Welfare Dependency

Discussion in 'Latest Hip News Stories' started by Aerianne, Apr 16, 2018.

  1. GeorgeJetStoned

    GeorgeJetStoned Odd Member

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    Yea, I don't want to watch people piss. It's just not my thing. No judging though, rock on as you see fit.
     
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  2. Beach Ball Lady Balls

    Beach Ball Lady Balls Banned

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    What about air traffic controllers, train controllers, Teachers, day care workers? Those who care for the elderly or sick? Nurses and doctors. Many nurses are known to steal drugs. I actually know of a pharmacist who would steel the morphine of cancer patients, pretty awful imo. I do think politicians should get drug testing and it be made public,

    Is it ok to check someone’s criminal record? I would want to know or feel a little better knowing that the ones looking after children are not rapists, molesters etc... drunk or addicts. or the one driving the car is licenced and doesn’t drink and drive should I call a cab or on something. Or the guy installing locks and security systems. I would also want to know this for politicians, especially since they get a free pass. They are untouchable.

    I see people pissing all the time outside for some reason. Maybe they think they are invisible or maybe I am.
     
  3. OrleansWordsmith

    OrleansWordsmith Moderate anarchist

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    I think you need to narrow that window. People are alcoholic or drug addicted for life. If they are in recovery, they are no more a risk to your children than you are. Convicted child molesters should not be in child care positions: that is a paraphelia that is very problematic, for life. Statistics vary on repeat offenses of formerly jailed rapists and molesters. Some show their recidivism is below 3%. However, only about 35% of molestation and rape cases are reported and successfully prosecuted. The fact is most child molestation and general rapes are performed by people who are related to or known to the victims and these people are most often not reported and never prosecuted. Teens who are the same age and consent to having sex with each other may be listed as sex offenders. That's just the sex/jail stuff. Testing people in life and death power jobs, who handle drugs sounds rational. But why has it not been happening? Are taxi and Uber drivers drug tested? Criminal backgrounds checked on security system installers? These mainly sound like simple, straightforward ideas. But should former offenders always be roped off as bad risks? Be denied jobs. How will they ever be reintegrated into society? What drugs impair users in their workplace duties.. Or at what amounts? These are serious ideas to consider in the drug testing venue. Of course no one should be using heroin and being an air traffic controller, teacher or day care worker. But perhaps one or the other of these people has chronic pain and has a prescription for an opiod. There would need to be a DSM bible for such testing. It would take years to devise and implement.
     
  4. Beach Ball Lady Balls

    Beach Ball Lady Balls Banned

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    If someone has or is a recovering addict for life they are, a struggle constantly for some things., and are in a position where being under the influence of something can hinder their ability to do their job, the testing is on everyone, not just ones with a previous addiction and this be done on a regular basis, say every three months or something like that.

    I don’t want to put my money in a bank, and handing my money over to say a convicted bank robber. Background checks are a necessary thing, as is drug testing for certain positions. There are many jobs that background checks are not neccessary, and I understand your point regarding many molestations and rapes are not reported, but many are too. Checking to see if that is in their background can not hurt. Won’t solve it happening but has the potential to prevent it from happening in some cases. Everyone is checked is the point on this. All equal. Regarding chronic pain, there is exceptions to things and if you are taking oxy and an air traffic controller it might be time to retire or take more time off until you have recovered.

    Now This happened in my city school board. Female teacher In her 40s was having sex with 15 year old boy. You know what the board did with her? Moved her out of the school room, promoted her to a board committee where she made a 6 figure salary. Her job was to review claims of sexual assaults for the board of ed and molestation accusations. She would decide if the person is fired, suspended with pay, etc.
     
  5. OrleansWordsmith

    OrleansWordsmith Moderate anarchist

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    Well, since the board did nothing about her actions... I am baffled. Was she convicted of sex with a minor or not? You cannot say this woman was guilty unless she was prosecuted and a jury of her peers, from evidence presented, determined she was guilty. Doesn't sound like this happened. A REPORT does not indicate innocence or guilt. It's he/she said. But reports must lead to charges that lead to prosecution. Otherwise there must be no assumptions of guilt...
     
