If you are foolish enough to answer truthfully on an application for state assistance, do not despair. The state has thought of that, and does not discriminate against the foolish; you will likely be given multiple opportunities to lie, and you will eventually get your fair share. Always remember that it is best to consult your state and federal poverty guidelines before you subjectively determine what you can or cannot afford. The numbers do not lie, even if you have to lie to fall within them.
Please allow me to repeat that: there are state and federal poverty guidelines. Allow a moment for that to sink in. Yesterday, I made a trip to the grocery store to pick up some dinner items. I saw an enormous bag of generic cereal for about three dollars. I saw a box of Ramen noodles, consisting of some 50 packages, for three dollars and 29 cents. That is dinner for two months. It isn't all that healthy, but it is food. Breakfast and dinner for months and it will cost you about six bucks. That is the bare minimum. That is subsistence. That, perhaps, is poverty. Where that is poverty, there is no poverty.
Peter Robinson recently posted an article stating that the United States has eliminated poverty, and it has. But how does our omniscient government determine poverty? Just consult the state and federal poverty guidelines. Today's poverty is yesterday's kingship. Yet it is a human right. Human rights evolve, I suppose.
I have had a difficult week. This afternoon, I sat next to an indignant man who had been denied court-appointed counsel. He whined to the court that, after all, he has bills to pay! You see, he had made the mistake of filling out the form honestly. That is bush league. Everyone knows that you cannot make over a thousand dollars a month. Throw in a dependent child or two, and you're golden.
Yesterday, I met with one of the victims in an assault case that may soon be going to trial. Through an interpreter, I was forced to listen to an hour or so of a real life Telemundo soap opera. I started to lose track of names, who said what to whom, who shoved first, whose child was screaming the loudest - X said that Y had asked her to marry X's boyfriend so that he could get citizenship, Y said that she had loaned X money, and when she asked for payment, X threatened to tell DSHS that Y lies on her welfare application, claiming to be a single mother of three, where she is actually married with two. As I left the courthouse, I saw Y drive away in a brand new Chrysler. It isn't the Jaguar that the indigent client whose motion I filed this morning got pulled over in, but it is still nicer than my Honda Accord.
The gentleman today was told that he can reapply. You know, just in case the numbers have changed. Net, after all, is a much smaller number when it means "after bills," rather than "after taxes." If he were really smart, he would pay attention in court. Listen to the conversation of the guy in front of you.
The state finds it so much easier to make determinations of poverty when all it has to do is ask one single question: "Are you currently receiving state aid?" If the answer is yes, then you may automatically qualify for all other state aid. Pretty easy when your income is under the table -- or when you simply lie about it. The only problem is that it is really hard to meet with your court-appointed attorney when you work 12 hours a day - better to place an angry phone call after hours, complaining that after hours comes too early.
I wish I could print off just the title of this post and slap it on my boss's desk. Not out of any spite toward him; I would respectfully submit my two weeks' notice. But the state is just making it so easy. I can always get credit, and when that gets to be too large, it will go away in bankruptcy. Think that will ruin your credit? Oh, I don't know - my neighbor just bought a brand new car not two weeks after filing. You see, the government guarantees loans so that the impoverished cannot be "discriminated" against. If I quit my job, I no longer have to pay for food. I don't even have to be embarrassed about it, since my food stamp card looks like an ordinary Visa. Heck, I can even use it at Starbucks! If I start to get too cold in the winter, I can apply for aid to heat my house. It won't pay my cable bill, but it will pay my phone bill, which will save me some money for cable. It will probably save me enough for the movie and sports packages. I will have plenty of time to watch television while I sit at home. In between commercials, I can fill out some fake job applications so I can keep getting that unemployment check.
What about kids? WIC, TANF, all of my milk, cheese, and formula - formula? Well, I can't breastfeed while I'm on methadone ... duh.
I'm getting carried away. Why do I really want to quit? Because I want to be blissfully unaware. I want to go to work every day and think that the massive chunk of money coming out of my monthly paycheck is going to pay for the roads. I really enjoy driving on the roads. After all, those roads get me to work and back.
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May '11
Re: I Quit
I feel bad. That was a rant, not an essay. I may go back and edit later. But I get to go home at 5:00. :)
Jan '11
Re: I Quit
Ryan M
I like the rant the way it is.
Jun '11
Re: I Quit
Yes, it really is illuminating and amazing. You really don't feel you can rat on these people? No one in a position to do anything cares?
I'm in a poor rural area but don't really know any really poor people well. People who have been in welfare recipients' houses though have developed a serious disgust and despair. These are all white folks too so there is no racial angle to it. On the other hand, the Social Services office is one of the biggest employers in the county and the director makes like $150K.
Jul '10
Re: I Quit
Hey Ryan - that's only the legal part. I work in an ER, and you have all of that + there. The whole country is rapidly swirling down the drain.
Apr '12
Re: I Quit
How frustrating to be trapped in this system!
Where does this misplaced concern for "the poor" come from? It is now a huge industry providing jobs for so many, it would be difficult to dismantle it.
