I like to get the info from all sides of an argument. I found a rebuttal to this issue at
http://whiskeyfire.typepad.com/whiskey_fire/2007/10/next-time-you-g.html
It lists some “facts” about the Frosts - like income, what they paid for their house, and what-not. Of course, it is full of emotion. I posted the following on that very liberal blog under the name El Conquistador. I hope they have the guts to keep it posted, and I hope some of their readers have the brains to comprehend it.
Put all emotion aside. It’s all about personal accountability. It’s all about individual choices. He chose to be a self-employed woodworker. She chose to work in her current job. If they do not make enough to provide medical coverage for their family, they need to make better choices.
Mr. Frost needs to ditch woodworking and work for someone else. It’s just not paying the bills. If he really is making less than $45k/yr working for himself, he needs to get a real job and keep woodworking as a hobby for extra income. I’m assuming he makes less than $45k/yr because the story says “they” live on that much, and his wife works as well, and probably doesn’t work for free. If he is a good carpenter he could make much more than $45k/yr working for a contracting firm. Is that figure net or gross? He may have to take a job he doesn’t like as long as it means paying the bills. Personal sacrifices.
Don’t live beyond your means. Cut back on the spending. Our government needs to learn this one as well. You can’t spend what you don’t have. After finding a job that pays at least as much as he made working for himself, sell the shop. Take any money left after paying off the shop mortgage and pay off the other bills you may have starting with the smallest. That would probably clear up at least a couple hundred $ per month. Now that those bills are paid, take what was being paid into the shop mortgage and the paid-off bills and put that towards private medical coverage. If you spend all the money you make, you have nothing left for the emergencies in life. Please cut up the credit cards!!! The money is there, you just need to rearrange you financial priorities. Personal accountability.
If they bought their house for $55k and it could sell for $300k (like other houses in the neighborhood reportedly do), maybe they need to sell the house and get a smaller place. Would it be tough having six in a house half the size (approx 1500 sq/ft)? Maybe. I was raised in a 900 sq/ft house with five people on less income than the Frost family. My family did it when I was a kid, and so do many others with more people in even smaller houses or apartments. Currently, I’m raising a family of four in an 80 year-old 1200 sq/ft house on $75k/yr (before taxes). Would I like a bigger, newer house? Of course. Could I afford it? Theoretically, yes. Do I want to extend myself so much that I can’t afford medical coverage? No! Personal choices and accountability.
Too many Americans think they are entitled to the 3000 sq/ft house, new cars, and plasma tv’s in every room. If you can afford that, great! But if you spend beyond your means and can’t pay for life’s emergencies, don’t go crying to the taxpayers to bail you out.
My heart goes out to these people, but there are ways to get themselves out of the mess without resorting to handouts from Uncle Sam. Most people are just unwilling to do the hard work and make the personal sacrifices to do so.
Good questions. Did you get banned from whiskeyfire as I did yesterday when I asked some very polite questions about the story?
My hunch is that the Frosts are “artists” and their finances are subsidized by the children’s grandparents. Thats just my hunch but the reporters ought to ask the obvious questions to nail down why these folks are content with such a low income when they could make more. Is the $45k/yr even from work or is it from investments? I’d like to have a reporter look at the tax returns and say whats earned and whats investment income.
There is no reason to think that the children would not have had medical care for injuries resulting from the car accident without SCHIP, is there?