White House Unveils ConnectHome For Low-Income Households

timta2 said:
The thing I don't get is why do all of these white middle class people keep villainizing the poor, rather than the people they should be villainizing, the rich. I guess all of that paid for propaganda, Faux News, Rush Limbaugh, etc, works. Too bad poor people don't have the resources to buy some of that. The lack of empathy and attacks on poor people, combined with the lack of critical thinking skills, in this country, make me sick.
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Ever get hired by a poor person?
Ever go to work for a company started by a poor person?
Only rich I'd vilify are the ultra rich who keep supporting the liberal Democrats who have ruined California.
 
mope54 said:
Your post wasn't rooted in reality, it was rooted in assumption.

You have no idea that the poor people you saw at your kids' schools were buying their daughters victoria secret bras or coach purses. How would you even know the income level of your kids' school mates? Just an assumption...

Victoria Secret and Coach doesn't take food stamps...so you're talking about seeing someone you saw who you assume is poor buying a bra at VS? Or someone with a Coach purse paying for something with food stamps?

You were working the meat counter at a grocery store and you saw that same customer get into a BMW in the parking lot? That sounds like bullshit. What did you do? Your curiosity got the best of you and you hung your apron up on the wall and ran after them to see how they paid for it (unless you want us to believe that they paid the deli section in food stamps!) and then followed them out into the parking lot...

But let's just say you did do that for some unknown reason. That somehow you actually managed to follow someone all through the store and then out into the parking lot and actually watched them get into a BMW...

How do you think that occurred? There are a couple ways that can occur:
1) someone bought that BMW with cash and still manages to claim they are poor on paper
Who can do that? Drug dealers and prostitutes mainly. Someone working under the table in the black market.

or

2) the person driving the BMW isn't actually poor but still has food stamps.
Why? They're either using someone else's food stamps or got paid for something in food stamps. Who might take food stamps for some service? Well...I know it's shocking but those poor people can't buy cigarettes or drugs or alcohol with them so they sell them to someone with cash.

It's not the prettiest thing that happens in the world. It's one of the reasons they program transitioned to cards instead of paper vouchers (which is when you saw this abuse occurring).

But the simple fact of the matter is you can't reasonably believe that everyone on food stamps, or even the vast majority, are fucking the system like that. I don't disbelieve that *some* people were able to do it, but your examples make it out like poor people have it so easy and that's simply not true.


Anecdote for an anecdote, when I was on food stamps because I was living out of a broken down car and eating from a dumpster, I was able to get about 100 bucks per month...for three months. after that I was classified as an able-bodied male and given $5 bucks per month. My case worker told me that at least I could get a gallon of milk...per month.

I had to have all my food separate from anyone else living in the house. If it was in a shared fridge I had to have it labeled. But whatever...that was before PRWORA, which caps benefits at 2 years in a row and a 5 year life max.
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You're assuming I don't know! Fact!
My wife is friends with several of those kids mother's. They've told her, practically bragging about the Victoria's secret buying, about the Disney vacations etc... She comes back at me like "why can't we afford this". My reply: "because we have to pay our taxes, our bills, etc..."...

I am not saying to get rid of public assistance, but what I am saying is there is RAMPANT abuse, and it needs to be cleaned up. I'm all for helping the poor who want to get out, but the one's I see are perfectly happy to take the hand outs, and live a decent subsidized life.
 
And yes I worked a meat/seafood counter and would see people getting into their cars. I'd eventually get off work and believe it or not, people don't run to their cars after seeing me at the meat counter.

The way I understand that people have nice cars w/out getting kicked off the welfare, is they don't title the cars in their name. They have grandma or some relative have the title in their name. I've been told that by people doing that same hustle. Now I cannot confirm that as 100% fact, but I had to reason to not believe them, as they were again bragging about it.
 
btw the references Victoria's secret and coach purse. Mother has coach purse, and bought daughter Victoria's secret. Same family. They have cash for what they want to buy, but no $ for paying their food, medical bills etc...

