Site Administrator posted on October 24, 2010 17:25
I Can't Believe I Never Knew
Recently I was talking to a family member of mine who happens to live out of state in North Carolina. She was telling me about a family she knew of not far from her neighborhood, that was given money to move up to New State.
Why", I asked her. She seemed surprised that I had to ask. She told me that North Carolina like many other states have a 6 month to 1 year limit in which residents can collect welfare benefits. If these families don't find work in that time frame they are cut off from their benefits. However in most states theses families aren't left out in the cold, they are actually given enough money from the state to move up here to New York State and set up residence. They are usually given enough money to get an apartment and pay the rent for up to 6 months. In which time they can go and apply for welfare benefits. Of course they are sent to New York State. The reason for this is because New York State is the one state in which you can collect welfare benefits for life. Not only can a family stay on them for life,but it can go on for generations. As long as they stay in the system they are set for life.
So it doesn't matter if the next generation is perfectly capable of going out and joining the work force they are entitled to these benefits. That is as long as they know how to stay in the system.
What I wonder is if this practice keeps up, what will happen once the number of people on welfare benefits out weighs the state residents who are actually working? How can New York State survive if this practice keeps up? The other important question is how is this legal? How is it OK for other states to keep sending up their residents to drain our economy? I don't see the fairness in this.
You see I am one of the extremely lucky residents of the county of Erie. I do mean that in the most sarcastic sense. Erie County is constantly making budget cuts because we are always in some kind of budget crisis. Now it is making more sense to me. Erie County is constantly shutting down schools, libraries, parks, fire stations, hospitals and number of police. Yes we have 1 man patrol cars. Not long ago we used to have all 2 man patrol cars, but we just can't afford it anymore. So if a store or something is getting robbed at gun point you'll just have to be patient. The one man patrol car has to call for back up and wait for them to show up before anything can be done. Let me tell you it makes me feel really safe.
Why isn't New York State doing anything about this? Why can't we adopt the same laws as other states and limit the amount of time that someone can collect welfare benefits? No, I am not talking about the people with extreme disabilities that will never be able to work. I understand their position, but what about the people that are perfectly capable of reform and getting back out into the workforce? I see plenty of people whip out their benefit card and they seem to have no mental or physical disability. So why are the still in the system? Well apparently New York State is making it way to easy for them to stay in it.
What gets my goat even more is the amount of people with physical and mental disabilities actually working their butts off to pay their bills. I see them all the time in restaurants, department stores, banks and even factories. Why can't those on welfare that are perfectly capable of performing these same jobs be placed into them? If they don't like the job and quit then that's just too bad. Most people don't like their job. The only difference is they were taught a sense of responsibility to support themselves.
New York State really needs to start thinking about the long term percussions that these practices are going to have on the State as a whole. New York State has one of the lowest minimum wages and one of the highest tax rates. The reason that minimum wage is so low is because companies can't afford to pay higher wages this is due to the amount of taxes they have to pay. Mostly so they can help support people who simply just don't want to work.
As far as I see it New York State may have dug itself into such a deep financial hole that getting out of it seems like mission impossible. I can't make New York State change their laws and practices. I can only hope that they will open their eyes to this growing problem and doing something drastic to change this.
I on the other hand don't think I want to wait that long. This knowledge has only pushed me to seek out residence in another state. Which I believe has been happening for a long time here in New York State. A lot of working families have been moving out of New York State over the last decade or so. Some years the numbers have been drastic. I don't blame them, they are entitled to live in a state that offers bettering paying wages. Along with better health care, schools and police protection.
I just can't believe I never knew that New York State was the solution to other states welfare problem.
Ricki DeSantis