Welfare Pays More Than Minimum Wage In 35 States

[Magic Man]

I assure you it is legitimate. My issue is transportation. I cannot afford a vehicle, and transit often makes what is normally a 20 minute drive take over an hour. Then there's the fact I also have to do a lot of walking as well, so it ends up being closer to 2 hours. Plus I have to have a life and eat and sleep.

I have no children and never intend to have any.

If I was provided with housing and healthcare that would still give me opportunity to pocket cash. A lot of my earnings go straight into medical expenses that I can barely afford.

You might also qualify for Medicaid, which sounds like it might be a big help. But what I was getting at is that you would either get nothing or barely anything in the way of cash assistance. Pretty much everything would be specifically for housing, food, and healthcare.

I think it's not so much that. My mother has not worked in over 15 years. She is emotionally immature in that regard and wants to be taken care of.

Of course, you know her and the situation better than I do; I just wanted to point out that depression is sometimes a legitimate "excuse" for getting financial assistance.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

You might also qualify for Medicaid, which sounds like it might be a big help. But what I was getting at is that you would either get nothing or barely anything in the way of cash assistance. Pretty much everything would be specifically for housing, food, and healthcare.



Of course, you know her and the situation better than I do; I just wanted to point out that depression is sometimes a legitimate "excuse" for getting financial assistance.

If you aren't disabled and if you have no children and aren't pregnant, it is practically impossible and very difficult to get Medicaid and keep it. They say it is for "low income" but the reality is they are very picky and very selective about who actually can get it.

 

[Dirty Penguin]

Government's tendrils sneak into & foul up many things.

This is another generalization. Not all government is like that.

Little that it does is positive for me.

Ahh, but you're the minority in all this.

Perhaps you exemplify one reason they do this, so that they & you may claim that I didn't build my business, someone did it for me.

No one has ever claimed that. What we say is that if you have a business you didn't build it by yourself. The collective has made it possible for your business to strive the way it has. You didn't build the road, the schools or the community. You didn't build the internet either but everyone that has played a part in building those things has made it possible for your business to strive.

Nonetheless, to start & run a business is a different perspective from an employee, particularly a government employee.

Maybe...but having owned two businesses I don't see your point here. I've owned two businesses, worked for consulting firms, worked state and federal government and worked as a private contractor. So I have a well rounded perspective.

If you have some business experience, then that's good for you. But you still think like an awful lot as the government wants, ie, that tax money is already theirs, whatever they don't take is "welfare", & they're entitled to more.

I know you want to put in that "other" category but your assessment of me is simply wrong. I don't believe what others believe about government. I don't believe that the money is "their" money. I'm not sure why you keep making this claim. I understand what taxes are for. I don't and will not advocate paying all my hard earned money to the government but I don't see anything wrong with paying taxes. If no one paid taxes how do you think they could function?

Still, you're in the camp which claims that tax reductions must be "paid for" & are a subsidy.

Tax reductions DO have to be paid for. That shortfall must be made up somehow. In order to do that you have to cut. In many cases politicians want to cut social programs before they cut any "subsidies" given to farmers, themselves or to corporations. This is one of the reasons the Bush Tax Cuts for any and everybody didn't work.

 

[Dirty Penguin]

While I don't feel I burden My family, no one is employed but Me, and we're living off of My grandpa's retirement. It makes Me feel terrible, so I kind of want to get food stamps so I can at least pay for some of our groceries... And it p***** Me off that My parents are using "depression" as an excuse not to work. I have tried to kill Myself 3 times in the past 2 months. They have no f****** idea what depression is. And yet, I still have a job.

I hope you stay with us because I like reading your comments. I haven't had to walk in your shoes so I might not know what it means to be depressed but I'm always willing to listen and learn.

Never let anyone make you feel as though you're "living on the government dole" because it's obvious they haven't a clue what it means to live your life. My mother needed public assistance when we were growing up. While she loved me my stepfather didn't. I grew up in an abusive house home by the had of an abusive stepfather and lived in foster care for most of my young child hood. At one point during the abuse I woke in a hospital in pretty much a full body cast with many, many of my bones broken.....we had nothing and our family (aunts, uncles, grand mother) didn't have it either. Most people who don't think government should be offering public assistance don't really know what it means to grow up poor and in poverty.