Again, I would tend to agree with you that the majority of people on public assistance are not like this. Those people I'm ok with. But what I have a problem with are the MANY MANY people around me, that seem to have figured out a way to milk the system, have near middle class lifestyles yet don't work, don't' contribute to society in any appreciable way, and make a career of it. You can think I'm FOS if you want, I'm telling the truth. However, I will stipulate, we are a more rural area than "inner city" we have a city of 250k and couple of 25k cities around, but no huge metropolis's. I'm not sure what impact that has on this dynamic. But what I can tell you is my wife won't go grocery shopping with me anymore because there are so many foodstamp abusers that nearly every time we would go I'd about blow a gasket. Seriously, and another story you probably won't believe, but a short time ago, grandma, grandpa(assuming due to age) and 3 kids, 2 huge carts loaded with food. 3rd cart shows up later with 70" LED LCD TV; this was at Walmart. They pay for the food with EBT, are pissed and yelling at the cashier bc their bill was $20 and she was pissed it was $20 as evidently there are at least some controls on what you can buy. Then when the TV is ringed up, separately, she pulls a roll of bills out like a rap star might have. All $100's. I admit, my curiosity had me lingering around this spectacle when we were checking out and I heard her yelling at the cashier about the $20 bill, and I saw the huge TV. I about crapped myself and my wife had to drag me out of there foaming at the mouth. She must have had several $K wrapped up in that wad if they were all $100's which they appeared to be. Now granted, maybe grandma was rich, and the daughter, mother of the kids was on EBT. But wow! I just goth the impression they were the caregivers for those kids and were able to milk the system, yet can afford a >$1k TV?????????
 
nutzo said:
Ever get hired by a poor person?
Ever go to work for a company started by a poor person?
Only rich I'd vilify are the ultra rich who keep supporting the liberal Democrats who have ruined California.
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I never got hired for a job by you. How worthless are you? What an inane argument.
 
it's not about me thinking you're full of shit--I believe you saw what you think you saw

but you take examples, make huge leaps of assumption about the situation, and then extrapolate that out into an entire population

you saw someone or someones at work buying expensive food (I assume it was expensive or you wouldn't be pissed about it, I suppose, but it's not like meat and seafood never go on sale or have coupons so only you know any other details about those transactions) and maybe you saw someone crawl into an expensive car. but did it happen every day all day long? and why would someone bother to tell the meat counter guy where or how he bought his car...so there's a lot being left out of those stories

and then you posted another story about parents abusing...well what we're not entirely sure, it sounded like you were somehow linking food stamp abusers with poor kids at school and them buying expensive things with cash and it turns out you're really talking about one mother who is friends with your wife.

and now this last example about who really knows, even you don't know what you saw other than perhaps some elderly adults with three young children buying food with a TANF card and a TV (who even knows the price of the TV) with a was of cash that pissed you off just from the mere sight of its existence.

no idea who the relationship between them and the kids, or even if there is a familial one. nothing, just assumption piled on top of assumption and you compile those handful of experiences you encountered in your freaking whole life and conclude that there is "rampant" abuse of the system

if this stuff is pissing you off so much you should stop lingering around cash registers and trying to spy on people in parking lots!
 
well continue denying it's a problem. Seems to be working for u.

I'll just say that I know the meat customers were on welfare b/c they told me, can I buy this with foodstamps. When they couldn't get steamed lobsters they would yell at me(cannot buy prepared foods). I worked in that store from 16-20, and a different store until I was 21. So over many years, yes I saw these same people buying stuff with food stamps and driving nice vehicles. I'm not extrapolating the abusers to the whole system. I'm merely stating, what I see, is A LOT of people in my area, who are on assistance programs, yet sill have $5-7 a day for smokes, a nice iPhone, nice vehicles, yet they are are EBT/Medicaid etc... What % of recipients I'm not sure, but it's enough around me to where it seems like a lot of them. I've never denied in any of my comments there is some good done with assistance programs nor have I tried to say we should stop these programs. But I'll also say that we are creating a nation of dependents due to many of the assistance programs, and the ones that know how to scam the system basically settle into that lifestyle and live off of the working people; which I don't agree with. Many things in this nation need fixing, but the rabid liberals just won't see this as a problem as well.
 
