Great Depression of 2016

[MamaDoodle]

You can rent storage space in one of those U Lock It places? C-containers used to ship goods back and forth on ocean cargo ships can be purchased rather cheaply,compared to their actual scrap value.

I hadn't thought of that, thanks!

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Heard on "The Huckabee Report" today,if you live in Hawaii and get on welfare in one years time your yearly benefits are over $60,000,,,,what are the rest of us doing wrong here??

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

 

[frenchblackcopper]

rebelcowboysnb,,EXACTLY!!! Add in food stamps,low income housing-subsidies,it's no wonder they have absolutley no incentive to ever work.Why or how do we elect politicians that are supposed to represent us,and our best interests,when in 34 states listed above,the hourly wage equalivant on welfare is more than the minimum wage law at $8.25? per measly hour for the working class??

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

I am not a fan of cash welfare given with no work in return but I am also not a fan of minimum wage laws....

 

[rufus]

That distribution is skewed by local conditions. The states of Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado have a lot of unassimilated people living on reservations where employment possibilities are pretty much nil. That doesn't compare with the food stamp states in the rust belt where people don't want to work. The unions have driven off all of the industry. The liberals want to Detroit ize the whole nation.

Border states also have to deal with the undocumented people that get welfare benefits, but pay no taxes. When and if we ever solve the immigration problem, those poor people will feel the full wrath of the IRS. The underground economy will collapse. I suspect that a good many will return to their home countries. Not everything that glitters is gold.

 

[Baymule]

Before I quit my job to care for my 90 year old mother, (she had a stroke and now lives with us) I worked 10-12 hours a day for a small garbage company. Like everyone else, I was paid a day rate, no matter how many hours I worked. If a truck broke down at 4:45 PM and I found the part on the far side of Houston, I had to go get it, sometimes not getting back until 8 or 9 at night. I could then go home, but the mechanics would work into the wee hours of the next morning to get the truck running. It was hard demanding work.

There I was, working my tail off and I have a cousin who scams the system. She adopted her grandchildren and got 2 of them on disability. She is on disability, Medicaid and food stamps. She also owns 2 rent houses and owns 67 acres with a 5 bedroom brick house. She made more money, bought better groceries than I could afford and had 100% medical coverage, plus all the drugs she wanted.

It warmed my heart to know that my hard earned tax dollars went toward paying her $400 a month cigarette habit.

The system is broke and we, as a country, soon will be broke too.

 

[chick2flick]

I live in the state of Washington and our minimum wage is currently $9.19 per hour, the highest in the nation. Most min wage jobs don't offer benefits until after working there for atleast 6-12 months and even then the coverages are minimal to say the least and only for the employee, not their family. Many of those employers are fast food and lower quality retail jobs with less than decent working conditions with high turnover rates and usually only part-time jobs that don't qualify for any benefit coverages. Here the cost of living is also very high. Most welfare recipients don't have the qualifications for better jobs. Even entry-level jobs(office or trades) require some current experience and/or post high school education.
If you happen to be a young mom with a kid or two or more, it's really difficult to find a place to rent, utilities, food, clothes, childcare, transportation costs, etc with a minimum wage job. Anyone in that situation can usually qualify for some welfare assistance with some of those expenses, but not enough for them to live decently. Even with the childcare costs, the state will cover a majority of the expense but not all of it It's even more difficult to find any childcare for nights or weekends (retail & fast food jobs usually require those shift) and the few that are, are booked with waiting lists and charge a higher rate. Most subsidized housing also has about a 3 to 4 year waiting list. And currently jobs, even minimum wage jobs are getting harder to come by.
Compare all that with full welfare benefits, food stamps, 100% medical coverage for yourself and family, the government makes it very difficult to justify getting a job and getting off welfare when it's more beneficial for the recipient to stay on. Although for most, there is a five year cap on benefits for life and in order to qualify for TANF they must comply with job finding and/or education/training requirements.
I'm not advocating welfare or abuses of the system, but the blame shouldn't be on the people, but with the flawed system that enables those to abuse it by paying more than most jobs. Any fix to the system will only hurt the people and kids that truly need the help. So it's a lose/lose any way you look at it.

Just my 2 cents

 

[Baymule]

It is a crying shame when "free" benefits are better than working. The worst thing politicians ever did was to institute the welfare system. It has destroyed families, because if a husband/father is in the house, then his income usually disqualifies the family from any help. People aren't stupid and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out to just not get married. Result is children with no fathers in the home and mothers that keep having children because that means more money. What a mess.

 

[Mike Winters]

Does this have anything to do with why there is no ammunition in stores? Cant take guns away but take away ammunition and the guns are useless. Cant afford to shoot a .22 for fun because the ammunition is non exsistent.