# Republicans are taking away my unemployment for my own good. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 8, 2013, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-taking-away-my-unemployment-for-my-own-good/675823 "2013-12-08T15:44:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-taking-away-my-unemployment-for-my-own-good/675823/261 "2013-12-20T12:59:43Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > bolding mine… > > Maybe the 1%ers have the attitude “I got mine, now screw you” but for the rest of us, people who make around (or less than) what **Happy** used to make it’s not “I got mine” but “I’m still trying to get mine” and "I am making/have made XYZ sacrifices to do so, so "why won’t you? Why is it okay for some of us to spend a few miserable years, sacrificing and living in crap holes, eating top ramen, and scraping our way up one tiny rung at a time, only to have others say “no that’s too much for me, you’re not being fair”? WE didn’t do this, WE are in the same boat as you (two paychecks away from having to start all over again), WE are not some entitled rich 1%er, yet we managed to somehow do it. Why are we less worthy than you that it’s okay for us to sacrifice, but not you? (collective you, not singling out the OP). > > It’s like what the chronically fit always like to throw in the faces of fat people “no it’s not easy, but it IS simple”. Yeah, it’s hard as hell, and it sucks to have to do things like give up your privacy and extra room in your home (or apartment) to share with roommates so you can make ends meet. It sucks to work night shift while your wife works day shift so you don’t have to daycare. It sucks to ride the bus, even if you have a car because you can’t really afford gas, it sucks to work at some crappy job just so you can show due diligence on your resume. People who get out of the trap do all of these things, and more. They’re not just magically lucky and someone came knocking at their door one day with the perfect job. > > I’ve done resume screening in my job history on many occasions. Bosses DO look more favorably on people who got out there and hustled, even if it was just McD’s as opposed to someone who has a two year blank in their job history. And it might only be McD’s but (and a few people asked ) here is how it translates to possibly finding a better job. > > a) the aforementioned “how it looks to potential employers” > b) you meet people, possibly people who can help you make a change, or put you in touch with the right people within your industry. > c) it helps you feel as if you have control, > d) it keeps you in the “habit of working” Amen:and a few years ago Oprah had on some people who were homeless, the one lady was angry because she now had to live out of her Mercedes, she said she used to earn $100,000.00 a year! The Oprah had a man on with 3 kids, he earned $25,000.00 a year. had money saved. he had a old used car, and had bought a camper so he and his children could take vacations. It is all a matter of the priority people put on the way they live. There are many who do need help, and do need a job. Some have a job but not enough to make ends meet. Some had illnesses that put them in the whole because their insurance ran out. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-taking-away-my-unemployment-for-my-own-good/675823/262 "2013-12-20T13:04:09Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > First you said she had to work three jobs in addition to her SS, now you say she’s doing it by choice. _Which is it?_ > I was laid off for _three years_. Six weeks is nothing. > When I was laid off I had not one penny of debt, some modest investments, and a year’s worth of salary in the bank. > > Within four years it was gone, all gone. > > I know what you’re doing - you’re trying to hedge everything with exceptions and anecdotes because it terrifies you that someone could do everything right and still wind up in the crapper… and not be able to climb out. If the poor are guilty of something - debt, poor decisions, lack of education, whatever - and you don’t have those stains on your person then you’re safe. Except you aren’t. No one is safe. Unless you’re in the 1% of the 1% you, too, can wind up in the crapper. > Yeah, that is weird. What’s up with you, **Monavis?** First of all, Yes my friend has to work to keep her head above water, I don’t know why you keep insisting I am talking about you! I am talking about people who are fussy about things they eat etc. when some of the people who donate to Food banks etc. are not living high on the hog. If you feel the cap fits wear it, if not then you are one of the exceptions to the rule! ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-taking-away-my-unemployment-for-my-own-good/675823/263 "2013-12-20T14:03:50Z")
When did this thread turn into the Monavis “In our day, we ate sand and _liked it_” thread? