DOES ANYONE IN YOUR HOUSEHOLD RECEIVE GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE, VOUCHERS, CELL PHONE?
 

ON EDIT:
THIS IS A POLL, ONLY. TOTALLY ANONYMOUS. PLEASE BE KIND ENOUGH TO RESPOND WITH COURTESY. THANK YOU!


GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE/INCOME MEANS ANY TYPE;
ALL GOVERNMENT INCOME, INCLUDING RETIREMENT INCOME, DISABILITY INCOME, FOOD STAMP VOUCHERS, CELL PHONE, ETC. FROM ANY GOVERNMENT ENTITY?

ANSWER POLL: YES OR NO

Ayup. FIL type gots hisself one of them Obama phones (from the program set in place by one of them thar Re Pub Licans) and lordy lordy he gets SSI as well.

No.

That's not Government income, shortsguy1.

All these negative replies concern me.
I thought it was a reasonable question for a poll.
Here in Australia, they dont give out mobile credit, but I guess some one could use food credit vouchers to by phone credit. Even if the supermarket would not allow it, some one would just do some one elses shopping & get them to buy the voucher in exchange. I have seen people with a trolly of groceries outside a gambling venue trying to sell them so they could go & gamble. Probably the groceries were purchased with food credit vouchers.
I suspect the OP was trying to highlight how social welfare payments etc were used for things other than the essentials of life.

Indeed. It is strictly a POLL. Nothing more.

Positively reasonable, considering the way the Country (United States) here seems to be going toward more and more Socialism. More Socialism==MORE dependant on the Gov't.

It's frankly very frightening to me how much of a Social welfare-State we've turned into in the States. I fear we may have reached the tipping point, in Gov't. assistance, and beyond the point of no return......very concerning to me, as an American citizen...

Thank goodness you fixed your caps lock key!

Agreed.

I'm still struggling to rent a very nice 2 bedroom house to a person or a couple that actually earns $55K per year.

70% of the responses are on "programs" of some type.

The level of government assistance for all causes is staggering.

NO ONE in my household gets one thin dime from the government.

I was EXTREMELY disappointed to see negative responses to a poll that the OP made clear was ANONYMOUS and requested civility.

With the poll being anonymous, it seems to be a very legitimate poll and the number results will be interesting. If it were set up to record who voted in each category, then I could understand people getting their feathers up.

Making a DIRECT INSULT toward the OP is completely uncalled for.

Yes, it is indeed staggering. I think your experience trying to rent the house is probably an eye opening experience.

He's a very nice man, beloved by all on this forum. I'm appalled that someone would conclude that his poll was a pile of BS designed to incite another conservative vs. liberal trollfest.

Renting two homes in the mid cities area. Had over 15 applicants with in one week for each home. No issues renting either for asking price. Guess it depends on location. Mind are in nice working class areas just like the home I live in.

I answered "NO", but that might change next year. Obamacare will be the difference between me being able to retire now vs waiting 2 or 3 more years. My employer doesn't fund retiree health care and the subsidy (making it "Affordable" ) is enough to make me be able to do something else, sooner.

Yes.

...and do civil service or military retirements count?:confused:

You might want to look into that a little further. As I understand it, Obamacare will not have anything to do with those in retirement. They will be put into Medicare, a program that is losing part of it's funding which will be redeployed to help fund Obamacare. Obamacare is NOT retiree friendly, unless you are in good enough economical shape to buy private insurance, of which the price will quickly escalate.

BTW, I offer a SINCERE wish of good luck with your retirement regardless of how your medical care situation ends up.:)

Larry-

Thanks for the good vibes, but I have studied this pretty carefully and, though I can't say that I have read the legislation (like you;)) I have read enough to know that I can buy insurance on the Health Exchanges for about $15K for me and my family. This is for the "Gold" plan, for me, at my age, my wife, my kid, in my zip code. The numbers have been published. What I don't know today, but should tomorrow, is what the "fine print" (aye there's the rub) in the policies are. Based on my projected retirement income, I will get about a $10K subsidy (http://kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/). This works for me mostly because I have a dependent (and will until I can get to Medicare age).

So yes, it does have a lot to do with those in retirement, but not yet Medicare eligible. And without O-care, I would not really (comfortably) be in good enough shape to buy medical insurance, but with it , I am.

Whether it will "escalate" or not is debatable. IMO, competition and increasing the pool to everyone will make it work.

I have always been responsible and have had health insurance since I was born. It's time for everyone to have it.

That's good news. I hope it works for you in both the short AND long term.

I liked the original post better. Sorry you got tattled on.

