Unemployment Is a Full-Time Job

[eridani]

http://www.takepart.com/feature/2016/01/29/unemployment-full-time-job?cmpid=tpdaily-eml-2016-01-29

The single-story moss-green box-shaped house must pass inspection each year for the family to qualify for renewal of their Section 8 voucher, which expires after six years. The house didn't pass the first two times the inspector came, and Karen has three chances to get things right, or the voucher will be revoked. The next inspection will be the third.

Everything has to be perfect. The first time, the inspector said the carpet was too dirty—even though Karen had spent $100 to have it professionally cleaned. She had also paid to repair the doorjamb that her twin boys cracked by slamming the closet door too hard. She patched and painted the wall herself, carefully matching the original, and replaced the latch (another $30). The second time, she forgot to clean the oven. She remembers how embarrassed she was when the inspector opened the oven and frowned, and she thought, “Of course.”

Karen doesn’t want to risk losing the house she and her husband worked so hard to get. Between caring for her kids and studying to become a paralegal, Karen does odd jobs when she can find them, and her husband usually manages to get about 40 hours of work per week at an auto detailer. It doesn’t leave a lot of time to cook and clean and shuttle the kids from school to their doctor’s appointments and after-school programs and manage the reams of paperwork generated by the government programs, like Section 8, welfare, and food stamps, that the family depends on to get by.

Despite nearly two decades since welfare reform required those on government assistance to invest a substantial amount of time training or looking for work, the refrain from American politicians and much of the public is that people are poor because they don’t work hard enough or are otherwise somehow to blame for their condition. A Pew poll from 2014 found that just over half of Republicans believe that poor people are “lazy.” A majority of wealthy Americans are under the impression that poor people’s lives are easy because they work less. In a January forum on poverty, the GOP presidential candidates all extolled the virtues of government programs that give states control over distributing entitlements while criticizing the people who receive such “handouts.”

[raccoon]

1. If that's what they think, boy, are they out of touch.

A majority of wealthy Americans are under the impression that poor people’s lives are easy because they work less.

Of course, it's also convenient for them to believe that.

[ypsfonos]

2. part of the Republicans "Contract with America"

Dutifully signed by Bill Clinton with Hillary's blessing!

Disgusting, and evil!

[FLPanhandle]

3. A few things come to mind

There are leaches and people who scam the system. Those people get all the media stories and airtime causing outrage new rules & regulations that do more to harm the honest hardworking poor than those regulations do to stop the unethical. We should rethink a better way to ensure people like Karen get help while having some controls to minimize abuse of the system.

This will be an unpopular opinion here, but Karen, is not blameless for her condition. Karen, stop having children! From the story, she doesn't get benefits for the youngest as he was born while she was already on welfare. As the story says, it costs $12,000 per year for child care where she is. An extra $1000 per month to her budget would be huge! In fact, don't have any children until you are financially stable enough to support them (and children are a HUGE expense). To anyone working, unless you have a thousand bucks or more lying around at the end of each month, don't have kids. Karen and her husband would be doing much better without children or, at least, didn't have another child while already on welfare. Yes, I know some here will be pissed by the simple fact children are expensive and you shouldn't have them if you can't afford them --- blast away but the fact remains.

I'm really not sure of the best solution. Some controls are needed, and some people do make bad choices, but how to get help to those who need it without making is a red tape nightmare.