I spent much of my childhood wearing hand me downs (other people's used clothing, shoes etc.), eating the same type of food for a week or barely eating at all. When my mother started to receive public assistance, after getting out of bad, abusive, marriage, that's when we began to get back on our feet. Even then it was still a struggle. My mother got a job and in a short while got off of public assistance.

We all have interesting, fun and depressing moments in our lives but we should be above our pride and welcome the assistance when it is offered.

 

[Revoltingest]

This is another generalization. Not all government is like that.

So you're into stating the obvious now?
Tis in the nature of generalization to be general, & not apply to all things.

Ahh, but you're the minority in all this.

Yes, those who start & build businesses will always be a minority.

What we say is that if you have a business you didn't build it by yourself.

No one claims to have built a business without interacting with other people, & using infrastructure.

The collective has made it possible for your business to strive the way it has. You didn't build the road, the schools or the community. You didn't build the internet either but everyone that has played a part in building those things has made it possible for your business to strive.

Tis a false argument, since no one disputes that.

Maybe...but having owned two businesses I don't see your point here. I've owned two businesses, worked for consulting firms, worked state and federal government and worked as a private contractor. So I have a well rounded perspective.

Since you're currently a government employee, your perspective is far different from mine. Of those I know who started & ran real businesses, none would every take a regular job again, even in private industry. We're just ruined for that environment. The fact that you aren't ruined tells me how different we are. Of course, I would consider being the country's dictator...but that's rather different from being a mere cog in the machine.

I know you want to put in that "other" category but your assessment of me is simply wrong.

Tis not about what I "want", but rather about what I observe.
You believe in a greater entitlement of government to our money.
You believe that a reduction in taxation is a subsidy the same as welfare.
I am very different from you on these issues.

If no one paid taxes how do you think they could function?

Oh, you big silly....I've never proposed doing away with taxes.
It is about lowering them, & creating a structure with better incentives.
It seems dwell too much on stereotypes of us anti-gov anti-tax types.
You should read my posts instead.

Tax reductions DO have to be paid for. That shortfall must be made up somehow. In order to do that you have to cut. In many cases politicians want to cut social programs before they cut any "subsidies" given to farmers, themselves or to corporations. This is one of the reasons the Bush Tax Cuts for any and everybody didn't work.

They needn't be "paid for" if government just cuts spending.
(And the "Bush Tax Cuts" actually increased revenue within 2 years.)

 

[freethinker44]

If a person has been working for minimum wage for more than 1 year, then that person either has no ambition whatsoever, or that person just might be mentally challenged in some way.

Wow. Completely clueless.

 

[Revoltingest]

Wow. Completely clueless.

No, if someone is only worth minimum wage, even with a year's experience, then
something is wrong. The employee ought'a be earning more there or someplace else.

 

[maninthewilderness]

My friend is still working at a minimum wage job for 3 years now because he is in college. Is he mentally retarded?

Yes.

If he has not had a raise (even a .50 cent raise ) in 3 years then yes, he is mentally challenged.
Tell him to go work else where.
He literally could not do worse!

 

[Sunstone]

If a person has been working for minimum wage for more than 1 year, then that person either has no ambition whatsoever, or that person just might be mentally challenged in some way.

An idea that well informed could have only been born in a conservative circle-jerk.

 

[maninthewilderness]

Wow. Completely clueless.

No, you're the one that is clueless.

I don't know anyone who has been working at the same place for a year who still makes minimum wage.

Good paying jobs are scarce right now.
But low paying jobs (but ones paying above minimum wage) are not so scarce.

 

[Revoltingest]

Yes.

If he has not had a raise (even a .50 cent raise ) in 3 years then yes, he is mentally challenged.
Tell him to go work else where.
He literally could not do worse!

There are exceptions.
Boring interluded to follow:
While in school (U of M), I worked at gymnasiums doing building supervision, handing out equipment/towels, checking IDs, etc. It wasn't much money (probably above min wage though), but I got to study on the job. In fact, the constant noise & distractions actually suited me....my grades improved. I just couldn't study as easily in those deathly quiet libraries or alone in my room. I wasn't alone, since half of the graduate aerospace students worked at Waterman Gym too.

 

[maninthewilderness]

An idea that well informed could have only been born in a conservative circle-jerk.

So you actually think that folks should work for minimum wage for years and years without looking elsewhere for a better paying job?

