that is ONE issue, and the question remains, how does an observer from the outside look at a stranger and know which ISSUE theirs is?

People think they NEED a phone. Perhaps they do?
I applied for an Obama phone and didn't qualify.
I know people that have 4 or 6 Obama phones with free minutes.
They also have the latest phones with service plans.
Then they tell you they only use their paid phone for emergencies.
Isn't that what the Obama phone is meant to be?

Diddo

Mine died when I was 13, Mom raised all 8 of us kids. oldest was 16, youngest was 3 No welfare.. no food stamps, no section 8. the ones who were teenagers went to school and worked. ( butcher shop, grocery store, delivered newspapers, mowed lawns, ect, ect Gave our pay to Mom. the younger ones helped Mom with the house, laundry, dinner.. Gram and Pop helped out, relative did to

Responsibility, determination morals, pride

My mothers words. " don't complain".

we had nothing.. but we did have pride and determination.

but no, just have a kid and go on welfare.. let baby daddy run free to the next one... work... nah.. work the system instead.

hard work is for chumps... right?

its not actually an OBAMA phone, it is a phone service provided by the phone companies since well before Obama was in office.

The phone is meant as a means of communicating just like any other phone. To be able to communicate is not a 'luxury' too is it? Because employers need a number to call, and family or friends need a number to call, and people need phones to call FROM to make arrangements for kids or check on things ...et cetera, et cetera ... et cetera

they are very basic phones, so what is wrong with that?

The ISSUE is the rampant fraud as a whole.
The over-all effect.

A woman with 4 kids in a grocery store may or may not be on assistance, may or may not be a single parent, may or may not be abusing the system.
But, we are exposed to enough examples that its reasonable to think she is.

When I was on assistance, pushing a kart thru a store with 4 kids in tow I had a kart full of supplies to last the month.
When I was working and pushing a kart thru a store with 4 kids in tow I had a kart with groceries for a week.

Having experienced food stamp living, I recognize it.
When I see a kart full of high end items in quantity and she is towing along 4 kids I suspect she is abusing the system. They are not always sing food stamps but I don't know that, they could just have plenty of money.
But I do know that when I have plenty of money, I don't shop for a month with kids in tow. When I have only one income per month I tend to fill up with quantity.
People usually don't buy 10 family packs of steak once a month unless there isn't money available on a regular basis.
Whats more, but not a prevailent in today's world due to benefit dates being random, most of these people are buying mass quantities around the end or beginning of the month.
Then you happen to see them loading up in the tricked out caddy with custom wheels.
No I can't know their circumstances but I have an idea because I have experience and plenty of examples.

When my daughter was born 14 years ago, I was in the waiting room when they asked a young woman for her Medicaid card. She was in designer clothes, shoes, and had her cell phone plugged into the wall on the charger. Back then I couldn't afford a cell phone and my clothes and shoe were from Wal-Mart. I was tired because I had worked all day. I was paying medical bills, insurance, and everything else it takes to run a home. It's time that we aren't to pc to ask how people on welfare how they can afford an iPhone, cryise, 4-wheeler, nail appointments, etc, when they can't afford food and medical.

My grandfather who is 91, 92 next month says the same thing.

this mentality of hey Im breathing you owe me, hey you have more than I have , you owe me.

Hey I dont think its fair that you sit in first class therefore I want to government to take from you and redistribute it to make it fair

Fair my azz, how about you do the things Ive done like work 80 hour weeks, like skip the big game only to study , skip the partying the weekend to read more books to help me flourish in my business.

how about when I go to the gym and decide to eat healthy skipping eating junk food and playing video games to all hours of the night.

is that fair?

Well, That's what I have heard people refer to those phones as...Obama Phones.

What is wrong is people don't NEED more than one phone.
Especially subsidized phones.
I know a lot of people that have an Obama phone and a regular phone.
I know some that have more than one Obama phone.
My daughter worked for a company that provided phones like that.
She tried to get me one and found out I didn't qualify because according to the qualification, even on disability, I made enough money to pay for my own phone.
I didn't get mad and fight about it.
I said, "oh, okay. Well we tried"

Its not the phones that are the issue.
Its the fraudulent abuse that is reflected in the entire welfare system.
People thinking they deserve a handout and fighting to get it even when they don't need it.

how about everyone stop whinging about the choices they made not being the choices EVERYONE make ..

how bout dah?



yeah, fraud and abuse are problems, so is the insistence by some that there should be a restricted list on items that people on assistance can enjoy or be in possession of.

