Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
It's clear where Bush's priorities are. That's pretty sick.

Originally posted by drsmooth23
AS LONG AS PEOPLE ARE GIVEN THINGS THEY WILL NEVER LEARN HOW TO EARN THEM FOR THEMSELVES.

Good point! Let the CEOs that Bush is trying to bail out learn how to run a ...

AHAHAHAHA! I love when people are cut in half with their own two-edged sword.

GREAT comment!

My ex called today to tell me that his foodstamps went up 2.00, two dollars... He lives in subpoverty after having injured his back on the job a few years ago, he lives on disability and has a Daughter 11 years old with health problems...

yes he now gets a total of 12.00, twelve dollars foodstamps.

Originally posted by RRconservative
You can't stimulate the economy by encouraging people to stay unemployed longer by extending benefits. You also can't stimulate the economy by giving them more money for food.

Want to stimulate the economy?.....reduce the benefits....shorten the time people can draw unemployment.

Want to stimulate the economy how about make some jobs so people would not need these benefits. You think cutting this crap off with no job opportunities to fall on are a good thing? come on!!! I agree with a previous poster I know people that abuse this system but there are people out there in genuine need of it. I don't know if you noticed or not but it is rather difficult to find work nowadays and the jobs that are available well there hard to get as the employers are picky about who they hire. Kind of cold hearted aren't ya?

They need to put money into rebuilding infrastructure that would build jobs!!

I have NO problem with people on foodstamps. thats awesome. ive always told my friends 'dark' jokingly when they leave their beers half emtpy to finish them because there are starving kids in Atlanta. the only reason on earth i would say such a thing is because i want to provoke thought and action on the subject.

In my journey to Eagle Scout I worked many years on the "scouting for food" program. on Saturday morning a couple of times a year you go out and put bags on peoples front door, for them to put non perishable foods in. The next Saturday you go back and collect said bags. Keep in mind the instructions for such an operation are printed clearly on the bag.

The program has done WONDERS for the city of Winston Salem, NC, and thousands more.

for once i agree with bush in saying NO

i reinstate this is a community problem and NOT a federal issue, UNLESS proper infrastructure is lacking.

[edit on 26-9-2008 by drsmooth23]

Interesting reply to my above comments, I thought for a few hours that I was yet again killing a thread. Hate it when that happens you know?

I too have been a Scouting parent and have done many community activities with my children, problem is those same activities that were once flourishing in my community are now either closed down or only a few people remain. Why? Because everything costs money and noone has any. I enrolled my 3 boys in Baseball this year and could not afford to go to the away games, I was too proud to ask for all three boys in different leagues for rides every time so we had to quit. It was horrible...

I am still ashamed.

I know very few parents here in the Midwest where I live that have any food saved in the cupboards, they live check to check, even with both parents working this economic downward spiral has hurt everyone no matter how proud.

People do not admit it, but I know, I care for their kids, and have watched as the new clothes and shoes became slightly used to hand me downs and the family vacations once bragged about have become quiet visits to family out on the lake...

I know, its not easy, and some would say, well they should not have had kids if they could not afford them, well we could, and they are the reasons why we continue each and every day to do all we can to raise happy healthy well adjusted children in the face of the strangest times in human history.

Every American adult can tell you horror stories of the treatment people are recieving in once good jobs, they are treated like cattle, and the workloads can be so fast paced that there is no concern for injury or worker safety. More accidents, less stability, and a long line of people waiting to fill the position.

And you know what? The unemployment statistics are one of the biggest conspiracies ever. They only have to count the people that actually got on unemployment. More and more the truth is that the rule is a very small percent of people who rightfully apply for unemployment recieve it. All the cattle bosses have to say is "Oh he/she was late one time to many, or trump up 'any' charge and you do not have a leg to stand on.

To hell with the Stimulus Package; to hell with bailing out the banks. I want to see CEO's, Politicians, and other executives jumping out of buildings--1930's style!

--a Taxpayer.

Originally posted by nyk537
Listen, I'm not going to get into a pissing match with you over who has struggled more. That is nonsense and it doesn't matter.

The funds are there for those who truly need them. Increasing that funding does nothing but increase dependency on government.

If we really want to help those who are struggling. We could help find them better jobs, affordable childcare and other initiatives to allow them to help themselves.

Some people just don't get that though. Some people see the government as a big parent who is supposed to support and take care of them.

