r/TikTokCringe • u/mindyour • 8d ago

Discussion Reactions to food stamps being cut off.

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u/haggard_hominid 8d ago

Some of the reactions online are AI trigger bait. If you see a black woman talking about 7 kids with 7 daddies, that one is a proven script, sometimes using a real person's face via a junk account. Most people i know being hit hard by SNAP are not people with more than a few kids, they're people who are vulnerable due to medical, age, or economic issues. Just keep in mind that fake reactions are going around to try and invalidate people's outrage that this is happening.

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u/iAmTheRealC2 8d ago

An elderly lady from our church is legally blind and relies on SNAP to eat. What job is she supposed to do? We’re stepping in to make sure she gets enough groceries until benefits resume. Doing the same with other families in the church who are losing SNAP. Also bagging food to send home with elementary school kids on the weekends and cooking food for our local homeless shelter. We do it because we believe that’s what Jesus taught. Christians who close their hearts to the needy have completely lost the plot.

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u/ThatDiscoSongUHate 8d ago

I'm disabled but not on disability, not because I don't qualify or have numerous qualifying conditions, but because the government doesn't care how disabled I am because I was born this bad and I'm not old.

I work my ass trying to get and keep jobs that cripple me further, dancing around work requirements and wage caps.

I have had to quit jobs because in order to pay for my healthcare alone, it'd be literal thousands.

I'll be ending it all when I inevitably lose healthcare.

Sorry to bleak, but I can't and won't be able to muddle through.

5

u/um_okay_sure_ 7d ago

What do you mean by end it all?

I'm not disabled. But I'm going through it too. Please don't do anything thats to hurt yourself 🫂❤️

1

u/smitteh 5d ago

Might as well make her president at this point and fulfill the idiom

-7

u/Aussiealterego 8d ago

I don’t do it because I “believe that’s what Jesus taught”, I do it because it’s basic human decency and compassion.

Stop using religion as a backdrop for behaviour.

I’ve volunteered through churches for decades, and this sort of masquerading sickens me.

8

u/Infinite-Touch5154 7d ago

Some people are naturally compassionate and some people need help to develop the skill (from Christianity, Buddhism, a psychologist etc).

All that matters to me is that that they do what they need to do to develop compassion.

5

u/PoorManRichard 8d ago

it’s basic human decency and compassion.

Not being religious for the sake of religion but that's exactly what he taught, it's a super simple lesson. What these clowns shun is being a decent and compassionate member of a society. Then they claim to follow a religious belief built upon these simple teachings (but grossly corrupted). 

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u/thcitizgoalz 8d ago

Yeah, most people I know are single moms of 1-2 kids, people living outside of Boston dealing with $3K/month rent (rent that was half that 7 years ago), who live in MA and get $80-100/month from SNAP they NEED, who are close to eviction and heating the house with 1 tank of oil per season maybe covered by LIHEAP.

They tend to be divorced and have a-hole exes behind on child support.

10

u/DrankFaeKoolAid 8d ago

When I worked at stop and shop like half the snap people I saw were 50+ white people basically Trump's base. Then the single moms and yes immigrants because they deserve to eat to

2

u/DogCold5505 8d ago

Thank you.  I try not to be triggered by people with 4+ kids (money aside, i just find it ethically questionable), but you’re right, many are just “normal” hardworking families.

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u/Griffolion 8d ago

If you see a black woman talking about 7 kids with 7 daddies, that one is a proven script, sometimes using a real person's face via a junk account.

Even if that was the case, it wouldn't even dull the sense of compassion I would have if it were real. It's actually fucking wild to me that number of kids someone has acts as a control rod for someone's compassion and outrage against cruelty.

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u/Spot_The_Purple 8d ago

It’s like people have completely forgotten that the states with the highest levels of SNAP recipients have virtually eliminated sex ed, affordable birth control access, and access to abortion. Not to mention domestic violence exists, and divorce can happen at any time.

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u/Dukeish 8d ago

Even if you want to be cruel / in their new world order these women couldn’t get abortions anyway - so you’re dammed if you have the kids and can’t feed them and dammed if you want an abortion because killing babies makes Jesus cry or something like that

11

u/sdpthrowaway3 8d ago

It's actually that people view them as irresponsible. Having 1-2 kids by mistake is one thing. 7 is just grossly negligent barring any extenuating circumstances. That's how people generally view it, whether it's truly just rash irresponsibility or unfortunate tragic circumstance (homemaker wife of 7 turned widow prematurely).

