Coping With Welfare Equals Losing 13 IQ Points

[daredtowork]

4. Illustrates the point

It seems to me the closer you are to collapse - particularly when medical issues are involved - the more accessible social services should become. Instead, as your cognitive resources become stretched thinner, more and more demands are placed on them to cope with the broken system.

The system is broken because politicians can get away with not paying attention to it. No one who hasn't had to engage with the system can see it.

They can't see the ridiculous contradictory rules, the short deadlines, or all the traps that regularly auto cut off your only source for rent and food until the "glitch" is worked out. They can't see how the political system is siphoning the money from the poorest of the poor to shore up what their vocal contributors want to see done.

I'm just going to copy a comment I made elsewhere that someone said should be a post, because it's worth saying several times over:

The more financial strain you are under, the more you discover that there are necessities that everyone takes for granted - light bulbs, toilet paper, tampons, aspirin, basic cleaning supplies.

Also, many of the people giving you "advice" and "helping" you will be imposing costs on you and giving you the stink eye if you don't do exactly what they say if you don't have the money for it. Thus you are supposed to have work-ready clothing and proper hygiene supplies, get your hair dyed and professionally cut, "prioritize" to buy good walking shoes so you will get some exercise, return long distance calls from recruiters who assume everyone has a cell phone, get to places without bus money, sign and return documents without printer/envelope/stamps...well, the list goes on and on.

Recently I got the renewal notice for my California ID. This is required for everything from getting a job to securing Medi-Cal. Is it free for people on welfare with NO DIRECT CASH INCOME? No, it's offered "at a discount".

It's laughable how many things in California are offered "at a discount" to people who are DENIED DIRECT CASH INCOME. Gas for heat and cooking - discounted. Phone landline - discounted. Before the Affordable Care Act kicked in this January all medications - absolutely vital ones - were discounted! (They were free if you could get on Medi-Cal, but before the ACA kicked in, the bureaucracy did everything in its power to block people from getting on Medi-Cal). Whenever I tried to explain I had no cash income, I was told to "prioritize" and "save up". How do you save up NOTHING?!

I'll tell you what's going on here. Everyone knows that no one can survive on the welfare rules as written. So they expect you are begging or prostituting yourself or engaging in some criminal activity - that's what you're supposed to "save up". WHAT KIND OF SYSTEM EXPECTS YOU TO BE BEGGING AND STEALING ON THE SIDE JUST TO SURVIVE?

I'm doing everything but somersaults and setting myself on fire to try to get people to look at this problem. Yet even most progressives remain apathetic and silent. I don't get it. It's not like I'm another political shill trying to shake them down for money. I just want them to open their eyes and LOOK. I know once they look, once they really see how ridiculous the welfare situation is, they will feel conscience bound to put welfare policy on the table. It's a Human Rights issue, right here on US soil.