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Thread: COVID-19 Discussion

  1. #941
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cobrajet View Post
    Don't get me wrong. I agree with you in the sense that this country is wealthy enough to take care of it's needy. But I see young, male, able-bodied "needy" people in line at the grocery store all the time. They reek of weed, have $200 shoes, designer clothes, a nicer smart phone than I have, and are paying for their food with an EBT card. It's not all women 'n weans, which is what I have a problem with. Our social safety net shouldn't be used as a hammock, and a lot of people are doing just that. I saw a lot of this pre-COVID.

    If given a choice between working for food and voting for food, many people are going to choose to vote for food. And housing. And health care. And free college. And a free cellphone. And free... And free... And free...

    Franklin recognized this as America's ticking time bomb, and we need to remember it. One political party in this country sells nothing but victimhood and dependency, so I fear the situation will get far worse before it gets better.
    Can I get AMEN brothuh! This is my point as well. There are people born with mental and physical impairments that proclude them from working. At least working what we would consider a normal job. I want those people taken care of to the utmost. Money for them, care for them, whatever they want or need to give them as normal a life as can be. I would not hold back a dollar.

    But when I see all these able bodied people on (for example) Judge Judy, then it makes me want to hide, cheat and steal my money away from a gobment that can let that crap happen so much and so non-chalantly. From the 30 year old body builder who has been disabled from work since he was 22 because he fell and chipped a fingernail (who is also working under the table painting houses) that gets weed subsidies for his "chronic pain," to the baby-mamas who are 25 years old and have 9 children with 8 baby daddies who get so much money from SSI for their kids, EBT, cash assistance, food stamps, section 8 (or whatever number it is housing), and has boyfriend number 10 living with her for free because he's not on the lease, while she "takes care of her grandmama and gets paid for it." I get ticked off when I hear about it, day in and day out. We could treat our disabled and retirees with dignity and respect if our gobment wasn't busy shelling it out through the nose on able bodied people who should actually be working.

    Our gobment should work like a country club. Those who join the club and PAY DUES, are the ones that get benefits (like tennis court, swimming pool, free greens fees, cheap dinners, etc). Club members don't pay dues for nothing, and then non club members walk in from the street and get to use all the benefits. That's not how "The Country Club" works. Yet that's how our gobment works. I (and all other tax payers) pay all the dues (taxes), and I don't get jack-crap for benefits. The crack-heads, illegals, baby-mamas, able bodied lazy asses and cheaters get all the benefits, and stay home and play xbox and smoke weed, while the tax payers are busy making a living and paying taxes.

    Well guess what? If we said, the free ride is over. If you want discounted or free college, you have to contribute to society, earn money and pay your taxes. Then you can qualify for benefits ... but if and only if your drug test comes back clean. Then we'd have a lot more people out working, getting busy, being productive, ACTUALLY MOVING OUR SOCIETY AHEAD, and not getting wasted on a daily basis on free drugs and food stamps, and wasting their life away playing video games.

    But the % of those who actually work and pay taxes gets lower and lower and lower. To the point where they are out numbered by those who just want free stuff so they can smoke pot and play xbox all day. In my opinion, my previously great state of GA has just went that way. Now the gimme free stuff people outnumber the working class. The voting showed it.

    Oh well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Pass me a joint, I'm going to go downtown and stand in line for my Cash Assistance.


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  2. #942
    Senior Member AtomicPunk's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 7milesout View Post
    If I had to speak in public, I'd be like Jackie Gleason on the Honeymooners, when he was put in front of a television camera. "A huminuh huminah ... free this ... huminah huminah free that, etc."
    There it is: our first Jackie Gleason reference of 2021!

  3. #943
    Senior Member Dirk Diggler's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 7milesout View Post
    Can I get AMEN brothuh! This is my point as well. There are people born with mental and physical impairments that proclude them from working. At least working what we would consider a normal job. I want those people taken care of to the utmost. Money for them, care for them, whatever they want or need to give them as normal a life as can be. I would not hold back a dollar.

