OK, this was a nice discussion, Ras you keep putting your foot in your mouth but I do understand your point of view even if I don't always agree with it.
Bren - you rock. We all make choices in our lives. The best choice I ever made was buying my house and if I had to sell it today even with the money I owe I'd turn a nice profit. That was luck - luck and the tenacity to save up that down payment, work with my seller and get my credit back on track...in other words, I grew up.
So many people these days are going the foreclosure route. Making a choice to do so - they were sold a bag of crap from a shady lender, they are underwater in a serious way and they are losing even their pot to piss in. F*ck it they say, let the bank have it. And they walk away. They are contributing to the bad economy because they are victims of crimes that were never punished.
A dear friend of mine had to do just that recently. Not because they were underwater or couldn't make their payments - but because a county that collects HUGE amounts of money in building permits neglected to fix a culvert in an area prone to landslides and after a particulary heavy rainy week in late March the hill behind their house slid down and they were yellow tagged. The house that they tended, cared for, spent money on fixing up - that sweet 1920's bungalo can no longer be lived in. What else could they do? Their credit will suck for 7 years...but their new landlord did not have a single compunction in renting to them. This was not an irresponsible act, quite the opposite really. They have two small boys that need a stable life and a stable home. Suing the county will do no good, will cost a fortune and would eat their souls. So - hard as a decision as it was they walked away. Have fun with your new property Skank of America. Now the bank can go after the county. Yeah...right.
My friend has a condo in Brentwood she is trying to sublet, btw. Between the property taxes and the maintenance fees on her condo she needs a certain amount of $$ just to break even. Even the rental market is sucking in LA, at least for her - her rent price is undercut AND those lower rents come with parking. Its frustrating for her as she is competing with condo owners in less desireable neighborhoods or who's taxes and maintenance fees are lower due to when they bought or what building they are in...and they have a parking spot to offer up to boot!
Life can suck out there in the big world.
"no one has pointed a finger at you for living on the government dole..............Did you not do your time?"
OK, foot in the mouth statement #1. Government "dole"??? I object to that terminology. Medi is getting the VET BENEFITS she has earned. She didn't "do her time" - she served our country. God bless you girl, this is not something most of us would even consider.
When a mother can't identify the father of her children for welfare benefits and continues to keep repeating the process to gain......that would be milking the system"
There are welfare scammers out there, in the guise of mothers who actually "collect" kids for the big check. But you know what - there are more out there who simply got unlucky or made bad choices. And they need help. All those folks that are wanting to overturn Roe v. Wade - well, you gotta serve SOMEBODY - because a woman without choices can easily end up just like this.
".....or someone who would rather be a lazy ass and sit at home and collect......."
How do you know my best friend's husband???? lol, even him - he's collecting disability. Since he was such a lazy f*ck all his life, living off his woman to the point where they don't have a pot to piss in his disability check doesn't even cover the rent. Because, the way SSI works is you get what you put in. Spending your life on the couch drinking beer and watching the Rockford Files doesn't contribute to your own personal government assistance. She works two jobs, he collects a meager disability check...and she could qualify for food stamps but won't - she qualifies for Healthy Families and she does take advantage of that - that's the health insurance for the kids. Does she have health insurance? Nah, they don't give that to part time employees in clothing boutique stores.
"At least in Jamaica people know how to survive.....albiet wrong in ways"
OK, now THIS is probably the most aggregious foot in the mouth statement I've read. I don't know the "Jamaica people" you know - the ones I know survive by working hard, working 6 days a week, 10 hours a day. There are plenty more of them than the thieves and drug dealers that I'm sure you are referring to. Jamaica does not have a safety net at all -no food stamps, no welfare, no government health care...(that I know of?) and desperate people can do desperate things but to condemn an entire country of "surviving in the wrong way" - oh no, that's just not fair. Dude, if you are planning to retire there, spend more that a few days in a house you've devoted to building there - you might want to rethink that plan if this is how you TRULY feel about Jamaicans - my guess is that its not.
"If a child grows up in a house that the parents demonstrate over time a life style of getting over....the children posses the qualities on a larger scale."
True in some cases - generational welfare is a reality. In the case I know (the lazy schlep on the couch) the kids are both very ambitious - the lesson they take away is that they do not want to struggle as their parents have. They want to overcome the poverty mentality as opposed to "embracing" it.
I like Jitter's change jar idea. I actually have a change ammo case - I never spend coin, it all gets dropped in there and every couple of years we cash it in and get a few hundred bucks to take with Jamaica. Maybe I can stash in under my mattress and that can be my retirement plan.
Nah. I'd rather take it to Jamaica.
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PS: Sorry for the novel. I deleted three posts last night cause I couldn't get the words out. I mean no disrespect to anyone, including Ras. Everyone has a right to their opinion. We are surrounded with opinions such as Ras' all over the United States.
I'll part on this thought: There but for the grace of God go I. Life has a funny way of turning upside down on us. And, if heaven forbid someone like Ras gets seriously ill or injured, or their investments in their home(s) burn down, get covered in mud or flooded...or if they lose their job and find out their 401K is worth the money that I've collected in my ammo jar - these same people that condemn those that go for help might find themselves on a food stamp line or filling out an application for state medical insurance...and might look at "entitlements" under a completely different light.
Let's all have a great and GRATEFUL day.