  6. Beach Ball Lady Balls

    Beach Ball Lady Balls Banned

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    Oh she admitted to it, they didn’t take it to court because the boy, it went on for 2 years, it would have gone to trial he would have been over 18. I know she was guilty, she admitted it. The parents found out and contacted the school and that is how it went. The kid didn’t hide it as he got older. Was proud to be getting some ass. He was groomed. And I kno2 what became of her. 100 percent true. Promoted and moved out of the class room only to be put in a position where she gets to hide these incidences for others. It was a losing case simply because he was male, tall and no jury would have sympathized with him completely. He is a young man. There is a teachers report, news type booklet in Toronto senads to all teachers employed with the board, that tells of accusations of such things and how they are dealt with and the findings.
     
    Last edited: May 15, 2018
  7. OrleansWordsmith

    OrleansWordsmith Moderate anarchist

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    OK. That is a creepy case where someone took advantage of a teen and he was too young to think it was what it was. He was not raped, but was molested. Very odd school board did nothing to her. But if her confession was not a police confession she could not be prosecuted for it. She told board and they decided (probably since it was a boy and parents didn't press formal poice charges) to do nothing further. There is the flip flop in case of boys vs. girls. Unfortunate. Having her decide on similar cases seems so bizarre I don't know what to make of it...
     
  8. tumbling.dice

    tumbling.dice Visitor

    After my dad got back from Vietnam he took a job at a food stamp office, around 1970 I think. That was our only source of income. For the hell of it he applied for food stamps and was surprised to find out he qualified. Kind of ironic. He only got $2, though.
     
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  9. Fred64

    Fred64 Members

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    I firmly believe that if you can work then you should work, welfare or govt assistance should be for people in an emergency situations, unemployed not by choice, illness, weather related catastrophes etc, I worked at my last job for 14 years Iam 54 years old, I have always worked, I hate being out of work, it has been a nightmare. Everything I worked is gone, 401k, insurance, I can not find another job to save my life, I have been out of work for 7 months, my age is a factor in being laid off, and finding a job, it doesn’t take a genius to figure this stuff out, I was able to get Medicare, but that’s all, i had to hire an attorney to get unemployment, that stopped after 6 months. There are no other assistance available because Iam single. How is a person supposed to survive till they get another job, anything to bring in money, I want to work, it I can’t and you can’t get any assistance after unemployment is exhausted. Not everyone is going to find a job right away. I have done everything I can think of. Redid my resume a couple times trying to make it more appealing to an employer, I went to job services, took a class on interviewing skills my resume is out there, indeed, monster, etc, I have so many applications in, I have been to countless job faires, I get interviews but it just turn out to be nothing. Sorry about the rant but my point is the system does not always work, there are people out there who want to work but can’t and zero resources to help them, people wonder why there is violence. You play by the rules your whole life, you get laid off and because employers don’t want you because your older and they might have to pay you more a person can only take so much before they snap. Sorry for the long rant.
     
  10. Aerianne

    Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    I get it, Fred.
     
  11. GeorgeJetStoned

    GeorgeJetStoned Odd Member

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    Rant on, it's certainly your right.

    I have been in the same situation, recently. Suddenly all the lucrative overseas projects started putting age limits on their postings (something illegal, but still done in the US). So I decided it was probably a cycle thing and looked for US projects. I had a few of them in 2015 that trailed off to nothing in 2016. It was about the time I was having back trouble, which I do my best to hide. But it was a particularly bad bout and I was taking a lot of pain killers, gaining weight and forgetting important shit (which made interviews fruitless).

    I've lost jobs over medical issues, even though it's not supposed to happen. But freelance work is really tough, you have to market constantly and go to social events, trade shows and the dreaded "meet & greet" sessions. I HATE that kind of shit.

    My spine finally went back to normal and the drugs wore off enough for me to realize I was still unemployed, after almost half a year. And none of the recruiters were calling and none of the emails I sent out were being answered. Monster was a bust, Indeed a waste of time, Glass Door was so-so and LinkedIn is turning into Facebook. So I started looking at local corporations, dreading the massive drop in pay I could expect (though still far more than I was making as an unemployed, well into my 50s, eligible for AARP membership old guy.