I don't see it that way.

and just what the heck is wrong with the jobs they have now??? we don't need them?? we don't need the little cashiers that check out our groceries every week? machinists who turn blocks of metal into the parts that make your cars, ect. run? we don't need the printers?? (heck, my job goes under I'm starting a business printing foreclosure signs....I see a huge demand for them in the future!) fine we don't need all these jobs! wal mart and the like can just trust the customer to cash out their own groceries and pay them their money. maybe you can use a paper clip to keep your car running. and well, we don't need all those signs in the stores anymore letting us know what's on sale....
society depends on these people to do these jobs, before yous start griping about how they all need to just find better jobs, you maybe should consider just what life would be like without these jobs being done? life without resturants, macdonalds, grocery stores, ect....
the fact is we the people of this country want the product the they are producing, want the service they are providing, but we are just too danged cheap to pay them the proper salary. and we are just too danged stupid to realize that the consequences of not paying them are either someone else picks up the slack (gov't), or these people just dies off....which would be a shame since none of you idiots could machine the parts to fix your own cars! and well, since the latter just ain't gonna be allowed to happen, we end up paying probably 5 to 10 times as much making sure they stay alive and doing their jobs.

Originally posted by antar More and more the truth is that the rule is a very small percent of people who rightfully apply for unemployment recieve it. All the cattle bosses have to say is "Oh he/she was late one time to many, or trump up 'any' charge and you do not have a leg to stand on.

It is really hard to get unemployment to not pay somebody if they file.
Often they start paying them and then just try to ignore you until you go away.
At my dad's company, (construction) we have guys who collect unemployment while taking family vacations and the unemployment agency ignores us and still pays them. It happens every couple months. We send documentation that we called them in and they refused to come. We even had a guy who claimed disability and we photographed him redoing his roof while he was claiming his back was too sore to work. We had to pay for him for 6 months while he "recovered"

Do people realize that the government doesn't pay unemployment? The employer has to keep a bank with the state (we have about 25 employees and a $20,000 bank) and they not only keep the interest on that to themselves, but they deduct unemployment payments from that and send us a bill when people collect.

Extending unemployment just hurts the people who couldn't afford to employ you even more. Our guys are seasonal employees (union, and higher rates because it is seasonal, yet they get unemployment?) so for a few months of the year they each collect $365/week from us while doing under the table side jobs. We have even had the people paying them notify the agency that they are working and being paid well over the max. requirements and they STILL give them unemployment checks from our account.

There are honest people collecting unemployment, of course, but an employer who needs to lay somebody off because they can't pay them, obviously can't afford the unemployment.

A couple of people in this thread have demonstrated a horrible lack of compassion and empathy for their fellow human beings.

If we are to survive as a species, we must learn to look out for each other. We must learn to give a damn. I must confess, due to years of hypnotising myself with misery, I can often seem cold and de sensitized to things. But I refuse to take a kick at people going hungry while some Robber-Barons get rewards for Grand Larceny. That's just wrong.

Anyone reading this should seriously ask themselves "Would the Elites give a damn if my family was cold and hungry?" If your answer is along the lines of "No, not friggin likely," then you need to realise that you are more akin to the people now going hungry and losing their homes than you are to the thieving bastardos who have hijacked, and crippled, the USA. Of course, I know many in this thread already know this, but clearly, some on this site haven't figured this out yet.

Originally posted by DimensionalDetective
... extend unemployment benefits for seven weeks, increase food stamp benefits by 10 percent, and provide $50 million for food banks...

Hungry people start revolutions.

[edit on 27-9-2008 by In nothing we trust]

Originally posted by RRconservative
By increases the amount of money for food stamps and extending unemployment benefits you are not stimulating the economy. You are stimulating peoples dependence on goverment, not themselves.

This is a stimulus bill not a welfare expansion bill, and it should be vetoed.

It's really laughable how hollow that argument sounds when your government is doing PRECISELY that to a whole army of bankers and businessmen... the same bankers and businessmen that cry foul at any interference in the so called 'free market' are at this moment slurping noisily at the government swilltank... this after having systematically raped, looted and royally messed up the economy.

Welfare for rich (and useless) fatcats, to the tune of $700 billion is necessary and good eh?

Welfare for those who REALLY need it, to the tune of $56.2 billion hurts the economy and fosters a culture of dependence?

