At 04:09 PM 10/25/97 EDT, harka@nycmetro.com wrote:
A real-life example:
A single (divorced) mother, 4 kids (3-12 years), working full-time and making in theory $42 000/year. After taxes that comes down to $2000 cash per month.
In order for her to be able to work her two youngest kids go to a day-care-center. Wham! $1000 per month (hiring a baby-sitter would amount to even more). Her apartment costs $800/month excluding utilities. That leaves $200 (+ $800 she gets in child-support) per month for _five_ people to live on (clothes, food, utilities, school-books, gas for the car, etc.etc.)
One thousand dollars per month for five people!! And that in New York City! She is not entitled to any support such as free school-meals for the kids etc., because she "makes too much money" (_before_ taxes, of course!)
What efforts has she made to make "herself more marketable"? She has been working ever since the age of 16, went 8 years to College (paid by herself and paying rent at the same time) and now has a Masters Degree in teaching.
What has it brought her? Bill-collectors calling every day!
She made a calculation and (confirming your statement) came to the conclusion, that she indeed would have _more_ money by not working at all and simply going on welfare.
However, that is not a choice she wants to make.
Is she to be called "stupid" and "selfish" because she's poor despite her efforts???
I don't think so. She, btw., is not the only person I know struggeling in this manner from one month into the next, barely being able to even catch up on bills.
Neither does she have a free choice of employers. There is only one board of education in the City. Changing for a private school would come with (at least a temporary) pay-cut, that she obviously can't afford.
This whole sob story makes me want to puke. First of all, there are thousands of cities in the US with a higher wage-to-cost-of-living ratio that socialist cesspool New York City. Anyone stupid enough to volunteer to live in a city with one of the most confiscatory tax policies in the country deserves what they get. I currently live in a 900 square foot, 2-bedroom condo in Vacaville, California, in a not-so-nice part of town. I have to keep paint on hand to cover the gang graffiti that grows in my carport, in 2 years I have personally witnessed 2 gang assaults, (one of which resulted in an individual being medevac'd to a local hospital) and I have good reason to believe that there are some drug dealers moving into my neighborhood. I am currently paying a $67,000 mortgage for the privilege of living here. For the same money, I could purchase a 40 acre woodlot with a stream running through it, and a 4 bedroom house, near Clare, Michigan. Why do I stay here? Mainly so I can be near my wife and son, but I also have a job that I really like, even though it doesn't pay much. Does my financial situation suck? You bet! My finances are in worse shape than those of the woman described above. Do I expect (or deserve) the pity of others? Absolutely not! Do I need some kind of government handout to save me from my pathetic life? Absolutely not! I am where I am at because of choices I have made, and I can make choices that will change my situation for the better. This is the beauty of America. If you are willing to do what it takes (although most people aren't) you can improve ypur lot in life. Jonathan Wienke What part of "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed" is too hard to understand? (From 2nd Amendment, U.S. Constitution) PGP 2.6.2 RSA Key Fingerprint: 7484 2FB7 7588 ACD1 3A8F 778A 7407 2928 DSS/D-H Key Fingerprint: 3312 6597 8258 9A9E D9FA 4878 C245 D245 EAA7 0DCC Public keys available at pgpkeys.mit.edu. PGP encrypted e-mail preferred. US/Canadian Windows 95/NT or Mac users: Get Eudora Light + PGP 5.0 for free at http://www.eudora.com/eudoralight/ Get PGP 5.0 for free at http://bs.mit.edu:8001/pgp-form.html Non-US PGP 5.0 sources: http://www.ifi.uio.no/pgp/ http://www.heise.de/ct/pgpCA/download.shtml ftp://ftp.pca.dfn.de/pub/pgp/V5.0/ ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pub/pc/win95/pgp ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pub/mac/pgp http://www.shopmiami.com/utopia.hacktic.nl/pub/replay/pub/pgp/pgp50/win/ RSA export-o-matic: print pack"C*",split/\D+/,`echo "16iII*o\U@{$/=$z;[(pop,pop,unpack"H*",<> )]}\EsMsKsN0[lN*1lK[d2%Sa2/d0<X+d*lMLa^*lN%0]dsXx++lMlN/dsM0<J]dsJxp"|dc` Stupidity is the one arena of of human achievement where most people fulfill their potential.