-fuckingleivable. Obama and the socialist liberal progressives have created a monster of biblical proportions. This monster is going to be let off the leash when the free shit runs out.
I don’t think the 100 million on welfare, the 47 million on food stamps, or the 12 million on disability will go after the politicians to get their food, money and everything else when the government cuts them off, they’ll be coming after people that work for a living, and they’ll do whatever it takes so they don’t have to work for anything, ie, murder, looting, raping, anarchy. It happened at Wal Mart when SNAP was down for one day.
50% of the people that live around here are on food stamps (per the USDA website), and 90% are obese, they buy cokes, doritos, and crap at the store with their SNAP cards without fail. It would take 6-9 months for them to get to normal weight, let alone starve. Many are so fat they can barely walk, but buy and eat as much crap as they can get their hands on for free The health consequences are mind boggling.
Fuck Slate and fuck the liberals. Hopefully they aren’t armed or prepared, since they rely on Obama and the government for everything. They’re going to get what’s coming to them very soon.
@Admin: “I can’t help it that you are bitter about your plight. You actually think it is better for Debra and her daughter to suck off the teat of the state for their entire lives?
Don’t make your life representative of every person in this country.”
Bitter isn’t the word. It’s betrayed, and many, many other folks in the good ole US of A have been betrayed by ‘the’ government and the cartel corporations.
I didn’t work hard just because I wanted to ‘get ahead’. I wanted freedom, independence, use my skills, creat things, etc. What I have found from my life experience is that ideal has become a very, very, fine thread.
Obviously people will rise in careers, get lucky in business. However IMO that is becoming less and less. Look at the Workforce Participation rate – worst in 35 years. Look at the new jobs – most are in hospiltality and retail. I think it was something like 24,000 jobs a month for college grads – and we graduate many more than that a month.
Compared to some of my friends, I’m really lucky to have a job for 1/2 my previous pay. I’ve gone from specifying / producing software to fixing junk MRP systems. 42 years of experience – and I’ve got a job that I could have done when I was 25. This is how the current system uses talent.
Remember how they say “we can’t get enough qualified people” – well it’s all BS. Everything in the US is now about control – from the government to the corporation. If you are a wage slave, remember that your job can be outsourced at any time, you division can be sold, the production moved to China. You see jobs are now structured so no one is valuable. When no one is valuable and instantly replaceable there’s no need to promote anyone – your a cog – typing into a screen.
All you have to do is go to Target Corporate or Best Buy Corporate. A cube farm of 20 somethings, mostly unaware. When you speak to them, you get a feeling we will lose the country
As for the FSA / SNAP: we created this mess starting with LBJ and the Great Society. Once these people have been formed (by the age of 5) it’s mostly too late. Just logically, how are these unedumacated folks going to get a job in the current enviornment with real unemployment around 16%?? They are doomed to SNAP and Section 8, and we are doomed to pay for it.
Wonder which side of this fence I will stand on. Gee, I wonder.
Forward Idiocracy, Wage Slave – not only do my own experiences contradict what you say, but I echo Admin’s observations. I look at my kids – hard-working, clean -cut young adults – and wherever they turn, opportunity is knocking. Employers wet themselves with glee when they turn up for job interviews. My daughter is having sports scholarships thrown at her left, right, and center. Not just because she is a top athlete, but because she is a responsible, well-presented person with good academic skills and work ethic.
Not many young folks like that coming out of SNAP families anymore. The culture of work is dead, but those that have it are still in the driver’s seat.
just a question maybe someone can answer as i am not American. Do they reject anyone who applies? do you have to verify your income (or lack thereof?)?
Also, the crap about Walmart and such not promoting is crap. A friend of my son is finishing school part time because his Walmart type job lead him to store manager by the time he was 21. Sma rt, clean cut, hard-working = promoted. Go figure.
Wage Slave – you worked for 42 years in tech during a tech boom of monumental proportions yet you are not well – off enough to retire. Seriously?
Umm, you fucked up somewhere big-time. No one but you to blame. You lubed that goat and fucked it all by your lonesome.
Make that lose an eye not loose an eye, lol
Guys, this crap can only go on as long as 1) we pay our taxes, and 2) the printing presses are going at full steam.
We can’t do anything about #2, but you can do something about #1.
Go to your employer RIGHT NOW and change your with holding to about 8 dependents because I just know you are going to have LARGE charitable contributions to report on your Schedule A that lowers your AGI.
Why the fuck are you paying so much in taxes and then waiting on these douchebags to give you a fucking refund?????
Hold on to that money, don’t spend it, and when April 15, 2014 comes around I am just SURE you will pay, nod nod wink wink.
I don’t know any other way other than a cement truck full of explosives on the steps of the Capitol to get the attention of these mother fuckers.