Cool beans..

And will you get me a unicorn for my birthday too?

To pretend people are blind is just crazy. The woman at the desk shook her head when the woman went to get her phone and charger before handing over her Medicaid card. Nobody needs every detail to know that she could have been paying at least part of the medical bill instead of a phone bill. I think it's time case workers are trained to ask those question. Section 8 needs to send out investigator to see if baby daddies are living off tax payers too. Food stamp cards should send an alert when high $$ items are being pitched. Like a ton of steaks for a cookout. If mom's can't explain,cut off benefits.

Yeah, make them eat Gravy Train or Alpo.

They're poor, they don't count.

I dont know, do you receive assistance from anywhere? I have to know that you are 'worthy' and 'deserving' ...lol

Because if you can afford those items you shouldn't need constant assistance.
If you need constant assistance you shouldn't have those items because you are surviving on charity.
You are NOT 'threadbare' which is why help is provided.
When you are no longer 'threadbare' you no longer need help.
To ignore that understanding is unreasonable.
To ignore the examples around us is delusional.

The problem with fraud exists.
Its not being fixed.
As long as it continues there will be conflict over it.
Ignoring the problem is not going to make it go away.

yeah yeah, you want welfare recipients to enjoy the life we working people enjoy , I get it.

You're out on in left field picking daisies enjoying a few too many suds but hey whatever.


What you dont seem to grasp maybe its because of your disliking of the "orange one" is people on assistance shouldn't be living beyond their means, the assistance they get is for survival, basic survival

I dont see having a free phone as basic survival, access to the net as basic survival, a flat screen TV as basic survival, being able to save for vacation as basic survival

Ive seen people who live on meager wages that dont have flat screen TV, the up to date kick azz computer system let alone video games galore.

They live within their means, Ive seen people like that dont even have a computer they go the library and use one.

they are saving , scrimping by.

yet the welfare cheat lives like someone in the 1% crowd, B.S.

Send me an email so I can reply. I can't mail you directly, I don't fit your parameters.

And yes, I'm worthy of my unicorn. ;)

if you can afford what exactly?

a candy bar? Cause thats like a dollar. So a dollar should suffice to prevent you from needing assistance?

or how about video games that someone else GIVES you or that you get discounted five dollars a pop. could that five dollars support your needs instead?

and that is the issue for me, people need help before they get to 'threadbare' because once you are THREAD bare the further you have to go to get out .... ASsistance can help the 'thread bare' poor, but it can also assist people trying to avoid becoming 'thread bare' poor.

I'm truly sorry no one loves them. That they are alone and cast off in the world. Their existence must be a living hell.

But that's not my fault.

My youngest brother, just gave my middle brother a car. It wasn't his birthday, no special occasion, he just knew that he needed it, and he had purchased a new one.

So he gave him a 2008 Mercury cougar.

It's called having a family. I know there are a lot of people that don't have it. But that doesn't make me jealous of the Kennedys, or the Rockefellers. We do what we can for the people we love.

yeah, living on 300 cash and 300 food each month is like living in the 1% if you happen to have a flat screen or a phone .. or video games or a nice computer ...lol, unbelievable


and thats in the nutshell, its about the idea that if they are on assistance, they are not as 'deserving' as the people who are not.

doesnt matter if they worked and hit hard times, if they happen to have family or friends who dont want them feeling like they are pieces of CRAP that society treats them as and gets them some 'gifts' sometimes, doesnt matter if they had a partner or another source or non tax income that ended and they are struggling ... they dont deserve to have what 'working' folks have ....

and THATS the ego problem that kills me. The assumption people have that they can know another persons situation in terms of their life and the 'things' that may be in it.

you dont know that? you are just ASSuming things.

how do you know that their parents are even alive?

Maybe they dont want material things, ever considered that?

But you ASSume they have no one that loves enough to give them gifts.

no wonder Christmas is commercialized ( yes that was off topic)