To slow the cash burn until I found another job (at age 61), I applied for unemployment which they countered by contesting the filing (didn't want their rates going up). I countered further by contesting their filing and also filed for food stamp benefits.
Five months later, I had a similar job with an honest company, won my case, got retroactive unemployment benefits for the five months and filed to get off food stamps.
Long story short is that while I was away at the new job, my home voice mailbox was full of offers for new government programs due to my age, income, yada yada yada. I finally had to send in copies of my paycheck to get off food stamps and, even then, they ruled that they payments would be suspended, not because I was ineligible now, but because I didn't want them.
The New Trump economy sending people back to work was certainly a good thing for me and for society as a whole, but not for the gibsmedat welfare state. They seemed to think I was crazy to give up food stamps, the Obamaphone and eligibility for other glorious government programs just to go back to work.
FWIW, the new job pays WAY better than the old job and I don't have a crook for a boss. The crooks actually had to hire two people to take my place, at least one of whom was higher up on the victimology totem pole.
BTW, the food stamp allowance was actually more than what we spend on groceries now and I now understand why the food stamp crowd fills their shopping carts with prime cuts of meat, frozen food and other convenience items whereas the hoi polli get basics.
Congratulations, and good for you!
They didn’t want you off the programs because they make a living only if there are “clients”. We pretend we have people with “food insecurity” while many of the very same people are sickened with a diabetes EPIDEMIC. At the same time, if they found out five years later that you shouldn’t have been receiving those benefits, they’d dock your pay to recover the money - very smart of you to persist.
One of the concerns about mandated $15/hour wages is it may push “clients” off eligibility lists - and that particular sector of the welfare industry may face cuts.
In my work experience I see plenty of older white men pushed out and replaced with two women - sometimes minorities, but usually white (at higher cost); I’ve deduced that in the workplace y=2x because this pattern is repeated often. Back during the financial crisis of 2007/2008, those financial firms in the NYC area that weren’t moving their operations overseas altogether often swapped staffs just to re-set the clock on wages, vacation time, etc. - a total disgrace, and complete age discrimination. They’ve also brought in tons of Asians to replace Americans in the financial sector just the same way they did with tech. Of course Americans can do the jobs; they just expect things like lunch breaks, sick days, and weekends...