Shaming the bottom-feeders.

[aimeeandbeatles]

Because perhaps they're already shamed enough and deserve to be treated as basic humans? Oh, and I'm on disability. As in welfare.

I dare you to tell that to my face.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Hey Mouthwash, I lived off EBT (that's food stamps, for those of you who only know such programs by their demagogic political buzzword names) for 18 months. I used the same tea bag for three days before throwing it out, and ate one meal a day at times with the heat off and burning scavenged wood so that I could afford my rent and bills. What the hell do you know about degrading? You've quite literally never left the safe haven of mommy's nest. I would have been starving on the street if it wasn't for EBT. You can't understand that.

And by the way, I effing pay my taxes, taxes that take 25% out of my already miniscule paychecks.

Piss off, you know nothing of life, nothing of what you talk about.

 

[Goodfella]

Yeppers.

Well you'll see how that works out for you.

 

[Cutlass]

Essentially.

Actually, all I asked was that people on welfare show their thanks to those they take the resources away from. Not endorsing anything else. Why is that so controversial?

Why don't you stop stealing their resources, and then the problem will be solved.

 

[MobBoss]

There are probably plenty of us who work ourselves half to death, pay a huge chunk of our hard-earned money to Uncle Sam, then still have to deal with the notion that there is a huge population of people who don't work at all and yet receive all the necessities of life that we have to sweat and bleed for. They seem to think, interestingly enough, that they "deserve" those things.

I want to hear opinions on the following proposal:

All sources of relief for non-taxpaying individuals (free health care, places that accept food stamps, government housing, etc.) should have constant reminders as to how much money they are taking from taxpayers, or how much they save by being on programs that place the burden on taxpayers. They should also be encouraged to send public messages of thanks to society whenever they punch in their food stamp benefits card, or thank taxpayers for the government funded housing they live in. This should serve as a wake-up call to the less appreciative leechers and motivate them to do better.

Thoughts?

I'd just settle for them to take a mandatory no-notice drug test urinalysis every now and then.

Hey Mouthwash, I lived off EBT (that's food stamps, for those of you who only know such programs by their demagogic political buzzword names) for 18 months. I used the same tea bag for three days before throwing it out, and ate one meal a day at times with the heat off and burning scavenged wood so that I could afford my rent and bills. What the hell do you know about degrading? You've quite literally never left the safe haven of mommy's nest. I would have been starving on the street if it wasn't for EBT. You can't understand that.

And by the way, I effing pay my taxes, taxes that take 25% out of my already miniscule paychecks.

Piss off, you know nothing of life, nothing of what you talk about.

I was that poor and got denied food stamps/welfare due to a technicality. We finally got some food stamps about 6 months after we had already gotten ourselves jobs, so we used the food stamps for T-bone steaks. Hasn't changed my viewpoint about things one single bit.

 

[History_Buff]

I think it would be kind of cool if the government could issue you a hypothetical invoice so you knew exactly how much the services rendered actually cost. Would be a cool thing for everyone.

Of course, the costs of actually figuring that out, even approximately, would probably be far more than its worth.

 

[Mouthwash]

Hey Mouthwash, I lived off EBT (that's food stamps, for those of you who only know such programs by their demagogic political buzzword names) for 18 months. I used the same tea bag for three days before throwing it out, and ate one meal a day at times with the heat off and burning scavenged wood so that I could afford my rent and bills. What the hell do you know about degrading? You've quite literally never left the safe haven of mommy's nest. I would have been starving on the street if it wasn't for EBT.

How dare you! You should be kissing the shoes of the people who worked to put that food in your mouth.

 

[Goodfella]

I'd just settle for them to take a mandatory no-notice drug test urinalysis every now and then.

But that's a waste of time as so few recipients even use drugs. Plus, it's just invasive and arguably constitutes an unreasonable search and seizure.
Source:

Spoiler :

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/18/us/no-savings-found-in-florida-welfare-drug-tests.html

From July through October in Florida — the four months when testing took place before Judge Scriven’s order — 2.6 percent of the state’s cash assistance applicants failed the drug test, or 108 of 4,086, according to the figures from the state obtained by the group. The most common reason was marijuana use. An additional 40 people canceled the tests without taking them.

 

[Formaldehyde]

I think it would be kind of cool if the government could issue you a hypothetical invoice so you knew exactly how much the services rendered actually cost. Would be a cool thing for everyone.

Of course, the costs of actually figuring that out, even approximately, would probably be far more than its worth.

That reminds me of the supposed hundreds of thousands of dollars it takes to get people who are already being paid off their butts to search for someone who is lost. And how some want them to have to personally pay for it afterwards.

 

[MobBoss]

Actually, in the military, you got this letter once a year that did indeed break down the estimated fiscal value of your benefits while in service.

'Course we always laughed 'cause it included things like how much money you saved by eating at the mess hall vs eating out locally.

 

[bhsup]

How dare you! You should be kissing the shoes of the people who worked to put that food in your mouth.

You, sir, are a dick.

 

[Arwon]

I think it would be kind of cool if the government could issue you a hypothetical invoice so you knew exactly how much the services rendered actually cost. Would be a cool thing for everyone.

