Wow. Just Wow.
Written by Daisy // February 18, 2012 // The Makeover And/Or Miscellaneous // 35 Comments
According to this, “in Entitlement America, The Head Of A Household Of Four Making Minimum Wage Has More Disposable Income Than A Family Making $60,000 A Year.”
Yep.
America is now a country which punishes those middle-class people who not only try to work hard, but avoid scamming the system. Not surprisingly, it is not only the richest and most audacious thieves that prosper – it is also the penny scammers at the very bottom of the economic ladder that rip off the middle class each and every day, courtesy of the world’s most generous entitlement system.
Here’s the lovely corresponding visual, just in case you already don’t feel sick to your stomach:
Add to that disability checks – which don’t take much to get these days – and being on welfare is just downright profitable. I mean, why bother working for a living, right?
And as long as Democrats keep offering free crap, the drones will keep buying it. Well, folks like me who work for a living will be actually buying it, but that’s neither here nor there.
Entitlement is a cancer. Period.
Nice work, left. Really.
35 Comments on "Wow. Just Wow."
Yep. Work hard so you can pay other people to live better than you. Liberal philosophy.
I cannot tell you how this pisses me off.
One thing that’s not on there but should be is WIC. Not everyone uses it, but single moms with young kids sure do.
Hi chicks, just came across some frightening information. Check out the UN’s “Agenda 21″. There is a ton of information on this and it is all horrific! Now I understand why Obummer wants those high speed rails and is out to destroy everything else that is good in America. You ladies have the power to spread the word. Please do so. Respectfully, Babe
Please don’t stew over this….get out and do something about it!
Talk to your peers that don’t quite get it! Convince them that stepping up to the trough is NOT the answer for the future of this country!
It never has been and never will be, although we are on the brink right now.
It’s time to turn this ship around…quit complaining and get busy. Sitting on your ass and bitching about what is going on does absolutely no good. Getting off your ass and changing someone’s mind does a world of good…literally!
Todd Beamer said “Let’s Roll”….so, LET’S ROLL!
Send Obama back to Kenya…and let’s make sure Pelosi, Reid, Durbin, Jackson-Lee, Waters, Wasserman-Schults, Tim Kaine, Etc, Etc and packed up in his luggage with him. One way flight for the whole team. (And yes, there are some Republicans that need to be on the Soul Train as well!)
This is exactly what my coworker tallied up after a few months on the job as a substance abuse case manager. She said “They make about what I do. No wonder they look at me like I’m the one on drugs when I encourage them to get a job.”
And they are the ones that show up the 1st day of school to get their name on the LISTS (yes plural) for the free Thanksgiving and Christmas stuff that WE donate!! And I always wonder, where do they get the $$$ to buy batteries for all the electronics they get get for free??? Hmmmm…….
Thanks. Just what I wanted to see after spending nine hours outside in 35 degree weather on a Saturday, at a landfill. Work for myself. Now you know why I call it self-destroyed, instead of -employed.
Sheesh, maybe Rand was right. Maybe it’s time for us all to go on strike.
Actually, this is not accurate for all states, at least not in Wisconsin. As someone who is reliant on SSDI, I do not receive nearly the amount quoted on this post for energy assistance, Food share and Section 8. TANF is given very rarely by the State of Wisconsin. My family does not qualify for free/reduced school lunches. Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the nation, so this is probably not a realistic average for the whole nation. I receive barely enough to make my bills each month, and without the extra help from government programs I would be homeless, with no hope of gaining a job because of my disabilities.
Please keep this in mind when you read articles such as these, as they do not always portray the whole truth about each state, let alone each family in need of these services. Granted, there is much fraud out there, no matter if in the government or the private sector, poor, middle income or rich.
Thank you for understanding not all of us are ‘ripping off’ the tax payers, but are very grateful for the help.
A single mother that used to work with me sat down to figure out if she would loose more by taking a better paying job. What got her over the hump? 9748 in EIC that she got for last year.
