Mission Accomplished: The War on Poverty is Over

[MaxMMA]

Or because my union fucks me and it's not worth it to piss of management, HR, AND my union to get... a 10 cent raise.

Essentially, you're a dumb motherfucker with no life experience or you were born with a fucking silver spoon in your mouth. Either way, get fucking bent.

That's the difference between me and you I guess, I'll piss off whoever I have to to get the most out of any job, or anything im involved in for that matter.

I've used lies, intimation, deception, manipulation and risked termination more times than I can count to get what I deserve from employers and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

Workers have far more power in this country than you know, but keep blaming all you problems on your shitty union and employer, you'll definitely get the raise you want that way!

 

[Gregolian]

That's the difference between me and you I guess, I'll piss off whoever I have to to get the most out of any job, or anything im involved in for that matter.

I've used lies, intimation, deception, manipulation and risked termination more times than I can count to get what I deserve from employers and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

Workers have far more power in this country than you know, but keep blaming all you problems on your shitty union and employer, you'll definitely get the raise you want that way!

You sound like you're... MAYBE 17 and have never actually worked a job.

 

[MaxMMA]

You sound like you're... MAYBE 17 and have never actually worked a job.

LOFL!!! I was in basic training at the age of 17. 34 now, currently working 2 jobs and running a side business for extra cash. I've worked in food service, retail, gyms, warehouses, construction, manufacturing, government contracting, and I've worked for MMA promotions as a professional fighter.

I don't care if you believe me or not. I know how to deal with employers to milk maximum compensation from them. I can enlighten you but you've obviously grown accustomed to taking the whip without complaint... Well you complain, but to interweb strangers. I highly doubt you complain in front of your corporate masters for fear of them revoking your meager compensation.

 

[Gregolian]

LOFL!!! I was in basic training at the age of 17. 34 now, currently working 2 jobs and running a side business for extra cash. I've worked in food service, retail, gyms, warehouses, construction, manufacturing, government contracting, and I've worked for MMA promotions as a professional fighter.

I don't care if you believe me or not. I know how to deal with employers to milk maximum compensation from them. I can enlighten you but you've obviously grown accustomed to taking the whip without complaint... Well you complain, but to interweb strangers. I highly doubt you complain in front of your corporate masters for fear of them revoking your meager compensation.

You don't read what I write apparently...

Corporate masters... I WORK IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR YOU DUMB SHIT.

 

[MaxMMA]

You don't read what I write apparently...

Corporate masters... I WORK IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR YOU DUMB SHIT.

You're absolutely right, I just skimmed over your whiney, bitchy posts. Doesn't change the fact that you're whining and bitching about a job that you chose to work at. A job that you continue to work for sub par wages because you're to scared to confront your management.

 

[Rational Poster]

I think some people are being purposefully obtuse. Military benefits are just that: benefits, and they are contractually obligated to fulfill them. There is virtually no difference between stuff like Tricare, a GS employee's healthcare, and employer-funded healthcare. The military offers more benefits (access to gyms, cost of living allowances for select personnel, housing allowances for select personnel, etc), but those are merely benefits that factor in against the lower salaries of the employees. For the cost of living allowances and housing allowances, there is a direct correlation in the civilian world too. Most jobs in San Fransisco or NYC are going to pay their employees more than they would for the same job if it were in the middle of Nebraska (it's even lower when those jobs are in Pakistan!). Why? Because the cost of living is higher in those places, so people expect to make more. Instead of giving you a stipend in your paycheck, they just plug it into your paycheck as part of your salary. Many employers offer healthcare, life insurance, disability insurance, wellness plans for things like gyms and nutrition, and that sort of thing. To argue otherwise isn't really being honest about what these things are. Many people join the military because it's an employer with an excellent benefits package (although the salaries suck), and since these are all part of the servicemember's contract when they enter into employment, everyone would be rightly upset if the government decided to not honor its contracts.

Disagree.

Social Security is a benefit. Medicare/Medicaid is a benefit. No matter what job you work you pay into these programs your entire life. It's your money being paid back to you. Calling them entitlements is propaganda.

Military personnel get the same entitlements regardless of their service and they pay no taxes. These are real entitlements and all of it paid for by the American taxpayer.

 

[nostradumbass]

It's so funny that Republican party has gotten votes from this dumb slogan alone for years.

Entitlement spending lol.

Do you have a better term for handouts from complete strangers just because you live in the same country as them?

 

[Jack V Savage]

Do you have a better term for handouts from complete strangers just because you live in the same country as them?

Disagree.

Social Security is a benefit. Medicare/Medicaid is a benefit. No matter what job you work you pay into these programs your entire life. It's your money being paid back to you. Calling them entitlements is propaganda.

I think both of you are thinking of the wrong sense of "entitlement." They're entitlement programs not in the sense that there's some kind of psychological sense of entitlement related to them, but in the older sense that recipients have a legitimate legal claim to them (and that their funding level varies with the amount of people eligible and what they're eligible for rather than annual budget appropriations).