Jul '11
Re: I Quit
The industry getting rich while serving the poor will dismantle as the country goes under. Stay positive, we're finished within 20 years and lack of funds will end this odd oasis. The shame is that those in true need do so much worse than those scamming the system.
May '10
Re: I Quit
I know how you feel. I'm in an "antiseptic" space: a giant corporation; I don't have experiences like that except at the grocery store and Walmart. But because I work - for 4-5 months each year? - for the state and federal governments before I start earning for myself, shouldn't I get government benefits? They are much better than corporate. If we're turning into Europe, could I at least have the European vacation time?
May '10
Re: I Quit
Wouldn't it be nice if we could quit? If we could just decide we want out of the deal?
Aug '10
Re: I Quit
Guess what ? That same manipulative milieu knows how easy it is (was) to vote a couple of times to keep that gravy train on the tracks.
Aug '12
Re: I Quit
Ryan M: "I want to go to work every day and think that the massive chunk of money coming out of my monthly paycheck is going to pay for the roads. I really enjoy driving on the roads."
Only a very tiny sliver of your income tax pays for any roads. About $36 billion of Obama's stimulus went directly into the highway trust fund because it was about to go broke. It is funded by your gas tax that you pay at the pump. It will be broke again by the end of next year. Perhaps you live in a state that directs some state income tax to transportation. Otherwise, income tax goes to lots of good government stuff, but not roads.
Jan '12
Re: I Quit
Grew up in poor rural area and live in one now. People have always been working this system up and down without batting an eyelash, in my experience. Our neighbors now, since we are politely in the re-gentrified area, are grown adults in the ahem export business. No one has a job, no one leaves the house, and no one is productive....cable, ac, running car...check. And people wonder why some of us feel like chumps hustling ourselves and kids out the door each morning to barely keep our heads above water while these fools just sit on the porch.
May '11
Re: I Quit
That would be amazing. Right now I would just settle for a job where I am not daily reminded of the insane amount of government waste and the growing entitlement class. Does such a job exist? I'm sure I could bring myself to the point of sometimes forgetting how bad it is, I suppose.
Feb '11
Re: I Quit
I know someone who knows someone who works at a 7-11.
I'm told that people come into that fine retail establishment with bridge/EBT cards to shop.
Occasionally those cards have balances of over ten grand $$$.
Nice work if you can- oh wait...
Dec '10
Re: I Quit
A sterling rant. I approve. And now I feel petty for complaining about the distribution of overtime in my shop the last couple of weeks.
Apr '12
Re: I Quit
About three years ago I went to the local ComCast office to cancel the cable service at my new place.
There was a sixty-ish man in line in front of me who was arguing with the person at the window. He starting yelling at the clerk and I caught the words "but I'm on disability and I can't work and I need the SciFi channel! You have to give me the SciFi channel!"
Never discovered how it turned out, but I do remember wanting to beat that idiot over the head with a tube TV.
May '10
Re: I Quit
Ryan M
That would be amazing. Right now I would just settle for a job where I am not daily reminded of the insane amount of government waste and the growing entitlement class. Does such a job exist?
No doubt such jobs exist, for the present. It's doubtful they'll last. Look at how farmers and ranchers, for instance, are plagued by environmentalist regulators.
My husband's uncle, a Dutch farmer, is prohibited by Dutch law from using steroids in what he feeds his cows. But then the Dutch markets, where he competes, have no law against French meat raised on steroids.
Multiply endlessly. It's becoming harder to live. We are everywhere harassed by the enervating and irrational demands of the system, which is constantly exploited (on both ends) by those whose interest is self-enrichment, not justice.
And of course, no matter what job you have, the reality of government waste remains. But you know that already.
Jul '11
Re: I Quit
We can all quit in our own ways.
I had a friend who worked at a bicycle shop. He raced, had sponsorship and worked at the bike shop just to cover some bills. His employer gave him a raise - so he cut back his hours.
It is our consumption that drives the markets. You can drive the capitalist engine that funds the ever growing socialist state, or you have the option to go Galt. Each of us will find out own way to do so - if desired.
Jun '10
Re: I Quit
This too shall pass. All systems designed by man (and most systems in nature) have a breaking point. What do you suppose these government dependents will do when the money runs out? How will these people eat when bread is $10 a loaf? Obama's social justice is going to become very Old Testament in tone: "He who works not, eats not."
Sep '10
Re: I Quit
Your post reminds me of the story of Cassandra who foresaw the destruction of ancient Troy but was not believed. I doubt we will be conquered by a foreign power, but I am afraid that our democratic system will ultimately fail to choose and empower leaders who will/can make the required choices. Fortunately, I think (I hope) we will see it begin to play out in Europe and a few badly run US states first, maybe that will be enough to get us back on track.
Jan '11
Re: I Quit
I was unemployed for about three months in 2001. One of the biggest motivations in getting a new job/back to work, aside from the money & benefits, was not having to wait in line with the type of people you referenced or having to interact with government employees that are used to working with the type of people you referenced.