i⋅ro⋅ny - an outcome of events contrary to what was, or might have been, expected.

So here is something short but sweet to think about in these times of Iowa handing out free money to what seems like all... My job, working with individuals who need help finding community resources because they are "disabled" (I use quotes because I believe that term is used way too loosely these day... I can't touch my toes, I'm disabled!... anyway) and need help finding things like housing, food, clothing, etc. One of the resources I help them achieve access to is Section 8 housing. For those of you who don't know what that is, look it up. Google is a wonderful tool. The "jist" of it though is that it's a government subsidy program for individuals who need rent assistance. Otherwise known as low income housing. Only you can live in "Section 8" designated apartments and some of them are nicer than where I live now. So I'm looking up information for my clients on Section 8 housing when I find a break down of the income tables to qualify for this "money hand out". What do you think a qualifying income would be... perhaps 12, 15, 18 thousand dollars a year income for one person would warrent a government hand out? Nope... Story County's "poverty" line is at $24,440 a year for a single person. I'm proud to say that I qualify for Section 8 housing. I rake in a whopping $22,889/year before taxes. So am I going to take advantage of this wonderful government hand out? You bet I am! Do I need to? No. I live in an apartment that costs $540/month, my utility bill is about $100/month, and I spend about $400/month on gas. I still have enough money to go out to eat every once in a while and live a good life. PLEASE EXPLAIN WHY ONE PERSON CAN'T LIVE FOR UNDER $24k? Anyway... my irony is that my job is to help people who live under the poverty line to "achieve normal lives and overcome their obstacles (ones supposidly caused by living under the poverty line) by helping to find resources" ... when I myself apparently live under Story County's poverty line.

Perhaps if they laid of the crack and alcohol they would find themselves with some extra money... but I'm glad that Uncle Sam continues to put drugs and bews into the mouths of our "disabled" and "mentally ill". That's my short but sweet plug for today. Enjoy your weekend!

DEvalue

de⋅val⋅ue

verb, -val⋅ued, -val⋅u⋅ing. –verb (used with object)

1.	to deprive of value; reduce the value of.

2.	to fix a lower value on (a currency).

–verb (used without object)

The economic situation in this country has long since gotten out of control and yet I feel that rather than try to fix the long term problems of our situation we are bailing out much like a parent of a spoiled child does. Growing up if I screwed up I was expected to deal with the consequences of my actions. Yes, my parents would be supportive but I never got a hand out. If money had to be used to pay for something, I paid it back to my parents in full and was not allowed to do anything else until that was done. I realize this is probably a long over talked about topic and has been criticized on every level yet I feel the American people are not being heard. The one problem with democracy is that those without money (and many of them without money because of bad choices they have mad) still have a vote and choice in how this situation is dealt with and that seems absurd. I work with people who are pretty much entirely funded by social security, medicare/medicaid, title 19, and donated money and items and yet some of them honestly live better than me. I met a client the other day of mine who lived in an apartment that is bigger than mine, had a brand new laptop computer, a 32" LCD flat screen TV, and two nice guitars. I asked the person training me after we left his apartment how he could afford all of that, perhaps his parents are generous, perhaps he worked... the answer however was very unsettling. "He is really good with the money he gets from social security." This made me so angry. The country is in crisis and people who are sitting on their butts while my tax money pays for their living expenses and buying things I can only dream about owning. I was at my office the other day and turns out people who already get all their money handed to them are also included in the stimulus package. That's bullshit. They contribute nothing to society, are leaches to resources, and still get a hand out from the government. These people are resourceful and if they weren't getting everything handed to them they would still find a way to survive... I don't understand why the push isn't towards education but rather towards hand outs. "You can give a man a fish and feed him for a day, you can teach a man to fish and feed him for life." Many of my clients have college educations with debilitating mental illness, but with medication these symptoms can be controlled and they can be functional. However, they see that when they aren't working they get social security income for disabilities and who in their right mind would work when you can get everything for free? They refuse their meds, they rake in free money, and they live better than some hard working Americans. It's not right and still the government continues to blindly hand out millions and billions of dollars to these people without any follow up as to how this money is spent. It's wrong. Why are we not following up on how these hand outs are spent? I work very hard for very little money because that's what my field mostly consists of and the people who I have as clients are often living much better than I could ever do on my wages. I can't get health insurance because I didn't have a job and even when I find one they make you wait for 2 months before they enroll you and yet because someone has severe depression they get the state to take care of them? Honestly who hasn't struggled with depression in their lives? Why and how is this a qualifying diagnosis for disability. When it's interfering in your life to the point where you can't get a job and it's because you refuse to take your meds... I'm sorry but that's your own fault, there is a solution and you are chosing to ignore that and for that you should have to deal with the consequences.

As a society we are too concerned with leaving people behind. It's going to happen. Not everyone is going to be able to succeed and the truth is the ones who come from nothing to everything do so because they have the fight in them to get out. Not because someone took their hand and walked them through it. I'm not saying we should give up on everyone but in a time of economic crisis we need to cut spending and I think a great place to start would be someplace where the people have gotten too comfortable with not having to try and just be given everything. If these people are able to do things that I can't afford to do while having a full time job then they are getting too much money. We make it too easy to get by doing nothing and this gives no motivation to change your situation.

Sorry if this post seems harsh but it's something that has been bothering me for a long time. It's really hard to work in a field where there is so much extra money just floating around. And even money from donations is taken and distributed under false pretenses and if the people donating saw where their money was going and how much good it is NOT doing then that too would stop. The sad thing is there are 4 person families living out there working their butts off to make ends meet and these people don't qualify for things because they make too much for hand outs and not enough to survive... while the people capable of doing more sit on their butts and buy LCD TV's with our tax money. Then the government hands out stimulus packages and bail outs and devalues our money by putting the country in debt.

Why are we not fixing the problems... why are we just throwing money we don't have at a broken system?