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I get food stamps, and I’m not ashamed — I’m angry
Vox ^ | September 16, 2015 | Christine Gilbert

Posted on 10/05/2015 10:17:02 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

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To: BBell

**She should have learned a trade***

That’s what I did years go.. Welding, Electrical, pipefitter and plumbing, Steel fabrication and fitup, machinist. Was NEVER without a job unless I wanted to be without a job while in between jobs.

Hard work but it paid off well.


101 posted on 10/06/2015 6:20:52 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: BBell

LEARN A TRADE!

It’s a big job gettin’ by with nine kids and a wife
You know I’ve been a workin’ man dang near all my life
I’ll keep on working long as my two hands are fit to use
I drink my beer at a tavern and sing a little bit of these working man blues

Well, I keep my nose on the grindstone, work hard every day
Get tired on the weekend, after I draw my pay
But I go back workin’, come Monday mornin’, I’m right back with the crew
I drink a little beer that evening, sing a little bit of these working man blues

Sometimes I think about leavin’, do a little bummin’ around
Throw my bills out the window, catch me a train to another town
But I go back workin’, I got to buy my kids a brand new pair of shoes
I drink my beer at a tavern and cry a little bit of these workin’ man blues
Here comin’, workin’ man

Well, hey, hey, the working man, the working man like me
NEVER BEEN ON WELFARE AND THAT’S SOME PLACE HE WON’T BE,
He’d be workin’ just as long as his two hands are fit to use
Might drink a little beer at a tavern sing a little bit of them workin’ man blues.

Read more: Merle Haggard - Workin’ Man Blues Lyrics | MetroLyrics


102 posted on 10/06/2015 6:24:14 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: aquila48

There was a reference to a divorce, FWIW.


103 posted on 10/06/2015 6:31:07 AM PDT by MortMan (The rule of law is now the law of rulings - Judicial, IRS, EPA...)
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To: Smokin' Joe

Yours is the most reasonable reply...

Husband and I are married 32 years. We have (almost) raised five children (youngest two in college). I work “dead end” retail (w/a few years as a real estate agent—got licensed via community college courses) for about the last 30 some years. Why? Because I could work evenings & weekends and my husband could watch the kids.

Much has been said about her “advancing” up the food chain where she works and fast food management was given as an example. I’ve never worked fast food, but I’ve been a store “assistant” manager (keyholder) where you make a couple dollars more an hour than the clerks but, w/o a 4 year degree in business, marketing etc. you NEVER become even a store manager.

All that said, I have worked w/enough women like Christine to know her story. Not making excuses, but the working world is different now. Most are part timers, hours are not “set” so the weaving in of a second job is almost impossible. And she has kids. So if they are to have any kind of after school activity that figures into the equation as well.

Some of my co-workers ha e qualified for SNAP, CHIP and Food Stamps. They weren’t proud of it, but trying to keep an old car on the road (so they can get to work) coupled with unexpected illness, injury, and a stretched budget snaps. What do you do without?

The tone of her article is whiny, but that doesn’t make her points any less valid.

IBFSFBTASOWTTPTNMT*
(In before financially solvent Freepers boast they are so overwhelming wealthy that they pay their neighbors mortgages too!)


104 posted on 10/06/2015 6:33:18 AM PDT by PennsylvaniaMom ( Just because you are paranoid, it doesn't mean they aren't out to get you...)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Am I the only one who noticed the polished, professional style of writing in this article? (I only skimmed the first twenty replies). This was written by an experienced writer, not by a single mother with kids and a job to distract her. I call BS.


105 posted on 10/06/2015 6:37:19 AM PDT by TexasBarak (I aim to misbehave!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
My guess is if she stayed working in one of these crappy jobs long enough, she'd eventually move up. That might enable her to get a better job eventually especially if she took some classes at the local community college. Most can be taken online now.

No mention of dad in this equation either. Again, no accountability for bringing babies into this world with a loser's sperm donation.

106 posted on 10/06/2015 6:44:30 AM PDT by riri (Obama's Amerika--Not a fun place.)
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To: TexasBarak
This was written by an experienced writer, not by a single mother with kids and a job to distract her. I call BS.

I had similar thoughts.

107 posted on 10/06/2015 6:49:36 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy)
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To: Kickass Conservative

Keep your legs together, stay single and get an education. The rest will work out from there.

And yes my time is more valuable than hers.


108 posted on 10/06/2015 7:08:58 AM PDT by Resolute Conservative
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To: Yaelle

What’s the Masters in?


109 posted on 10/06/2015 8:37:48 AM PDT by X-spurt (CRUZ missile - armed and ready.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Those that do not succeed, do not most often because of the poor decisions, along the path, they have made. What happened to the college education? Must have been in some liberal useless course with no job demand.

