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Welfare and Austerity
Sep. 3rd, 2012 11:46 am~I am presently on SSI and as such I also get covered by MediCal. Therefore, I that which of I speak know quite personally.
First, why am I on SSI? I became homeless back in the Autumn of 2003. I'd been in and out of the welfare system in LA County for over a decade at that point. I won't go into a whole sob story about my insane family, I'll just give you my diagnosis; PTSD and Severe Depression. Basically, I really cannot function in the day-to-day world. [there is an entire essay on whether or not the 'day-to-day world' is even sane in and of itself, but that is beyond the scope of this one, though only just as we shall see]
SSI, Section 8 and MediCal took me off the street and keeps me alive. It's that simple.
Back in January of 2009, before The Governator began cutting state welfare programs – to 'save the taxpayers money' – COLA [cost-of-living adjustment] had brought my monthly grant up to $907. Plus MediCal still had Adult Dental Coverage. Over the next year roughly $1.4 billion was cut from the state's various welfare programs.
How that effected me was that my monthly grant dropped, slice by slice, to $830. That's a loss of seventy seven bucks [$924 per year] for those who are bad at math. And Adult Dental was terminated across the board, except for extractions, which are considered 'surgery', basically meaning your teeth have to rot until they're bad enough to pull.
My monthly grant remained at $830 until this year when The White House gave everyone on SS, SSI, SSDI, and VA benefits a COLA for the first time since '09. I now get $854 per month. That's an extra twenty four bucks [$288 per year] for those who are bad at math. [I called it a 'cynical bribe' when it was announced]
Now, I'm sure there are a whole raft of folks who fume at the very idea that I'm getting any money at all. “Get a job!” is the usual rant, and no matter that even if I was capable of such, there sure ain't none to be had for this fat old man.
“Let him die,” is what they really mean. Because The Corporate State has ground them down so badly these types have come to hate those of us on welfare almost as much as they hate Union Workers whose contracts provide them with some small protection regarding wages and pension. Essentially, they've been told, and come to believe, that we should suffer because they are suffering. [that's called Class Warfare btw]
But aside from this utter lack of Compassion that The Corporate State has purposefully engendered, let's look at the real economics of all this.
As I said above, The Governator began cutting state welfare programs to 'save the taxpayers money'. Well, that's a lie. That money does not go back to the taxpayers. It goes to pay off the state's Bond Holders, aka Wall Street. In other word, it leaves the state altogether.
“That's better than you parasites getting it,” some will sneer, so let's take a look at that. Well, not really.
Think about this; where does all that money that I get each month go? Simply put, I spend it. On food and rent mostly. That means I go to the local stores, who pay employees and taxes, and said employees also pay taxes and rent and buy food and so on. So when I got cut, I spent $924 less per year.
Multiply that by $1.4 billion across the state. Given the domino effect of that loss, I'd wager that the overall loss of revenue at the retail level is at least $3 billion a year. Let me repeat that, the overall loss of revenue at the retail level is at least $3 billion a year. And that, combined with all the non-welfare cuts, ripples outward.
The elimination of Adult Dental is particularly galling. The state makes dealing with MediCal a nightmare, which I believe is politically motivated, so most private dentists won't deal with it at all. Into that stepped dental clinics, which hire mostly new dental school grads. But they also hire techs and bookkeepers and receptionists and buy supplies and so on...and all that too generates taxes and provides revenue to the local economy. But I repeat myself.
That is what Austerity means. “The Banks get paid and The People get screwed.” And this is going to keep on until the whole economy collapses. Not 'crashes'; it did that four years ago. No, I mean COLLAPSES, as in Does Not Work At All, Period.
I'd tell you to get out and vote, but Big Money has bought Government, lock, stock and barrel. I'd tell you to Rise Up and Fight! but that will just get your ass shot down in the street. Big Money has that covered too...for now. Collapse will likely crash that paradigm as well when there's no money to pay the police and the military. But by then it will be Too Late for y'all.
Me, I'm taking my little dole and hunkering down and doing the only thing I'm really capable of any more; writing. Whether that does any one any good remains to be seen.