LET ME SAY THAT I AM ABSOLUTELY AGAINST WELFARE AS A LIFESTYLE. Having said that, I’m with Jacqueline on this one. My first thought was not every state has income tax (like my, state-Florida). My second thought was that this is Mississippi, a very poor state so the numbers are probably fairly skewed. My third thought, on reading teaandbonbons comment is that, yes, single mothers do use WIC, like my oldest (step)daughter who is the single mother of two young children AND who “gets it” now and is working full time while going to school to make a better life for her children. She is on WIC as a temporary situation and is working to get OFF of the system. Yes, there are those who continue to have children just so they can get more money off of the system. But not every single mom does that. Some actually grow up and figure things out. Now, after all of that, let me finish with this: it still irks me that many people on welfare have a more comfortable financial situation than I do.
First, let me say that after shooting for 2 days in the cold, one day in the rain, and more cold shooting today, all to get a certificate so I can better myself, the idea of having less income than someone at poverty line disgusts me.
I was at or below poverty line as a kid. Yeah, we were on welfare for a short time while my folks bettered their situation. Then we rose out of poverty to middle class. I am currently middle class and scrape to make ends meet… So I am trying to better myself. Making less money so I can have the government steal money from others for me is not an option that enters my mind.
I don’t get the lack of honor it takes to be a lifestyle welfare-er.
Second…. Try the nutellla crepes at ihop. Just finished a hot breakfast there before I do my shooting, and they are great! (Even if they sound french)
Yep – it’s been this way for a long time. When my kids were little, 100% of our disposable income went to necessary bills. Nothing extra for vacations nor new clothes (thank God for Goodwill and yard sales), nor anything special. We took no public assistance but believe me, I checked to see if we at least qualified for the free lunch program at school. Nope…just a tad bit over the level – we didn’t have cable, cells, or internet either. But here’s the thing that steamed me – a local family with 5 boys qualified for all kinds of assistance and every single year they had enough money to take a cruise!! A freakin CRUISE!! That’s just plain not right. It’s thieving of the taxpayers, pure and simple.
And to think, that poor person making $60,000 a year pays a much higher effective tax rate than Mit Romney. This is deplorable.
…and inaccurate. Where are school lunches $10 a day? And just because one may receive some figure like $16,500 a year in child healthcare assistance (but really, why should kids need health insurance), it doesn’t mean that checks show up every month to use for whatever the HOH may choose to spend it on.
You spin me right ’round baby right ’round…
This study is nothing new and doesn’t actually tell the whole story. It really depends on what you qualify for.
Bottom line though is there are more takers than makers.
Who is John Galt.
yyyyyeaaaahhhh… I gotta go with NotEvenClose here. Medicaid and CHIP coverage is not “disposable income.” I don’t count my own company-provided insurance coverage as “income.” And over 180 days of school, getting $1,800 in lunch money doesn’t make sense either. My children’s school lunches cost $1.65 – the most a family of 4 would receive is about $360 (it would take 5-6 kids to require $10 a day). And again, that kind of assistance is not “disposable income.” You don’t get a check in the mail for these things. Take those two line items away and the entire premise is blown.
If you actually tried to raise a family on $14,000, I’m pretty sure you won’t be living to quite the same standard as a $60,000 family. You’d be on the street or living with your parents. I haven’t looked on Snopes to see if this is on there, but it should be.
I’ve been on food stamps, and my niece has just gotten off the food stamp and WIC rolls. Let me share our experience while we’re sharing. My niece and I both own our homes outright having inherited them from relatives. Thus we have no rent/mortgage for which we both are thankful, so be sure to factor that into this story…..not everyone is that fortunate, clearly.
My niece lives three houses down from me in rural America (in a very poor state). We both garden sharing both the work and the bounty. She has the chickens and we share the cost of feed and share the rewards (eggs). I made 14,500 AGI on this past year’s taxes. I am NOT on public assistance of any type and we are a family of four. She is also a family of four and her hubby is a minister living on a meager income as they try to revitalize a church filled with poor and downtrodden people.
Now, here’s the thing. When I was on food stamps, we had zero income other than my state retirement and I applied (as I remember my AGI that year was $8000 and my wife was quite ill at the time so medical bills were involved, too). We received $500/month for food (more than I could use actually), so I asked to have it reduced….you’d have thought I had grown a third eyeball. We were not permitted to reduce it, so we used it for staples. My niece’s husband recently got a part time job, so they no longer needed the assistance. She went to cancel it. She got such a runaround saying she shouldn’t do it, she still met the criteria, but the phrase she will never forget was when she was told “you DESERVE IT” then was told “you’re poor, take all you can get.” Their family and ours have talked about this often.