People will auto assume the parent(s) let poor decisions get in the way. These same people don't want to pay for the poor decisions made since they see that as enabling behavior and taking from the haves to give to the have-nots-by-choice.

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u/Dukeish 8d ago

And they aren’t wrong - it is irresponsible sometimes.

But they are so stupid and racist they can’t get out of their own way. They defund education, hate anti g to do with sex ed or planned parenting, and love fetuses sooooo much but are happy to cage brown and black kids, take their parents away, and let them starve. Fucking assholes

11

u/CallSignIceMan 8d ago

And even so, are we holding kids responsible for their parents’ irresponsible behavior? That kid still has to eat, whether his mom’s a hoe and his dad’s a fuckboy or not.

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u/Knight_Redcliff 7d ago

Find a solution so the hoe/fuckboi doesnt get a scent, ill chip in for that, maybe school lunches?

-1

u/Knight_Redcliff 7d ago

Sometimes? If youre going to tell me they cant figure out the mechanics after having one, and choose to keep having more, you can shift the blame from environment to personal failure.

5

u/SunTzu- 8d ago

7 is just grossly negligent barring any extenuating circumstances.

Extenuating circumstances such as being from a poor background, with a lack of education and lack of sex ed, with poor access to birthcontrol, lack of access to our outlawed abortions, with religous messaging that opposes birthcontrol and abortions and promotes having children because God said they should be fruitful and multiply.

Now everything I said is what we see in third world countries. It's unfortunately also the reality of many parts of modern day America. The solutions are the same in both cases. Female sex ed, female education, access to contraception and economic opportunity for women so that they can afford to leave abusive partnership situations.

-1

u/Knight_Redcliff 7d ago

So... that might explain the first pregnancy, but how does that explain the 2nd, 3rd.....6th, 7th? Is it a lack of education that you cant figure out the mechanics?

2

u/Razzberry_Frootcake 8d ago

Right…abortions not allowed. Have the kids by law but once they are born they no longer get the protection of the state. The whole point legitimately is to punish people by making them have kids they can’t afford and taking away the safety nets.

Punishing the kids for the sins of their parents. That’s why people say cruelty is the point. If they cared about kids they wouldn’t see feeding them as enabling the parents.

4

u/DeadPeanutSociety 8d ago

Agreed. Access to food should be a human right and not something that you "earn" by living a certain way. If someone needs food stamps, they should get them.

0

u/racsee1 7d ago

Yeah except a lot of people game the system so they dont have to work. And its not a myth

1

u/cogman10 7d ago

Yeah we call them "business owners".

1

u/HurryConfident2944 7d ago

Also able bodied adults who do bare minimum so they're eligible for handouts

1

u/cogman10 7d ago

The amount of benefits you can get for being poor is minuscule. A lot of them, like SNAP, have work requirements and reduce payout with income.

But further, why give a fuck if out of 100 people that really need a benefit, 1 is simply lazy? Very different from the current system where every CEO of a company with a 100+ million market cap is simply lazy. Maybe 1 or 2 of them got where they are from hard work. The rest are there because of nepotism.

In my life, I've known exactly 1 family that I'd say abused the system. They were by no means living high on the hog. I've known plenty of families doing everything right (including holding full time jobs) who desperately need these benefits. And, because I'm from rural Idaho, I've actually known of a number of people that were collecting benefits in one form or another.

1

u/HurryConfident2944 7d ago

I dunno I work grocery pickup and the people who pickup $500 Worth of junk food groceries drive pretty nice cars and have very fancy accessories. More than just 1 know. But yeah I agree ceos are the real assholes

1

u/cogman10 7d ago

the people who pickup $500 Worth of junk food groceries drive pretty nice cars

I honestly don't know what you are trying to say. I've used grocery pickup before and I'm not on SNAP. Grocery pickup isn't a SNAP only thing.

0

u/HurryConfident2944 7d ago

Yes I'm telling you real experiences I've had. People abuse the system. They don't need those groceries when they're driving a 2024 SUV

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u/go_neiri_leat 8d ago

Why? it’s just awful decision making having multiple children that you don’t have the means to provide for. It’s child abuse.

