Being the member of a dubious club
Posted: May 23rd, 2012, 12:25 pm
I'll said it again, when history will judge the last part of the 20th Century by those in the late 21st Century (100 years) they'll say how foolish we have been. Many here rail against public assistance that women tend to get when men largely get nothing. I am not a regular reader of the NYT for a few reasons but they are (along with the LA Times) that will cover poverty without demonizing it.
I am the member of this dubious club. Some could say its my fault, after all I got fired/quit (which one largely doesn't matter). However it was a dead-end job. When dead-end is often bought up in cultural circles its usually about middle income jobs that really have no upward mobility. Well this job was a low wage service sector job that would lead to lower middle income service sector management job (eventually?) usually by attrition; Enough people give up that by the time you've put your ten years in, your one of the few left that know anything so they give you a management position...
However in the face of the rising cost of living, that wage was not going to be enough and I would have left that job anyway at some point. Whether its 2009 or 2012 largely doesn't matter.
But I have some startlingly figures for ya -
The club I mention I am apart of is this one:
That's "official income" of course but as I've been saying for a long time, I shouldn't have to count on my resourcefulness ONLY to get out of poverty. To get my A+ classes I had to borrow money from my parents who are retired and on fixed income (not poor by any means) but because of spending habits of past and present, they spend more than they take in. Not complaining its quite generous, no rent, no cell bill, no internet bill. (no rent, smart phone, Fiber to Home Internet). So I don't complain when they borrow $30, $100 there, $30 off my EBT card (Food Stamps) or any of that because it could be a hell of alot worst.
I bring this up because the vast majority affected by previous policies of the Clinton Administration attack on the social safety net are Men, but got a large cheer out of mostly Middle Income White Males because these are the only people I see bitching about Welfare... I said this before, I told a White guy classmate who was bitching about his part-time income from a car dealership that he could get partial UI if he applied and he said he was the wrong color. Now as I said, he like many here likely don't think themselves as racist. But I think this is largely a conflation of what is "racist" is it somebody that shoots, drags behind a truck or beats up somebody over their racial ethnicity? Or it is somebody that harbors even by conflated standard mild bias toward people of color, especially if it "seems" they are getting some sort of unfair advantage? I think this is what power much of the anger at feminism in reality.
Women are getting an unfair advantage, especially those who make poor decisions, they are constantly getting bailed out by the Government or are they?
Let remind you that the main thrust of Welfare reform (so they made you think) was a cock-eyed Welfare to Work program (like it didn't exist before the "reforms", smh) where they would give limited assistance (I think its 5 years) and after that you must find work. Your benefits will drop to half (direct cash) in the meantime but you must be out of the program in five years (full benefits).
Now this why its important to not listen to Conservatives on most social issues. While most politicians seldom tell the entire story, the truth is if you're on welfare but never finished high school for example, it takes at minimum six months to get your GED, for the majority it takes a year (four years of benefits left). So let's say you get a job after you completed training at a trade school (one year), its 9 times out of 10 a low wage job (less than $30K a year) , you have three years of benefits left, which most of that cash it being paid for, wait for it - Child Care. So more than half of your benefits are being taken up by child care. Do you have ANY idea how much child care cost? For a toddler (under 5) its $6,600 annually, or a car payment on something about $20K.
The point is, attacking welfare as some drain on your tax dollars (when the majority of it is used to fight war, give giveways to big oil, big ag, big phrma and now bailout banks) is where the culture war in the media succeeds.
So think about some of the stuff you say, especially if your White and Male because the truth is, its never talked about, but the majority of people on Weflare are White People. With White Males making up the majority on Unemployment and Retraining Aid, both of which I have no access too.
Like in the other thread, nobody asking you to take blame for it, what's being asked is that the inequality issues is a constant battle against those you don't wanna pay taxes and rather have some Darwinian reality (Hunter Games) vs the rest of us who I believe most of the time are decent human beings who don't like conflict and just want life to be fair.
Fight this insanity with us, not against us or using phony enemy and war references.