    But this meant more face-to-face meetings than I was accustomed to. And after months of drugs and uselessness, I looked the part. My hair was very long, my beard was scraggly, as if I had a cardboard sign in my back pocket. And my wardrobe was geared toward working in filthy parts of the world. So I went back to the gym and shed a couple of inches. Then I bought 2 pairs of pants and 4 shirts that looked good enough for interviews as well as work. After that I went full sellout. I trimmed the beard into something respectable and got a haircut. Then I got dye, one for the beard, the other for the gray head I was sporting. I hate hair coloring, too many guys go way too dark and it looks really obvious.

    During all of this I began socializing a little more, mostly online. I commented on articles people posted on LinkedIn, news sites, education sites and several others where using my real name wasn't an issue. I took down all the profile pictures of me in places like the Middle East or the Caribbean, wearing a yellow vest and a hard hat. Then I posted a younger picture of me, with some gray added in courtesy of Gimp (it's not about dating, so wtf). Regardless of where I interviewed, the only people who would eventually know my true age were the HR team. And they were duty-bound to keep their traps shut on such things.

    What happened next, blew my mind. Calls actually started coming in. Emails as well. Sure, 3/4 of them were way off the mark (recruiters rarely read beyond the first 2 inches of a resume, put your relevant action words there), but the ones that were close led me to others that were closer. It took 2 more months to finally get a good interview. I only saw a portion of the employees as I was led to a conference room, but I saw enough to realize that SOME companies don't jettison their older workers. Smaller corporations can't afford to lose reliable employees. This makes them very pragmatic during the interview process.

    I was waiting to hear from 3 different places already, but this one was the worst about it. Over a month they took to vet me and I didn't know they were still interested. But suddenly they called and I accepted their offer over the phone. It's about 25% less than I average, but I'd get insurance and other cool perks (free coffee, breakfast on Friday and regular full-crew meetings with catered lunches. My commute is fucking HORRIBLE, but then, this IS Atlanta. I moved here because it's the biggest financial battery in the region.

    It's been just over a year now and I'm still at it with this firm. I'm also still being bombarded by recruiters, though it's tapering off.

    I admit I used shady tactics, but at this age I'm playing for keeps. There is no welfare or unemployment for me. No SNAP, TANF or Government Cheese either. It's easy to fall into sheer depression as you deal with all the liars and con artists you encounter while job hunting. Few will tell you it's about age, but you get to where you can tell what they're thinking after a while. I still go to the gym and arrive for work with wet hair. I feel a need to show them that I'm 100% engaged in taking care of myself (I say this as I'm packing a fat bowl with Atlanta No-Name sticky buds).

    I also buy an odd assortment of used books so that it looks like I have a wide range of interests (like I give a flying crapola about marketing, poetry or frontier recipes). I also keep coming to Hip Forums so I have some clue what the millennial part of the crew is talking about (it only helps a little though). I regularly bring my lunch in Whole Foods bags, though I rarely shop there. But the most important thing was learning the boss's schedule. It's split across company meetings, college games and sales efforts, but it has a rhythm, so I mapped it out on a calendar.

    Never skate out early while the boss is in the office.

    Having a boss is the main thing I dislike about having a "real" job.
     
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  12. la Principessa

    la Principessa Old School HF Member

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    I used to be on foodstamps. Jobs were and, if you don't believe everything Fox News tells you, they still are hard to come by if you are missing either a college degree or experience, or both. It's not a simple task to just go to school anymore. Not everyone has rich parents to pay off their student loans. It's a vicious cycle with the experience too. Maybe you spent four years in school but they're not hiring anyone with no experience. How do you get experience if they don't give you the opportunity in the first place? And why is it that the tens of thousands of dollars and years of time spent in school not enough to vouch for your ability?

    I can't speak for everyone, but I know that getting that money so that I could eat never made me any less determined to make my own way.

    People don't want to believe it, but actual cash assistance is even rarer to get. I was only ever accepted to get SNAP and I can't buy anything other than food with it. I still wanted to make money to pay bills and things I need like toilet paper and toothpaste. I guess I never became complacent because I knew it wasn't going to last forever, and we're not all lazy fucks like most conservatives think.
     