The double standard and bare faced cheek is BREATHTAKING

BTW... not having a go at you... just gobsmacked at how people can still be flying the flag for free-market economics, and knocking anything that even faintly smacks of Socialism... like a totally free, unfettered market has worked out so well!

there is an old saying that you gauge the prosperity of a nation by how it treats its poorest members. Think about that. Remember the phrases "bread and Circuses?" or "let them eat cake?" (Rome, France) Each came from a Nation in decline. Placate the masses and they'll be docile and subservient.

On the other hand, I agree with the Democrats that the poorest of the poor DO need our attention. The increase in Foodstamps or extension of UIB ultimately benefits our CHILDREN. Anyone who says differently has NO CLUE what life on the bottom rung of the societal ladder is like.

I say this because I work in Social Services and I know intimately what the poor have to live on. There is NO incentive to get off welfare when there are NO JOBS, CHILDCARE IS SKY HIGH, RENT IS OUT OF CONTROL......you get the picture.

ignorant comments re: welfare recipients by a previous poster are just that: IGNORANT. We are talking about PEOPLE here. If you can dismiss them out of hand, then you have LOST YOUR HUMANITY.

by the way: Humanitarian issues ARE the purview of the Government. After all the Government in this country is made up of people who say they REPRESENT us!

I dont hold with "faith-based" programs at all, nor do I think that the Churches as a whole would be willing to part with the $$$ it would take to do the job the Government now does. We pay TAXES to the Government, after all--not to Churches.

[edit on 9/27/08 by irishgrl]

Originally posted by irishgrl
there is an old saying that you gauge the prosperity of a nation by how it treats its poorest members. Think about that. Remember the phrases "bread and Circuses?" or "let them eat cake?" (Rome, France) Each came from a Nation in decline. Placate the masses and they'll be docile and subservient.

On the other hand, I agree with the Democrats that the poorest of the poor DO need our attention. The increase in Foodstamps or extension of UIB ultimately benefits our CHILDREN. Anyone who says differently has NO CLUE what life on the bottom rung of the societal ladder is like.

I say this because I work in Social Services and I know intimately what the poor have to live on. There is NO incentive to get off welfare when there are NO JOBS, CHILDCARE IS SKY HIGH, RENT IS OUT OF CONTROL......you get the picture.

ignorant comments re: welfare recipients by a previous poster are just that: IGNORANT. We are talking about PEOPLE here. If you can dismiss them out of hand, then you have LOST YOUR HUMANITY.

It just happens that our poorest of the poor, have big screen TV's, cell phones, $100 sneakers, etc... We have the "richest" poor people in the world!

Look at Obama's half brother living on $10 a year in Kenya, living in a hut...then talk to me about poor.

[edit on 27-9-2008 by RRconservative]

Originally posted by RRconservative

Originally posted by irishgrl
there is an old saying that you gauge the prosperity of a nation by how it treats its poorest members. Think about that. Remember the phrases "bread and Circuses?" or "let them eat cake?" (Rome, France) Each came from a Nation in decline. Placate the masses and they'll be docile and subservient.

On the other hand, I agree with the Democrats that the poorest of the poor DO need our attention. The increase in Foodstamps or extension of UIB ultimately benefits our CHILDREN. Anyone who says differently has NO CLUE what life on the bottom rung of the societal ladder is like.

I say this because I work in Social Services and I know intimately what the poor have to live on. There is NO incentive to get off welfare when there are NO JOBS, CHILDCARE IS SKY HIGH, RENT IS OUT OF CONTROL......you get the picture.

ignorant comments re: welfare recipients by a previous poster are just that: IGNORANT. We are talking about PEOPLE here. If you can dismiss them out of hand, then you have LOST YOUR HUMANITY.

It just happens that our poorest of the poor, have big screen TV's, cell phones, $100 sneakers, etc... We have the "richest" poor people in the world!

Look at Obama's half brother living on $10 a year in Kenya, living in a hut...then talk to me about poor.

[edit on 27-9-2008 by RRconservative]

First of all, that is also a stereotype, much like Reagan's "Welfare Queen". Shame on you.

Second, I guarantee you IF they do have "bigscreen" TV's they didnt get them with welfare $$. I GUARANTEE it. Here in CA, a family of 3 receives $689/month. The typical rent here in podunk county (bit of humor) is OVER $750. OVER. They dont even get enough to pay the rent, much less childcare or pg&e.

So now what?



[edit on 9/27/08 by irishgrl]