The pain inflicted upon the American people is above partisanship. It's about FOOD now.

Originally posted by wantsome

Originally posted by RobinB022
reply to post by raifordko

 

Maybe in Ohio, but in Cali there are a crap load of people who are single, healthy and young driving around expensive cars who are on food stamps.

Maybe some of those people already had those cars before the SHTF in their lives. I remember living in the middle income bracket one day and the next day I was low income. I had no help, and my (then) husband left me with only 2 dollars and some change. My best friend was kind enough to help me buy groceries, and my aunt helped me with a months rent, but I couldn't count on other people to support me.My friend had her family and my aunt lived on a fixed income.

I was looking for a job, but in the meantime I had two boys to feed (aged 6 & 9). I went to the welfare office where I filed for welfare and food stamps, and lived on that for over a month until I had a job. It was a humiliating experience to go through that and even though this was back in '93 the memory is still clear in my mind. I had a decent car that was paid for and he took the truck. So, whenever I filed for welfare I had a decent car & clothes.. these things don't suddenly get old looking overnight, but a bank account can empty pretty quick.

Just to add perspective. Not all people who are broke will look poor.

I hear this BS all the time about people on food stamps driving nice cars or what ever. It is federal law that to collect food stamps you can't have more then $6000 in assets. To collect food stamps your car can not be worth more then $6000 and you have to pass an asset test. I get food stamps because I've been found legally disabled by a federal judge and I have 15 years of medical documentation. I use my step dads $50k truck to go grocery shopping all the time. I get all kinds of looks from people after paying for my food with food stamps and they see me getting into it. People are idiots and just looking to demonize food stamp recipients.

Why even bother? I've seen so many blatant lies and disinfo in this thread regarding EBT and / or food stamps....that it is QUITE clear those spewing forth this BS A) Aren't interested in learning about EBT/ food stamps....and instead want to pretend people are going to strip clubs and buying mansions with Food stamps.....and B) They already have an opinion on people who receive government assistance. To them, we are all "lesser humans"....."lazy" "free loaders" etc etc.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Well said Wrabbit2000! Couldn't agree more. I personally am laid off looking for work going to school and doing odd jobs, all with a child! When I tell you I depend on food stamps I'm not joking. And it's not like I'm just sitting around doing nothing I'm doing my best but the government is kinda holding me back. It's like they spit in my face! How dare them while they spend so much on spying on law abiding citizens. I'm so frustrated and ik my fellow Americans feel the same. What happens when you have millions who are frustrated and upset!! Idk but we may soon find out!

This program has been abused - no doubt at all - seen with own eyes here. The abusers have no qualms making the needy look bad. that is what stinks. What stinks worse is the governments inaction when these programs are abused and they take no action to correct it.

Makes everyone look bad

Just a bit of info. The senate not the House does the Budget. Secondly The Democrats had full control of both house and senate along with the executive branch for a good 3 years. Not one single budget was made. This is not to say the republicans are any better.

Originally posted by raifordko
reply to post by Aazadan

 

You forced them to turn you down by asking for a signing bonus...if you get a job, you find a way to get to it. Hitchhiking is free bro.

It's also illegal and dangerous. Not to mention the various issues like needing food and shelter once at my destination. Or do you suggest I not eat, not shower, not sleep, and not change clothes for the weeks it would take to get that first paycheck? That sounds like a great way to keep a job.

Some people need to get some jobs and support themselves, 40% of the population should never have been allowed on food stamps in the first place. You guys are usually anti-gov, I guess that doesn't count when it comes to hand outs and welfare. They want as many people on food stamps as possible, they want us dependant on them. It's sad that people don't see this. Anyway, I hope they cut more, there are too too many people collecting food stamps AND working, it's ridiculous.

