Hello from America

mlq123

My family came from Ireland 500 years ago, my grandmother was 1/2 Irish and 1/2 Scottish, my mother told me of stories of my grandmother and my great grandparents when I found out that I was a down syndrome carrier I wanted to know more of my family history so I did my genealogy, I wanted to know about my family health and about where my family came from. I found out that we may have actually came here more than 500 years, I have got to 500 years and have stopped because I have to go through 7 huge books to find my distant grandmother who she was married to and her parents to find her to track them in Ireland.

But I have studied a lot of believes in Ireland that the cultures still last today and what your health issues you are discussing are here in America and a lot of people argue the same thing. Unfortunately, there are some people that do abuse the system but there are a lot that REALLY depend on that system and to cut that system what be a bad thing. God tells us that we are to love our neighbor to help the poor and the sick, to feed the hungry and shelter the homeless.

See I use to make good money and I use to help people when I could, now I am one of those people that struggle from payday to payday. I try not to ask for help but I have a teen son and I don't want him to go hungry. My son is 15 and ALL teens don't appreciate what they get but as a parent you don't want them to starve or go without clothes or shelter. When they turn 18 they are adults and they have to learn to stand on their own 2 feet if they don't they will never learn how to own their own. Parents wont live forever, I have known to go with 1 meal a day so my son will eat and my husband too and my husband didn't know it until he saw me getting sick. When he found out what I was doing he got mad at not just me but my son for being so unappreciated. We applied for food stamps and they turned us down because my husband made $10 to much money, I was looking for a job but no one would hire me because we only had 1 car. We saved until we got another car and it is not in the best working condition, now I have a job coming up and my husband and I are both getting food stamps because my husband lost his job, took another job that paid less. Though when I go to work I am sure they will take the food stamps away. But there are people out there that really depend on those stamps. As well as the health insurance. My oldest son is now 18 he was born with 5 disabilities if it was not for that Medicaid I would not be able to take care of him, he had to see 5 doctors, therapist, Bipolar doctor, ADHD doctor, Sleeping disorder doctor, he also had a dentist and regular doctor, he had a specialist for his eyes because he was born cross eyed and had to have eye surgery and the age of 3 and a specialist for allergies because he was an asthmatic when he was born with the lungs of a 90 year old and had to have his tonsils taken out when he was 14 due to 40 strip throats. He takes 7 different kinds of medicines, some medicines cost $200 each some more.
People depend on that free health care.

So don't be so angry at the system. Christians are suppose to be loving kind, understanding, what would you feel like if this happened to you and you lost your job, you ended up on the streets and you lost everything and they listened to your complaints and you had no food or free health service?

You should be grateful what you have.

amjon wrote: »

I believe the Irish government should cut social welfare payments drastically and implement a food stamp program similar to the one currently running in the USA. This would allow the government to free up cash to reduce borrowing and reduce the tax burden on the middle classes. It sickens me that people on social welfare have the money for Sky digital subscriptions, shopping trips to Newry and computers with internet connections to post their drivel on here. It has got to the stage were these people genuinely believe they deserve a reasonable middle-ish class lifestyle at the expense of the state. This may seem harsh to some but it is only fair that people that don't work live in abject poverty and are subjected to all the ills that such a lifestyle predisposes them to. I feel genuine rage that I am paying for other people's way through life; it makes me feel genuinely ill. At the moment the only viable alternative is to move to the US, a country where hard work is rewarded and the poor are left were they belong - in the gutter.

RichardAnd

mlq123 wrote: »

what would you feel like if this happened to you and you lost your job, you ended up on the streets and you lost everything and they listened to your complaints and you had no food or free health service?

You'll generally find that the people who suggest such such narcissism are in a position where they will never feel the effects of the actions they laud, or at least labour under the belief that they are. In the case of the latter, such examples of humanity change their tune very swiftly when they're standing in the welfare queue...

