Originally Posted by
Nettie
I am also going to disagree with you. Cigarettes, booze & drugs are not necessities in life. Also, I do help. I donate to the food bank regularly. The food bank is designed to help people who need help covering one of the basic needs of life, food. I also help out at Christmas time and buy Christmas gifts for low income children.
I see people abusing welfare all the time. Just an example that pops into my mind: one girl who I know through a relative lives in my town has two children. She is on welfare& rents a house. Has TWO vehicles (and they aren't clunkers). She is a smoker. Goes tanning at the tanning salon every day. Has manicured gel nails ALL the time ($40 a fill in our town I might add). I see her in the Tim Horton's drive through every lunch hour when I'm getting my coffee before coming back to work - every...day... Openly comments that she uses drugs (marijuana). Wears designer clothes that I couldn't afford. Updates her facebook from her I-phone.
This irritates me because a) I work full time & so does DH, our income is considered middle class & we don't have kids. b) I sometimes feel like i am struggling to afford my ONE 4 year old car. c)We still have to do without alot of things because we simply cant afford the luxury. Gel nails? No way could I afford $40 every three weeks. I-phone? Not affordable for us. Smoking? Well not that I would want to, but I'd probably be homeless if I started because we couldn't afford a mortgage and $300 a month of cigarettes d) My relative offered this girl a full time job (above minimum wage) in which she refused because she would loose her welfare. e) Most of DH and my clothes are purchased from a second hand clothing store. $5 jeans rather than $50 jeans means I'll have an extra $45 to put into our savings or home.
I'm all for helping people when they are having hard times. If someone is down & out and they really need it, I totally agree that a temporary helping hand is needed and should be given. However, I do think welfare should be monitored alot better than what it is. I like the debit card that was mentioned above. Rent paid directly to the land lord also is a good suggestion. The money from taxpayers should be used to cover rent, food, school supplies for children, sensible priced clothing, electricity, heat and some mode of transportation (public transport or a sensible vehicle if in an area there isn't public transport). If they want cigarettes, liquor, drugs, iphones, gel nails and designer clothes, that shouldn't be paid for by tax dollars. That should come from money that they earn themselves.
Why does this irritate me? Because DH and I only spend a few precious hours together each evening as the rest of our day is spent at work, trying to provide for ourselves. I imagine it will irritate me even more if/when we have children and I drop them off at a babysitters for the entire day, then drive by the tanning salon on my way to work and see the girl mentioned above getting her sun-kissed glow and her manicure filled while her children are in daycare.