Apparently, buying food with food stamps is abuse

Who knew

Perhaps we should just portion them gruel and do away with the program entirely.
 
You got the girl that buys tuna for her cat. Don't own an animal and let it roam if you cant afford it!
 
Disposed said:
There is nothing more annoying in todays world than this ignorant notion that low income = refuse to work. It really shows where you get your news (propaganda) from.

You know that person working at walmart, the gas station, restaraunt etc. All these people you deal with every damn day... They are working and are still low income.

I would rather see my tax dollars going to help some kids have internet access at home that otherwise wouldnt than see another fucking tank get bought for 10x what it cost to make just to sit in a fucking parking lot and get sold off to an "Ally" in a few years for a massive loss. Or another corporate tax break for some fuck that just lives to see another digit next to his net worth.

You guys that get mad at your tax dollars going to some poor people are utterly disgusting human beings. You run around justifying it by pretending everyone poor is a degenerate criminal when you are the degenerates. We spend a tiny fraction of our taxes on welfare and programs like this. We give more in tax breaks to already rich corporations and we have a defense budget that is out of control yet we cant even afford things to protect our fucking soldiers... We could use better body armor but its too expensive instead we buy tanks and jets that sit in lots until they are sold at a loss to so called allies.

If you are mad at the poor you are completely and utterly clueless to the world around you. :rolleyes:
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Crying%20Obama.jpeg
 
bigdogchris said:
Truancy is a big issue among some low income people. I can see the federal government encourage some to sign up for online learning schools which provide a computer for the student to take classes from home.
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They aren't truant because they are poor. They are truant because they are dumb@sses that think school is for losers and b1tches.
Giving them access to computers and the Internet is only going to waste tax payer money.
 
maverikv said:
*checks for knee jerk reactions from goobers that are mad that some people might get something they need

Leaves satisfied
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hmmm lets see things required to live. Shelter, Food/water, clothing
Shelter = section 8 housing
Food/water = EBT Cards (foodstamps)
Clothing = Welfare checks

Seems like we have needs covered fine.
 
This is a completely standard issue haves versus have nots argument that's been going on for as long as there were humans. I don't see how it's gonna get fixed by faceless people arguing about it with each other over the Internet.
 
Meanwhile, the "bottom" 93% of Americans saw their wealth decrease by 4%, while only the top 7% saw their wealth increase 28%, with the majority going to the top 0.1%.

So, extrapolating from what I read in these posts, 93% of Americans are lazy scum who clearly aren't working hard enough.

Meanwhile, corporate taxes now fund only about 9% of the federal budget down from about 33% in the '50s, so we all fight over scraps of who pays for government while corporate persons rake up all the cash and laugh at us blaming poor people for our woes.

Meanwhile, the founders of Google made $4B each in the past several hours.
 
Ahh, the problem with joining a forum.
I come here to get some advice and then see a thread like this, and have to chime in, even though it has nothing to do with why I'm here, other than I'm easily distracted.
Anyway, why is it that some people assume that everyone NEEDS access to the internet, and that it will automatically make them smarter and improve their lives.
One can learn to read without the internet. I don't think the answer to our problems with public schools is to make sure every kid has an ipad connected to the internet and suddenly they'll be geniuses!
Seems like most of the time on the internet isn't spent gettting smarter...
 
JNavy89GT said:
well continue denying it's a problem. Seems to be working for u.

I'll just say that I know the meat customers were on welfare b/c they told me, can I buy this with foodstamps. When they couldn't get steamed lobsters they would yell at me(cannot buy prepared foods). I worked in that store from 16-20, and a different store until I was 21. So over many years, yes I saw these same people buying stuff with food stamps and driving nice vehicles. I'm not extrapolating the abusers to the whole system. I'm merely stating, what I see, is A LOT of people in my area, who are on assistance programs, yet sill have $5-7 a day for smokes, a nice iPhone, nice vehicles, yet they are are EBT/Medicaid etc... What % of recipients I'm not sure, but it's enough around me to where it seems like a lot of them. I've never denied in any of my comments there is some good done with assistance programs nor have I tried to say we should stop these programs. But I'll also say that we are creating a nation of dependents due to many of the assistance programs, and the ones that know how to scam the system basically settle into that lifestyle and live off of the working people; which I don't agree with. Many things in this nation need fixing, but the rabid liberals just won't see this as a problem as well.
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Interesting...

