Forum Post: I am a welfare success story.
Posted 12 years ago on March 1, 2012, 10:01 p.m. EST by JuanFenito
(847)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Right after the year 2000, I was in pretty bad shape. My girlfriend had just abandoned me with our four children, leaving me paying the rent on our public apartment and supporting the children and our three chihuahuas. I didn't know what to do, and taking charity is usually the last thing in the world I would want to do, since I don't want my neighbors to have to support me. But it was my only option, that I saw, so I took it. I was on public assistance for five months, while I tried to get my feet under myself. I stayed up late studying while my mother watched my kids. I canceled the cable service, since It was a waste of time I didn't need. I stopped buying expensive junk food and eating out, instead cooking inexpensive lentils in a crock pot. I saved up my money, and started an Ebay store, selling things I bought at local auctions. I do really well now, and last year I made over a million dollars. My girlfriend and I have married since, and life is pretty good. I have repaid the welfare outlay plus interest in gifts to the treasury on my taxes.
The point is, no one looks at welfare as permanent income like some on the right claim. It is temporary at best. People on welfare are just like me, people hard on their luck, faced with extreme circumstances, who wouldn't ordinarily take a dime in charity from their neighbors. Sure, there are a very limited few who waste welfare outlays, which people on the right hold up as proof that welfare is a bad thing. But most of them are success stories like me, ordinary people just waiting for a chance and someone to believe in them to skyrocket to success. 55% of welfare recipients go on to start a successful small business within five years of receiving benefits.
seriously........you all failed hard
LMAO, JUANFENITO has trolled you all. you honestly think hes serious with all that crap he is saying? morons....AHAHAHAHAHAHA
That's what makes this forum so wonderful, though! People can say whatever they want, and are rarely questioned unless somebody disagrees.
I wish I knew what is wrong with you.
What is absurd about a disadvantaged person getting ahead??
Essentially all success stories are "welfare success stories."
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When I was only making 5 dollars an hour working in the trade I do today, and I was paying 25% of my income in child support, I tried to go to welfare to take care of a throbbing toothache so that I could concentrate on working. Welfare turned me down because they said, "I didnt have any children living with me". That was my one experience with welfare. Sucess my ass, I will never forget.
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why not?
If you mean, "Why shouldn't they", that's a good question, and I don't know.
If you mean, "Why don't they", I think it is because they have been guilt-ridden by the system into thinking that there is somehow a limited amount of money in the economy when more can be printed, or that taking free stuff somehow makes others pay for it. The system would have them believe that taking their fair share of the economic pie is somehow taking the fruits of work they didn't commit.
these guy probably works for HRA. what u selling on ebay? HRA is looking how to deny benefits& if u single they trough $0.6 per day.but they don't tell u where u could buy food for $0.6 cause it is in America. Feds only good taking $$$ from people.
Antiques.
three kids out of wedlock. classy. you seem like a guy with great judgment.
hehe ... y're just jealous ... dumb ass
keep your mouth shut, your name is 1% guy, your from nowhere, and got no name there, no real voice, no balls, you feel me...
Don't make my personal decisions for me, just give me welfare when my decisions necessitate it.
You are totally full of shit. You certaintly aren't a millionaire off of ebay this day an age selling antiques. Also, your name is Juan...what does this country owe you?
A LIVING! I AM OWED A comfortable living. That is all.
You aren't owed anything. Get off your lazy ass and make it yourself!
You Republitrolls keep saying we are lazy! I'll have you know I worked 35 whole hours per week until I realized I could make more on disability.
Too funny.
Just like your mother.
nah, no thank you
It is my right to get your money, troglodyte! And good for society.
i know. i was speaking about mocking you for your poor decisions
i don't mind paying for welfare. or universal heath insurance, to be honest.
From welfare to riches. Who would have thought?
Why would that be a surprise? Did you subcontiously believe the right wing lie that some people stay on welfare their entire lives despite their ability to work?
My aunt is a social worker in California and has encountered multiple women having children out of wedlock so that they can collect welfare benefits from having multiple dependents. It does happen. You may be an honest person who used the welfare system as a temporary liferaft, but there are MANY selfish people who use it as a get-out-of-jail-free solution to hard work and contributing to society.
The average welfare recipient stays on welfare for 2 years. Welfare recipients make up less than 3% of the population. So all you right wing asshole demonizers of the poor can go fuck yourselves.
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Do you have anything more than anecdotal evidence? I'm not going to fall for your attempt to paint welfare recipients as lowlife scum!