Very narrow minded sentiment and obviously someone who hasn't been affected by The Great Recession. Personally, I served in the military for 12 years before being laid off due to budget cuts. I made a VERY comfortable living in the military. I found work after military service and was laid off from that job after 4 months. I have now been unemployed for 7 months while trying to feed a family of 4. Yes, I am on food stamps. Most of the people I served with that were laid off by the military are on food stamps. McDonald's is not hiring. I have applied to over 50 jobs per week on average and for the last 2 months I have even applied to jobs that I considered "beneath" me in High School. Everyone that has managed to keep their job seems to be under the impression that people struggling is due to laziness. I can assure you that is not the case. Until very recently 84 hour workweeks were the norm for me. It's nearly impossible to get anything these days. I'm now looking for work that pays less per week than I'm accustomed to being paid per day and I still can't find a job. If not for food stamps, my family would go hungry.

reply to post by TSMITH57


So that means the gov and ultimately everyone else who is already feeding their own family need to feed yours also with their tax money. The problem with you is entitlement, I go to family when I need help, not the govt. I've said enough, this is angering.

reply to post by TheCrimsonGhost

First, you are a moron. Not everyone has the support of family and yes, after years of paying taxes, I am entitled to receive a helping hand in order to get by until I get another job that, once again, pays taxes. Two years ago, I paid over $30,000.00 in tax. I'm sure $300 per month for a couple of months won't cripple the government. Definitely doesn't hurt idiots like yourself.

reply to post by TSMITH57


You're the moron dude, keep living off everyone else. You are the dredge of society.

reply to post by TheCrimsonGhost

Guessing you live in mama's basement with that disgusting family you feed. Serve the country, keep a job paying more than minimum wage for over half your life. THEN, lecture me on public social benefits.

reply to post by TheCrimsonGhost

I'm sorry, I also have to correct you on your insult, what you mean to say is "dregs" of society. It's a wine making term. Have a nice night.

Originally posted by TSMITH57
reply to post by TheCrimsonGhost

 

I'm sorry, I also have to correct you on your insult, what you mean to say is "dregs" of society. It's a wine making term. Have a nice night.

I had to laugh :-)

I also have researched EBT cards and here in Cali they are TANF as well as Food Stamps. I asked the guy today how he is allowed to buy cigs and he said this bodega runs their cc/ebt transactions separately from their register so they can sell him anything because the store is technically a "grocery". So CA EBT just sees "Grocery Laguna Beach" and never raises an eyebrow. It is his white BMW, he's had it for 1.5 years and it's leased, so the car technically isn't his property and isn't counted as an asset. It sounds like he knows how to work the system.

He also Joked that his girl friend gets rental assistance, food stamps and a daycare allowance in cash from Cali because she is a single mom/part time worker collecting child support....only she lives with her boyfriend....the guy buying cigs with an EBT and driving a leased BMW 5 series...

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
reply to post by seamus

 

I'll come back to what I've said before. If you don't want to work within the system, what is your solution? No generic and open ended references to revolution now. Lets be specific and realistic here. Who needs to die, in what order and which will you personally be shooting? What was their crime and what caused them to deserve to die?

The only ones who need to die are the ones who are trying to steal from everyone. You know who I'm talking about. The system isn't my problem. It's yours. Humanity has the technology and mental resources available now to leave war and poverty behind forever. The question I have for you is, are you willing to take the blame if it doesn't happen? No? Neither am I. Who are the bastards that are keeping us back? It's out of my hands. Enough lives have been sacrificed to the Military Industrial Complex (I'm thinking Tesla, Reich, Schauberger, Clem, Meyer et al). If they want to start up those FEMA camps, they can come get me first. I'm done with this crap-hole they call a country. Utterly disgusted. Chop my head off! Only problem is, they don't have the lawful authority to do it anymore. They've shaken too many people awake with their incessant terror campaign against the people.

I see only two options. No third.

you're overlooking something

Work within the system, which includes civil disobedience and protest to bring about change TO that system, or work OUTSIDE the system. The only means outside the system that will ever do anything whatsoever is armed insurrection ...about which I've written a long thread specifically and noting the pure no-win insanity of it in the United States.

Your horizons are too narrow. You forget the enclaves of quiet, peaceful people cropping up here and there across the country. Eco-villages. Don't bother invoking the 'roving groups of armed bandits' meme. It's obsolete. I'd rather die than feed the machine.

