This morning I was reading a very poignant post from Money Reasons about what Christmas was Like During the Great Depression for his Grandma. You know that saying that where people say “what would happen if you got hit by a bus,” well poor money reason’s great grandpa literally got killed by a train while his grandma was only a wee one.
The part of the article that resonated with me was the one line where he said “back then, there wasn’t any government aid to help” with their problems and he was right. The first food stamps did not become available until 1964. WIC (Women, Infants and Children) didn’t come to be until the 70’s. Section 8 Housing was also a product of the 70s and it wasn’t until 1982 until all states participated in the medicaid program (medicare for low income or disabled people).
Babci Knows Bad, you Don’t
You know even in a recession, if you have the means to get your housing, food and health care expenses paid for, life’s pretty good compared to Grandma Money Reasons. When Babci was growing up in Poland, aside from being malnourished, she had at least a couple of siblings die from treatable illnesses. Back then, if you couldn’t afford a doctor and/or medicine and you were really sick, well, you died. She even has this famous story about how she and her twin sister couldn’t go to church at the same time because they only had 1 pair of shoes and 1 dress to split between the two of them. Since the priest didn’t know there were two of them, he refused to give my mom communion one day because he thought she had already gotten hers during the last mass. You see that boy in the photo at the front of the line . I’m pretty sure he’s not wearing shoes because he didn’t have any. My mom still complains about how messed up her feet are from not having shoes growing up.
I’m very fortunate to have never had to be hungry or cold my entire life and am super glad my mom clawed her way out of poverty. I wonder if she would have been as motivated to change if she always had everything provided for her?
Is Government Getting Too Big
I’m starting to question if our government safety net is getting too big these days especially with our exploding defecit. Does everybody really need to have everything paid for by Uncle Sam when times are tough? Is it not an option to move back in with family or friends when the going gets rough? Everyone needs to have a support system, but it’s a whole lot harder to ask for help from family and friends indefinitely vs collecting welfare from a big government organization forever.
I grew up in a neighborhood where many people were on some sort of welfare system. Most of the people referred to welfare and food stamps as “free money.” Some were even second generation welfare recipients. They also thought my mom was nuts for not taking “free money” that she was eligible to receive due to her income status. Aside from the crime, many of these folks enjoyed a life of liesure. The prospect of working 40 hours a week to maintain the same or lower standard of living to them was a life for chumps. These weren’t people with disabilities. These were able bodied individuals who didn’t want to work for the man because they didn’t want to eat into their quality time with friends and family. Um, would I like to spend more time with my family? Hell yeah. Do I feel it’s wrong to have someone else fund that for me? Yes again. (Thank you Babci for being such a great role model)
So if I fell on hard times, what would I do?
- I would collect unemployment until I found a job. Since I’ve worked full time for over 15 years and part time for another 8, I feel like I paid into those benefits enough to justify that.
- I would not collect section 8. I probably move Babci in with me (as cramped as it would be) and rent her house out or sell it.
- I probably wouldn’t need food stamps because of Babci’s garden and my emergency fund.
- I’d pay for my own health care for as long as I could but I would like a universal health care plan.
After going through this exercise, I realized that I’m all for helping children because they really can’t fend for themselves. I do think a certain population of adults needs a little more negative incentive to actually go out and work. I’m very lucky to have had a job during this recession, but in the last one in the 90’s I couldn’t get a single decent job. However I could get 3 crappy ones, so that’s what I did. I was only 18, so I had no skills at that time except the desire to work and I must have applied to 50 places before I found the jobs I did get.
What Could Be Done Differently
In our efforts to help the needy, are we also creating an entitled monster? Do we need to re-define what needy really is? Perhaps this is just coming from the spent part of me that just got over a stomach flu but still has to do the 100 things that work and family demand. Although life is sometimes exhausting, I’m perplexed that not everyone feels the same desire to support themselves.
I think the solution is smaller support systems and communities of people helping each other in way that’s not a faceless organization. I’ll happily buy a winter coat for a kid in my child’s school that needs one but I really hope that parent doesn’t think of it as “free money” but money that another parent took out of their own budget to help.
If you’re one of those people struggling but wanting to work. Hang in there, keep at it and eventually you’ll find something. Things will get better and don’t be afraid to take a job that’s beneath you for a while. Something better will come around once the economy recovers.
What do you think. Is it impossible for government to cut spending by 10% or more like all private sector companies did during the downturn? Do you think we have too much support for people in need, do we need more or is it just right?
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