 

[MaxMMA]

LOL balls of steel on this man right here.

Id certainly like to believe so, but truthfully employers will only treat you and pay you the way you let them.

 

[Crystaline Entity]

All I know is that I have had people tell me literally, "Why should I work when I can make more on welfare?" That seems to be a big problem. Unfortunately, if the gov cuts welfare, it will crash the economy and increase crime substantially at this point. I know my business is much busier at the beginning of the month after all the free money goes out. Not everyone who can work will work just because jobs are available.

 

[Rational Poster]

All I know is that I have had people tell me literally, "Why should I work when I can make more on welfare?" That seems to be a big problem. Unfortunately, if the gov cuts welfare, it will crash the economy and increase crime substantially at this point. I know my business is much busier at the beginning of the month after all the free money goes out. Not everyone who can work will work just because jobs are available.

It's not a problem because it isn't true.

You can always earn more by working than on welfare. Welfare doesn't pay you much actual money.

 

[sub_thug]

Disagree.

Social Security is a benefit. Medicare/Medicaid is a benefit. No matter what job you work you pay into these programs your entire life. It's your money being paid back to you. Calling them entitlements is propaganda.

Military personnel get the same entitlements regardless of their service and they pay no taxes. These are real entitlements and all of it paid for by the American taxpayer.

Medicare and Medicaid are indeed entitlements. There is no contract that you personally have with the United States government that says that you will get those things in exchange for something, despite the fact that you're charged for them. They are just taxes that you pay designed to help the poor or elderly. This is not true of the benefits package of a American service member. We each have contracts that we physically sign with the US government that say that we will serve in a certain rank and grade in exchange for payment and benefits. When we join the military, pay is detracted from our paychecks to fund our Tricare health insurance (or you can opt out if you'd like), we pay for the Soldiers Group Life Insurance, and we pay for our uniforms like you'd pay for a business suit (and officers don't receive an annual clothing allowance either). When kids enlist and go to Basic Training, their haircuts, uniforms, soap, and towels are taken from their paychecks. We really aren't given as much as you'd think. Hell, I've never served in a unit where I didn't have to shell out money from my own pocket for something the unit needs.

This is simply not true. We pay taxes from each of our paychecks. I then go file my taxes every single year.

 

[Crystaline Entity]

It's not a problem because it isn't true.

You can always earn more by working than on welfare. Welfare doesn't pay you much actual money.

Maybe you right. Its just what I have been told. I've never been on welfare so I really do not know. I know I have also seen folks on welfare & living in public housing driving a nicer car than I have and having a bigger TV than me. Maybe they are doing something extra to make extra money. I don't know.

 

[Rational Poster]

Maybe you right. Its just what I have been told. I've never been on welfare so I really do not know. I know I have also seen folks on welfare & living in public housing driving a nicer car than I have and having a bigger TV than me. Maybe they are doing something extra to make extra money. I don't know.

People get on welfare and work off the books.. or they work on the books and still make so little they're still eligible for welfare. Most welfare is still contingent on some form of employment.

The real problem is that people lose their benefits by earning too much, so you are incentivized to keep your earnings low. Losing your rent controlled apartment or section 8 can be the difference between living comfortably and really struggling.

 

[Cuauhtemoc]

There is a constant flow of children, elderly, and disabled people--who collectively make up the vast majority of people in pre-transfer poverty. The only permanent solution to have a certain portion of the population in poverty is to increase transfer income or cause people to stop being born and getting old.

Interesting, but there is also a substantial amount of working poor people and it seems to be a problem in the USA compared to Europe.

Maybe an increase in the minimum wage would help them?

 

[Jack V Savage]

Interesting, but there is also a substantial amount of working poor people and it seems to be a problem in the USA compared to Europe.

Maybe an increase in the minimum wage would help them?

Even the working poor generally make enough to be out of poverty by themselves, but their household is in poverty because they are also taking care of non-workers. Also, is that a post-transfer number? The U.S. does a great job with the elderly (pre-transfer elderly poverty varies from year to year but is generally in the mid-40% range, while post-transfer--mostly SS--elderly poverty is generally under 10%). Our big failing is insufficient transfers to children and the disabled.

 

[Jack V Savage]

People get on welfare and work off the books.. or they work on the books and still make so little they're still eligible for welfare. Most welfare is still contingent on some form of employment.

The real problem is that people lose their benefits by earning too much, so you are incentivized to keep your earnings low. Losing your rent controlled apartment or section 8 can be the difference between living comfortably and really struggling.

That's definitely an issue, and something @panamaican has been getting at ITT.

Medicare and Medicaid are indeed entitlements. There is no contract that you personally have with the United States government that says that you will get those things in exchange for something, despite the fact that you're charged for them.

Such a contract would strengthen their status as "entitlements." Being entitled to something means it is yours by law. We call Medicare and Medicaid (and SS) entitlements because they are legally mandated rather than appropriated.