here is another example
 

My daughter fosters babies and attends court for them. The father and mother of the baby she now has, has admitted in court that he uses his check from the governement to buy drugs!!! Now he has a low IQ and is naive..... so he is honest..... but he admitted that everyone he knew did the same. She has many other stories about the same...I think in this case the court will not let the baby go back to that home.

This is the typical banter of the "haves" vs. "the have nots." I worked for the governament in PA. A welfare family of four received $460/month in cash, minus any child support which had been turned over to the State. They also received about $200 worth of Food Stamps, and medicaid which did NOT cover everything. When the economy started to crash, more and more "haves" ran out of their UC and were forced to apply for these benefits. Imagine their shock when they realized how little they were entitled to. I heard more people tell the tales of the "welfare cadillac" and the "welfare queens" that they had believed all of those years. They were beyond shocked at what they were to receive. Now some of these people had a Lexus or Infiniti that they now drove to the supermarket to spend those Food Stamps and so the tales live on.
And, yes, we all knew the "druggies" that were there. Federal law forbids the receipt of welfare by convicted/fleeing felons. Background checks were done on every applicant BEFORE they received any money.
Let's stop reinforcing the stereotypes that ALL (or even MOST) welfare recipients are lazy, crazed druggie baby machines!

Amen to that, Mac9 - in fact, let's stop stereotyping, period. Take each person you meet and decide if you like them or not as individuals. I have met some of the best rich people, poor people, people on welfare, people who work three jobs, people with tats - and I have met the worst. There are a-holes and wonderful people of every race, creed and religion so just take them one at a time.

nitakk, can we be friends? I'm already friends with mac.

Thank you for saying so well what I feel.

Haves and Have nots.
 

There is no shame in having money that you worked for and saved and did without while thinking of a goal....which was not to be dependent on others, to take care of yourself now and later when you couldn't earn money and not thinking that the government, or your family or your church had to supply things for you.

There is no shame in cutting your own hair and sewing some things to save money and cooking from scratch...just as a habit, because it was cheaper.

There is no shame in choosing the Taurus instead of the Lexus because that extra money might help your own grandkids in college.

There is no shame in taking care of your family and other people who truly deserve a hand up, not a hand out.

There is no shame in starting out poor and carefully taking care of the money you earn so that you have enough excess that you are not a burden to society.

There is a damn shame in spending money on things you can't afford and don't need, especially if you don't have the money.

Help me down from this soap box.

Boy Howdy.

Gracie, for some, they could afford the Lexus when they bought/leased it but they couldn't afford being out of work for over a year. They couldn't afford major medical expenses. They couldn't afford the dot.com bust or the stock market crash.

I was a saver, even as a kid. Even my pennies squeaked before they were spent. Things I had no control over (illness, boarding school, a bout of unemployment) wiped me out financially. I've managed to survive without getting assistance but it hasn't been easy. I had one major advantage that a lot of others didn't -- I knew how to save my money and how to budget. It is amazing how many people truly don't know how to do that and I'm not just talking about my daughter's generation, I'm talking about baby boomers.

If you have no clue how to save, if you're used to being able to buy on impulse, then it is hard to recover when some real bad luck comes your way. So, I do understand my friend and her Lexus getting public assistance. I do understand that things happen. Some of us are better able to survive those things than others.

most of them also have vanity license plates and piercings.

I'm with you GG
 

But I also know that there are exceptions to every rule especially when a black cloud follows you around thru no fault of your own, just a bunch of unfortunate circumstances and poor health would be at the top of this list...

and they keep on making babies

I agree. I am not nearly as liberal as some on this forum - but I hope to be non-judgmental. I think judgment is best left to someone other than the very human humans that we are.

Tattoos are not necessarily bad
 

I hate to admit to getting old, but I live in The Villages and am on Medicare and SS. Many of us are. Tattoos had a certain stigma to them years ago. That is no longer the case. Try going to Daytona during spring break and look at the young people on the beach. You will find tattoos on many of them. You'll be able to see most of the tattoos, but not all, on display when these young college guys are in swimsuits and the gals in bikinis.

Keep in mind that these young people are in college and will wind up being solid citizens of these United States. These kids are our future doctors, lawyers, engineers, politicians, etc. You will have no trouble distinguishing between these tattoos and those worn by gang members.

Don't be surprised when one of your children or grandchildren show up with a tattoo. If they choose to show it to you admire the work and think about the pain endured to get one.