Food Stamps and Work

[ysabetwordsmith]

Most people want to earn a living.  The problem is that employers don't really want to pay workers.  So lots of people either aren't permitted to work, or are stuck in a job that doesn't pay enough to live on.  Requirements that people work in order to receive food stamps are basically designed to push people out of the program.  It's yet another reminder that life isn't a right, it's a paid privilege.

You know what?  Guarantee a safe, full-time job at middle-class wages to everybody who wants one.  THEN you can put work requirements on safety programs.  It's not like we're short of shit that needs doing.

Comments

[cmcmck]

There are the beginnings of a discourse in Europe that a 'living wage' is a right in an ever mechanising/automating world- whether or not one actually works for a living.

[conuly]

If we're ever gonna reach post-scarcity, we'll all have to come to terms with that. A living wage, btw, isn't merely the minimum required for survival. It's enough to have a nice life. Bread AND roses. Sooooo tired of people (not you) not getting that one.

Of course, with all the gloom and doom about climate change, it's entirely possible that we'll never reach post-scarcity and our grandkids will have to scrabble to survive, so....

[cmcmck]

Given my own originally poor working class background with a pit disabled miner grandfather and an out of work ex soldier father, I really do get that one!

But as you say, if the climate change deniers continue to gain ground..........

It's not often I'm glad that I have no kids. :o(

jobs

[bunnylane74]

Okay some of the things that gets me are that it's supposed to be "easy" to get a job. No, it isn't. I have a college degree that more or less is useless right from the gate. I've helped published (what is now out of date) two textbooks before I graduated, I've taught college courses. but I couldn't get a job. At first, I was told that I was too young to get a job as a teacher at a high school. Then I'm told I need a Master degree in a town where 10 percent (and growing numbers) of students are homeless. So I scrabbled for work and managed to stumble into retail. With the retail job, I eventually discover that with my life insurance I'm actually "worth more" dead than alive. Beautiful. I stay there because I need the insurance. And when cancer had me on medical leave "too long" I lose that. So now I"m stuck in a part-time job because physically I can't work like I used to. I no longer get enough pay to pay back my school loans, so my credit laughable as it was, is totaled. And one of the "friends" I have said, you can work so you don't need assistance. Hell, I'd love to work full time. I hate staying home too much it makes me crackers. When I was on medical leave I was so bored at the point where I couldn't sleep because it felt like I was asleep all the time. I'd love a full-time job. However physically I can't work quite like I used too and everyone is trying for desk jobs which have some stiff competition. Everyone wants someone who can multitask and be capable of doing more than what is needed for the job they hire you for. And someone who isn't quite "disabled" but is still unable to be "fully" healthy isn't quite what most employers have in mind. I only work two days a week because that is what I can manage. For the company, I tried full time and it almost put me back into the hospital because even the "desk" job required so much running around that I needed physical therapy just to recover from what two months of full time did to my knee. I pick up side things here and there as I can that keep me from "making too much" for my state insurance because there are financial limitations but I still have to put food on the table. It's not easy, and it's hard on the self-esteem. And yes there are some days where I fight to get out of bed and try one more day because I'm just tired of knowing I'll never be out of debt. And that the American dream is just a dream. Thank goodness for the internet and good stories to keep me intrested and active.

Re: jobs

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Okay some of the things that gets me are that it's supposed to be "easy" to get a job. No, it isn't.<<

You don't "get" a job. You BEG for a job. Someone else decides whether you are permitted a job at all, what it will be, and how much money you're allowed to have. The alternative is to work for yourself and hope you can convince lots of people to give you money -- and get charged double for Social Security that will leave you in poverty as a senior.

>> I have a college degree that more or less is useless right from the gate. <<

Yeah, around here we have college graduates working the gas stations. A degree is useless if there are no job openings for that degree, and there aren't. Few good jobs remain. What's left is mostly menial and retail work.

>>And someone who isn't quite "disabled" but is still unable to be "fully" healthy isn't quite what most employers have in mind.<<

Same with anyone outside the preferred age of 30s. The government says people are employable who no employer will hire. So it's just a lie.

>>And that the American dream is just a dream.<<

America is just evil now. That's sad.

>> Thank goodness for the internet and good stories to keep me intrested and active.<<

Yay, stories!

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

There are rumblings about it here too.

The main obstacle is that most people seem to think that life is a privilege, not a right -- that you have to do things in order to justify your existence. This dovetails with their opinions that children, elders, disabled people, and the unemployed are worthless.

However, it turns out that a capitalist economy is just not a great way of distributing resources. A gift economy does a much better job of creating and spreading resources.

We have lots of resources, but America is very bad at getting them where they need to go. There's no justification for having both idle people and tons of important stuff not getting done. The problem is that the people with the money never want to let go of any of it. So it pools instead of circulating, which leaves people unemployed and work undone.

I think it would make much more sense to pay everyone enough to live on comfortably, and post lists of stuff that needs done. Most people dislike being bored and prefer to do something productive, which is one reason why unemployment is so prone to cause depression.

[conuly]

If living was a thing that money could buy, the rich would live and the poor would die. That's not supposed to encourage them to try to make living more expensive!

[cmcmck]

My grandad used to say that if arseholes were solid gold, only the rich would have them!

[conuly]

I don't think a Midas-infused poop chute would be very, um, functional.

[cmcmck]

Pretty though! :o)

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

It'd function quite well in ridding the rest of us of them. Chute solid shoots no poop...

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

It is. If we use the standard value of a year of quality life ($50,000) that means a poor person is cheated by a value of $1,000,000. If we use a more realistic value ($129,000) then it's $2,580,000. Where does that money go? Into the pockets of rich people who own the insurance companies, businesses, and governments that make decisions which kill people.

[johnpalmer]

One of the big issues not everyone understands about work requirements is that it leads to paperwork and lost benefits for people who mess up the paperwork - it's more about denying benefits (and saving money) than about encouraging work.

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Which is why guaranteeing a job would not appeal to the people who run said programs, which is why "get a job" is horseshit.

Re: Yes ...

[conuly]

Plus, all that paperpushing keeps government employees on the rolls. Some people get paid for their labor.