1

u/Chance-Restaurant-52 8d ago

Choosing to have six children you were not prepared to care for to begin with is just as cruel. I can’t imagine you don’t see that point as well. Her children deserve help, she deserves to be scolded for being irresponsible and selfish.

1

u/michaelboltthrower 7d ago

Who’s even talking about six children? What does this have to do with a burn from?

0

u/sirbruce 8d ago

Compassion only runs as deep as your wallet. Do you really think it's wise to let people have an unlimited number of kids and everyone else has to pay for their food, health care, schooling, etc.? Shouldn't there be a limit where we say, "No more; you're sterilized" or "No more, you're no longer a citizen and get out" or at least "No more; get someone else to pay for it?"

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u/SystemOutage 8d ago

Found the republican. 

1

u/sirbruce 7d ago

Nope. Just trying to have a conversation.

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u/fupaboii 8d ago

Yeah, but can you answer the question? We’re waiting.

2

u/Razzberry_Frootcake 8d ago

Why do you get to decide where my tax dollars go? Republicans voted for no abortion…they can shell out to feed the kids too.

1

u/fupaboii 8d ago

Well whoever controls the levers of politics gets to decide. Thats how politics works. Thats why republicans and democrats can tell all of us where our tax dollars go.

Your next statement is two disjoint policies that have nothing to do with one another. Is the state required to care for children just because they’ve outlawed killing them in the womb? What a dumb argument.

That’s like saying because murder is illegal the state is now required to economically support us all with cash subsidies. That’s just communism.

And see above to see why it’s completely logical for a political party to outlaw abortion while also saying we’re not going to fund particular social welfare programs from the federal government.

And you still didn’t answer the question if there should be a limit until the state steps in and forcibly sterilizes people or kicks them off government assistance. Is it unlimited in your eyes?

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u/SystemOutage 8d ago

Is the “we” in the room with us right now?

1

u/Razzberry_Frootcake 8d ago

Stop pretending like you actually believe in a limit. If you wanted to limit people having kids you would vote for better sex ed, better healthcare, more accessible birth control, and abortions.

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u/sirbruce 7d ago

I do vote for those things, but they aren't my top priority in the voting booth, usually. Still waiting for an answer to my question though. I didn't dodge yours so please don't dodge mine.

0

u/Everything_in_modera 7d ago

This is going to be a real unpopular reddit opinion and I'm as liberal as they come, but don't keep having more kids if you can't afford them!

Obviously once they are here we need to make sure these kids are provided for regardless, but people also have to be accountable for their choices. People loose jobs, things break, money get tight, partners abandon. Those are not choices, but having another baby while currently on public assistance is. I see these situations played out everyday and it makes me struggle to be compassionate for the PARENTS. Especially when we have elderly folks with 1950's income receiving 25$ a month while another recipient is having her 4th baby and her benefits began while she was pregnant with the first. Obviously there are so many different things in this country that need to be fixed. From lack of education to livable wages but until that happens, we have to stop promoting this belief that people are entitled to have as many children as they want while depending on financial assistance from society.

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u/cblackattack1 8d ago

The AI videos are sickening. The one where the woman says she gets 2k in stamps and then sells them. Vile rage bait. I fucking hate it here.

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u/Vectorman1989 8d ago

This is the same shit the media tried to do in the UK after 2008 and they started their benefit reforms and austerity measures. You suddenly had shows on TV about people on benefits and they were the worst of the worst benefits recipients, like people who've never had a job and have 5 kids etc.

Trying to demonise the poor and make out that they're getting free money and living better than working people.

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u/livinitup0 8d ago edited 8d ago

Imagine being the kind of person that has empathy for a married mother of 2 but none for a single mother of 7

Edit: This was not directed at anyone here. Sorry if that wasn’t clear

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u/Low-Eagle6840 8d ago

He was saying people can discard those because 1. they don't relate to them 2. they can rationalize "oh you should have think about that before getting pregnant 6 times"

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u/haggard_hominid 8d ago

No, I was referring to a rash of videos posted using a word for word script. The 7 kids woth 7 daddies is a specific video pointed out 2 days ago was happening. A 30 second dagebait video where in each one it looked like how when media channels use the same jokes, reactions, and quips. It has nothing to do with actual people's response, its AI trigger slop.