Denninger is “going dark” that entire Black Friday weekend and I am going to join him.
Hope – undisciplined folks use tax refunds as a type of savings plan. It makes sense in a sort of weird way. Given two thirds of folks cannot delay gratification, I understand why they do it – it is the only savings they will ever have.
I got to keep my job this year
but I had to take a $5 an hour pay cut to do it
I’m right back where I started 10 years ago
good thing food,electricity,water,gas and taxes haven’t went up
(sarcasm off now)
Llpoh,
I’m in construction so I get very few college educated applicants.
My son on the other hand, different story, kids with worthless degrees and plenty of debt is all he deals with.
Work ethic, how do you explain work ethic to a twenty-somthing that has never held a job, but they have a degree and a mind set that their employer owes them a living, just because.
These younger workers can’t fathom that they must produce more than it costs the company to employ them. My son is 29 but he grew up watching his parents, like your children he understands and he is successful. The youth of today? I just don’t know and I just don’t really care anymore, it is what it is.
Walmart, Target, a grocery store or a gas station is not a career choice, it’s the ladder you use to gain experience and work ethic. People today get a job at McDonald’s and expect that job to pay the bills and then bitch because it’s a minimum wage job? Fuck it. Stupid is as stupid does.
Yeah, I really have no sympathy for this woman and her daughter. While I was 18 years old, fresh out of high school my Mom broker her leg and couldn’t work. There were no benefits for either of us to qualify for at the time. So I worked two full time jobs at the age of 18 and kept our heads above water without government assistance. And this was in Michigan in 2004. One of the highest ranking welfare states.
To this day I get no government assistance. I wouldn’t want to either. When this system comes crashing down there are plenty of people who will not be able to fend for themselves. I do not want to be one of them. I would rather live in horrible poverty than in complete dependence.
Also, Anybody else know that you can buy seeds with food stamps? I am not kidding. If you have no job, nothing else to do with your time, and you are on food stamps. Buy some damn seeds and get to hoeing. (Pun may or may not apply)
Card – I do not think I have ever disagreed with a thing you have said. Not starting now.
Today, college students study around 10 hours per week. No joke – recent studies confirm it. They get As. Thirty years ago the average was around 25 to 30 hours per week. So who is likely to be best educated?
The change seems to be that students decided they were customers, and decided they did not want to buy a 25 hour per week education. Colleges caved n – most of them anyway.
Work ethic is generally inherited. And it can disappear if the person gets free shit. Who works when you can get the same amount for doing nothing.
I still believe that smart, properly educated young people are going to come out ok.
“I still believe that smart, properly educated young people are going to come out ok.”
As do I, but along the way I think the government will attempt to take everything they can away from those that stay afloat.
Have you figured out the hidey place yet?
I can honestly say that I don’t know what the prospects for advancement in the workplace are for younger people. I never really picked a “career” per se. I knew I didn’t want to go to college and that I wanted to race cars for a living but I knew that was a long shot. Although I had many jobs previously, my first job out of high school was in a service station. I loved it but the pay sucked. Ths was in SC. The attitude of the owners was if you don’t like it, I’ve got 20 guys I can call that will take your place tomorrow. After that, I took any job I could get that offered more money. I still looked for advancement in every job I took and if the opportunity was not there, I moved on to something else.
However, in retrospect, nearly all of the jobs that offered opportunities for advancement were in small businesses. With the death of small business I can well imagine that opportunities are few and far between. My father always told me to do every job I had to the best of my ability and better than the guy next to me. He said to volunteer for the shit jobs, overtime etc. In short, my goal as an employee was to make my bosses job easy and to make him look good. At the same time though, there had to be some reciprocation and if it was not there then I was to look for a better job and move on without burning bridges.
I now work for a multinational company but I started there when it was just a small business. The differences in management are unbelievable. I doubt very much that chances for advancement for most people where I work exist anymore. Personally, I’m the lowest guy on the totem pole in my department but I’m learning a job that will take years to become proficient at and world wide, there are less than 10 people doing what I’m being trained to do in a growing niche sector. I believe that I’ll likely get two more promotions before the curtain falls on our faux, anomalous “economy”. If it were still a small business I’d expect to double my salary over the next decade even in this economy. As part of a multinational company, I only expect to increase my salary by less than $20k, if that. There is still a very slim chance that I could become rich at this job if I learn enough, fast enough.
The death of small business could very well mean that wage slave is correct. I hate to admit that but in these giant corporations you are essentially nameless and faceless. The fact that Walmart employees are being asked to donate food to other Walmart employees does not surprise me one bit.
I_S
Admin I agree BUT working hard alone today is not enough when your competition is allowed to lie and cheat without penalty. Sometimes I feel like I am running to stand still (U2). Honest hard work does not seem to work anymore because everyone is cheating.
