Just stuff

Here is my attempt to pass the time. It's 15 minutes before I need to retrieve Emily from daycare. Too late to start another order as I'll just have to leave in the middle of it. So, I thought I'd type some thoughts here.
At BigBoxMart this past weekend, I was placed in a very very uncomfortable position and it rather bothered me. I live in a culturally diverse area and my Big Box Mart serves the old, the young, the poor, the rich and everyone in between. On any given day, one can find a few brand new Mercedes parked next to a rusty old Toyota Corolla that looks fresh from the scrap pile. In these economic times, the fabulously wealthy and there are many in this area, are perfectly content to wear $10 jeans alongside America's poor. Our store takes IL LINK which is basically a debit card containing food money for those on Public Assistance and about 30% of the people I serve use it. That said, I am not a fan of the welfare system and many of us who work in the store have seen some egregious uses of taxpayer money as those on Public Assistance have bought $50 worth of candy on food stamps and used their taxpayer provided cash for alcohol or cigarettes. We have also seen the old and tired, the mentally ill, and the disabled use public assistance as well and recognize that these people have a unique set of circumstances that have brought them to Public Aid. My issues with welfare rests with the process that allows egregious uses and abuses as one woman with a Link Card pulled it out of a Prada bag and wore designer clothes. (Perhaps she was shopping for someone else? I don't know) along with those that have fallen on some hard luck and need temporary relief. Either way, our politicians sign people up for assistance but have not set forth an exit plan or encourage its users to take advantage of the free education, free job training and other back to work programs. Mother IL has failed to teach her fledglings to fly and without incentives to leave the system, we have tossed trillions of dollars into welfare and produced not one less poor person. For some of those who come from foreign countries with a lesser standard of living, they are perfectly content to stay on welfare and reap the benefits of other people's money. As a mom, I know that my children won't do squat without prodding and a good old fashioned kick in the pants to teach my chicks how to eventually leave the nest and become productive members of society. As I am talking about the able bodied, not the mentally disabled people that use the system, I don't want a single criticism of how uncaring I am for not wanting to fund the lifestyles of the idle poor any longer than is necessary. I would like to see those that are able, realize a dream, invest in their own futures, care about their education, overcome their circumstances and live a life that they choose, not a life that the government chooses for them. I also know that some on welfare are working hard to leave it and some have fallen on hard times due to a death or a job loss or some other life curve ball and I reserve my ire to the politicians in this state who have not attempted any sort of reform and not towards the patrons because I really don't have a clue what their circumstances are or why they ended up on the public dole. I myself used the system when my husband stupidly walked out of his job, spent our savings on junk, drink and smokes, and me, pregnant, had to leave work for a few months to have a baby. I dragged myself into the Public Aid office which was not easy to do and used food stamps for 3 months. I smile at my PA customers, wish them a nice day and I mean it.
A man, his wife and his small child of about 6 months came through my line. It was obvious he was new to the country and new to the area. He asked me if we took Link and I stated yes we did. As I was ringing up his groceries, a woman behind him in the line looked at him and said "This is a joke!!" She proceeded to shake her head and speak under her breath and as he swiped his Link card through the reader, she said again, louder this time, THIS IS A JOKE! ALL THAT FOR FREE! YOU DON"T EVEN SPEAK ENGLISH! I felt my face getting red and I felt for the man. I'm sure that living on Public Assistance was not what he imagined for his family and neither I nor that lady was standing in that mans shoes. Did she forget that this man was also a human being with feelings? I have heard the term "Burden to the taxpayer" tossed around a lot. I hear it in regard to public aid recipients but I have also heard it in regard to smokers, those who drink more than a beer a night, those who are old, those who are disabled and even in regard to those of us with chronic diseases such as cancer or diabetes. Somehow, the blame for the high cost of healthcare has moved to those of us who use insurance and not to the MANY factors such as the rigorous regulation of the entire industry, the millions of dollars of award money for lawsuits that drive up the cost of malpractice insurance, the ability of a foreign person to come here, get treated, cost the hospital millions and not pay a single bill and many other factors. It is not ME the patient that caused this and the minute we start looking at our fellow man as a cost problem, I think we in America have lost our humanity. It is not secret among my friends and family that I am not a big fan of Government or politicians. I blame them and their rhetoric most of all for dehumanizing some aspect of our population. Bill Clinton waged a war on smokers. Obama, a rich man, waged a war on rich people and corporations accusing THEM as being greedy not one time calling out the greedy and idle rich sitting in Congress such as Barney Frank who was caught with male prostitutes, the Clinton's and their multiple transgressions, Chris Dodd who reaped great profit from failed bank, Countrywide, Franklin Raines, one of the many who bankrupted Fanny Mae, Ted " I let my girlfriend drown" Kennedy... Hypocrisy abounds in both parties and as the recession has deepened, so have the fingers of blame been pointed at everyone and everything for the cause. I don't know all the factors that led to this recession. I do know that it was not caused by a Mexican man who paid for his groceries with Food Stamps, Sunday.