What can we do to get financial aid to be a helping hand rather than a lifestyle???

The social services/welfare issue is a definite hot potato topic, which is why I believe it hasn’t been reformed because no politician has the guts, or stomach to touch it with a ten foot pole. Had a thought provoking comment that addressed the portion of my post yesterday that touched, very briefly, on social services being abused and how do we stop that cycle.

I want to thank you Sue for sharing your story, and I want to say that I’m 1000% with you on all that you said. It is a vicious cycle, one that I believe our governments quite enjoy. I believe that they want these groups of people to remain where they are, oppressed by the weight of trying to get up out from under their circumstances, because it makes them easier to control. Or that is at least how I see it. I know that the amount of our taxes that go to the welfare system is indeed quite low, if I recall it is less than 20%, I think it might even be as low as 13%. I also think it is gross how many staffers holding government jobs make six figures. The government is a corrupt business my friend, and we the people not only pay for it, literally out of our pockets, but we also do with our lives as seen in the welfare system.

When I addressed the need for change with regards who is using this system I was in no way not talking about women like you. You in fact are the exact perfect example of a person who should have received the help!! And congratulations to you for your successes, I applaud you, and I know firsthand how difficult it was to not only ask for that help, but to get it. You see way back, like way back when our girls were three and one, Yannick and I couldn’t book enough jobs to pay our rent, we were barely making enough to keep food on the table, and neither of us had families who were in a position to help, well my dad could have, but he chose not to. That is an entirely different post. Anyway, my point is, I was staying home with the girls during the days because we couldn’t afford day care, I was bar-tending at night, as well as cheer leading, which only paid when we cheered at the games, but it was a job, and something to help with my acting profile. Yannick was selling long distance phone packages during the days, as well as auditioning, and staying home with the girls at night. My point is we were doing everything we could to provide for our family, we weren’t sitting around waiting for a cheque to come it. But we couldn’t manage it, no matter how hard we tried, we even filed bankruptcy so we wouldn’t have any added monthly expenses to try and meet. Nothing made any difference, so we swallowed our pride, keep in mind Yannick had already been on TV for a decade and was a recognizable face, went into a social services building and asked for help. Not long term health, just enough to pay our rent.

We were denied.

We were denied assistance because according to the governments algorithm he had made too much money the YEAR BEFORE to be eligible for help TODAY. They sent us away with grocery money, period end of story. Looking back I don’t really know what happened next, how we managed to get up out from under it, but somehow we did, all on our own.

My issue isn’t with people getting the help that they need, my issue is with people who are abusing the system. People who are working jobs under the table for cash, not declaring said income and getting reduced housing and welfare. I grew up with some girls who when they became old enough to have babies kept having them every five years so they could stay home on mother’s allowance, keep their reduced cost housing and collect welfare. Their kids were wearing Nike sneakers and driving around their apartment parking lots in those mini jeeps and shit, while Yannick and I were working three jobs between us, feeding our girls Kraft dinner and relying on Brianna’s hand me downs to keep fitting Dominique. These are the people I’m talking about when I say we need to do better at closing the gaps. Not people like you Sue, or us.

I honestly don’t see why we can’t have people who are in the system doing the trash collection, or road work? Why do we need to use so many tax dollars supporting all these unions paying these people to do work that others who are of sound mind and body could be doing instead of being in the system? It seems like a simple enough solution to me. Although you and I both know the answer to “why not” and the reason it is not done is a simple one. Our government makes too much money from the unions who line their pockets to get them elected. Never mind the people who are getting away with ripping off the system who like it that way, and guess who they keep voting for? The guys who aren’t planning on implementing any change in this area. It is all about; “I’ll do for you, if you do for me.” Corruption at it’s finest and like I said we all pay the price for it.

Don’t even get me started on how this next generation is supposed to make a go of life…as you know I have three girls who have been afforded, by the grace of God, high quality education, and many opportunities that the kids born into the welfare system have not been given, and I watch them struggle to make ends meet, to excel in their professions of choice.

It is a mess.

So at the end of the day Sue, I don’t know what the answers are, but I do know that not only can we do better by having stronger vetting and follow up in place so that people who really need the help, like Yannick and I did so many years ago can get it, in place of all the people who are taking up the space in our social system by manipulating and cheating it.