...so you notice that I was giving you the benefit of the doubt and wasn't going to come right out calling you a liar.

But I have to point this out, because you've been regurgitating the standard anti-welfare talking points that have been spewed for decades--you didn't come up with them.

Here's the thing I find most interesting with your post:

Earlier you wrote that you worked the meat counter during the time when "food stamps" were paper vouchers, before SNAP issues EBT debit cards.

Here, however, you claim that those same people have "a nice iPhone."

so I have to wonder: how can someone with paper food stamps have an iPhone when the first iPhone was released in 2007 but "food stamps" became EBT in 2000?

it's called a prochronism
 
mope54 said:
keep the tall tales coming, they're comedy gold
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I have also witnessed a lot of what he has. They really don't sound like that tall of tales. The one thing I have seen a lot of is these "poor" people simply don't know how to spend money. That's why they don't have any spare cash. But trust me that doesn't mean they don't make decent money. If you do a good job of making use of many of the government programs and work all the angles, it is easily worth 20k+ per year. That can take a person whom is "poor" and make them strait up middle class. Just do more shit under the table and be willing to lie which many of them are and shit will come easy.

Heres a little irony half the people who will be getting these free computers have shoes that would cost more than the computer. This is the problem with America these people don't know when and where to put money, why should they government has trained them to be shitty with money to keep the votes coming in.

Meanwhile a hard working person who makes sacrifices and saves money gets disqualified from obtaining benefits because they have more than $X in the bank. Oh cool so the system is setup to force you to spend all your money in order to get the free shit. So what can you do? Simple go keep the money as cash in your house now you don't have it in a bank and you qualify again. The system is broke as shit and its a big reason why America is jacked up. We say poor people don't have any upward mobility, know why? Because we fucking trained them their whole lives to spend money in the shittiest way possible so they could get benefits. BTW many programs allow you to count expenses against your income, so if you go take out a loan for an expensive car, it can increase you ability to qualify..... Tell me if you think that shit is right?
 
$20,000 dollars per year is the federal poverty threshold for a family of 3...not "strait up middle class [sic]"
 
mope54 said:
$20,000 dollars per year is the federal poverty threshold for a family of 3...not "strait up middle class [sic]"
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That's +20k on what they are already making. Which might be 10-30k
 
damn, sounds cushy

you should try it out if you haven't already. you two seem to know a lot about the system, it's like you have insider information. are you a public benefits abuser?
 
mope54 said:
damn, sounds cushy

you should try it out if you haven't already. you two seem to know a lot about the system, it's like you have insider information. are you a public benefits abuser?
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Maybe if you don't know anything about the system you shouldn't be defending it? I have no problem with helping the poor, I grew up poor, but back then a lot of people had pride and made legitimate efforts to stay off the system, the irony is that my parents made big sacrifices to try to make my life better and it worked. And just like was mentioned I saw a lot of poor people who were taking lots of benefits taking vacations, having nicer things etc.....Guess what those people are still poor but they took way more benefits than my family did. Back then I was young and I didn't get it, didn't know how it worked now I know a lot more. Talk to people etc....And I understand why its broken, why my parents got out of the shit and why the people who took most of the benefits never will. Giving people free shit doesn't work. If they cared about that free shit they would have already bought it because a computer costs less than a pair of Nikes.
 
Every system like this will have some level of abuse

When you see some abuse in a system that is designed to help people, the proper course of action isn't to stop helping everyone. You do a cost/benefit analysis of plugging the holes, and then decide if plugging the holes is worth it.

If you think every person on SNAP is rolling around with spinners and new jordans, you're full of crap (and you sound really racist)
 
maverikv said:
Every system like this will have some level of abuse

When you see some abuse in a system that is designed to help people, the proper course of action isn't to stop helping everyone. You do a cost/benefit analysis of plugging the holes, and then decide if plugging the holes is worth it.

