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Have you every received some form government assistance?

Have you ever received governmrnt assistance?

  • Yes

    Votes: 43 65.2%

  • No

    Votes: 19 28.8%

  • My parents did on my behalf when I was a kid

    Votes: 4 6.1%
  • Total voters
    66
Smeagol

Smeagol

DP Veteran
Joined
Jun 14, 2012
Messages
4,147
Reaction score
1,694
Gender
Undisclosed
Political Leaning
Undisclosed
-Welfare
-AFDC
-Medicaid
-Food stamps/EBT cards
-Government cheese/government peanut butter
-Free or reduced school lunches
-WIC
-Pell grant
-Cash for clunkers
-Electric vehicle tax credit
-Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency for solar, wind or geothermal upgrades
-Unemployment compensation
-Free or discounted digital TV converter box
-Free Government Cell Phone
-Section 8 housing tenant or landlord
-HUD project resident
-First time home buyer down payment assistance
-Any other government hand out for which you or your parents when you were a minor had to request or otherwise apply


Academic and athletic scholarships and GI Bill excluded as those are earned. Social Security and Medicare excluded as well as we are all required to pay into it.
 
Pell Grant, it's been invaluable to me.
 
Medicare and Social Security. They weren't on your list. I assume because I paid for them, about 180K each.
 
specklebang said:
Medicare and Social Security. They weren't on your list. I assume because I paid for them, about 180K each.
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It's not Government assistance if you paid into it.
 
Μολὼν λαβέ;1060858768 said:
It's not Government assistance if you paid into it.
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Everyone pays into government assistance as everyone pays taxes. Income or otherwise.
 
Hatuey said:
Everyone pays into government assistance as everyone pays taxes. Income or otherwise.
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Yeah, but SS and and Medicare are different IMHO because its specifically for something we're our retirement days. That's unlike the others where not everybody gets paid back in a specific form.
 
Dang, I feel like a freeloader. I've been on the dole for about 1/3 of 'em. Most when I was a kid when my parents broke up. A couple when I was in college and my early 20s.
 
Smeagol said:
Yeah, but SS and and Medicare are different IMHO because its specifically for something we're our retirement days. That's unlike the others where not everybody gets paid back in a specific form.
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His comment was that it's not government assistance because you paid taxes. Which of your taxes go into section 8 housing? Do you know? I sure don't. Which taxes are used to pay for "Free and Reduced school lunches"? If the argument is that it's not government assistance if you've paid taxes, then nobody really receives government assistance.
 
Hatuey said:
His comment was that it's not government assistance because you paid taxes. Which of your taxes go into section 8 housing? Do you know? I sure don't. Which taxes are used to pay for "Free and Reduced school lunches"? If the argument is that it's not government assistance if you've paid taxes, then nobody really receives government assistance.
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My point exactly. But we all pay into ss and Medicaid, know where it's going and we all be paid back from it unlije section 8 housing and free or reduced school lunch.
 
Oh, and I also got free lunch my senior year, though my mom signed me up for that.
 
Smeagol said:
Yeah, but SS and and Medicare are different IMHO because its specifically for something we're our retirement days. That's unlike the others where not everybody gets paid back in a specific form.
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Your question is just asking if you received assistance from the state. This leads them to be included under your question. The only way I could see you could exclude them is if the question asked dealt with acceptance of the assistance granted, which yours did not.
 
My wife and I qualified for WIC with our first child...................both fresh out of college and no real income. We needed the extra help and took it. I do not feel guilty as I have paid for it a thousand times over in taxes since then. :shrug:
 
Smeagol said:
-Welfare -AFDC -Medicaid -Food stamps/EBT cards -Government cheese/government peanut butter -Free or reduced school lunches -WIC -Pell grant -Cash for clunkers -Electric vehicle tax credit -Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency for solar, wind or geothermal upgrades -Unemployment compensation -Free or discounted digital TV converter box -Free Government Cell Phone -Section 8 housing tenant or landlord -HUD project resident -First time home buyer down payment assistance -Any other government hand out for which you or your parents when you were a minor had to request or otherwise apply Academic and athletic scholarships and GI Bill excluded as those are earned. Social Security and Medicare excluded as well as we are all required to pay into it.
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None of the above, but I did get 12 years of tuition free education and now am getting Medicare. I'd be willing to bet that very few of us can say we've never had any sort of government assistance.
 
