Grim Reality Check

Grim Reality Check - A heartfelt Hello to everyone! - Just the other day we learnt that the average US- welfare recipient makes a whopping $38,000 a year with all the state subsidies including food stamps, free housing and medical benefits combined. $38 grand! Are you kidding me? That was about as much as my income as a teacher back in my home country. Holy cow is all I've got to say! - Going by the welfare or HR- center almost on a daily base, not once in my seven years here have I ever spotted no people going in or coming out that building. By the hundreds if not thousands mostly black and white folks flock in as if a humongous All- You- Can- Eat- Buffet for free was waiting there for them. Actually this is the most elaborate and most generous give- away mission that there is presently available. Allegedly all those young women pushing their strollers through the doors, followed by an array of males displaying all kinds of different styles from bum to wanna- be rappers are so needy and unable to find or keep steady jobs that they do not just temporarily become eligible for welfare but qualify for months and months. Go and tell that tall tale to the marines, if you want! Of course, most of these welfare hunters may indeed not be willing to work, but they are certainly not too lazy to use their brains when it comes to taking full advantage of the system. I'm really getting sick and tired of the 85% that are just in it to win it, so to speak. 38,000 US dollar a year equals around mind- blowing $3.100 per month! To be honest, I find this utterly sickening! Show me one, just ONE hard-working man or woman here who works on an hourly base of ridiculous $8,25, and tell me how much that person takes home in four weeks. If he or she is lucky enough to be employed full- time at one of those many hectic zoo- like retail or food places, an approximate $1320 is what they put into their pockets. That's it! No sorry, I've got to correct myself. The daily struggles as to make ends meet have not even started yet at this point. Rent on average lies between $500 (in the south) and $800 (in the northeast and in the west) for a single bedroom apartment. Utilities, food and transport expenses make at least another $600 to $800 every month for one person. Let's call our minimum wagers Jim and Judy. Jimmy earns $1320 a month, however, to be able to live halfway decently, he needs about $650 for rent and $700 for food, light, phone, TV, car insurance, etc. Little surprising, this leaves him with $30 in the hole already. Judy, who makes just as much, needs about the same amount to meet the basics, nothing more. Sure, they'd be somewhat better off moving together provided they were a couple but still be no reason to shout out a big Hurray. No doubt, they'd be sharing most of the living costs like electricity, gas, telephone, TV, Internet, etc., but the meagre savings of just a couple of hundred dollars would disappear faster than in the blink of an eye once medical attention was required for birthing children, going in for check- ups or undergoing accident or cancer treatment. After all, it's not a secret that ever the fewer jobs automatically come with included medical benefits in this country. Neither Jimmy nor Judy, not even if they lived together, will make it in the end, I'm afraid. In the meantime though, all those happy welfare vultures will be living a stress- and hassle free life on an income at least double of what our two hard- working citizens bring home every month. Honestly, who still feels like taking the honest route of pursuing  careers that pay less than the average welfare candidate is given for noting in return? You know what, I don't blame anyone who eventually gets fed up with all this crap! Why would I? Jimmy and Judy most likely drive around in old crappy tin boxes while Jordan and Shakoya audaciously arrive in their new Mercedes and Chrysler to fill out some renewal forms which guarantee the welfare services to be continued for another six months. Pinch me, I must be dreaming!