    But when I see all these able bodied people on (for example) Judge Judy, then it makes me want to hide, cheat and steal my money away from a gobment that can let that crap happen so much and so non-chalantly. From the 30 year old body builder who has been disabled from work since he was 22 because he fell and chipped a fingernail (who is also working under the table painting houses) that gets weed subsidies for his "chronic pain," to the baby-mamas who are 25 years old and have 9 children with 8 baby daddies who get so much money from SSI for their kids, EBT, cash assistance, food stamps, section 8 (or whatever number it is housing), and has boyfriend number 10 living with her for free because he's not on the lease, while she "takes care of her grandmama and gets paid for it." I get ticked off when I hear about it, day in and day out. We could treat our disabled and retirees with dignity and respect if our gobment wasn't busy shelling it out through the nose on able bodied people who should actually be working.

    Our gobment should work like a country club. Those who join the club and PAY DUES, are the ones that get benefits (like tennis court, swimming pool, free greens fees, cheap dinners, etc). Club members don't pay dues for nothing, and then non club members walk in from the street and get to use all the benefits. That's not how "The Country Club" works. Yet that's how our gobment works. I (and all other tax payers) pay all the dues (taxes), and I don't get jack-crap for benefits. The crack-heads, illegals, baby-mamas, able bodied lazy asses and cheaters get all the benefits, and stay home and play xbox and smoke weed, while the tax payers are busy making a living and paying taxes.

    Well guess what? If we said, the free ride is over. If you want discounted or free college, you have to contribute to society, earn money and pay your taxes. Then you can qualify for benefits ... but if and only if your drug test comes back clean. Then we'd have a lot more people out working, getting busy, being productive, ACTUALLY MOVING OUR SOCIETY AHEAD, and not getting wasted on a daily basis on free drugs and food stamps, and wasting their life away playing video games.

    But the % of those who actually work and pay taxes gets lower and lower and lower. To the point where they are out numbered by those who just want free stuff so they can smoke pot and play xbox all day. In my opinion, my previously great state of GA has just went that way. Now the gimme free stuff people outnumber the working class. The voting showed it.

    Oh well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Pass me a joint, I'm going to go downtown and stand in line for my Cash Assistance.
    Sure, there's going to abuse of any social safety net policy but you act like that's the rule, not the exception. The majority of people on food assistance are "crack head bums" but working poor whose salaries can't keep up with the cost of living raising/pay stagnation. Hell half of American families can't afford a $1k emergency. That's real bad for our economy. When my father was hired by the CDC in the late 70s, he had a BA in History from a small east Texas college. CDC gave him a chance because they liked his attitude and there were only 10 other guys competing for that job. Now there's 100. When he is having a good day, meaning the dementia isn't as pronounced, he worries about the lack opportunities for people. I do too. I work my ass off being a nurse aide, bartending, and going back to school at 39 (sad, I know lol) and I get holding freeloaders to account. I've see plenty of them at my city hospital, but I also see decent hard working folks get destroyed financially from being underinsured or no insurance. Believe it or not some folks just don't have the aptitude to get higher education, but they work their asses off at McDonalds/Walmart etc. Not everyone can sit in an office. I guess my point is if you work hard and do right by society you deserve some of the basic safe guards an engineer from Toyota would get, like not having to decide between rent and seeing a doctor or getting paid a living wage. I'm not talking about them both making the same, that's communism thru and thru. I'm talking about that Walmart worker getting paid enough to not have to rely on food stamps. Just bare minimum stuff rarely. Now if your just a straight up criminal, forever abusing the system, I got nothing for you, especially if you refused to turn your life around. I get that from conservatives, totally.

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  5. #944
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    My friend from grade 9 has an advanced degree in hard sciences, and I think he makes about 2x what I'm bringing in, I never asked but that's my guess. My friend's friend who has an MBA makes more I think, but I think he's more investment savvy and we all talk sports and politics, never money so...

