Preparing for Economic Hardship

» Schmoopy - Government help

I agree that food stamps and the like serve an valuable purpose. I am a big supporter of government programs that help people through hard times - I think these programs make the world better for all of us.

But it's important to realize that when you look to the government for help, what you're really doing is leaning on everyone around you. After all, tax dollars are what make up these programs. So using food stamps or other kinds of public assistance is simply an institutionalized way of borrowing money from your neighbor.

Jennifer is exactly right - these social programs are not to be abused - they should be reserved for times of true economic hardship.

-- posted by Schmoopy

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» writermom13 - Re: Government help

Thanks for that comment. I found out only recently that around the time my son was born (and I stopped working altogether for 6 months), my family's income was low enough that we would have qualified for WIC, a program in our state that provides baby food and formula, as well as food items like peanut butter, milk and eggs for expecting or new mothers. This is in spite of my husband having a good (not high-paying, but not anywhere close to minimum wage) job. If we had no debt, things would not even be tough financially.
The income limit for a family of 4 for this program was $32,000 a year.

Well, I didn't know it at the time, so we struggled through on our own. I breastfed my son, we didn't eat out, and we cut back on a lot of extras. Now, I'm glad I didn't know that we could have taken from the government, because we learned ways to make do that are helping us save money now. Hard times teach us lessons and skills we will use in the future. When things are made too easy, we never learn the skills we will need later.

I think it's too easy to get some kinds of government assistance. I mean, it's one thing when you are starving or homeless, but $32,000 for a family of 4 should be enough to keep food in the fridge and clothes on their backs without government assistance. Just my opinion.

Jen Krausz

-- posted by writermom13

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