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-taking-away-my-unemployment-for-my-own-good/675823/264 "2013-12-20T14:14:54Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > bolding mine… > > Maybe the 1%ers have the attitude “I got mine, now screw you” but for the rest of us, people who make around (or less than) what **Happy** used to make it’s not “I got mine” but “I’m still trying to get mine” and "I am making/have made XYZ sacrifices to do so, so "why won’t you? Why is it okay for some of us to spend a few miserable years, sacrificing and living in crap holes, eating top ramen, and scraping our way up one tiny rung at a time, only to have others say “no that’s too much for me, you’re not being fair”? WE didn’t do this, WE are in the same boat as you (two paychecks away from having to start all over again), WE are not some entitled rich 1%er, yet we managed to somehow do it. Why are we less worthy than you that it’s okay for us to sacrifice, but not you? (collective you, not singling out the OP). > > It’s like what the chronically fit always like to throw in the faces of fat people “no it’s not easy, but it IS simple”. Yeah, it’s hard as hell, and it sucks to have to do things like give up your privacy and extra room in your home (or apartment) to share with roommates so you can make ends meet. It sucks to work night shift while your wife works day shift so you don’t have to daycare. It sucks to ride the bus, even if you have a car because you can’t really afford gas, it sucks to work at some crappy job just so you can show due diligence on your resume. People who get out of the trap do all of these things, and more. They’re not just magically lucky and someone came knocking at their door one day with the perfect job. > > I’ve done resume screening in my job history on many occasions. Bosses DO look more favorably on people who got out there and hustled, even if it was just McD’s as opposed to someone who has a two year blank in their job history. And it might only be McD’s but (and a few people asked ) here is how it translates to possibly finding a better job. > > a) the aforementioned “how it looks to potential employers” > b) you meet people, possibly people who can help you make a change, or put you in touch with the right people within your industry. > c) it helps you feel as if you have control, > d) it keeps you in the “habit of working” There are some holes in this theory. Suppose you’re a 52 year old factory rat and your company just got busted up to make a few bucks for Mitt Romney. Do you honestly think you are EVER going to get a good job in the future? Of that a job in a fast food place (which you aren’t going to even get) is going to be enough to live on? Maybe your idea makes sense if you’re one of the few unemployed guys in a small town. Try being one of tens of thousands out of work in a large city. If there are 100 people applying for 1 job, what do you tell the other 99? Hey, go find a lodger who’s just as hard up as you? The truth is, many of the unemployed are never going to get a good job, no matter how many crappy jobs they get. Not everyone can compete in a terrible job market. A just and moral society (the antithesis of libertarianism) will extend the safety net until times get better. We can cut them off and leet them suffer. Or we can give them a helping hand, knowing that every dollar they get is plowed right back into the economy, allowing those fast food workers to keep their jobs, allowing the grocery clerks and gas station attendants to keep theirs, the people that sell things to the grocery clerks and gas station attendants, etc. Money denied the unemployed is money that is taken out of the economy, leading to more unemployment. Horatio Alger is a myth, let’s stop pretending that people are desperate because they are lazy. You want them to work, fine. Make an enviornment that encourages job creation, and not simply throw money at rich people in hopes that they’ll create jobs. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-taking-away-my-unemployment-for-my-own-good/675823/265 "2013-12-20T15:13:22Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > I’ve done resume screening in my job history on many occasions. Bosses DO look more favorably on people who got out there and hustled, even if it was just McD’s as opposed to someone who has a two year blank in their job history. And it might only be McD’s but (and a few people asked ) here is how it translates to possibly finding a better job. > > a) the aforementioned “how it looks to potential employers” > b) you meet people, possibly people who can help you make a change, or put you in touch with the right people within your industry. > c) it helps you feel as if you have control, > d) it keeps you in the “habit of working” I can understand point A, that it looks better to keep working. But I don’t know how true point B is for people getting jobs at McDonald’s. Let’s say an accountant was unemployed for 1 year, then started working at McDonald’s. Is he really going to meet many people that could hire him or put him in touch with the right people? Professional people do go to McDonald’s to eat, so it’s possible that someone with the power to hire him could order a Big Mac from him, but the guy is going there to eat, not to network, and I don’t know how receptive he’d be to receiving a resume there. And it’s not like the accountant would have much chance to talk to the customers and learn who works where and who has connections to jobs, considering how much McDonald’s emphasizes having short wait times. Maybe one of his coworkers at McDonald’s might happen to know someone with a connection that he could get an accounting interview through, but I don’t think he could count on that. Maybe I’m missing something, but for the most part, taking a minimum wage job at somewhere like McDonald’s in order to meet people to make a change sounds like it wouldn’t work. Point C makes some sense to me, that it might be good to feel productive and have control rather than keep getting job rejections and feel out of control. But point D seems a little insulting. Do you really think that unemployed people get out of the habit of working and get lazy and are unable to go back to being hard workers once they get a job? I don’t know anyone who has gotten out of the habit of working when unemployed. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-taking-away-my-unemployment-for-my-own-good/675823/266 "2013-12-20T17:07:48Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > These are all good points. > > Social conservatives also need to bopped in the head for supporting such an argument. You can’t seriously be in favor of “family values” and also be in favor of someone raising children on minimum wage, with no government support like free child care. Or heathcare. Sure, the family unit suffers when the breadwinner can’t pull in any bread except for a small government paycheck. But it also suffers when kids are tossed in low-quality day care just so that the breadwinner can pull in crumbs. Are social conservatives calling for increased social welfare spending to account for the growing number of families trying to make it on minimum wages? Nope. Everything is being scaled back. So much for family values, conservatives. This. My brother and his wife and daughter make so many inane and offensive FB posts as hyperconservative Tea Partiers that I’ve cut off their newsfeeds. Always some crap about how lazy people on food stamps are, how soldiers make less than minimum wage but those damn fast food workers want to make more money (that’s from Sarah Palin, naturally), how unemployed people just don’t want to work, etc., ad nauseum. At the same time, they claim to be followers of Jesus. I can’t imagine that Jesus would have had such contempt for the poor. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-taking-away-my-unemployment-for-my-own-good/675823/267 "2013-12-20T18:43:41Z")
> [@monavis](#): > > First of all, Yes my friend has to work to keep her head above water So she is NOT working three jobs by choice. OK, thanks for clearing that up. > [@](#): > > I don’t know why you keep insisting I am talking about you! I have explained this already. If you can’t comprehend plain English that is your problem, not mine. Or maybe it’s just a complete lack of empathy, an incomprehension that, given slightly different circumstances, that could be you. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-taking-away-my-unemployment-for-my-own-good/675823/268 "2013-12-21T00:32:18Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Wow, Martin Hyde is quite an asshole. snip. And quite the elitist. I learned that back in 2005 in this very forum. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-taking-away-my-unemployment-for-my-own-good/675823/269 "2013-12-21T00:37:04Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > The truth is, many of the unemployed are never going to get a good job, no matter how many crappy jobs they get. Not everyone can compete in a terrible job market. A just and moral society (the antithesis of libertarianism) will extend the safety net until times get better. But you just said that for some of these people, times will NEVER get better. They will never find a job making what they were making. Do we continue to pay the 52 year old factory worker his entire wage until social security kicks in so he doesn’t need to take a cut in lifestyle? That doesn’t seem sustainable. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-taking-away-my-unemployment-for-my-own-good/675823/270 "2013-12-21T00:40:15Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > But you just said that for some of these people, times will NEVER get better. They will never find a job making what they were making. Do we continue to pay the 52 year old factory worker his entire wage until social security kicks in so he doesn’t need to take a cut in lifestyle? That doesn’t seem sustainable. Being on unemployment is never close to your regular wage. Thing is, you don’t know who will or won’t recover. So you provide some safety net, but you don’t subsidize a specific lifestyle. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-taking-away-my-unemployment-for-my-own-good/675823/271 "2013-12-21T00:44:36Z")