Of course, the costs of actually figuring that out, even approximately, would probably be far more than its worth.

On the supply side you can see what your taxes cover fairly easily. Aussie website is here - http://www.taxcheck.com.au/. There's probably one for other countries.

 

[MobBoss]

But that's a waste of time as so few recipients even use drugs.

Oh please.

Plus, it's just invasive and arguably constitutes an unreasonable search and seizure.
Source:

Spoiler :

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/18/us/no-savings-found-in-florida-welfare-drug-tests.html

I did it for 26 years while serving in the military. If its ok to do it to us, it should be ok to do it to anyone receiving government aid.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Makes the programs more expensive for no tangible benefit. There's a much better target for the shaming here. It would be much, much cheaper too.

 

[Puck Nutty]

There are probably plenty of us who work ourselves half to death, pay a huge chunk of our hard-earned money to Uncle Sam, then still have to deal with the notion that there is a huge population of people who don't work at all and yet receive all the necessities of life that we have to sweat and bleed for. They seem to think, interestingly enough, that they "deserve" those things.

I want to hear opinions on the following proposal:

All sources of relief for non-taxpaying individuals (free health care, places that accept food stamps, government housing, etc.) should have constant reminders as to how much money they are taking from taxpayers, or how much they save by being on programs that place the burden on taxpayers. They should also be encouraged to send public messages of thanks to society whenever they punch in their food stamp benefits card, or thank taxpayers for the government funded housing they live in. This should serve as a wake-up call to the less appreciative leechers and motivate them to do better.

Thoughts?

Yeah, that's what single moms and veterans on disability totally deserve, a daily middle finger from the state. Not all low income or unemployed people are welfare queens.

 

[Borachio]

On the supply side you can see what your taxes cover fairly easily. Aussie website is here - http://www.taxcheck.com.au/. There's probably one for other countries.

Ah yes. But it would be more interesting to know how much you owe the government for the services you've received so far. Or alternatively how much the government owes you.

 

[GhostWriter16]

A better idea is a basic living income that is given to anyone who asks, no questions asked.

And what gives you the right to steal that money from other people?

Would you personally hold the well off at gunpoint and force them to contribute nearly half their income for the programs you want? If you can't do it, why can "government?"

Great idea. Let's make the welfare system even more degrading and humiliating to its victims than it already is.

By its "Victims" you should mean the taxpayers who government takes from. Unfortunately, you don't.

All the extortion and greed in the American system comes from the top. There is essentially no one in America just milking the system from the bottom.

They're everywhere. That's what crony capitalism is.

I think it is a horrible idea overall. People legitimately needing a hand up don't need to be smacked on the hand first.

That said, I do have issues with trying to call things other than what they are, like the EITC not being properly called welfare. Fine, use it, and let those deserving avail themselves of it, but call it what it is and not an earned income credit.

How can anyone legitimately deserve someone else's money? That concept makes no sense.

I wonder what it would take to shame the far-right home-schooled kids into having any sense of compassion for their fellow man.

This has nothing to do with compassion, and everything to do with not being indoctrinated by the government system.

Hey Mouthwash, I lived off EBT (that's food stamps, for those of you who only know such programs by their demagogic political buzzword names) for 18 months. I used the same tea bag for three days before throwing it out, and ate one meal a day at times with the heat off and burning scavenged wood so that I could afford my rent and bills. What the hell do you know about degrading? You've quite literally never left the safe haven of mommy's nest. I would have been starving on the street if it wasn't for EBT. You can't understand that.

And by the way, I effing pay my taxes, taxes that take 25% out of my already miniscule paychecks.
Piss off, you know nothing of life, nothing of what you talk about.

Considering what the government steals from you, you should hate them as much as I do. Why don't you?

Actually, in the military, you got this letter once a year that did indeed break down the estimated fiscal value of your benefits while in service.

'Course we always laughed 'cause it included things like how much money you saved by eating at the mess hall vs eating out locally.

 

[History_Buff]

On the supply side you can see what your taxes cover fairly easily. Aussie website is here - http://www.taxcheck.com.au/. There's probably one for other countries.

Right, that tells you where your tax dollars go, but what I was imagining was a system where you get told how much you specifically cost the government. So if you went to the hospital, you'd get whatever done for free, and then get a fake invoice for what the government paid just to take care of you. Or if you tracked your road usage, you could input it into some system and see exactly how much damage to the system you caused, etc.

It would be dependent on a lot of rounding and assumptions, but it would be cool I think. Also wildly impractical.

 

[MobBoss]

Makes the programs more expensive for no tangible benefit. There's a much better target for the shaming here. It would be much, much cheaper too.

Actually, I disagree there is no tangible benefit. At the very least doing it would ensure the taxpaying public that their money isn't being used by those on government aid to simply waste the money on drugs.

I don't think you should under-estimate the actual benefit to be had there. A big part of the ill feelings towards those on government aid is the perception that they don't use the money for what it is intended. The program would go a very long way to quash that belief.

 

[Mouthwash]

You, sir, are a dick.

How clever of you to point out. Hmmmmm...