I am the member of this dubious club. Some could say its my fault, after all I got fired/quit (which one largely doesn't matter). However it was a dead-end job. When dead-end is often bought up in cultural circles its usually about middle income jobs that really have no upward mobility. Well this job was a low wage service sector job that would lead to lower middle income service sector management job (eventually?) usually by attrition; Enough people give up that by the time you've put your ten years in, your one of the few left that know anything so they give you a management position...
However in the face of the rising cost of living, that wage was not going to be enough and I would have left that job anyway at some point. Whether its 2009 or 2012 largely doesn't matter.
But I have some startlingly figures for ya -
The club I mention I am apart of is this one:
My income for 2010, 2011 and I assume a majority of 2012 will be effectively ZERO, nadda, nothing, blank, zip.About six million Americans (including me) receiving food stamps report they have no other income, according to an analysis of state data collected by The New York Times. In declarations that states verify and the federal government audits, they described themselves as unemployed and receiving no cash aid — no welfare, no unemployment insurance, and no pensions, child support or disability pay.
That's "official income" of course but as I've been saying for a long time, I shouldn't have to count on my resourcefulness ONLY to get out of poverty. To get my A+ classes I had to borrow money from my parents who are retired and on fixed income (not poor by any means) but because of spending habits of past and present, they spend more than they take in. Not complaining its quite generous, no rent, no cell bill, no internet bill. (no rent, smart phone, Fiber to Home Internet). So I don't complain when they borrow $30, $100 there, $30 off my EBT card (Food Stamps) or any of that because it could be a hell of alot worst.
I bring this up because the vast majority affected by previous policies of the Clinton Administration attack on the social safety net are Men, but got a large cheer out of mostly Middle Income White Males because these are the only people I see bitching about Welfare... I said this before, I told a White guy classmate who was bitching about his part-time income from a car dealership that he could get partial UI if he applied and he said he was the wrong color. Now as I said, he like many here likely don't think themselves as racist. But I think this is largely a conflation of what is "racist" is it somebody that shoots, drags behind a truck or beats up somebody over their racial ethnicity? Or it is somebody that harbors even by conflated standard mild bias toward people of color, especially if it "seems" they are getting some sort of unfair advantage? I think this is what power much of the anger at feminism in reality.
Women are getting an unfair advantage, especially those who make poor decisions, they are constantly getting bailed out by the Government or are they?
Let remind you that the main thrust of Welfare reform (so they made you think) was a cock-eyed Welfare to Work program (like it didn't exist before the "reforms", smh) where they would give limited assistance (I think its 5 years) and after that you must find work. Your benefits will drop to half (direct cash) in the meantime but you must be out of the program in five years (full benefits).
Now this why its important to not listen to Conservatives on most social issues. While most politicians seldom tell the entire story, the truth is if you're on welfare but never finished high school for example, it takes at minimum six months to get your GED, for the majority it takes a year (four years of benefits left). So let's say you get a job after you completed training at a trade school (one year), its 9 times out of 10 a low wage job (less than $30K a year) , you have three years of benefits left, which most of that cash it being paid for, wait for it - Child Care. So more than half of your benefits are being taken up by child care. Do you have ANY idea how much child care cost? For a toddler (under 5) its $6,600 annually, or a car payment on something about $20K.
The point is, attacking welfare as some drain on your tax dollars (when the majority of it is used to fight war, give giveways to big oil, big ag, big phrma and now bailout banks) is where the culture war in the media succeeds.
So think about some of the stuff you say, especially if your White and Male because the truth is, its never talked about, but the majority of people on Weflare are White People. With White Males making up the majority on Unemployment and Retraining Aid, both of which I have no access too.
Like in the other thread, nobody asking you to take blame for it, what's being asked is that the inequality issues is a constant battle against those you don't wanna pay taxes and rather have some Darwinian reality (Hunter Games) vs the rest of us who I believe most of the time are decent human beings who don't like conflict and just want life to be fair.
Fight this insanity with us, not against us or using phony enemy and war references.