This is what happened when I drove my Mercedes to pick up food stamps

[Malthus]

I think you have described the paradox quite well. Those who dont qualify and are just on the margins should be advocating for increases in support so that they do qualify rather than advocating for reductions so as to reduce further the chances that they will quality.

As for not missing the money, I dont think it is that at all.  I think the real issue is that a lot of rich people are able to structure their financial affairs so that they pay very little tax.  If a proper progressive tax system was created perhaps that would deal with the paradox on the upper end but it still doesnt answer the question of why people who actually need more support would advocate against support systems.

I think there are two reasons:

1) The lack of tapering in assistance.  When people get above the threshold for assistance, in many cases they actually regress.  That means the working poor[1] can end up worse off than people who don't work and rely on assistance.  It also provides a disincentive for people on assistance to actually find work, because they might actually make their situation worse.  This breeds resentment amongst the working poor for people on assistance, and in turn on the assistance programs themselves.

2) Many white working poor view assistance programs as racially motivated.  They see non-white people disproportionately benefit from them and believe it is because they are minorities, not because they are more likely to be poor.

[1] Which was a good description of most of my childhood, actually.

The racial thing is more of an issue in the US, I think.

In Canada, the big racial issues revolve around native Canadians, who are dealt with by a whole different set of systems (at least, the ones on reservations).

[CountDeMoney]

Don't worry, we shit on them, too.

[Grey Fox]

I'd like to thank CC for paying his high taxes & thru the magic of periquation enabling me to have cheap day care for my kids.

[Jacob]

I think she raises some good points though I have to admit that I got distracted a bit when I read that her family is now flush again and she's attending grad school.

Isn't that how it's supposed to work?

You have a bad streak and end up in financial hardship, you get some assistance to help you through the bad patch so it doesn't compromise your ability to get back on your own two feet, and then you get your shit together and move up from your crappy position?

Would it be better if her family still didn't have any money, she was not attending grad school, and they were still on assistance?

Or would it be better that the threshold for and level of assistance was so low that her family now had some money, but less than being flush and not enough for her to be going to grad school?

[DGuller]

2) Many white working poor view assistance programs as racially motivated.  They see non-white people disproportionately benefit from them and believe it is because they are minorities, not because they are more likely to

I agree, and I think racial component is behind a lot of bad policies in US.  Almost every policy has a disparate impact race-wise, and that fact does not go unnoticed.  Whether it's increasing social safety net or reducing absurd prison sentences, black people would benefit more than white people, and at that point a significant segment of white people are going to search for an explanation as to why that would be a bad idea.

[PDH]

I ate government cheese back in the 80s.

[Jacob]

I'd like to thank CC for paying his high taxes & thru the magic of periquation enabling me to have cheap day care for my kids.

It'd be nice if we could have cheap daycare here in BC too, but the principle is sound IMO. I don't pay CC level taxes, but one day I hope to

[dps]

I think she raises some good points though I have to admit that I got distracted a bit when I read that her family is now flush again and she's attending grad school.

Isn't that how it's supposed to work?

You have a bad streak and end up in financial hardship, you get some assistance to help you through the bad patch so it doesn't compromise your ability to get back on your own two feet, and then you get your shit together and move up from your crappy position?

Yeah, that's how it's supposed to work.  Don't actually work all that often, though.

[Zanza]

From the article:

We still have that Mercedes.

Good decision.

[DGuller]

Yeah, that's how it's supposed to work.  Don't actually work all that often, though.

I don't know if that's really true, but I am pretty sure that you strongly want to believe that it is true.

[DGuller]

From the article:

We still have that Mercedes.

Good decision.

[garbon]

I think she raises some good points though I have to admit that I got distracted a bit when I read that her family is now flush again and she's attending grad school.

Isn't that how it's supposed to work?

You have a bad streak and end up in financial hardship, you get some assistance to help you through the bad patch so it doesn't compromise your ability to get back on your own two feet, and then you get your shit together and move up from your crappy position?

Would it be better if her family still didn't have any money, she was not attending grad school, and they were still on assistance?

Or would it be better that the threshold for and level of assistance was so low that her family now had some money, but less than being flush and not enough for her to be going to grad school?

Like I said to Seedy that wasn't what I was thinking.

Now I know my thought wasn't generous, but it was more around the fact that while certainly a period of emotional turmoil for her family, this was really more like a blip in the history of their lives - so I wasn't sure to what extent I should really take her experiences and try to generalize them to people who are perpetually trapped in poverty. It's like a certain forum member here who described his life as a poor person.

I am, of course, very glad that this woman is back on her feet - though assuredly the mentions of Obama made me think again if there is anything that he can't do.

[Jacob]

Like I said to Seedy that wasn't what I was thinking.

Now I know my thought wasn't generous, but it was more around the fact that while certainly a period of emotional turmoil for her family, this was really more like a blip in the history of their lives - so I wasn't sure to what extent I should really take her experiences and try to generalize them to people who are perpetually trapped in poverty. It's like a certain forum member here who described his life as a poor person.

Okay, that's fair enough as far as it goes

I am, of course, very glad that this woman is back on her feet - though assuredly the mentions of Obama made me think again if there is anything that he can't do.

It does seem that Obama has become a bit of an iconic symbol for all sorts of issues for people all over the political map in the US.

Thanks Obama!

[Zanza]

Our euroweenie social system would make you sell a Mercedes before you could get social security. You may own an "appropriate" car, but a 2003 Mercedes back in 2009 would probably be above that value limit.

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

2) Many white working poor view assistance programs as racially motivated.  They see non-white people disproportionately benefit from them and believe it is because they are minorities, not because they are more likely to

I agree, and I think racial component is behind a lot of bad policies in US.  Almost every policy has a disparate impact race-wise, and that fact does not go unnoticed.  Whether it's increasing social safety net or reducing absurd prison sentences, black people would benefit more than white people, and at that point a significant segment of white people are going to search for an explanation as to why that would be a bad idea.

It's even worse than that, at least where social assistance is concerned.  There are white working poor (my dad was one of them) who believe that white people are denied benefits or otherwise obstructed just because they are white.  Thus, even the white people who would benefit don't think they are going to actually get anything out of it.