SpaceTime

So, OP:

If you lose your job, I assume you're off to the gutter then ?

Can we have it in writing please that you do not want social welfare payments should you end up redundant / laid off / sick etc.

Count Dooku

rainbowtrout wrote: »

but if you are earning at least €400 a week, you are probably teaching in the region of 11 hours a week. You have the opportunity with your qualifications to take on extra work in the form of grinds, correcting mocks, correcting the state exams, working as an oral examiner, supervision and substitution in your school. All of these could add quite substantially to your income.

I.e. people must work harder to have same living standards as those who are doing nothing

mlq123

I don't know about Ireland but here in America a lot of people are dishonest, they cheat and companies look for anyway to make a buck. If a company has and employee that is making $12 an hour they will let go of that employee for any reason they can to hire someone else for $7.35 which is minimum wage here. I worked for a company in 2011; that would get your credit report and they let go of 1500 employees to hire people in Africa for $1 an hour, they shipped the work there.
American people have always been dishonest since the 1620's when the Pilgrims came to America. The Native Indians welcomed them here, shared their land, they even helped the sick get better as well as taught them how to grow crops. But the Americans which actually came from England got greedy and took more than they were offered, more people came they took more land by killing the Indians and that went on for years to come. We bought slaves from the king of Africa by trading our gold and abusing the African people, turning them into slaves, which went into a war (Civil War North against the South) which freed the slaves and then the American African people were left to die with no home, no food, no jobs. They had to fight for all that to live by stealing and living in caves. They made their place into this world. Native Indians were cheated from their land, culture and rights but today they were granted some of that back.

Today American people still today that when we want something we have people stealing, killing, companies will not hire you if they don't like you and will use some excuse to not get sued by saying "we are still taking applications, or you don't have enough experience, they may ask you to do some task that may not be in the job requirements or ask you if you can do something that was not listed and tell you we will call you or say we will hold your application for 30 days".
If they want to let you go they will say we are having financial cut backs and wait 3 months before hiring someone else for the job for a lower pay to keep from being sued.
My dad was a supervisor for a big collection company he had worked for 20 years and was let go, after 4 weeks he found out through one of his friends that they hired a college student, my dad hired a lawyer who got a detective and found out the college student was making 1/2 the salary my dad was making and my dad's lawyer sued the company and won.

My husband is the one that was laid off he was a truck driver, the law here in America for CDL drivers is that you cannot drive more than 11 hours and you have to sleep 10 hours. Your log book has to wrote out for every stop you make and you have to record your mileage on the truck before you start to drive and at the end of your drive time at the end of the day. The company told him he could not stop for any breaks that even means lunch, just get gas if he needs it and not to record the stop. They wanted him to drive over the drive time and refuse to pay for his hotel if he stopped at the 11 hours, so my husband would sit at the hotel for sometimes 2-3 hours waiting for the company to ok the hotel. He would eat in the company truck as he was driving and he would not start the day off until he got his 10 hour sleep. His boss was yelling at him about it every time and when he did his log book they tried to get him to correct it but he refused because he told his boss this is how I am suppose to do it, for every stop including deliveries you are to write them down, gas too. I did not put lunch down because you refuse to let me take lunches or breaks and I marked the mileage down before I left and after, my husband but heads with them every time.
My husband was not the only one that lost his job there was 5 other people too because of the same reason.

So when my husband lost his job, he was put on unemployment immediately as well as food stamps for the family, my son we pay for Chips insurance which is a government insurance and it cost us $50 a year and we pay $35 for every doctor and $35 for every prescription, hospitals are $75 for him.

I have been looking for a job for 2 years and could not find one, they said my husband I had one transportation and we shared and it was not good enough, plus some jobs said I was over qualified. After we saved for 2 years we managed to get another truck it is not in the best condition but it works and now I have found a job working for the school as a cook while going to college online. I start to work in 5 weeks.