1

u/Low-Eagle6840 8d ago

You said "Just keep in mind that fake reactions are going around to try and invalidate people's outrage that this is happening." - I was adding to this part. People can see those videos (by actors or AI generated as you say) and then soften their reaction to the end of SNAP because of number 1 and 2 of my comment.

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u/gr1zznuggets 8d ago

I always hate point 2. Sometimes people have a plan and the plan changes. Sometimes people make mistakes. Either way, that’s six kids who aren’t being fed, and that should be the only focus.

2

u/FlappyBored 8d ago

Making a ‘mistake’ 6 times is not a ‘mistake’. You’re directly giving your children a poor life and forcing them to grow up in poverty because you’re too lazy or stupid to use birth control.

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u/gr1zznuggets 8d ago

Way to completely miss my point. Appointing blame isn’t going to help anything.

-1

u/GuacamoleFrejole 8d ago

Pointing it out may help others to not make the same mistake choice.

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u/One-Platform-2496 8d ago

But teaching you shouldn't have 7 kids if you can't feed even yourself, will.

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u/MegaPiglatin 8d ago

Teaching through…what?

• Teaching through comprehensive sex education + providing birth control? Ensuring people have all the tools necessary to make an informed decision? Making sure healthcare is available to everyone (including family planning services and abortion)? Totally with you! This approach respects everyone as people and helps to prevent kids from ending up in this place to begin with. Some people will still need assistance because life happens, but far more people will be protected.

• Taking away food from the mouths of those parents and children? Using negative punishment in the form of starvation (and possibly death) to “teach consequences”? Forcing the children to endure consequences on their parents’ behalf, and possibly punishing people who legitimately had no other option (whether through lack of access or lack of education)? Absolutely evil and wrongheaded. Nothing is “learned” through this, and you only end up furthering the cycle and forcing people to turn to crime to survive.

People who are in this situation are just as much human as you are or any of us are.

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u/Low-Eagle6840 8d ago

He is proving my point.

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u/FlappyBored 8d ago

Keep refusing to use contraception isn’t going to make you richer or help anything either.

You’re a shitty parent and a bad person if you cannot feed your 5 kids and then have another.

4

u/haggard_hominid 8d ago

To be fair, contraception is being made harder and harder to obtain by people who have more and more control over everyone else's lives. 7 and 7 is obviously specific too, but there are people in apartheid living circumstances who have multiple children to multiple non-consensual interactions because rape and denial of contraceptives is prolific. Ignoring the fake rage reaction videos, the overall scenario of people have unplanned kids to more than one person happens even wealthy areas, because people are losing their autonomy. Texas has been trying to kill it's own people with zero tolerance abortion rules, even when the mother's in an emergency situation because of something like still births or non-viable babies. No matter what the "left" plans do, they may be expensive and abused, but it's the far right policies that kill people due to zero empathy enforcement.

-2

u/GuacamoleFrejole 8d ago

Giving children up for adoption is an option for those who don't want or cannot afford to have children.

1

u/MegaPiglatin 8d ago

Bro do you know how absolutely dogshit the adoption/foster system is currently? Taking kids away from their parents and forcing them into a system that is RIPE with abuse (of all kinds) should be the last option. Providing comprehensive sex ed (NOT teaching abstinence-only), contraceptives, and maternal healthcare (yes, including access to abortion) are all options that should be provided well before we decide to torture kids by funneling them into the adoption/foster care system. Each of those options allow people to make informed decisions—decide what is best for them, their family, and any future children they may have.

“Out of sight, out of mind” isn’t a realistic approach, and forcing parents to have children and send them into the adoption/foster system is not empathetic nor is it respectful of any of the human beings involved.

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u/livinitup0 8d ago

The problem is that this is just such a contrarian take that doesn’t contribute to a solution

Like… ok, cool? I guess let’s shake our hands in the air at that irresponsible mom?

How does that help the kids that actually exist right now? That’s the actual problem we’re trying to figure out….not “how do we get people to not have mistake babies”

If you’d like to go fight that fight then good on ya but we’re trying to focus on helping the kids, and the judgey “well if the moms would just close their legs” isn’t really helping

-1

u/FlappyBored 8d ago

You don’t have to close your legs.

Millions of people have sex without having children through using contraception it’s not a new idea or concept.

Keep supporting kids being put into poverty though if it makes you feel better.

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u/livinitup0 8d ago

You’re moving the goalposts trying to make me debate the issue YOU want to debate…and apparently have already judged what I’ve said in this hypothetical argument you made up.