He edited his original post.
Total flame job.

Didn't you go to college on the GI bill, the biggest socialist hand out America has ever seen and very succefull. Your wealth and success are based on socialism.

I don't understand why he couldn't pull himself up by his own bootstraps and pay for college on his own.

When was the last time Congress, whether controlled by liberals or conservatives, fought so hard to stop Corporate welfare?

Thank you....in recent times there has been so much talk by some about 'Liberal spending'....doesn't anyone remember the bank bailouts under a GOP President? So few pocketed, but those that did pocketed BIG TIME!!!

Just two sides of the same coin.

So why so silent about the other side of the coin?

Its more fun to pick on the defenseless!

I guess I voted incorrectly since I am on SS. Well, my wife too is receiving her teacher's pension. Couple of freeloaders us!

Again, THANK YOU!!!

I'm going to skew this poll by voting yes.

At least you admit SS. Probably a few here who'd duck the issue to cover their hypocrisy. Especially the ones who're always talking about being old.

I received workman's comp as the result on an on the job injury when I was 17. It is government, yet you do pay into it.

Not currently on any form of assistance and way outside the income bracket to get any; however, I will say that I benefitted from a gov't subsidized college loan, along with some college tuition assistance, albiet not much. With that I was able to get through college and get a decent gig where I think I've paid more than fairly into taxes.

However, when my time comes, and assuming SS is around, I look forward to drawing from that annuity, along with my own retirement/investments.

Does that count as gov't assistance?

http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/24/we-are-the-96-percent/?_r=0

Where Americans actually differ is in how they think about government’s role in their lives. A major driving factor here is ideology: conservatives were less likely than liberals to respond affirmatively when asked if they had ever used a “government social program,” even when both subsequently acknowledged using the same number of specific policies.

I also had student loans and pell grants and scholarships. I paid all my loans back within five years or so.

I drove on a socialist provided road today according to some on this forum. I feel dirty.

The haters (while wondering if their SS checks will show during the shutdown) say it is.

Me too. I bought cars with them. Paid them back with interest before I was out of school. "Welfare Alfa Romeo" sounds so much more... I dunno....continentale than Welfare Cadillac.:D

I'm still paying back my federally subsidized student loans.
Went to public K-12 and university.
Drive on public roads.
My gas has federally subsidized ethanol in it.
Drink municipal drinking water.
My food is federally inspected.
I fly federally regulated airlines for travel.
I keep my money in federally insured bank accounts.
Looking forward to taking my federally subsidized mortgage interest loan tax credit next year.

I still have education loans at 25 years old, but technically I'm still at school (damn thesis). I paid somewhere around 150k towards my own education so far though so there's not much left to pay off. Does that count? For the most part my private loans have lower interest rates than my federal loans, for what its worth, so much for subsidization...

I suppose we should consider ourselves very fortunate to have received federal assistance to help us through college. I just paid my student loan last year (graduated in 2002).

Most of the GOP considers a Walmart greeter as a good paying job; hence, a college degree is probably useless in that line of work.

According to the haters, SS is an entitlement - despite us paying into the fund during our working life. I don't see them whining about corporate entitlements though.

Well if you are tired waiting for the Welfare man to come around with the slop bucket, you could become a pirate in Somalia.

ARRRRRRRGH !!!!

Their own myopia, hypocrisy, and inconsistency don't bother them too much.

Maybe we could start by getting rid of all those socialist Fire Departments:

"You come to our Firemen's Ball, and WE'LL come to your FIRE!"

I am enjoying the turn this thread has taken.;)

We ought to also mention there will not be any food inspectors on the job - so if you end up eating some tainted food - you better have medical insurance because those hospital stays can get pretty expensive.

Oh, but we almost forgot - you're a liberty, freedom loving conservative that doesn't believe in having any health insurance - so good luck when that time comes.

What difference does it make? Most of them are probably paid off by the companies whose products they inspect anyway. Most food producers have learned that they need to be sanitary because if they make someone sick, they will likely go out of business.

Valid point Larry - and I won't argue that. Most U.S. manufacturers will do the right thing, and have way too much invested in their reputation to risk it over getting folks sick.

However, what about those Chinese shipments of baby food, toothpaste and fake beef? AFAIK, the Chinese don't necessarily care about reputation - their only deterrent is effective regulation.

Good point, but how well are they being inspected in the first place?

I wonder if there's a link between the number of food inspectors in federal, state and county positions and the risk of food borne illness? And then, why is there a shortage of inspectors . . . not enough applicants for the positions? Hmmm . . .