So, hows it working out for me? Well, it sucks....except for the other option, which is worse.

edit on 20-6-2013 by Wrabbit2000 because: (no reason given)

The fallacy of false alternatives always sucks. You need to look outside the box. There's a lot going on out there. No violence is needed.

reply to post by seamus

The only ones who need to die are the ones who are trying to steal from everyone. You know who I'm talking about. The system isn't my problem.

So essentially, you sit where the vast majority sit. You want a revolution to fit a Hollywood movie but with no more specific target, plan or set of goals then "having one" and "get them"..whoever 'them' ever turns out to be.

No, I'm afraid I don't know who you are talking about. Not a bit. That's the whole problem and the separating thought and daydream vs. action and result. If you can't put name (first and last name to KNOW who you call an enemy) than it's a silly daydream with no chance of advancing beyond that. (probably for the best, to be realistic)

Humanity has the technology and mental resources available now to leave war and poverty behind forever.

That's a been dream since before our current version of recorded history shows man had a mind to imagine it. It's never happened or even come close to it. It never will. Sadly, it looks like we have a President who may get this nation defeated in a fighting war to prove that display of weakness doesn't invite compassion, it invites brutal attack. I just don't think the world trusts the level of opportunity he's giving. Too good to be true, I'll bet.

If they want to start up those FEMA camps, they can come get me first. I'm done with this crap-hole they call a country. Utterly disgusted. Chop my head off!

I'm sorry to hear you've accepted defeat and the loss of options to overcome it. I absolutely have not, nor have the people in the circles I run in, outside the internet. There are ways to change this. It is NOT fast. It DOES take hard work (which is a 100% deal breaker for many. Work sucks so work ends the discussion )

Your horizons are too narrow. You forget the enclaves of quiet, peaceful people cropping up here and there across the country. Eco-villages. Don't bother invoking the 'roving groups of armed bandits' meme. It's obsolete. I'd rather die than feed the machine.

I'm not forgotting the Hippie Commune concept at all. It's at least 45 years old as an idea and something that people have and continue to do, to this very day. Out of 7 Billion people on Earth, some % will find that to be perfect to their desire and some % will pursue it for real. More power to them and I hope it works for that small % of like minded people who try it.

"roving gangs or armed bandits" are obsolete? That is one of the most dangerously naive statements I've ever heard. We can go back to "ancient history" and the Rodney King riots. I was in the L.A. area to see that with my own eyeballs at the time. There is proof beyond question of how thin a line societies "civilized behavior" really is. ....Or we can just go back to Katrina where "roving bands of armed bandits" weren't fantasy or some movie prop. They were 100% real, deadly and very much 'on the hunt' for not only loot but people to victimize.

Obsolete? I hope to God no group in a disaster has you near security. I hate to be harsh in the reply, but that point is literally dangerous and WILL get people KILLED in how far out of touch it is with recent reality in our own nation ....let alone many other areas of the world where armed criminal actions and predators are called a way of life.

The fallacy of false alternatives always sucks. You need to look outside the box. There's a lot going on out there. No violence is needed.

You start out by saying a revolution IS the ticket and 'I know who you mean' for which specific people need to be shot and killed in this revolution. Then go on to say you'd be quite happy if someone just ended your own life by beheading. Odd there.....but then end it by saying *I* need to look outside the box? Which box is that?

Your first half is a box of darkness, rot, decay and doom.

The second half just seems a confused jumble crossed between Manson's commune and a utopia where crime doesn't happen and there aren't hundreds of thousands of VERY VIOLENT predators in and out of our criminal system....looking forward to your future vision as much as you are ...for very different reasons.

reply to post by raifordko

I also have researched EBT cards and here in Cali they are TANF as well as Food Stamps. I asked the guy today how he is allowed to buy cigs and he said this bodega runs their cc/ebt transactions separately from their register so they can sell him anything because the store is technically a "grocery".

If I may note here.... You didn't just uncover a clever little debate point to throw at someone on ATS with that. You uncovered felony fraud against the Federal Government and *ALL* our tax dollars send just a little piece to help that criminal run his fraud.

You aren't intending to be part of the problem you complain about by not reporting this fraud to the appropriate tip line, right? One cannot... CANNOT.... complain about the abuse of the system and then actually find abuse to complain about .....then do nothing. It's helping to create the very 'evils' being pointed to ...and in a real sense, it's accessory to a federal felony by omission of action.