I wonder how the 20 somethings who grew up during the Great Depression and then got to storm the beaches of Normandy or fight the japs hand to hand on Guadalcanal felt about their lot in life?
Maybe some of the readers of TBP who were in their 20s in the late 60s can tell us how they felt about their lot in life when they were drafted into Vietnam where 50,000 of them were slaughtered and hundreds of thousands came back physically and mentally damaged.
I wonder how those 20 somethings felt when Longstreet reluctantly gave the order for Pickett to make his doomed charge at Gettysburg. 600,000 mostly 20 somethings died in the space of 4 years.
Millenials have been dealt a shitty hand. Is it the shittiest hand in history? I don’t think so.
“Millenials have been dealt a shitty hand. Is it the shittiest hand in history? I don’t think so.”
That is a surprising statement coming from you. The fourth turning party just got started. We still don’t know yet to the extent of what the Millennials have been dealt.
My nephew grew up with all kinds of learning disabilities. He wasn’t college material. He would lose jobs because of his issues. When he was 23 he got a job at a local Walgreens as a clerk. He worked hard and eventually was promoted to assistant manager. He continued to work hard. He eventually became store manager. He did well as a store manager, so they moved him to a bigger higher volume store in King of Prussia. He worked hard and did well. Last week he was promoted to a regional manager position.
He is 30 years old, without a college degree. He owns a modest house and is married with two kids. His third child died at birth three years ago. His life has been filled with challenges and obstacles. He has overcome them through hard work.
Whining and wailing will not change your lot in life.
Calamity
The whiners are whining before the best part of the Fourth Turning even gets going. If they think its too tough now, how will they react to real challenges?
What is one to do? Work 80 or 90 hours a week?
For most of my 20s I worked 6 days per week and I was not paid hourly. Tax season at an accounting firm meant four months of 6 or 7 days of work and 10 to 12 hours per day.
I worked 6 days a week for IKEA for a few years because there was so much to be done.
So yeah. You work as much as needed to impress your superiors.
I’m 50 fucking years old and I leave the house at 6:30 am and get home at 6:30 pm.
It sounds like the millenials are disappointed in my stance. Too fucking bad.
I believe in personal responsibility above all else. I believe in hard work. I believe in education.
There are always going to be evil pricks in the world. They existed 200 years ago and they exist today. There are good bosses and shitty bosses. I’ve had both.
I have three millenial sons. They don’t get coddled. I have a very low amount of empathy for anyone. I don’t know what lies ahead for them. I’ve taught them that education is important. The main reason I put up with my commute and will do so for at least the next seven years is so I can put them through college without them incurring a dime of student loan debt.
My oldest has picked a major in which he’ll have an opportunity to get a decent job. There are no guarantees or certainties in this world. My 28 year old niece died last week. So, all you whiners should thank God for your health and stop making excuses before your lives have even started.
The mentality of defeatism and entitlement in this society is rampant. You fight until your dying breath. Life is hard. Deal with it.
If you are looking for sympathy on TBP, you’ve come to the wrong place.
@Admin: I leave my house at 5:45 am and get back at 7 pm, if I am lucky.
I feel your pain.
I simply cannot work any harder or any smarter or any “leaner”. So, I have decided to say fuck it, I live on 1/3 rd of my salary as it is, wear WalMart pants and still shop with coupons.
I am withdrawing my labor, my tax money and, frankly, my sanity from “The System”.
Let it burn.
I don’t see it so much as whining as the denial slipping away. It is harder to grasp on the denial anymore. I see it everyday at work with the younger Mills I work with. It is hitting home on a grander scale. Every time I heard someone at work complain about too much work, not enough pay I am unfazed. Most people don’t even know what is about to happen. I am pretty sure the signs are in place to have a horrible holiday sales followed by millions more being dropped by their insurances. I have no idea how retailers are going to make it past the 4th quarter reports without lay off and bankruptcies.
On a brighter note, I did notice the stock market closed above 16,000 today. Happy Days are here again.
Calamity
Avalon also works in a restaurant/bar. She has noticed a real pickup in the last few weeks. Have you seen the same?
I wonder if people are just deciding to live it up today, for tomorrow we die. I keep thinking it might be a mood thing tied into this stock market blow-off. Is there a gathering momentum for a final party atmosphere before the next collapse?
Oh yeah, Darden is ramping up its efforts big time. A whole new menu is going to roll out next week. We are getting drink specials, our bar is completely being remodeled. Over the past year alone they have changed the interior. At the beginning of the year they changed our uniforms to a more casual black top and discarded the classic white shirt w/ tie combo.
Our business is a little bit different though. Right now our business is heavily affected by the University of Alabama Football schedule. More people tail gate instead of dine out. The SEC is a huge deal in Alabama. There have been several times I got called not to come in on the weekend depending on who they played (Texas A&M and LSU). Since they won the championship last year and are undefeated this year I expect it will be able two weeks and then everyone will dine like there is no tomorrow.
