[nabs-l] [Nfbnet-members-list] Threw Our Eyes interview, Ride into History, Race for Independence, Wed. June 22, 8:00 pm EDT

[T. Joseph Carter]

Kirt,

Social Security and SSI are still a handout, and they come with 
strings attached that make getting off of them pretty difficult.  
Especially if you live in subsidized housing, collect food stamps, 
receive utility subsidies, etc.  If you do and you go and find 
yourself a job that doesn’t pay enough, you will have a sudden net 
reduction in your income that already doesn’t pay the bills.

I’ve decided I’m getting off this roller coaster even if it makes me 
homeless in the process, because I’m sick and tired of living in fear 
that they might take away my benefits!  I’ve gotten three letters to 
that effect in the past two years, in the midst of cancer treatment 
for two of them, all with the customary 30 day appeal I’d better take 
advantage of if I want to be able to survive another month!

I’m tired of getting paid to NOT work.  I’m tired of living in places 
where the government intrudes upon my home three times a year to make 
sure my landlord isn’t complete pond scum (but allowing them to be 
one level removed from pond scum!)  I’m tired of being told that if I 
start working, my rent will suddenly be 120% of what anybody in their 
right might would ever pay for this dump.  And I’m tired of being 
told that they’re sorry, but I just don’t qualify for the work 
incentives, or the better medical coverage, or the exemptions that 
might possibly allow me to save a few hundred dollars with which to 
actually get out of here!

Your not-a-handout Social Security and SSI have made slaves of far 
too many of us.  Perfectly able to work, but afraid to try for fear 
that we’ll lose what little we’ve got.  We are trapped in a prison of 
learned helplessness, and the only way out is to see these things—all 
of them—for what they are: Government handouts designed to keep us 
docile, afraid, and living in poverty.

I’m done playing that game.

Joseph


On Sat, Jun 25, 2011 at 09:13:21AM -0600, Kirt Manwaring wrote:
>Carley,
>  First off, I've done a bit of really light research and I was way
>liberal about what I thought the cost of this would be.  It's probably
>going to be in the neighborhood of $100 million, so I was way off.
>That'll teach me not to make outlandish statements with no proof.
>  But still, the point I made in my last message stands.  Of course I
>don't want the government to write out a check for all of us-I was
>trying to point out that trying to make all the cash out there more
>"blind-friendly" is not necessary.  Just like we don't need government
>handouts (I'm not counting SSI as a government handout because that's
>money lots of us genuinely need), we don't need the government
>spending $100 million redesigning currency we can already use with
>pretty much no problem.  Honestly, if you think you can't afford an
>iBill, there's probably something you're buying with your $680 a month
>that you really don't need.
>  Just a thought,
>Kirt