    Last edited: Jul 21, 2018
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  13. GeorgeJetStoned

    GeorgeJetStoned Odd Member

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    I'd never presume to know the thinking of whole groups of people, (there's a word for that I think). I know too many conservative people who don't fit the media narrative. They don't try to "save" me, I've never seen them pray, I've gotten very drunk with at least a half dozen of them. My veggie dealer is very conservative, but he channels that with raw greed.

    These days you can count on the media being accurate somewhere between 15% and 35% no matter which network/channel. Personally, I expect this. Which is why I read dozens of news sources daily. It's the only way to get near something that seems like the truth. But every so often you have to really test the waters and take a leap of "faith". Like going back to the window at the dog track 3 times, for the same race. As the odds fall into the abyss, it takes more money to achieve the original goal.

    After all, the media is in it for the money (and the prestige). That used to translate directly to printed circulation. These days it's all about the clicks. By the time the script has been handed to the pancake-slathered word spewer, it doesn't look like the original source material. Because it's been pushed through a room's worth of people to determine how to get the most bang for the buck as well as readership.

    Our systems of congressional bills suffer from this kind of mass editing as well. Just ask Bill Clinton what he thought about the Welfare Reform bill he was backing as opposed to the one that landed on his desk. Unfortunately it's not just the political interests, the 500 or so people who lord over 360 million people in the US who discriminate against the easiest targets in America, the poor.

    We can count on the same treatment from our employers. They want every moment to be theirs and only yield to things like lunch breaks and use of the restrooms begrudgingly. I've worked for rabid conservatives including an employer who liked me so much, he wanted me to convert to his faith, Church of Christ. Absurd. And I worked for an employer who frowned on anyone who wasn't doing volunteer work for Habit for Humanity or Goodwill. It was well known that if she didn't see you pulling a shift at one of their places, you weren't going to rocket up the corporate ladder.

    Their commonality of course was simple greed. But they encapsulate their intentions with smokescreens, and are very good at it. Gaslighting is another term that tries to describe it (we've had this problem for decades). The real treat is getting a boss who likes to rub your nose in their wealth. You, the cog being used to build their nest egg.

    Anyway, thanks for hitting the mark with your discussion. It was inspiring.
     
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  14. la Principessa

    la Principessa Old School HF Member

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    I expected to get reamed out for my opinion on this, but I'm glad I didn't...yet lol Thanks for seeing my point.
     
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  15. GeorgeJetStoned

    GeorgeJetStoned Odd Member

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    Reaming is a state of mind. And we have a lot of folks on HF who live that state of mind, If you haven't already noticed. To them I say, I just finished taking a half hour shower.

    Personally, I completely understand and support safety net programs. What I'm sick of is still needing them after so many decades. That reeks of mismanagement in both government and industry. It causes huge numbers of our population to exist in a virtual internment camp. And this has been happening for generations, affecting families in depressing ways.

    I actually volunteer for some agencies. I prefer the smaller ones, closer to home. I've helped a LOT of people get their resumes in order. I show them how to assemble a list of actual tasks for every previous employer (most jobs make people do lots of small shit). Then pick the task that best supports a position you're applying for and edit the resume to fit. In this day and age, customized resumes are the only way to catch a big fish. I helped a welder from Trinidad who didn't have certifications anyone wanted in the US. So I asked him about the safety training he had. The guy had worked on an island refinery, so he was used to regular safety training sessions. To the point of being able to recite them. After adjusting his resume, he got a job as a safety coordinator on a construction project. I figure it's better than huffing welding fumes till you retire.

    I still work for Habitat for Humanity, but mainly so I can glare at my former employer when they show up, regularly. Keeps me stress-free and elated!
     
    Last edited: Jul 22, 2018
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  16. la Principessa

    la Principessa Old School HF Member

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    Shit, I need help with my resume lol but I completely agree. It seems to me that most places that try to "help" poor people get jobs don't necessarily link them up to a position that is good for them. They just set them up with crappy McDonald's jobs, and ones no one else wants to do. Not every poor person has no qualifications, but even the ones that don't have a ton of experience still have relevant skills which employers don't seem to give a shit about. That's a big problem.