If you think every person on SNAP is rolling around with spinners and new jordans, you're full of crap (and you sound really racist)
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I might have missed something in the thread, but when did race get brought into the discussion?

Stating that some people that are poor have bad money management skills seems perfectly logical. There are people that have fallen on hard times through no fault of their own in the pool of poor people along with some people that are literally abusing the system and also the working poor. This is regardless of race, though we do see evidence of epidemic poverty among specific racial groups if we analyze the data.

The level to which each person is willing to assist each other person will vary. Personally, I do not mind providing food, housing, or medical assistance for the poor. I think it is better than the alternative of having starving, diseased, homeless people dying in the streets. I draw the line before Internet access however. That is above the threshold that I consider appropriate assistance and I don't think that this is an unreasonable position. Given the relative expense compared to the value of benefits received by people on some form of public assistance, I do not think it is unreasonable to expect them to budget accordingly using the funds already provided to them or earned by them, if Internet access is that much of a priority.
 
"Jordans" and "spinners" are dog whistles. -

Some of the people that these programs are designed for live many miles away from libraries, so that's not really an option. But they need the access to do things like apply for jobs or interact with various government agencies. That's why we have programs like this.

People like us take it for granted - we have a skewed view of the internet because of how much of the time we spend on it is proportionally entertainment. But it is increasingly becoming an absolute necessity for living in and interacting with modern society.
 
So tired of working my ass off to help pay for people to be lazy pieces of shit.
 
maverikv said:
"Jordans" and "spinners" are dog whistles. -

Some of the people that these programs are designed for live many miles away from libraries, so that's not really an option. But they need the access to do things like apply for jobs or interact with various government agencies. That's why we have programs like this.

People like us take it for granted - we have a skewed view of the internet because of how much of the time we spend on it is proportionally entertainment. But it is increasingly becoming an absolute necessity for living in and interacting with modern society.
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True and we don't even have high-speed Internet available in some of those areas, but the concentrations of people facing economic hardship tends to go up in urban areas, where there are libraries, municipal WiFi networks, etc. I seriously doubt that this program will result in fiber to the home being rolled out in impoverished rural areas (I say fiber only because no one in their right mind is running new coax lines to areas that previously have not had service), but if it does then maybe it will be a win for everyone in those areas.
 
maverikv said:
Every system like this will have some level of abuse

When you see some abuse in a system that is designed to help people, the proper course of action isn't to stop helping everyone. You do a cost/benefit analysis of plugging the holes, and then decide if plugging the holes is worth it.

If you think every person on SNAP is rolling around with spinners and new jordans, you're full of crap (and you sound really racist)
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I will ignore you totally off base racists remarks and address a more important point. There is a huge difference between a level of abuse and doing the exact opposite of what you claim to be doing.

If you talk to most level headed normal Americans they will tell you they believe the idea of most of these government programs is to help Americans who have fallen on hard times, or started with a bad footing in life get things together and get off the system. But that is not what the system teaches people to do.

If you have more than about $4000 in the bank, you get eliminated from eligibility from some systems like food stamps. How can you get off the system if you technically are not allowed to save the money that you would need to get mobilize you to a better place in life? How can you run a home business, seriously how could a sole proprietor honestly run a business with less than 4k in the bank? Even if they could say reorganize the money into a business account to shield it, etc.. they would just be forced to waste more of their time running a loophole.

If you make more than about $4000 or so in capital gains then you get eliminated from major tax credits. lol think about that a person who tries to make their life better by saving money and lets say investing in the stock market on etrade with their new free computer gets eliminated and loses all that money.

You can however buy an over priced house, and claim it's an expense.

You can move into a city or area with way to high of rental prices and still qualify for section 8 or other benefits.

You can buy a BMW with a loan and count it as a necessary expense if its your first car.