Maybe she is not even smart enough to succeed at Food Stamps. We all see the overflowing carts filled with everything under the sun, which it covered by whipping out the EBT card.

Sounds like she fails to fill in that her kids have cell phones (which are 25% of her monthly grocery budget).

Reading between the lines, this probably was written by some liberal journalist using dire straits in a fictitious tale to tug at us to “give more”.


110 posted on 10/06/2015 8:56:01 AM PDT by X-spurt (CRUZ missile - armed and ready.)
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To: aquila48

She does mention a divorce


111 posted on 10/06/2015 9:02:49 AM PDT by smalltownslick
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To: smalltownslick

And two adults in the home but only one working


112 posted on 10/06/2015 9:03:36 AM PDT by smalltownslick
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Too busy to read her proclamation,but I *very* firmly believe that (at least) 95% of Americans between 18 and 70 who aren't *truly* disabled yet are on *any* kind of welfare are worthless parasites.

And if,by chance,she's a member of that 95% she can shove her anger right up.....

113 posted on 10/06/2015 9:13:31 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Obamanomics:Trickle Up Poverty)
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To: Alas Babylon!

Robot hamburger factory makes 360 Gourmet Burgers every hour...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3100817/posts


114 posted on 10/06/2015 9:22:27 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (TED CRUZ. You can help: https://donate.tedcruz.org/c/FBTX0095/)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The fully ironic thing is that those unemployed food service employees will someday use their food stamps to buy a robot-made burger...


115 posted on 10/06/2015 9:26:26 AM PDT by Alas Babylon! (As we say in the Air Force, "You know you're over the target when you start getting flak!")
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To: Gay State Conservative

I wish I could work. Am a 100% totally & permanently disabled (rated “housebound”) disabled veteran. I miss the interaction with other people, the working towards a goal, etc.


116 posted on 10/06/2015 9:26:40 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (TED CRUZ. You can help: https://donate.tedcruz.org/c/FBTX0095/)
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To: PennsylvaniaMom
In before financially solvent Freepers boast they are so overwhelming wealthy that they pay their neighbors mortgages too!

I have been on both sides of the issue, although I have never applied for food stamps. I have had quarter million dollar years where I paid more in taxes than I made in five not so good years combined. Income level goes up, and it can come down just as fast or faster. Booms go bust, and the contacts you had who retired are replaced by those who give no credit for adapting to do a job from drafting on velum through using eight different successive operating systems on computers, as well as all the other changes which occur in 30+ years in a dynamic industry. Education is nice, but no guarantee, especially in markets driven by global commodity prices. Not even being a pioneer in the field is any guarantee of employment as job requirements are reduced to data gatherers and bottle washers.

Anyone in a job without tenure of some sort is prone to being replaced by someone who will work cheaper, who doesn't know enough to ask questions.

The second job killer (as you mentioned) is scheduling. Without a predictable schedule on one job, the other cannot be scheduled, so no second job. With Obamacare, hours are being cut, so incomes suffer.

It is my firm belief that this was part of the entire pattern of making more people dependent on Government largess, whether they wanted to be or not. If you have kids to feed you do what you must. There is no public transportation in an incredibly large part of the country, and vehicles grow more complicated and expensive every year.

The net result is to herd people into cities and distinct corridors which provide transportation: which is the essence of Agenda 21.

Whether grand conspiracy or not, all the pieces fit hand in glove to make this come about, and it will continue unless things get turned around.

I had a few years of not worrying about money (except at tax time), sadly, that period has ended. It can happen to anyone.

117 posted on 10/06/2015 9:35:15 AM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Having worked in health care for years I know that there are many conditions that can truly disable a person...including a younger person.And as for members of the Armed Forces one need only watch the news occasionally to see how dangerous *their* jobs can be.I'll wager that the huge majority of the genuinely disabled long to be able to enjoy the normal activities of life...including a job.
118 posted on 10/06/2015 9:37:05 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Obamanomics:Trickle Up Poverty)
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To: GailA

There ya go!!


119 posted on 10/06/2015 10:20:03 AM PDT by tallyhoe
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
You have to be a really uncreative person to be stuck in the food services industry for decades. Especially, today. We live in an time when you can go buy an item at thw dollar store. Modify a bit. (or not). Bundle it with something else. You get my drift. And turn around and sell it on Ebay or Amazon or somewhere for 4 times your investment.

The best ideas I have come up with were when I was stuck in a job I hated.

Another thought, I knew, ohhhhh, I dunno, at about the age of 14 that choosing a life where I had to decide between diapers and eating wasn't gonna be very fun for anyone involved. I especially considered the kid that would have had to grow up in those conditions. That was a huge pregnancy, dead beat sperm donor deterrent for me.

120 posted on 10/06/2015 10:28:01 AM PDT by riri (Obama's Amerika--Not a fun place.)
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