> [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > Maybe I’m missing something, but for the most part, taking a minimum wage job at somewhere like McDonald’s in order to meet people to make a change sounds like it wouldn’t work. One of the women I was in orientation with for my last job had been working for the food service contract company. There was an opening for an entry level job and someone said “you should apply.” One of the project managers had started as a teller in the bank that was in that building - again, an opportunity opened (at that time for a lower level project coordinator job) and the manager said “you should apply.” I’m not sure I would target McDonalds as the ideal place for that sort of minimum wage networking job - you want a coffee shop in an office building where you have a regular clientele that you can impress with your ability to remember their regular order and juggle an early morning rush. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-taking-away-my-unemployment-for-my-own-good/675823/272 "2013-12-21T00:49:57Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Being on unemployment is never close to your regular wage. Thing is, you don’t know who will or won’t recover. So you provide some safety net, but you don’t subsidize a specific lifestyle. Oh, I know, which is one of the reasons its really difficult to even maintain a standard of living on unemployment. But one of the gripes on this thread seems to be you can’t take a lower paying job and maintain the standard of living you had before. Some people will inevitably see their standard of living decrease if they can’t find similar employment. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-taking-away-my-unemployment-for-my-own-good/675823/273 "2013-12-21T00:52:13Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Oh, I know, which is one of the reasons its really difficult to even maintain a standard of living on unemployment. But one of the gripes on this thread seems to be you can’t take a lower paying job and maintain the standard of living you had before. > > Some people will inevitably see their standard of living decrease if they can’t find similar employment. I hadn’t noticed that sentiment as being too prevalent in this thread. I don’t think that’s what most people are arguing. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-taking-away-my-unemployment-for-my-own-good/675823/274 "2013-12-21T01:25:37Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Oh, I know, which is one of the reasons its really difficult to even maintain a standard of living on unemployment. But one of the gripes on this thread seems to be you can’t take a lower paying job and maintain the standard of living you had before. I think that was one of the OP’s gripes. And I agree with the counter-gripe that one day, maybe today, he’s going to need to reset his expectations and adjust to the new reality. Even if it seems like just yesterday, he was on top of the world. But the other gripe the OP has is that it makes fiscal sense for him to keep taking unemployment, since the costs incurred by his getting “any ole job” wouldn’t be offset by the low-paid wages of minimum wage. He cites the high costs of child care, specifically. This gripe is harder for me to challenge. The OP’s family benefits more with him on unemployment than it does with him working at “any” job. A family of six living on a minimum wages will require all kinds of financial assistance. From subsidized day care to food stamps. They won’t be able to keep their home. So they may need housing assistance. There’s also health care expenses. From a sheer financial standpoint, it makes more sense to keep the OP on UI until he finds a job with wages that can sustain his family, rather than to pretend the minimum wage job he’s forced to take is good for everyone involved, taxpayer included. It so totally isn’t. However, the pragmatist in me also thinks eventually this argument breaks down. Millions of people have somehow figured out how to juggle child care and work without putting themselves in a hole. It is difficult, but it can be done. I don’t blame the OP for not doing it now. But it probably needs to be anticipated. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-taking-away-my-unemployment-for-my-own-good/675823/275 "2013-12-21T03:19:13Z")
To be fair even though the Democrats would prefer to keep unemployment going, they didn’t seem to put up much of a fight, as the bill breezed through both the House and the Senate if I recall correctly. It is possible, if unlikely that they may readdress the issue and retroactively extend the emergency unemployment, but it seems maybe disingenuous to put blame squarely at the Republicans feet when the Democrats went willingly enough along with it. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-taking-away-my-unemployment-for-my-own-good/675823/276 "2013-12-21T04:50:28Z")
To the OP - So what’s your plan if you don’t find another job the you find acceptable? Michigan’s job prospects aren’t good, but you don’t seem ready to make a change of location. Right now your plan isn’t working, even with government assistance. You seem to be hemorrhaging money even with the government subsidy. Are the taxpayers to maintain you in your middle-class life forever? Why should your family be maintained as middle class simply because that’s where you were a year ago. Your family is no better or more special than people who were poor a year ago, but there aren’t the resources to magically make every family middle class just because that’s where they want to be. You haven’t been able to find a job. Not because you aren’t looking, but apparently because they aren’t there. Although I despise him, I have to quote Dr. Phil here - “How’s that working for you?” The quote has been attributed to many people, but no less true: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. It is less painful for me to have my tax dollars support someone besides myself