So please, update us on what doing something about the crimes here feels like for you. It should be good to help end a little piece of what takes a badly needed program and turns it into a farce. One small bite at a time eventually consumes a whole elephant.

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
reply to post by raifordko

 

I also have researched EBT cards and here in Cali they are TANF as well as Food Stamps. I asked the guy today how he is allowed to buy cigs and he said this bodega runs their cc/ebt transactions separately from their register so they can sell him anything because the store is technically a "grocery".

If I may note here.... You didn't just uncover a clever little debate point to throw at someone on ATS with that. You uncovered felony fraud against the Federal Government and *ALL* our tax dollars send just a little piece to help that criminal run his fraud.

You aren't intending to be part of the problem you complain about by not reporting this fraud to the appropriate tip line, right? One cannot... CANNOT.... complain about the abuse of the system and then actually find abuse to complain about .....then do nothing. It's helping to create the very 'evils' being pointed to ...and in a real sense, it's accessory to a federal felony by omission of action.

So please, update us on what doing something about the crimes here feels like for you. It should be good to help end a little piece of what takes a badly needed program and turns it into a farce. One small bite at a time eventually consumes a whole elephant.

I actually did call the Social Services Hotline for California. I gave them the address of the store, the license plate # of the car and a description of the guy. I was flat out told he is allowed to use his TANF funds to buy Cigs and Alchohol (Legal since 2012 they said) and they were actually irritated with me, like I was wasting their time. They did however take all the information I gave them, as well as my full name, address and phone number (Which was retarded and in hind site I should have just hung up.) I got the feeling that my phone call is where it would end.

They also confirmed what the guy said about his leased car. It isn't an asset, and depending on the payment even REDUCSES your net worth.

How leasing affects your net worth

One of the financial differences between buying a car and leasing one is how it affects your financial net worth. Your net worth is the total of your assets, or things you own, minus any debts owed, which are your liabilities. When you purchase a vehicle, it becomes an asset and you own it, though a finance company may have an interest in it if you have a loan.

Because ownership of a leased car doesn't pass to you, it isn't your asset. Lease payments are, however, a monthly expense or liability. When you lease a car, your liabilities increase but your assets don't, so your net worth decreases.

That was taken from the information on claiming assets for TANF.

reply to post by raifordko


Oh.... I'm sorry. I misunderstood. Ugh... yeah... TNAF is Welfare. It allows you to buy pretty much anything with cash benefit. it's on the same card as food stamps...but the two don't cross over. if they DO cross over, someone has hacked the system to make that possible and needs arrested for it.

I keep getting thrown here because TANF and SNAP are two RADICALLY DIFFERENT programs with absolutely no connection, of any kind whatever, except for the fact that qualifying for one usually means qualifying for both ...and of course, these idiot states need to combine everything whether it's appropriate or not. Why have two cards when one can work? (Aside from the fact, hate upon food stamp users for people buying a carton of smokes on the same card by visual appearances would be avoided...but that's not enough reason, obviously.)

Sorry about that, I really did misunderstand by thinking you meant SNAP benefits were being hacked around to allow point of sale purchase of banned items. That was starting to piss me off enough to ask about details privately and I'd take that report higher, if possible. TANF tho? It SHOULD have restrictions, in my view, but doesn't.

* There is ONE side of TANF that isn't so bad I guess. A few years back my wife and son were getting TANF benefits...but not in the way you might think. We're not rich by any means but that wasn't the point. Missouri had assigned TANF benefits to help fill the shortfall criminal negligence in child support enforcement had left while chasing a pig of a man who has enough of his own kids to field a little league baseball team and enough mothers to make it look right in the stands. The thing many may enjoy for that story is that they weren't grant benefits. That loser gets a statement to this day on what all that cost, plus incredible interest rates and penalties, adding daily. (If that man works another day outside of a jail cell, he;ll be lucky to see $.10 on the dollar after the states are through with his dead beat butt)

Point being.. People get benefits for all kinds of reasons. Some desperate....some making right another thing that went wrong ...and some, yeah, in Fraud-land with beach front property. It do take all kinds....but it's not right to punish them all for the sins of a few. Hunt and nail the few.