    Some people need to smell the coffee when it comes to being responsible with their money. Walk the walk and talk the talk, goes farther in teaching people how to be self-reliant. I think they should have a budgeting class because even my genius friend is no money man like me lol.

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  6. #945
    I guess there's a fine line between being working poor and collecting assistance and not working poor. I get that there isn't much point in getting off your ass and getting a min wage job if you're not gonna be any better off than if you had just stayed on the couch collecting welfare. Why work and barely scrape by unless you have a chance of moving up in the world. The system is pretty broken up here too.

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  8. #946
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    *sips coffee*

    Ah, another beautiful morning while the peasants continue to argue over pennies. May as well dip my toe in...

    Quote Originally Posted by Fummins View Post
    I guess there's a fine line between being working poor and collecting assistance and not working poor. I get that there isn't much point in getting off your ass and getting a min wage job if you're not gonna be any better off than if you had just stayed on the couch collecting welfare. Why work and barely scrape by unless you have a chance of moving up in the world. The system is pretty broken up here too.
    Yeah, that's the rub. Instead of the min wage workers getting angry at the people on welfare because they are having a similar QoL without needing to go to a job every day, they should actually be getting angry at the people that employ them for giving them such shyte wages that they exist barely above poverty line. This is assuming that the worker hates their job. If they like their job, then why get crunchy to begin with?

    IMHO, there is no "inherent good" in busting your ass doing something you hate. Society owes you nothing for being a hard worker. As my advisor used to say: "Do not endeavor simply to work hard - the hardest working man in the world is probably some peasant farmer in India who lives in constant poverty. Work effectively." If you spend each day killing yourself and being miserable just for the sake of "the greater good," then please stop. You are doing us all a disservice. If you really can have a better or equal QoL without having a job, then you are stupid if you keep that job. But simply based on statistics, as well as the personal freedoms/sense of accomplishment you get to enjoy by being independent of the government for your employment, I highly doubt that's true in the vast majority of cases.

    In any case, w.r.t. COVID,

    It seems Boeing (one of the largest employers in my area) has shuttered at least one manufacturing center, and is also selling off some of its buildings, including the one where my roommate works. Pretty big blow to the Puget Sound region if they pack up and ship out.

    That being said, the UN is going to penalize them massively if they keep their corporate and manufacturing headquarters in Washington (due to preferential tax policies in the state being considered anti-competitive in the international market). Combined with revenue loss from COVID and everyone working remotely now, I wouldn't be surprised if they took the opportunity to relocate entirely.

  9. #947
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dirk Diggler View Post
    The majority of people on food assistance are "crack head bums"
    You said it. I tend to agree. Not necessarily crack, but I bet the majority or those on food stamps either do some type of illegal drugs or get drunk on a regular basis. And yes, I think most people living their lives on OPM is the rule, not the exception. It because bleeding hearts have made it so easy to act pathetic and then get some benefits. OPM = Other People's Money.

    Even from when I was a small child, in elementary school, many adults (teachers, relatives, etc) always said over and over again, life is about decisions. You can make wise decisions and have a decent life, or you can make bad decisions and struggle the rest of your life. Even as a small kid, I LISTENED, and took it to heart. I stayed away from those dudes who wanted to party party party and smoke up some drugs, because that's what the adults meant. Make good decisions, stay away from things that don't benefit your future. I haven't done the first drug. And very little alcohol.

    I bet there's rarely a child in the world that is not told that or similar by adults. Some listen, some don't. I shouldn't have to pay the way for those who didn't listen, and now as an adult sit at home, ride the gobments dime, play xbox and smoke weed all day. I shouldn't have to, but I do. So do many of us. Ohhhh my bleeding heart!