    We have a lot, and I mean a lot of homeless here. I'm sure some of them are those government moochers, but they are the ones that make the rest look bad and they are in the minority. I have seen and talked with them my whole life. Even my ex was homeless for a time. These programs do something, but it's just shy of being enough to get people on their feet. My ex was kicked out of a shelter after being there for a short time. He tried to get an extension because he had just gotten a job and wanted to have enough to give someone a weeks rent or whatnot so he could stay somewhere else. They denied him. He couldn't even get food stamps at the time either. Then the government goes and says people aren't working hard enough, but they help you get a shit job that won't even pay rent, and they kick you out of the shelter. It's not helping if you give a starving person a crumb and expect them to be full.
     
  17. la Principessa

    la Principessa Old School HF Member

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    People do take advantage, and that's part of the problem. But it seems that the people who take advantage ruin it for everyone else. The government keeps putting more restrictions and time limits on these benefits, and suddenly people who need them can't get it.

    And it's usually the people who don't need it that take advantage. I went to public school and do you know how many rich girls who had brand new cars and Prada bags got free lunch because their parents lied on the school lunch form? And while, I had to pay full price every day because my mom refused to lie and even though we were poor and had trouble making rent, we were still not poor enough to qualify. It's crooked and it isn't helping the
    people who need it, because they think everyone is taking advantage. My point is, that people need to stop blaming the poor and start blaming people who have enough and still want more.
     
  18. McFuddy

    McFuddy Visitor

    /thread
     
  19. GeorgeJetStoned

    GeorgeJetStoned Odd Member

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    I have been victim to similar. I was only homeless a few times, and then I usually found a room to rent or a garage. Getting restarted is a pain in the ass. All the deposits and fees and crap. It's as if we are expected to transition gradually. You know, Homeless then bus stop sleeper, then tent made of tarps, then cheap extended stay hotel, then apartment, then house yadda yadda yadda. What is not obvious till you're deep in it is the very difficult transition to complete autonomy/freedom. Transitioning from renting a room to renting an apartment was extremely difficult.

    Fast forward 2 decades. I was working all over the planet, but a lot of that in the middle east. I paid off the house, cars, student loans and credit cards. Then the government came knocking. They took almost everything that was left. And they knew how much that was. Not only did the federal government nab me hard, the state came up with all kinds of clever shit to rob me. Thankfully Jane, my wife, is a tax genius, but they still took horrible advantage of us. As if we weren't supposed to break into the next level.

    The few experiences I have had with lawyers convinces me that we're all fucked and that there is indeed an array of glass ceilings, brick walls, large piles of shit and of course, banana peels. All designed to keep you playing at a fixed level. Fixed in that, it can dip down, but rarely up. I'm not sure what I'm going to do for me and Jane, my wife. But our children won't be finishing college in debt and we're SO glad we didn't go for the BIG house, and we looked. But paid off house is a thing of beauty. Losing interest in fast cars, gambling and harassing former employers means I have time for cooler shit.

    Saturday I'm taking daughter to her Ukulele lessons (daughter in law will also be attending), then we're off to see a couple of psychics, then we hit the wine making store for yeast, SBS and a new hydrometer. Then we hit the vegan bakery, because it's SO freakin good and because we don't want to be hungry for the grocery marathon at Costco, Sprouts and one of the chains, probably Publix (Kroger sucks on Saturday). Then the family converges on the house to unload the groceries and the stuff we got at the occult store and the wine making store. Then Jane, my wife, is making Gumbo. With Okra and tomatoes from our garden, shrimp from the freezer (sue me) and sausage from the Greek butcher shop.

    /tangent
     
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  20. la Principessa

    la Principessa Old School HF Member

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    It certainly does feel like the system is rigged. Prices go up but the pay doesn't. I know conservatives instantly check out when I say this, but they do seem like they want people to stay poor so they can take the blame for everything wrong with the country. If they let us all do well and be successful then who would be to blame? Can't let it fall on the government because then they'd actually have to fix something.

    And that sounds good, can I come over for dinner? I'll bring bread and dessert lol
     

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