And that's the name of that unpleasant lil tune...
First, why am I on SSI? I became homeless back in the Autumn of 2003. I'd been in and out of the welfare system in LA County for over a decade at that point. I won't go into a whole sob story about my insane family, I'll just give you my diagnosis; PTSD and Severe Depression. Basically, I really cannot function in the day-to-day world. [there is an entire essay on whether or not the 'day-to-day world' is even sane in and of itself, but that is beyond the scope of this one, though only just as we shall see]
SSI, Section 8 and MediCal took me off the street and keeps me alive. It's that simple.
Back in January of 2009, before The Governator began cutting state welfare programs – to 'save the taxpayers money' – COLA [cost-of-living adjustment] had brought my monthly grant up to $907. Plus MediCal still had Adult Dental Coverage. Over the next year roughly $1.4 billion was cut from the state's various welfare programs.
How that effected me was that my monthly grant dropped, slice by slice, to $830. That's a loss of seventy seven bucks [$924 per year] for those who are bad at math. And Adult Dental was terminated across the board, except for extractions, which are considered 'surgery', basically meaning your teeth have to rot until they're bad enough to pull.
My monthly grant remained at $830 until this year when The White House gave everyone on SS, SSI, SSDI, and VA benefits a COLA for the first time since '09. I now get $854 per month. That's an extra twenty four bucks [$288 per year] for those who are bad at math. [I called it a 'cynical bribe' when it was announced]
Now, I'm sure there are a whole raft of folks who fume at the very idea that I'm getting any money at all. “Get a job!” is the usual rant, and no matter that even if I was capable of such, there sure ain't none to be had for this fat old man.
“Let him die,” is what they really mean. Because The Corporate State has ground them down so badly these types have come to hate those of us on welfare almost as much as they hate Union Workers whose contracts provide them with some small protection regarding wages and pension. Essentially, they've been told, and come to believe, that we should suffer because they are suffering. [that's called Class Warfare btw]
But aside from this utter lack of Compassion that The Corporate State has purposefully engendered, let's look at the real economics of all this.
As I said above, The Governator began cutting state welfare programs to 'save the taxpayers money'. Well, that's a lie. That money does not go back to the taxpayers. It goes to pay off the state's Bond Holders, aka Wall Street. In other word, it leaves the state altogether.
“That's better than you parasites getting it,” some will sneer, so let's take a look at that. Well, not really.
Think about this; where does all that money that I get each month go? Simply put, I spend it. On food and rent mostly. That means I go to the local stores, who pay employees and taxes, and said employees also pay taxes and rent and buy food and so on. So when I got cut, I spent $924 less per year.
Multiply that by $1.4 billion across the state. Given the domino effect of that loss, I'd wager that the overall loss of revenue at the retail level is at least $3 billion a year. Let me repeat that, the overall loss of revenue at the retail level is at least $3 billion a year. And that, combined with all the non-welfare cuts, ripples outward.
The elimination of Adult Dental is particularly galling. The state makes dealing with MediCal a nightmare, which I believe is politically motivated, so most private dentists won't deal with it at all. Into that stepped dental clinics, which hire mostly new dental school grads. But they also hire techs and bookkeepers and receptionists and buy supplies and so on...and all that too generates taxes and provides revenue to the local economy. But I repeat myself.
That is what Austerity means. “The Banks get paid and The People get screwed.” And this is going to keep on until the whole economy collapses. Not 'crashes'; it did that four years ago. No, I mean COLLAPSES, as in Does Not Work At All, Period.
I'd tell you to get out and vote, but Big Money has bought Government, lock, stock and barrel. I'd tell you to Rise Up and Fight! but that will just get your ass shot down in the street. Big Money has that covered too...for now. Collapse will likely crash that paradigm as well when there's no money to pay the police and the military. But by then it will be Too Late for y'all.
Me, I'm taking my little dole and hunkering down and doing the only thing I'm really capable of any more; writing. Whether that does any one any good remains to be seen.
And that's the name of that unpleasant lil tune...