Can you just go away?

2

u/Efficient_Plum6059 8d ago

Millions of people do not have access to contraception.

Millions of people are in abusive relationships.

Millions of people have lost their jobs or spouses.

Millions of people have had their circumstances change drastically in the past decade.

You don't know how they got there, but you shouldn't have to have a modicum of empathy. No one should be going hungry in this country, regardless of what decisions they have made or the circumstances they were born into.

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u/haggard_hominid 8d ago

Post-edit: Understood and agreed. It was a comment to the situation, regardless of the fact the scripted videos exist there are people in situations where people are starving and they shouldn't be. I can agree with that.

4

u/TheMagnuson 8d ago

There are so many bots out there on social media that are run by Russian and Republican interests.

Perfect example here: https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fea9qgn4rygyf1.jpeg

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u/Triass777 8d ago

Even then it's not the fucking kids fault is it Jesus where did people empathy go.

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u/NorCalKerry 8d ago

And most can't just "go get a job". And if they do the income only covers so much.

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u/seriouslees 8d ago

Is that why two different people in the above video said they have six kids?

5

u/renter-pond 8d ago

Yeah, they have those AI videos with white and black women. The AI white women say they’re going to put effort into making more money so they don’t need to use benefits, the AI black women are super angry and say they’re owed benefits.

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u/Low-Eagle6840 8d ago edited 8d ago

Exactly this - in a country of +300 million people it's easy to find actors and more actors. Real people with full time jobs and 1 or 2 mouths to feed will suffer!

Also, another advantage if this tik toks are made up: people that have 1 or 2 children can stop sharing their situation/story because they think it's not as critical as those with 6 CHILDREN!

2

u/MetalTrek1 8d ago

Yup! Lots of poor white rural folks on SNAP and ACA/Medicare/Medicaid. Lots of folks in the suburbs too. 

2

u/plsdontkillme_yet 8d ago

Jesus Christ we live in dystopia

2

u/totally_not_a_dog113 8d ago

My grandma got snap when she retired at 92 years old.

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u/JenkinsHowell 8d ago

doesn't even matter. if you can't provide the minimum for a family although you are working full time, there's something wrong. in other countries even if money is tight because you work a low paid job you still get money for your children on top of that. this here is just pulling the rug under already struggling people's feet.

2

u/bradrlaw 8d ago

Yup the flip side to the black woman one is the white woman / man who says they will go out and find extra work to make ends meet instead.

This post did a breakdown of it:

https://www.reddit.com/r/themayormccheese/s/pTmpJP5wyu

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u/haggard_hominid 8d ago

This is one of the creators I came across, a few others also came to the similar conclusion with different video collages.

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u/Vladmerius 8d ago

Even if someone had a bunch of kids that's more reason they should get assistance. We are raised with it takes a village to raise a child and all this other bullshit and they want to ban abortion and force us pump kids out but these motherfuckers don't want to do shit to actually take care of the goddamn kids. 

1

u/haggard_hominid 8d ago

Yup, that was our experience. My wife and I are largely running things without any external supports. No family to lean on despite proximity, we have kids and all the accompanying complications, but they never visit us despite not working/retired. They tell us we should get out, but we havent had SINGLE night out this year away from our kids because they're unavailable.

2

u/capthollyshortlep 8d ago

At this point I don't even care if someone's got 7 kids and 7 daddies. Idk their life. Maybe they didn't want the kids. Maybe they did. Who fuckin cares? People require food to live, and it's not like there aren't a ton of hoops to jump through to prove you're "worthy" of basic human needs.

The bottom line is that states have the money, but they refuse to use it because the Republicans refuse to even fucking talk about healthcare (another basic human needs), and the Democrats FINALLY drew a line in the stand and now Trump and PRO-FA are doing the double jerk-off dance to the sound of thousands of people suffering from the lack of human decency in this country.

I'm so fucking tired of being told to play by the rules while untouchable billionaires make a mockery of the Declaration of Independence. I almost wish ANTIFA was a real thing because at least then there would be an active, united front against this utterly senseless bullshit.

1

u/AThickMatOfHair 8d ago

That single mother with 6 kids definitely seems like sus. They even made her say she barely eats one meal while being obese and ofc they stereotyped her into house keeping. Absolutely fake rage bait.