What I don't get is why people aren't advocating for tighter enforcement of welfare rules, instead of trying to remove the program all together. I want our government to keep helping people like the OP, but I would also want to enforce penalties to the people like the gansta rappers who are banking well while collecting welfare.
I doubt that simply enforcing the existing rules and getting rid of the "cheats" would please the conservatives. They want to remove all of these programs in order to force the poor to seek help from churches. To me that smacks of an invasion of religious beliefs. Not everyone wants to be a Christian, and I KNOW that there are plenty of Christians that will never help an Atheist or now a Muslim because of their religious beliefs.
Because, the rules don't need to be enforced better. If a few people cheat, so what? Did you know 55% of welfare recipients go on to start a successful small business within three years of receiving benefits?
I'm not advocating cutting welfare, oh no. I'm the farthest from the pro-rich-screw-the-poor trolls on here that you'll get. No, I just want to see people who aren't qualified for welfare (like the aforementioned rappers) taken out of the program, so that more families who are truly in need get the aid.
Any minority is truly in need. Have you ever had to deal with a life of racial oppression? No, you haven't. Leave them alone and up the benefits.
Why are we arguing about this? I agree with you.
I just don't want Lil' Wayne (Lil' Jon? I know it was Lil' something.) with his $1 million+ income to be able to collect a welfare check. That check is money that another family in need could have used. Welfare needs to be available for people in need.
You are acting like there is a limited amount of money available or something. Just because Lil Wayne receives money does not also mean others cannot. Give it to ALL of the oppressed people, no matter how much they make.
Oh, I see, you're pulling the race card. You think its OK to hand a millionaire a check just because he's black? Welfare doesn't work that way. It is supposed to help those in NEED, not those who are millionaires, no matter what race, creed, etc. they are.
Lil Wayne is not repressed at all. He has a skill that is earning him a lot of money and a lot of opportunities.
You don't understand welfare. You think Lil Wayne hasn't had a hard life of racial oppression just because he happened to become successful? Did you know his dad left his mom when he was two years old? Did you know he dropped out of school when he was 14? This is all due to a system that tolerates and cultivates an attitude of oppression to minorities. Just because he has a million dollars, doesn't mean he has been repaid for the life of injustices done to him by the white race.
What are you going to say next? That we need to get rid of equal opportunity laws because they only look at a person's skin color and might help someone who has had a very successful life just because they are a certain race? We need to look at the big picture.
It doesn't matter what the circumstances are. The point is that he is breaking the rules, and he shouldn't be receiving a welfare check. It wouldn't matter in the slightest whether it was a white guy, latino, etc. who was getting the check. You're making this a race issue.
No, I'm not going to agree with giving welfare tax dollars to millionaires, no matter who they are. That's not fair to anyone on welfare or any of the million other causes that could have spent that money wisely.
Are you kidding me or trolling?? Lil Wayne is racist? You know, there is such a thing as Reverse racism and it's called that for a reason. If Lil Wayne is getting money, that doesn't mean other minorities can't get it also. You're saying essentially that because someone has something, others cant have it. There is not a limited amount of money in the world! It's paper, we can print more!
Yeah Lil Wayne should spend that money to help his community instead of hoarding it. Those who legitimately need welfare actually need that money, not the guy who gets paid more than some people get paid in 20 years to say a bunch of words over some beats. Whoop dee doo!
Not trolling. Apparently I found Lil Wayne's biggest fan on the Occupy message boards. I'm supposed to worship a cheater because he's rich and be OK with him breaking the law because of his race? I have no clue how you have any part of your brain can rationalize giving a millionaire the money that is meant for poor people. I guess you expect him to just waltz right into the soup kitchens too...
I'm not making it a race issue. This was made a race issue 200 years ago and hasn't been fixed. Now is the time.
As before, do you want to get rid of affirmative action laws because they might help a rich(ER) person on the basis of their skin color?
Welfare isn't an affirmative action law. It is meant to help poor people of all races. If anything, its Lil Wayne that is racist, because he is taking money away from other poor black people. He should take that welfare check and donate it to a local Second Harvest or United Way or YMCA or something else that will help his home community.
I find this hard to believe sorry Juan, I hope its true, and I know people are hurting now with the economy the way it is... Juan most people on welfare for more than a few months are crack whore moms, or giant fat people, Ive seen them. Go to the inner city ghetto mano...
Then we need to expand welfare availability so more people can have the success I had. Your stereotype is wrong, because virtually no one is on welfare longer than a few months. It will also alleviate stereotypes about who welfare takers are.