if I know they’re working toward not being supported by me as soon as possible. StG ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-taking-away-my-unemployment-for-my-own-good/675823/277 "2013-12-21T11:11:01Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I think that was one of the OP’s gripes. And I agree with the counter-gripe that one day, maybe today, he’s going to need to reset his expectations and adjust to the new reality. Even if it seems like just yesterday, he was on top of the world. > > But the other gripe the OP has is that it makes fiscal sense for him to keep taking unemployment, since the costs incurred by his getting “any ole job” wouldn’t be offset by the low-paid wages of minimum wage. He cites the high costs of child care, specifically. > > This gripe is harder for me to challenge. The OP’s family benefits more with him on unemployment than it does with him working at “any” job. A family of six living on a minimum wages will require all kinds of financial assistance. From subsidized day care to food stamps. They won’t be able to keep their home. So they may need housing assistance. There’s also health care expenses. From a sheer financial standpoint, it makes more sense to keep the OP on UI until he finds a job with wages that can sustain his family, rather than to pretend the minimum wage job he’s forced to take is good for everyone involved, taxpayer included. It so totally isn’t. > > However, the pragmatist in me also thinks eventually this argument breaks down. Millions of people have somehow figured out how to juggle child care and work without putting themselves in a hole. It is difficult, but it can be done. I don’t blame the OP for not doing it now. But it probably needs to be anticipated. Well, since it’s childcare that’s the main issue, that’s a time-limited problem. So unemployment won’t actually be better than low-wage work for the OP forever. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-taking-away-my-unemployment-for-my-own-good/675823/278 "2013-12-21T12:11:05Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > This. My brother and his wife and daughter make so many inane and offensive FB posts as hyperconservative Tea Partiers that I’ve cut off their newsfeeds. Always some crap about how lazy people on food stamps are, how soldiers make less than minimum wage but those damn fast food workers want to make more money (that’s from Sarah Palin, naturally), how unemployed people just don’t want to work, etc., ad nauseum. > At the same time, they claim to be followers of Jesus. I can’t imagine that Jesus would have had such contempt for the poor. Jesus said to the rich young man"Sell what you have,give it to the poor, then come and follow me". Of course there are exceptions to the rule. Some expect a hand out but many are grateful for a hand up! ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-taking-away-my-unemployment-for-my-own-good/675823/279 "2013-12-21T12:28:05Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > So she is NOT working three jobs by choice. OK, thanks for clearing that up. > I have explained this already. If you can’t comprehend plain English that is your problem, not mine. Or maybe it’s just a complete lack of empathy, an incomprehension that, given slightly different circumstances, that could be you. My friend chooses to work, doesn’t expect others to take care of her. You are entitled to your opinion of me, because you think one thing of me, doesn’t mean it is true. I have never asked anyone for help in my circumstances, I always lived under my income. I lived in dire poverty for about 29 years, That included the help my parents got in food from the welfare,We were very glad to get it. I did low paying jobs jobs. Didn’t buy anything; washed my clothes out in a bathroom sink. When I first got out of high school I had a job that paid $12.00 a week, my room mate and i each paid 9 dollars a week for rent, She bought bread,and peanut butter, I bought lettuce and blue cheese,we shared a pound of coffee. We lived on that until I got a job as a maid. Then got a job as cook in a restaurant. I never even felt poor. Do I expect others to do that…NO!!!. But i don’t think they should be fussy about what others are paying for. You don;t need to agree with me, Our life style has helped us to be independent. I guess it is just a matter of what a person expects out of life. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-taking-away-my-unemployment-for-my-own-good/675823/280 "2013-12-21T12:59:28Z")
> [@monavis](#): > > Jesus said to the rich young man"Sell what you have,give it to the poor, then come and follow me". Then why do all those rich Christians fight modest tax increases for the benefit of all tooth and nail? > [@](#): > > Of course there are exceptions to the rule. Some expect a hand out but many are grateful for a hand up! Enough of this - I’m tired of your whine about the poor not being grateful enough for the crumbs off your table. Worthiness should be based on actual need, not how adroitly the needy kiss the ass of the better off. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-taking-away-my-unemployment-for-my-own-good/675823.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-taking-away-my-unemployment-for-my-own-good/675823.md?page=15)