I look at it this way, I appreciate what God provides for us, we have a roof over our head, clothes on our back, food in our stomach and 2 trucks that get us where we need. We do have jobs now, my husband is a driver for the school driving a bus and I will be starting work in 5 weeks.

I don't know where your believe is but every time that we need something I pray about our need and God provides. God is only going to provide what you need and not what you want or desire. I love the verse that Jesus told Peter in the Bible when Jesus went to heaven he came back after the 3 days and Peter was in boat with the other disciples, when Jesus told Peter to walk to him he looked at Jesus and started to walk on water but the minute he looked down he began to fall into the water and he yelled out to Jesus for help. Jesus grabbed Peter's hand and looked at Peter and said to him "Peter ye have little faith".

You must have Faith and know that the Lord will only take care of the needs that you really need. But only if you appreciate what you have. That means by praying to him and thanking him for what you have and letting him know how much you appreciate everything.
I do that along with telling God that I have Faith but humans can be afraid too of the future and what is to come and to watch out for not just your family but for others.

I don't think it is fair how American government is treating us and other countries treat people. Food stamps is important to help those in need as well as Free Health Insurance.

The American government here is going to end our social security in 2015 and all the people that worked for it for years will no longer have it and those that do have it now will no longer have it. Seniors will have to work again if they have no money saved up and there will be no disability checks, the low income people cannot even save up because they are so busy trying to pay their bills and feed their families.
The American government is taking out $716 billion out of Medicare to pay for the President's new Insurance called Obama Care. This is a Insurance that says all Health Insurance companies cannot turn down no one and they will be taxed higher and ALL Americans have to get Insurance if they make $15,000 or more if they don't they will be fined $95 a month per family if you don't pay the fine you go to jail.
If you have children then the children go to grandparents or foster care until you get out of jail, when you get out question is will your job still be there? If not then you have to find another job and try to get your kids back.
Family of 4 can be fined up to $2,860 a year.
This is where I disagree with this Obama Care and so do a lot of others because low income people like my husband and I, things are going to cut, jobs require you to have a phone, house payment has to be made, electric, water, car insurance (it the law), house insurance (it is the law if you are still buying your home), gas for the car, propane is used in most home, food.

So what do you cut out, the only thing is TV and here in America you have to sign a contract which is $400 to shut it off.
How can low income people pay for insurance when they can hardly pay for their bills. My husband and I shut the TV off we have to pay $400, it is cheaper to keep it on because it cost $60 but if we keep it on, we cannot pay for insurance which is $280 for the two of us.
Our bills each month not including food comes to $2,000 and my husband makes $1840. We had someone help us at a church pay 2 months of our bills until my job starts up.

Until you see how some low income person actually lives you may never understand what they go through. I know there are some people that do abuse the system but to do away with the system because of some bad people hurts the good people too especially the children.

There is a way to fix it but your government wont listen no more than our government would not listen.

People that are not working and getting food stamps and free government health insurance. You tell them they have 1 year to find a job or they lose it and they don't get the assistance for another year. They also have to report to the government that they are really looking and a case worker has to check up behind them to see if they are putting in job applications and going to interviews.
That the children are going to regular check-ups at the doctors offices and have a surprise visit at their home to see if they are really purchasing food and not selling it.

Here in America we do have some people actually see the food stamps for cash by meeting people at the store, get cash and do the shopping for them. The next month they do the same thing again and it may be the same person or a different person.
Kids do without food and go hungry.

mlq123

My husband was the one that lost his job but found one soon after that, he was a truck driver and refuse to break the law. The company wanted him to do things that was not DOT (drive time) by the law and the company wanted him lie on his log book. He was not the only one that lost his job there was 5 other people that butted heads with the company.
My husband is on unemployment but while on unemployment he is working for the school district as a bus driver doing charter bus driving. When school starts up he will be working full time.