So you want to know why poor people don't have any upward mobility? Do you want to know why the deep south is where the American dream goes to die? It is because the programs we claim are supposed to help people get a leg up in a life actually train them to be the most irresponsible person they can possibly be. These programs are designed to keep people stupid and poor. And the irony of it all is it works because the people taking advantage of them keep voting and defending them and the only thing you ever hear them say is we need more. I have never heard one of these people say I would rather they lower my benefits and let me keep more money in the bank..... And the reality is if all we were talking about is a little low level abuse we wouldn't have all these laws in the first place because we would simply cut a check to all those nice poor people and let them buy what they need with the money, but we don't do that you know why? Because they won't spend the money on what they are supposed to. That's why we have a bunch of different programs to force them to have the shit we think they should have, Like actual healthy food for example WIC, food stamps limitations etc....
 
Being poor sucks. Being on government assistance sucks. That's not enough of an incentive to not be either of those things?
 
maverikv said:
Being poor sucks. Being on government assistance sucks. That's not enough of an incentive to not be either of those things?
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lol really? If that was the case we probably wouldn't be discussing this and the thousands of anecdotes people talk about wouldn't be what we witnessed.
 
thousands of anecdotes?

Its like, the same handfull anecdotes over and over again. And most of them are BS "I saw a guy" stories

There are almost 47 million people receiving SNAP benefits alone. Do you really think the one guy you saw buying caviar is representative of the program?

Do you realize how little people on assistance receive? If you engage in any of this type of behavior you run out of money really fast.
 
he really believes if you're poor
it's a pretty good gig

you can buy a helicopter to land on your boat,
or a castle surrounded by a moat;
a BMW to race around your personal track,
a set of skis strapped to you car rack

the sky is the limit when you're poor,
the world is your oyster sprinkled with caviar;
wads of cash and lenses of roses
anything the you dream when you're poor he proposes

it's a wonder anyone works at all
when sitting idly on your butt results in more
 
How about the upcoming "racial database" in which the federal government is collecting sensitive data on Americans by race in the name of "racial justice,"
 
maverikv said:
thousands of anecdotes?

Its like, the same handfull anecdotes over and over again. And most of them are BS "I saw a guy" stories

There are almost 47 million people receiving SNAP benefits alone. Do you really think the one guy you saw buying caviar is representative of the program?

Do you realize how little people on assistance receive? If you engage in any of this type of behavior you run out of money really fast.
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You do realize the definition of anecdotes don't you? Just because the anecdote sounds similar doesn't mean its the same one and it sure doesn't mean you can lump all of them together and just call them 1 incident. Why am I even explaining this? When different people in different parts of the country all tell similar anecdotes that starts to become a pattern that is representative of the group. It's not just a 1 off random occurrence that is not representative of the group. And they add up to thousands or millions across the internet and even many right in this thread. When JNavy89GT posted his personal anecdote I nodded my head because I directly witnessed the same shit. And in one case it was a my neighbor when I was in college living in an apartment. I knew the whole inside story no guessing at all.


Second it appears you didn't even comprehend the post I made because in my post I clearly told you exactly how the rules for many government assistance programs push people to make poor decisions. They are the rules, not abuse, not fraud, they are the rules you are supposed to follow. And the best way to follow them and make use of them is to spend your money like shit. Of course you run out of money fast when you are trained by the rules to make poor decisions.

mope54 said:
it's a wonder anyone works at all
when sitting idly on your butt results in more
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I don't think I or many people think that sitting on your butt earns more but we definitely feel like sitting on your butt isn't as bad as it should be. And maybe that is why the USA has lost so many jobs to Asia. At the bottom of the skill and education ladder in the USA you could work your ass off for minimum wage, have to deal with poorly written laws that encourage employers to screw you over by working you multiple part time jobs, or you could just sit on your ass, or even go do some random under the table odd jobs and probably get a very similar quality of life. In MI in the 90s it was estimated over 75K able bodied single people were taking assistance from a program we had and a huge number of them had simply never worked. Why would they? If the government will simply pay for everything for you why put yourself through the stress?

My point has never been to say we shouldn't care or help but the rules need to motivate people to work, spend money wisely, make good life decisions. Instead they do the opposite. No explanation can be given for such stupidity other than politicians looking to buy votes.
 
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