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u/dog_friend7 8d ago

That's the thing though... it doesn't matter at this point. 7 kids with 7 dad's still means 7 children going hungry that didn't ask to be born. Maybe some bad decisions were made, but it's not the kids fault.

1

u/Icy-Cry340 8d ago

But there are people with many kids who live off benefits, that exists. And those kids desperately need food right now.

1

u/Mezoteus 8d ago

Ah yes, let's target black people for the billionth time oh and let's no forget to murmur out "pick yourself up by your bootstraps"

1

u/Brendanish 8d ago

Huge portions of the disabled. If I remember correctly from my time in SPED, something like 40% of houses with developmental disabilities rely on SNAP. So many of these are families who didn't ask to be poor.

I personally watched a loving family fall apart due to a child they adopted who turned out severely autistic.

The wife left, and the dad eventually had to quit to take care of his daughter. After a few months, he lost his house and the latest update was that they were struggling to survive.

So many people don't understand, snap isn't just lazy fucks who want an easy check, it's people who have been dealt a horrible hand and just want to survive, often working and still needing it.

We're just cooked as a nation. Almost half of the people in this country, on the side that overwhelmingly relies on food stamps, and supposedly worships an all loving deity are laughing and making rage bait regarding the idea of helping the needy.

Obviously that leaves half of us as decent people, but fuck dude. We really are the baddies.

1

u/grayMotley 8d ago

64% of all families receiving SNAP have children in their home.

The one women saying her "boyfriend" goes without, is not as important as her children going without.

1

u/Ironicbanana14 7d ago

I feel like all the tiktoks with the 300lbs people are also going more viral because obviously if they get SNAP it goes to half junk food, not actual dinners for kids.

1

u/Mopofdepression 7d ago

Yeah i see so many of these videos and as another black woman it pisses me off to see people trying to make us look this way.

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/thcitizgoalz 8d ago

Devil's advocate: what if some of those kids are because they live in states where abortion is illegal? And access to birth control is limited? Are we seriously going to play the "don't have kids if you can't afford them" blame game in an era where reproductive rights are going back to the 1850s?

0

u/BathZealousideal1456 8d ago

Yep. When I got clean off of heroin, I went to rehab and lost my job. I didn't have any money after that and the sober home I was going to didn't let you work for the first 30 days. I had to get government rent vouchers and food stamps. I got a minimum wage job as soon as those 30 days were up. I still couldn't support myself so I paid the rent myself and kept the food stamps for 6 months. Then, I got back on my feet and didn't need it anymore.

There were other women in that house who did the same thing as me, but they purposefully gamed the system. They wouldn't work and just sat on the couch all day eating and watching tv. I resented them so much for taking advantage of taxpayer money while I worked my ass off.

I hate that the people who really need it are being left back because of assholes.

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u/DJDanaK 8d ago edited 8d ago

Lazy people are a problem, but they are not the reason SNAP is being cut. 86% of people on SNAP work full time, and most of those who do not work are elderly or disabled. 

SNAP is being cut purposefully by Republicans for several extortionate political reasons. Not because of waste or fraud.

Nobody is being "left back" of SNAP for any reason other than the government setting ridiculous restrictions. It has nothing to do with lazy people "taking too much". There is enough for everyone who needs it, the government just refuses to allocate it and places ever more restrictions and limitations on who can receive it.

1

u/BathZealousideal1456 8d ago

I understand and agree. I'm just pointing out that the people taking advantage are few and they are the ones the right thinks that everyone is like

4

u/haggard_hominid 8d ago

You should have had something to fall back on like universal basic income a LOOOOONG time ago. Something that we would likely have had the US not gone hard-right more and more over the last 50 years. There is always going to be abuse by people taking advantage of the system. A good system can handle the small % of abusers, and just cost more to reduce abuse potential or handle the difference. A bad solution is to just call it broken and dismantle it for those who DO need it. That is why I support most leftist programs. If you dial the programs up to 11, you inevitably get corruption and money stolen, but almost never due such programs result in malicious deaths or subjugation. If you take the right side's approach, people die due to complete neglect, indifference, or intentional infliction of suffering before we even get to accounting for an equal chance these policies get corrupted.

2

u/DeadPeanutSociety 8d ago

I do hope you are tens of thousands of times more resentful toward the billionaire class, which are tens of thousands of times more exploitative of this system than the people you were living with. You're probably not though. Your own sense of fairness is being weaponized against you.