Im sorry Juan I'm not making that stuff up mano, you know there's no drug test for welfare yo... and the dealers know that...
http://www.urban.org/publications/900288.html
"The majority of families who leave the welfare system do so after a relatively short period of time -- about half leave within a year; 70 percent within two years and almost 90 percent within five years. But many return almost as quickly as they left -- about 45 percent return within a year and 70 percent return by the end of five years.
When one takes into account all of this movement on and off the welfare rolls, only a moderate fraction of recipients who ever turn to the welfare system for support end up spending relatively long periods of time on the welfare rolls. Over the course of their lifetimes, about one-third of women who ever use welfare will spend longer than five years on the welfare rolls and 60 percent will spend 24 months or longer receiving assistance.
It is important to note that the figures I just presented are for women who ever turn to the welfare system for support, regardless of whether they are currently receiving assistance or not.
A very different picture of time on welfare emerges if one examines the total time families currently receiving welfare will spend on the welfare rolls over the course of their lifetimes. About 90 percent of those currently on the rolls will eventually spend more than 24 months on the welfare rolls and 76 percent will receive welfare for longer than five years."
Those "figures" are all made up. Did you know that 55% of welfare recipients go on to start successful small businesses within five years? Of course you didn't, you are an anti-poor bigot.
Juan,
Why are you lashing out at me?
I just thought I would interject some social science figures into the thread from the Urban Institute, whose job it is to gather knowledge about the nation’s social and fiscal challenges, including evidence-based research, in order to diagnose the problems and figure out which policies and programs work best, for whom, and how.
Since this topic is full of controversy, myths, misconceptions, misinformation, biases and stigmatizing attitudes, I thought it would be helpful to go to a well respected, bipartisan organization to see what the numbers actually show.
I don't think the quote I posted from the Urban League, the figures in the quote or how they were stated by the Urban League were dissing the poor at all. In fact, I thought that they showed that a significant amount of people really make an effort to be self-sufficient- people like yourself. While the numbers seem to indicate that yes, there are people who adopt welfare as a lifestyle, there are many who work hard to stay off the rolls.
Why would you start name calling and assuming you know anything about me by that post? You know nothing about me.
You know because so many people like yourself flip out, go immediately to name calling and throwing accusations of bigotry, homophobic, Islamophobia, etc., etc. around these days, and calling people these names with no evidence and for no other reason or provocation except that they don't like the message, or the facts being stated or because the other person sees the world differently and has had different experiences, it really waters down the meaning of these words rendering them meaningless and when that happens, the true cases of bigotry are lost.
You are right I didn't know that 55% of all welfare recipients go on start small businesses. That is great news. That means that they are starting business at a much greater rate then the overall population since 11 to 14 percent of Americans own a small business and 31% of American's have owned a small business at some point in their life.
Well stated, and yes, Urban Policy Institute is an excellent (non-biased) source. To the gentlemen who successfully made it off welfare, chill out bro, you're among friends (and your default presumption should be that people here care about the poor).
You are right, I am sorry, I just get so wound up when I come on here and these trolls start challenging every thing I say. I shouldn't have name called, and I hope the other gentleman will forgive me. Also under the circumstances I grew up in, there was so much racial and systemic hatred for the poor I got used to defending myself with counter attacks. I hope you will forgive me. And I have spent a lot of time on other, not so progressive sites, and I got used to presuming people were racist poor hating bigots before they talked to me. I can relax here somewhat, but there are still so many trolls I don't know who I can trust or talk to without someone demanding to see a citation for this or that claim. I hope you will forgive me.
No worries as far as I'm concerned brother.
Hey Juan,
I need someone to invest in my invention to get it off the ground. Are you interested? Could be very profitable for both of us.
I don't know, depends on what it is, I wouldn't want to invest in some money-making scheme unless it would be for the benefit of ALL humanity, not just myself. I would feel totally wrong making money off of something if the public did not also benefit from it. Is it of great value to humanity and the public in general? I will need 100% of the company up front as a down-payment of course, because I don't want to get cheated by some stranger on the internet. Been there. I will need to be the one doing the humanity-helping. But as long as that's all settled, sure!
Juan,
What you did and what you are talking about is the way it used to be. Way back when, when people were down on their luck and they had no other choice they used welfare as a way to shore them up until they could make change - like you did.
Not so today - it's a generational thing. I have worked in the projects and see first hand people who are healthy and can work but are just too dam lazy to do so.