If the immigration reform bill passes, we will see an increase in claims for this kind of thing. We will probably see an increase in people crossing the border to attain more jobs, welfare, and amnesty. This is a bandaid, not a solution. It will only apply bandaids to gashing wounds until Congress and the Elites stop attacking real free enterprise and the American Way.

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
reply to post by seamus

 

So essentially, you sit where the vast majority sit.[...]

I am sorry. I was unclear. I don't believe that violence will be necessary to remove the crooks from power. I have an inkling that the very power of manifestation that lies dormant in most of humanity will manifest that the crooks are either relieved of their miserable lives or ousted. No grunting required on our part.

No, I'm afraid I don't know who you are talking about. Not a bit. That's the whole problem and the separating thought and daydream vs. action and result.

Thoughts are things. Actions are doings. Results are ephemeral. It's all a process and always will be.

If you can't put name [...] it's a silly daydream with no chance of advancing beyond that.

YOU. ME. And the idea that we are unrelated. How's that for names? It doesn't matter what either of us thinks will happen. What will happen is exactly what will happen, rules of engagement be damned.

"prev quote"Humanity has the technology and mental resources available now to leave war and poverty behind forever."end prev quote"
That's a been dream since before our current version of recorded history shows man had a mind to imagine it. It's never happened or even come close to it. It never will.

Not as long as irresponsibility is the ruling mindset. But the tech to accomplish it exists today. You are responsible for knowing that, now that I've told you.

Sadly, it looks like we have a President who may get this nation defeated [...]

Jingoism suits you poorly. "This nation" is an abstraction that doesn't exist outside your head. Say "NO" to identification with abstractions.

I'm sorry to hear you've accepted defeat and the loss of options to overcome it.

There is only so much rigging I will allow in a game and be cajoled into continuing play. This game has gone past that amount. I don't consider it defeat if someone who was criminally rigged into an advantaged position ends my life with a bullet or a drone strike. It's not my problem.

I absolutely have not, nor have the people in the circles I run in, outside the internet. There are ways to change this. It is NOT fast. It DOES take hard work

I'm willing to work. I am just not willing to work to enrich a lazy rat-bastard with 80% or more of the proceeds of my labor. I work for myself, TYVM.

I'm not forgotting the Hippie Commune concept at all. It's at least 45 years old as an idea and something that people have and continue to do, to this very day. Out of 7 Billion people on Earth, some % will find that to be perfect to their desire and some % will pursue it for real. More power to them and I hope it works for that small % of like minded people who try it.

Why "hippie?" Why "commune"? You think that's the only way people can work together without attempting to enforce their views on each other? Sigh...

"roving gangs or armed bandits" are obsolete? That is one of the most dangerously naive statements I've ever heard. We can go back to "ancient history" and the Rodney King riots. I was in the L.A. area to see that with my own eyeballs at the time. There is proof beyond question of how thin a line societies "civilized behavior" really is.[...]

And you say below that MY post is filled with doom and defeat? Look at yourself, man.

Obsolete? I hope to God no group in a disaster has you near security. I hate to be harsh in the reply, but that point is literally dangerous and WILL get people KILLED

Maybe that would be better than living in a world filled with ravenous, drooling predators. I mean that in all sincerity. I refuse to cower in fear before a CONCEPT.

You start out by saying a revolution IS the ticket and 'I know who you mean' for which specific people need to be shot and killed in this revolution.

You ASSUMED I meant a revolution. Read my post. I said they need to die. You think I meant at the hands of armed "citizens"? LOL! No, it's going to take a more righteous hand than that.

Then go on to say you'd be quite happy if someone just ended your own life by beheading. Odd there.....but then end it by saying *I* need to look outside the box? Which box is that?

the one that sees force as a solution to force. The one that clamors for protection by means of said force. The Fear Box.

Your first half is a box of darkness, rot, decay and doom.

sez you.

The second half just seems a confused jumble crossed between Manson's commune and a utopia where crime doesn't happen[...]looking forward to your future vision as much as you are ...for very different reasons.

I think you mean, you believe it will take force, whereas I refuse to engage in it, except in immediate self-defense.