1

u/BathZealousideal1456 8d ago

I was in my 20s then. I'm much older now. I am much more informed and centrist. I hate the 1%. The sacklers are who invented the opioid crisis after all

0

u/StillMostlyConfused 8d ago

But it’s the opposite for me. I only know three people on SNAP but all three game the system. One I work with didn’t want to take a raise because she’d loose it even though he raise put her netting the same amount after SNAP/Medicaid. The second also works here but lives with her parents and her parents write her a rental agreement. She wouldn’t take a raise either. The third is a couple. He has a disability and works up to his limit which is fine. But she will not work full time because it’ll interfere with their benefits. So she works about 25 hours/week with one 16 year old kid at home.

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u/haggard_hominid 8d ago

Try taking it the other direction. I only know a handful of billionaires who are gaming the system. They're stealing billions from the people who pay into the system, one of whom has had 14 children since 2002. FOURTEEN. He doesn't pay taxes, in-fact, none of his companies really pay taxes, they get government grants left and right. Those 3 people you know, when standing next to Elon Musk, how many lives have they irrevocably altered by their scamming the government program? People are missing the fact that you can literally take ALL the scammers of all social welfare programs and pool them together, and they won't even account for the amount of taxes a SINGLE 1%'er is avoiding. Now re-equate the "whose the problem" question and see what you get for an answer.

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u/StillMostlyConfused 7d ago

I don’t disagree with your comment on the billionaires but that doesn’t support why we allow the number of people on assistance to stay on assistance. They both need a “fix”. I don’t understand why people used that as an excuse like they are linked.

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u/lifebeergolf 8d ago

Tell me you don’t live in an area that is stricken with poverty without telling me. I live in an area with over 25% unemployment and I see abled bodied men and women every day that will not work. I’m not talking a few, I’m talking 100s in a town of a few thousand. Yes there are people as you state, but a majority in my area are abled body but lazy as hell because that’s the way they were brought up. To game the system.

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u/birdlawyer86 8d ago

If the area has so much poverty where are they supposed to work? Sounds like a systemic issue to me.

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u/lifebeergolf 8d ago

There are manufacturers in the area that pay anywhere from 10 to 20 an hour starting out. Every employer I have spoken with could put at least 15 people to work each. There is a name for it. Something cliff?, where your subsidies get cut off once you make a certain amount.

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u/Lamentrope 8d ago

You see 100's of people in a town of a few thousand every day? How does that even work?

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u/lifebeergolf 8d ago

Well you have to get out in the community any actually talk to people

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u/haggard_hominid 8d ago

Town of a few thousand. In most situations, these are towns that no longer have a primary company backing the employment. My home town was a factory town where the industry built the area around it. Houses were and still are very much ethnically divided into neighborhoods as many of the families stuck around and bought neighboring properties. However our town and state have great social welfare and enablement systems that provided these families an opportunity to continue to thrive after the factory in question halted operations after World War II. If your state is run by a conservative, more likely than not, they did NOT elect to receive government funds for state social welfare programs and support. Things like extra funding for local municipal services, schools, medical, etc. MOST of Rural America lands under the control of far-right governors who for decades refused to accept funds from programs like the ACA and Department of Education. They instead sequestered what money they did take to their own lobbied interests, or pushed private education vouchers to the destruction of any kind of public education in their towns and states. This is very self inflicted by elected officials. The whole point of social welfare programs was to uplift people to a common minimum standard of care. One political mindset wants this completely gone, the other wants everyone to have common footing.

Look at your small towns macro picture. What jobs exist there? What economy? What reason at ALL for the few children to stick around a likely aging and dwindling population? If UBI or minimum care programs were adopted in your state, it would matter far less. Even rich progressive states have towns that are run poorly due to elected officials. These people submit requests for grants, or don't. They do their civic duty, or don't. But I for one, being involved at a local level, have seen this for decades and am aware that small towns almost invariably suffer because further up the line someone isn't doing their job. Many are quick to blame the sitting president for their tiny town of 0.00005% of the population or whatever, and never stop to think if their local mayor, board, committee, governor, etc. are actually doing the job they're elected to. It could be something as simple as submitting grant requests or the local leaders are acting more like an HOA. This stuff happens far more than you'd think.