They claim to be down on their luck. You were down on your luck and you did what you need to do to spring back. You are of the few who were on welfare who do that.
Congratulations on your accomplishments.
I believe what you say about it being a generational thing. But i have a different take on it. I believe our generation, 18-30, Is not bitch made like the older generation. the managerial class does not have the pull it once had on the working class. We no longer look up to you but see you for what you are opportunistic Americans; therefore, we are more secure in our convictions and abilities, and if the managerial class can't see what we offer their organizations, we don't hesitate to tell them to go fuck themselves. I believe in this highly media saturated environment, there is no longer a mystique about the affluent class. They are no better or worst than the lower class, and the lower class ain't scared to tell them.
You may be right in saying that your generation 18-30 being more secure in your convictions and abilities feel the necessity to tell the managerial calss who can't see what is to be offered to "go fuck yourself"
That may be the main reason why your generation is having a problem getting a decient paying job and being able to pay your bills - ever think of that?
not literally "go fuck yourself" that would be rude. What i mean is I wont work at a job more than two years if there is not an advancement. I know old timers who would wait it out for five years before they would ever ask for a raise. I'll give you a year, and if you don't believe my labor is worth more, than i leave the job.
It all depends on what type of job skills a person has. A person may think he may be worth more after a year but the reality is it doesn't work that way.
If you want a raise and think you are worth more because you worked at a company for a year go and ask for a raise and see what happens.
Companies evaluate personnel based on their performance. It is not cut and dry unless it's a union that every individual may get a raise.
The real world doesn't just give someone a raise because they "believe their labor is worth more" they have to prove it.
Even when they prove it they may not get an immediate raise but they may get compensated in some other way.
That's the real world.
yeah, the real world is where EVERYONE believes their input is worth the most. I agree with that two edged sword, and therefore that is why we have a republic, so as to tell those with three homes, they are not all that. I hear american businesses are not doing so well. I wonder if it is because they pay shitty wages and receive shitty labor. I see a correlation. You tell me my labor ain't up to your standard, and I'll tell you to find someone else. I always hear the right wing adage, if you don't like the pay find another job, well I have yet found a job that pays what a worker is worth, so I guess i'll take it upon my self to force the gov't to kick you in the balls and tell you what my labor is worth. Also, to your point, "Companies evaluate personnel based on their performance. It is not cut and dry unless it's a union that every individual may get a raise." bull shit. Most companies I worked for never have management on the premises long enough to evaluate each employee personally, and i find that trend greater in right to work states. go figure.
I am not the "Few"!
did you know that 55% of welfare recipients go on to start successful small businesses within three years of receiving benefits?
They all pretty much have stories just like me!
Provide me with statistics - I can't find any info on the internet to back up what you said. If there were that many succesful welfare recipients starting a successful business it would be headline news.
There may be people who got off welfare and improved their income and as such became independent but that's all I could find.
I am sorry your research skills are that poor. I don't feel like looking it up, ask Shooz, he's the one who told me. What on earth makes you think it would be "headline news" in corporate media land? They don't want the poor to know they can have success through hard work.
Well if you reference othe peoples comments you need to do some research to back them up to make sure they are "correct" - a lot of times people will generally tell you what you want to hear.
And BTW there are stories out there about people who are off welfare and made a better life for themselves. So I would think the "welfare to business" stories would be out there also.
You don't understand, this is Shooz we are talking about. Virtually everything that comes out of his mouth is like an elixir of truth. I can't believe you have the nerve to come on here and question something he said!
I don't know Shooz - But I would still like you to provide infromation about "welfare to business" successes. Maybe he has a link I can look at.
Didn't mean to interrupt, but I have no idea what Juan is referring to.
Maybe it was Zendog that said it. I don't know. Are you sure you don't remember?
He made mention that you made reference to people who went from "welfare to business" and I was just asking for reference.
Do you have any stats to confirm this - I am not disagreeing with you but I did a search and couldn't find any info on it. Maybe you have other resources you could provide.
I'm sure it does happen, but I haven't posted anything on it here.
Try ye olde google.
It happens all the time. My neighbors that lived in the development next to me have three Mazzeratis now. As a matter of fact, welfare recipients have a much higher rate of success later in life than non-recipients.
Tried it but nothing out there except some people who have succeded. I am sure there are people who went from "welfare to owning a business" but if it were that prevelant it would be news worthy especially if 50% of the welfare recipiants started up their own business.
Thanks for the response.