    There's a hierarchy in life whether you or anyone thinks it's fair or not. Don't think I started my life "working for Toyota." My first job was bagging groceries and carrying them to cars for $3.35 an hour. But I did that as a kid. If you're an adult and dicked around doing stupid stuff in your life and you're now 30 years old and bagging groceries ... that IS YOUR FAULT. I also worked 4 out of the 5 years it took to get my college degree. The first year I walked on to the football team, wound up injured at the end of the first year. I graduated college with no debt because I worked the whole time. Got my first engineering job, and listened to the old guys. Listened, paid attention and learned. I made entry level money. I think it was $24k a year. Not too very long ago really. I put my nose down and went to work. I heard about the 401k. I listened, learned and took advantage of free money big time. And now I'm in a decent spot in my life. If I lost my job, it would now hurt my ego more than my financial future. I'd be OK financially. I'm a 49 years old codger.

    I would love to be able to click check boxes on how I would want my taxes spent when filing my tax returns. Schools, military, police, disabled. Anyone receiving any money after that would have to pass a drug test as their #1 qualification. I have to pass a drug test to earn it and fork it over, they should have to pass a drug test to receive it.

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  10. #948
    Senior Member Dirk Diggler's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 7milesout View Post
    You said it. I tend to agree. Not necessarily crack, but I bet the majority or those on food stamps either do some type of illegal drugs or get drunk on a regular basis. And yes, I think most people living their lives on OPM is the rule, not the exception. It because bleeding hearts have made it so easy to act pathetic and then get some benefits. OPM = Other People's Money.

    Even from when I was a small child, in elementary school, many adults (teachers, relatives, etc) always said over and over again, life is about decisions. You can make wise decisions and have a decent life, or you can make bad decisions and struggle the rest of your life. Even as a small kid, I LISTENED, and took it to heart. I stayed away from those dudes who wanted to party party party and smoke up some drugs, because that's what the adults meant. Make good decisions, stay away from things that don't benefit your future. I haven't done the first drug. And very little alcohol.

    I bet there's rarely a child in the world that is not told that or similar by adults. Some listen, some don't. I shouldn't have to pay the way for those who didn't listen, and now as an adult sit at home, ride the gobments dime, play xbox and smoke weed all day. I shouldn't have to, but I do. So do many of us. Ohhhh my bleeding heart!

    There's a hierarchy in life whether you or anyone thinks it's fair or not. Don't think I started my life "working for Toyota." My first job was bagging groceries and carrying them to cars for $3.35 an hour. But I did that as a kid. If you're an adult and dicked around doing stupid stuff in your life and you're now 30 years old and bagging groceries ... that IS YOUR FAULT. I also worked 4 out of the 5 years it took to get my college degree. The first year I walked on to the football team, wound up injured at the end of the first year. I graduated college with no debt because I worked the whole time. Got my first engineering job, and listened to the old guys. Listened, paid attention and learned. I made entry level money. I think it was $24k a year. Not too very long ago really. I put my nose down and went to work. I heard about the 401k. I listened, learned and took advantage of free money big time. And now I'm in a decent spot in my life. If I lost my job, it would now hurt my ego more than my financial future. I'd be OK financially. I'm a 49 years old codger.

    I would love to be able to click check boxes on how I would want my taxes spent when filing my tax returns. Schools, military, police, disabled. Anyone receiving any money after that would have to pass a drug test as their #1 qualification. I have to pass a drug test to earn it and fork it over, they should have to pass a drug test to receive it.
    I think we're talking about 2 different things. I'm talking about the growing working poor in this country, not people who don't work/on welfare. Are you this against Corporate welfare? Lol Some how I don't think so.

  11. #949
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dirk Diggler View Post
    I think we're talking about 2 different things. I'm talking about the growing working poor in this country, not people who don't work/on welfare. Are you this against Corporate welfare? Lol Some how I don't think so.
    Maybe we are. For those working poor ... they deserve benefits because if they are working, they are paying taxes. More power, and more benefits to 'em! I'm not sure I understand what you mean by Corporate welfare...

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  13. #950
    Time for a time out for this thread.

    I definitely appreciate that people are keeping this thread civil even as it veers off track and gets more political, but there are other forums out there that welcome discussion of political philosophy / social issues.

    That's not what we're here for.

    Let's stick to Mirage talk.

    Thank you, from one of your benevolent dictators.


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