When I stopped my food stamps, the worker asked me to re-submit my income. I declined. By then, I had the larger garden going again, the chickens, and a new part time job. I didn’t need it. The lady, while nice enough, sat there for almost half an hour trying to encourage me to STAY ON the rolls. I finally stopped listening and left.
For me, the lesson here is that I’m trying hard to take care of MYSELF as is my niece. We’re not going without, we’re not hungry. We drive old cars, we do not have the latest electronics, we do not have cable tv and all those things, we don’t go on vacation or even out to eat very often…….but we’re ok. My wife is well again and is trying to find work, but just can’t.
SO, I ask you……does EVERYONE on assistance really NEED it or do they remain on it because of an arbitrary guideline or because they choose to not help themselves?
Before you say how lucky we are to have the garden and all that jazz, let me also say that my cousin has a relatively self sustaining life in the middle of a huge city. It’s possible if you want to work at it. I just don’t think that many people do want to work at it, and they are caught in the hype that they “need” the latest gadget out there, cable tv, and junk. I DO have internet here at home, but that’s my one source of news/info/weather and I can skype with family, etc…..so I feel it’s worth the money. Clearly, not everyone is unwilling to work at it, but clearly, many are that way as well.
Also, in my state, there was a news report from main stream media showing that the average yearly “stipend” on welfare for a family of four averaged to 36,000/year. Having said that, if you look up the demographics for my state, the average salary reported for WORKERS per year is 32,000. So what’s up with that? You shouldn’t need more money to stay home than you do to go to work every day. Makes no sense to me.
I fear this chart is far more right than people realize, but I also know from experience that you can live on far less cold hard cash than you think you can……I’m doing it.
Disgustedwithitall
When you don’t earn your money, there’s no limit to how you can waste it. If I had enough of the money I work for (that the government lets me keep) to afford a cruise, it’d ho into savings for the future.
Grasshopper and the ant. Scorpion and the frog.
Jacob: Well said!
Andrew K: The reason those count the way they do is because you aren’t for paying them thus freeing up disposable income. If you had to pay for them yourself things would be counted quite differently.
As to medical insurance via your employer that is untaxed income. Get ready because those days are numbered on that. Eventually everyone is going to be taxed for the medical benefits employers provide.
If you were a good American you would mortgage your houses so the banks can make money off of your debt. Just sayin.
Not Even Close:
You do realize that Romney’s tax rate currently is on investments as he is currently retired. Those are Capital Gains Taxes which are essentially taxes he’s paying a second time on money he’s already earned and already paid taxes on. So his actual tax rate is closer to 35-40% if not higher. Please understand what you are talking about before your fingers start talking, ignorance isn’t pretty.
(note: I’m not necessarily a Romney supporter, although I do enjoy the messages he’s been leaving me lately about our upcoming primaries. Inaccuracies are annoying)
If we are talking about disposable income or “economic benefit” why does it matter how it was earned? You can’t just compare apples to oranges when you think is going to be convenient for your argument.
In your argument, the government should track money around the world insuring that it only ever gets taxed once. That is completely ludicrous.
And yes, I do realize that very rich people have influenced our government to treat them differently than they treat the rest of the country.
So bonster (if that is your real name), should a small business that takes profits from year and reinvests them to increase the profits the following year pay less taxes since they already paid taxes on the money last year? Perhaps that is why the oil companies pay such little taxes and have such HUGE profits.
That’s what I thought.
NotEvenClose…I am just curious. Do you know the difference between Profit and Profit Margin?
Yeah, That’s what I thought.
Hey, guys. What do you say we stop feeding the under-aged troll?
Were you going to explain it Peggy.
Again NEC….that’s what I thought.
I will await your tutelage.
Besides one being a dollar figure and the other being a percentage, is there a difference?
FYI to our regulars: “Telling” is really NotEvenClose, trying out a new name. Please don’t feed the trolls.
Hi,
This article came up on a friend’s Facebook feed. Taken at face value, it’s a pretty mind-boggling set of facts. A little digging, however, reveals that the graph in question (and underlying methods) leave a lot to be desired:
http://www.tnr.com/article/82962/conservatives-economic-chart-fox-de-rugy