That's just stupid.

 

[Sunstone]

I don't know anyone who has been working at the same place for a year who still makes minimum wage.

I see you harbor the idea that you know everyone in America who is working minimum wage, along with their IQs. That's a pretty impressive body of knowledge you've got there.

 

[maninthewilderness]

I see you harbor the idea that you know everyone in America who is working minimum wage, along with their IQs. That's a pretty impressive body of knowledge you've got there.

Thanks, I know!

 

[Monk Of Reason]

Yes.

If he has not had a raise (even a .50 cent raise ) in 3 years then yes, he is mentally challenged.
Tell him to go work else where.
He literally could not do worse!

Obviously he gets those .20c raises but working a dollar more than minimum wage is not much better. I had assumed you would have worked that part out. Guess not. I still consider it minimum wage if you are working just above it. Anything less than 10 dollars an hour (at full time. even more if its part time) is a pretty bad living and you can't do it alone. Hell I got an AS degree and worked with that making 15 an hour after night/weekend differential and I was still broke 90% of the time.

 

[tytlyf]

Obviously he gets those .20c raises but working a dollar more than minimum wage is not much better. I had assumed you would have worked that part out. Guess not. I still consider it minimum wage if you are working just above it. Anything less than 10 dollars an hour (at full time. even more if its part time) is a pretty bad living and you can't do it alone. Hell I got an AS degree and worked with that making 15 an hour after night/weekend differential and I was still broke 90% of the time.

The old timers here had it much easier working in their days. These days we work much harder for the same. And they complain about "living wage."

 

[maninthewilderness]

Obviously he gets those .20c raises but working a dollar more than minimum wage is not much better. I had assumed you would have worked that part out. Guess not. I still consider it minimum wage if you are working just above it. Anything less than 10 dollars an hour (at full time. even more if its part time) is a pretty bad living and you can't do it alone. Hell I got an AS degree and worked with that making 15 an hour after night/weekend differential and I was still broke 90% of the time.

Look, if he makes just above minimum wage, and has been working that job for many years, then he just doesn't have any ambition or he has no skills that an employer is willing to pay for.

Minimum wage jobs are jobs that don't require any special skill or any special knowledge or any advanced education.
Minimum wage jobs are easily filled and anyone can do them, with very little training needed....like making a sandwich at Subways or being a dog walker or stocking shelves with canned foods.
Basically they are jobs for high school kids and retirees.

If a person want to make more than minimum wage then they need to learn some skills that will make them more marketable and less easily replaceable.

There's this young man who mows my mother's lawn and he is always whining about not being able to find a good job.
It turns out that he dropped out of school in the 10th grade.
Never got his GED.
And he doesn't know how to do anything much except mow lawns and play video games.
And when his lawn mower breaks he has to get his dad to fix it.
I encouraged him to join the military and get some type of skill....but he has a problem with people telling him what to do (so he says).
And this kid will probably end up making minimum wage, and it's his own damn fault.

 

[tytlyf]

Look, if he makes just above minimum wage, and has been working that job for many years, then he just doesn't have any ambition or he has no skills that an employer is willing to pay for.

You sound like you've never worked for minimum wage. You blame the employee working for walmart for not getting paid more than minimum wage, when walmart isn't legally obligated to do it. So they don't. Reality is different these days.

 

[maninthewilderness]

You sound like you've never worked for minimum wage. You blame the employee working for walmart for not getting paid more than minimum wage, when walmart isn't legally obligated to do it. So they don't. Reality is different these days.

No one is holding a gun to his head and making him work for Walmart.
The employee has the freedom to seek employment elsewhere.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

If a person has been working for minimum wage for more than 1 year, then that person either has no ambition whatsoever, or that person just might be mentally challenged in some way.

Are you aware that many companies do not give out raises, or are very stingy with them? They actually are fairly common.

Yes.

If he has not had a raise (even a .50 cent raise ) in 3 years then yes, he is mentally challenged.
Tell him to go work else where.
He literally could not do worse!

What if he can't get anything else? High school students and college students are now having to compete with people who are into their adult hoods for even minimum-wage and low-wage jobs.

No one is holding a gun to his head and making him work for Walmart.
The employee has the freedom to seek employment elsewhere.

Getting a new job isn't as easy as flicking a wand though. Getting a good job that is actually worth staying at is even harder.