Welfare Peon to Planet Romney: Fact Check This!

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Welfare Peon to Planet Romney: Fact Check This!

by breakingranks

Why am I not surprised that Romney just pulls "facts" out of his (ass)hat regarding the relationship of welfare to work.

Romney is not trying to redefine welfare. He's trying to redefine work...as slavery:

When the welfare reauthorization bill was passed, effort was taken specifically to limit the type of work that qualified as work for welfare. There had been reports of wide array of activities that were really not work but were being called work. And so Congress said that the federal government may not provide a waiver from the work requirement, you may not redefine the work requirement. The president’s decision to say, no, in fact, we are going to open welfare waivers to states or excuses from work requirements, is a violation of the act and says once again we’re going to allow people to escape the work requirements

Maximum welfare in the State of California is $330/month: under normal circumstances it is payable to your LANDLORD (any money for utilities is a decision your landlord, who is already taking a big cut in rent, gets to make). This "general assistance" is also considered a "loan": you sign papers to repay it.

So basically the "work" requirement amounts to working for free (probably for private entities instead of the State): you aren't being paid for your work now (it goes to your Landlord) and that money will actually be taken out of any paycheck you get in the future.

What do we call being obliged by the State to work for free? Slavery. What do you call being physically punished for refusing to work for free (having to sleep in the street and starving to death). Slavery. What do you call being at the life-and-death mercy of an authority's decisions? Slavery.

Romney, stop calling it "work" like it will pay minimum wage and provide a livelihood. There's no choice, it's not paid, and it doesn't provide a livelihood. In fact, the people who are packed like sardines in the house where the Landlord is farming their $330/month probably live under slave conditions 24 hours/day.

Romney, you are calling for slavery.

- more -

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/23/1123580/-Welfare-Peon-to-Planet-Romney-Fact-Check-This

I have never read a more well-written and exact personal account on the state of welfare.

“Where are the jobs?”: Scenes from California’s Job Club

Romney says Obama "gutted" welfare reform by waiving work requirements. But what if there's no work to be found?

By Dashka Slater



<...>

Ever since 1996, when President Bill Clinton pledged to “end welfare as we know it,” welfare recipients have been required to work in exchange for aid. That might mean having a regular job – a modest income isn’t counted against your grant — or it could mean an approved “welfare to work” activity such as job training or working toward a GED. In California, where cash aid to parents with minor children is known as Cal-WORKS, the seven-week program, officially called Job Club/Job Search, is based on the assumption that the only thing standing between aid recipients and gainful employment is a decent outfit and a little coaching. The first three weeks are devoted to sprucing up resumes, practicing interview skills, and pep talks. The last four weeks are spent applying for jobs. If, at the end of seven weeks, a Cal-WORKS client doesn’t have a job, she is automatically enrolled in the county’s workfare program, where she’ll perform 30 to 35 hours a week of unpaid duties until she’s either found a paying job or used up her time on aid.

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http://www.salon.com/2012/08/24/where_are_the_jobs_scenes_from_californias_job_club/

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