I have been looking for 2 years for a job and the companies would not hire me knowing that my husband and I shared a truck, we saved up for 2 years for another truck and it is not in the best condition but it runs. Some companies told me I was over qualified. I found a job working for the school district as a cook.
We got help through a church to pay for 2 months of our bills until school starts we are on food stamps and my son receives Chips which we pay for the Chips health insurance. Chips is a government health insurance, we pay $50 year and we pay $35 for every doctor he sees, $35 for his medicines and $75 for hospital if he has to go.

This food stamps is temporally, when schools starts which is Aug. 27 it will end because my husband will have a full time pay check and I will have a part time pay check. We will make to much money according to the American government rules.

The American government here does not give you SSI (disability checks) what you call sick, unless you are in a wheel chair paralyzed, if you are blind, if you are mentally retarded and you are considered more than 60%, because people here in America in wheel chairs go to work, down syndrome people work, deaf people work, my son that has Bipolar, depression, anxiety, sleeping disorder works and was on SSI and he is 18 and they took his check away, he tried to kill himself 2x when he was 16 and 17 and they said they don't consider him disabled.
America does not have mental homes that are descent to put people in with those problems. We have a BIG ISSUE with schizophrenia people here and they are on the new of going into places and killing people, we see them on the streets a lot and after killing people the government will put them in a low class mental home that you would not put your dog in. I seen one outside of our home town.
So to answer your question, we are on government help temp. And our government is ending social security in 2015, Medicare will lose $716 billion to Obama Care and disability will end with social security.
Medicade is still here but not sure how long they have not said anything about that yet but have been discussing it on the news.

SpaceTime wrote: »

So, OP:

If you lose your job, I assume you're off to the gutter then ?

Can we have it in writing please that you do not want social welfare payments should you end up redundant / laid off / sick etc.

nesf

I've split this into it's own thread. OP, please don't drag up 4 year old threads in future, just create a new thread.

mlq123

To work hard in this country you have to get a better education. That will cost you, I go to school online and I qualified for financial aid, here is where it cost you. The American government said anyone that wants an education and qualifies interest will rise to 12% it was 4.5% in 2010-2011. I have been in college for 2 1/2 years and have 1 1/2 years to go, I owe $30,000 so far and I will be getting my degree in Medical Admin. I can also work in an HR depart or as a Manager.
Some kids the last 2 years did not qualify my 18 year old son did not qualify and he is working for Wal-Mart as a cashier a double shift 5 days a week until 1 a.m. He pays for his college out of his pocket and is taking 2 classes at a time and goes to church on Sunday.
So it is expensive to get a good education and work to get a better job. Some people cannot afford to go to college, if you cannot get finical aid and you work to pay your bills and don't have enough to save up then you are stuck right where you are at. If it was not for my financial aid I would be stuck right where I am at because every time my husband and I save from the money that is left over from the school money something happens that we have to spend that money. It may be the truck breaks down, someone gets sick in the house, or a bill is not getting paid because there is not enough money brought into the house this month.
Times are going to get really heard in 2014 when our President tells the world that everyone that makes $15,000 or more has to get health insurance or pay $95 a month in fines or go to jail.
We have to tell my son that food will be more tight and he will be lucky if he will have breakfast in the morning. He may do without shoes and have to wear shoes with wholes in them.
He turns 18 in 2 years and he will have to get health insurance if he doesn't he will go to jail and we cannot help him on that, we can barley help our self.

Count Dooku wrote: »

I.e. people must work harder to have same living standards as those who are doing nothing

bumper234

Is op hitting us up for a loan?

mlq123

We are in debt from a credit card and we would not qualify for a loan, when we get to working again for the schools we want to pay back the credit card bill even if it is $5 or $10 at least that shows we are trying.

bumper234 wrote: »

Is op hitting us up for a loan?

OU812

Dafuk I just read???

bumper234

OU812 wrote: »

Dafuk I just read???

I know right!!!!

nesf

Ok, yeah, closing time.