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Author Topic:   Too many gov. programs????
Planet_Soul
unregistered
posted July 24, 2005 06:25 AM           Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Ok, this is my first time posting here so bear with me. Moving right along, am I the only one annoyed with the surplus of gov. programs to help the disadvantaged? I'm not close to wealthy by any means, and I do understand that people go throught financial crisis but still....

Here's some examples from my own experiences

I used to work as a Leasing Agent at a gov. owned apt. complex, and was shocked by how many people cheat and abuse gov. programs. I had residents paying $5 rent, and owning brand new SUV's. Some residents would claim to have no income, and paid no rent at all. They actually had a "utility allowance" which means they'd get a nice check to pay their energy bill. All these people had to do was fill out "verifications' that they had little or no income and that was it. Many of them weren't even't legal residents.

Then there's the welfare to work thing. I don't understand how the welfare reform act is much of a reform with all the trimmings that it still has. Some people at my work place get clothing allowances, mileage checks/free bus rides and paid childcare. Geez, I live 30 mins away I wish I had a free ride

Fianlly, there are all these other hardship programs. Programs that will pay PG&E bills, Housing Vouchers for discount rent, and Lord knows what else.

I feel bad for severly poor and disabled people, but this is crap. I've seen that the majority of people on these programs lie and cheat. They have like 7 kids, and claim they're single parents and then oops here comes the 8th kids. Wonder how that happened with no other adult around eh? I don't know if I'm being cyncial, but yes it really does annoy me when all of these comes out of tax payer's wallets. Everytime our Govenor attempts to cut funds for these programs, people get all fired up and start marching and protesting outside of Sacramento. Isn't anyone else tired of people not taking responsibility for their actions/situations? Am I the only one who thinks all these assistance easy streets make people even MORE dependent on the government??????????


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Saturn's Child
unregistered
posted July 24, 2005 07:09 PM           Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I know what you mean. The main problem is though that the programs and the people that manage them are plagued with mile after mile of bureaucratic red tape. The social workers and councelors spend the majority of their time doing government paperwork rather than one-on-one and face-to-face work with program recipients. That makes it really difficult to get out in the field and see who is being honest and who is not. About the only time a worker goes out to a home is in the case of child abuse or neglect or molestation. There simply isn't enough time for anything else and really not enough for those problems to do them justice.
I know the welfare to work program isn't flawless, however I have seen several single parent women go through the program where we emplyed them at an agency that I directed for a number of years, and they became working citizens, stayed off welfare and three of them even went on to attend university and obtain degrees.
And you know, just because a woman is a single parent, doesn't mean she isn't having sex and getting pregnant. And, even with all of the free birth control and education and counseling there will always be few who will disregard the help and info and get out there and have more babies...it is just what they do and have been doing for generations...its a learned behavior and its hard to break.
The fix is to reduce the in office paperwork time for case workers so they can get out there and see who is really program worthy and start weeding out the system users. But tell that to the governmental overseers....oh no, we must spend billions on reams of paper....everthing must have at least 4 copies....and manhours filling out all of the little thousands of spaces, codes, etc.
That's the real crime!

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AcousticGod
Knowflake

Posts: 4415
From: Pleasanton, CA
Registered: Apr 2009

posted July 25, 2005 01:22 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for AcousticGod     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
What's strange to me is that those programs seem like an insider's thing, like I've never known anyone getting assistance, but I remember a former roommate once checking into it, and there was no way for him to get any assistance whatsoever. It just seems like you've really got to work to get into those programs. I don't really know anything about them, though.

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proxieme
unregistered
posted July 25, 2005 10:03 AM           Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I'm pretty liberal, but there does seem to be horrible rampant abuse - not by everyone, granted, but it seems like some people get entrenched and'll make every effort to stay that way.

Example: When my in-laws were first married, my MIL was working two jobs, one of which was some sort of on-the-scene nurse for aid recipients (I don't know the real job title).
She talks of several times when she'd go out someplace only to find people on welfare driving nicer cars than she was, actually laughing at her for working to make a living.
But, then, I guess they couldn't exactly report drug and fencing money o_O

Another problem: After my parents got divorced my Dad was unemployed for a length of time, the problem being that he was overqualified and overeducated for most of the stuff in the area. He even applied to fast food joints in desperation, but they wouldn't hire him because he has a Master's in Accounting and they knew that he'd be gone as soon as he found another job (...not that Mc'D's has the best retention rates in the world, anyway...).
He ended-up taking unemployment for about a year, and he discovered that he made more through that than would've with most service jobs. In the end, he took a $10/hour "accounting" job for a construction company - with that also taking a "pay cut" compared to the assistance he had been recieving.

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Planet_Soul
unregistered
posted July 25, 2005 03:36 PM           Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I know what you mean Proxieme. Both of my sisters have obtained BA degrees, in what else Social Work lol. One works for Child Protection Services and the other for an Employment Agency. Both had to struggle for nearly a year before finding a job. They're in Graduate School, and few part-time positions were available due to being "over-qualified".

I haven't finished my degree yet, which is why I guess I found a part-time retail job easily. When I applied, they had a long questionare on welfare assistance. Later, I learned that the company gets incentives in the form of tax cuts for hiring people on aide. So basically, we don't end up with the most qualified, but the most needy. I would be perfectly honest in saying that about a third of our associates are on assistance. I have no problem with people getting a chance at life, but it isn't fair to not give someone a job because they're "too smart" or not "poor enough".

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