Dittohead not! said:
None of the above, but I did get 12 years of tuition free education and now am getting Medicare. I'd be willing to bet that very few of us can say we've never had any sort of government assistance.
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When the government is giving so much assistance out and you have so little choice over it the question merely becomes an acceptance question 9 times out of 10.
 
The government gave me a four year scholarship in exchange for 8 years of Army service, with 4 years minimum active duty. I don't know how else I would have gone to college without that assistance, maybe I could have gone somewhere else but back in 2006 when I entered college both Iraq and Afghanistan were experiencing some of the worst violence of the War on Terrorism. All I had to do to attend a pretty prestigious private 4 year university was give them my basic information, name, birthdate, social security number, etc, pass a physical, and of course sign on for 8 years.

I don't know if you'd call that government assistance since they certainly got something out of the deal, unlike other kinds of assistance where the government doesn't directly benefit.
 
Dittohead not! said:
None of the above, but I did get 12 years of tuition free education and now am getting Medicare. I'd be willing to bet that very few of us can say we've never had any sort of government assistance.
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This was actually the point I was trying to make with the thread. As much as we (me included) condem government handouts gone wild, if we're honest I was thinking most of us needed the safety net at some point or a hand up. Staying on it with no plan or desire to not need it anymore in most cases is a problem however, IMHO.

I'll be honest, with the exception of my pell grant in college, I'll was actually embarrassed by needed government assistance even as a kid in elementary school. I remember my mother sending me to the store with food stamps to buy a loaf of bread and I walk walk miles further than I needed to and go to a store in another neighborhood so that no one would recognize me. This as a fourth grader. Character flaw? Maybe. A guy thing? Probably. Who knows? It just made me feel second class.
 
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when i was unemployed in 2009, my COBRA cost was reduced by the economic stimulus package.
 
I've never gotten unemployment but I'm curious if that counts as something you specifically paid into. I'm grateful that I never needed it.


Μολὼν λαβέ;1060858768 said:
It's not Government assistance if you paid into it.
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Wiseone said:
The government gave me a four year scholarship in exchange for 8 years of Army service, with 4 years minimum active duty. I don't know how else I would have gone to college without that assistance, maybe I could have gone somewhere else but back in 2006 when I entered college both Iraq and Afghanistan were experiencing some of the worst violence of the War on Terrorism. All I had to do to attend a pretty prestigious private 4 year university was give them my basic information, name, birthdate, social security number, etc, pass a physical, and of course sign on for 8 years.

I don't know if you'd call that government assistance since they certainly got something out of the deal, unlike other kinds of assistance where the government doesn't directly benefit.
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That's a reward for service, part of your pay, not a hand-out.
 
I'm actually surprised most people responding to the poll have never needed government help. I thought it would have been closer to 80% yes, 20% no. Especally considering the more accepted forms like pell grants, first time homeowner downpayment and unemployment compensation. I know a millionaire who gets section 8 money as a landlord. Business owners get FEMA help sometimes if a storm damages their business property beyond what insurance covers. Some farmers get subsidies. Oil companies get subsidies. There are a lot of government hand outs that don't carry the stigma of a free loader like food stamps and Medicare.
 
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Yes. I got a Pell grant when I was in college, as well as federal student loans (which you may or may not consider government aid). My wife also got a week's worth of unemployment when she got laid off in 2010. I don't think my parents got any government aid for me when I was a kid, but I'm not 100% sure on that.
 
Food stamps (when our first kid was born and we could not afford the special formula due to his allergies)
Pell Grant
Student Loans
Reduced lunch for the kids
various tax subsidies
probably other stuff
first time home buyer help

It allowed me to get on my feet and be more successful at life. I doubt I would be where I am at without it, most people are the same.
 
It's hard NOT to receive government assistance in a socialised state. ;)
 
FluffyNinja said:
My wife and I qualified for WIC with our first child...................both fresh out of college and no real income. We needed the extra help and took it. I do not feel guilty as I have paid for it a thousand times over in taxes since then. :shrug:
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Exactly! This is what social help should be. You took that help and used it to work on putting yourself in a situation where you don't need that help any more.
 
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