HZK and Llpoh are going Galt. I’m in line, as soon as I’m financially able.
Everyone I know is angry, mainly with the type of people in this article. They make you feel like a sucker because you go to work and pay taxes. When did it become okay to be a blood-sucking leech, having other people pay for everything. It doesn’t bother them in the least. The suckers that still work and try to get ahead are being bled dry by taxes and everything else, the price of which keeps going up.
The work ethic only goes so far in a society where 1/2 the population is getting money from the government. And I place the blame directly at the feet of the Federal Reserve, without which the criminals in Washington would not be able to fund the FSA, 30 million union government drones (soft welfare), the wars, and all the other shit. 47% of people don’t even pay taxes.
Well, the productive people, as we have seen on this post, are going Galt. And the rest will sooner or later. Like in Rome, the productive people leave, and what remains are parasites that no longer have anybody to suck off of. The rift between liberals and conservatives gets bigger and bigger, and liberals are a majority. They’ll keep spending other people’s money until it collapses. Same old story.
This is what happens when you discard morals, ethics, and values. Anything goes, and nothing matters, just don’t force people to work and earn a living. They’re entitled to that for free.
Real simple. The greatest generation blew up half the world in the process of saving it. So, there was a huge global market for stuff, and a shortage of working males. Oh, and Texas had a load of oil.
Good times for that generation.
Hit a road bump in the 70-80’s. Texas peaked, ME crisis, too much into swords and great society.
Late 80’s – 00’s : full benefit of the petrodollar and reserve currency kicks in propping up deficit spending and printing. Gradually, most of the benefit shift to the rich.
Now, cracks on every front, and global peak oil.
So yes, the youngest generations are screwed to a much greater degree than about any since the civil war. Not sure how you can believe in this 4th turning stuff and call every generation the same with the same opportunities. It just isn’t so.
This is not incompatible with the notion that SNAP is wrong.
My obligation to my employer is 40 hrs/week. I am 56 and I don’t give a fuck about impressing anyone anymore. I will give more, but I take the approach of a cat. If there is nothing happening, I am content to do nothing (work related). If a mouse or a squirrel come my way, then that’s another matter completely. Put differently, I work for a private firm and I do what I need to do when it needs to be done without regard to how much time or effort it takes, but I will not do anything if there is nothing that needs to be done merely to appear busy. If I were into that shit I would have worked for the govt or a non-profit.
My commute to my office takes about 20-25 minutes. That is my choice. Should at some point I choose to make it longer, I will not bitch about it, nor do I have any sympathy for anyone who chooses to waste time merely getting to work by living far from it.
MethodMan
Your grasp of history is breathtaking to behold.
The greatest generation obeyed the orders and were slaughtered during WWII. Your comment is a joke. It was FDR and the Missionary generation that waged the war.
It goes to show that a little knowledge is dangerous.
You don’t have a fucking clue about the Fourth Turning “stuff” and show your ignorance by your assanine comments.
Every generation faces their own challenges. Some have a heavier load to carry than others. If the younger generations are already complaining about their terrible lot in life, then we are in deep trouble as a country. These are the people who will have to step up and do the major work in this Fourth Turning. I don’t see too many stepping up so far.
Snowden, Manning and few others.
Your comment was real simple. I agree.
Damn Admins old!
The increase in SNAP benefits was a temporary measure, quite similar to the Payroll Tax Holiday which ended last January.
There wasn’t many, if any, media articles of a “tax increase” on the people who work.
It’s a struggle for many non-foodie people to eat too. They do what they have to do to eat: work harder, work longer, grow a garden, learn to preserve food, cook from scratch, and whatever else they need to do to survive.
It all comes down a simple fact that needs to be accepted:
Living isn’t for the weak.
Good comments but as much as these clients make poor choices and society wipes their asses then nothing changes. I am surprised that the 22yo didn’t have a slew of kids already. I feel you folks as no government program can correct a bad home life and a poor example to live. It’s a Goddamn genetic mutation that turns folk in lazy useless fucks who have to depend on the Man for their bread and circuses. Malcolm X would be pissed at the Black folk like the above mentioned in the story. No wonder they let so many Mexicans in to do work. Now remember that the big food and money mafia make out on Snap and all these other programs. They are simply the ghetto chickens eating the corn from horse shit. Remember this question: Who is feeding the horses?
I also agree that if SNAP is to be cut then the type of item available to purchase should be drastically reduced to staples only. No using a snap card at the corner beverage for Coke and hot pockets. Also note that with other sources of help they won’t starve. I think or believe that maybe they try to learn to farm their own lands near by. Swinging a hoe might burn calories.