Gerry, I do not know what safety nets there are in China or Taiwan ( if those are your roots) but here many people do feel that America is where people can also come and take advantage of the system and resent it bitterly. I do understand and respect that, as I would never do that myself. I do not think you are doing that. It is frustrating trying to find a job in an economy that is hostile to everyone. I know that all too well. I hope that you get something soon, regardless of what it may be. Work is work.

I shop almost exclusively at the one in Olney, MD.

Again–good luck to you. Don’t let the ignorant get you down. They’ve never been through it, and they clearly have no understanting of how it works.

More blessings!

Just keep on keepin’ on. I hope things turn around for you real soon.

Blessings!

I use my food stamps to buy gluten and dairy free foods. We are vegetarians so I don’t buy meat. I shop, almost exclusively, in the health food section (I grow our vegetables). Whenever I go food shopping I get attitude from the cashiers because I am not buying mac “n” cheese or Ramen noodles. What they don’t notice is that I am not buying candy, cookies, sugary cereals or soda.

If you are entitled to the benefit it is up to you how you spend it. Your food choices are your business. If you wish to buy rabbit (which is historically poor man’s food anyway) then that is up to you. I get so tired of people looking into my cart to see if I have bought food they approve of. Maybe I disapprove of the hot dogs, Ramen, Cocoa Puffs, Mountain Dew and Lays potato chips, in their cart – but it is none of my business what they eat…or how they pay for it.

Personally, I beleive that every senior citizen should get food stamps as part of their pension, every family earning less than $40,000 should receive them as should anyone unemployed. Anyone with food allergies, diabetes, high blood pressure etc (depending on income) should be allowed to apply for benefits (at their doctors office) If we can find money for wars and bank bailouts we can find money to feed our citizens.

That seems right up your alley of expertise and it’s staring you in the face.

Best of luck.

My father is diabetic. This is the root of my obsession with nutrition and food. He had to have a kidney transplant last year. My family has no inheritance to pass on to me other than a mortgage and property taxes. They came to this country poor. They are well off, but they worked their way up from nothing, and in this economy, they have very few assets to pass down to us. They gave us an education, but they truly do not have anything substantial to offer us now, and even if they did, I’d prefer to use a benefit that I’ve already partially paid into than to drain their hard-earned and precarious resources.

Yes, I have a world-class education, but for some reason, that isn’t helping me get work. It helped me get into the publishing industry almost 10 years ago, but now that work has dried up, I seem to be under-qualified for almost every job opening I see posted be it janitorial work, construction, or anything else. Many of those sorts of jobs area also heavily unionized, and it’s not a simple process to get your foot in the door. I could get retrained or go back to school, but that requires money that I don’t have.

Becoming a fireman requires rigorous training, as does the military, and both require a base level of fitness, stature, and physical ability that I hope I will reach some time in the future, but for the here and now, I’m mostly qualified for office jobs (as an editor, a copywriter, a receptionist, etc) that are non-existent, or service and retail jobs that right now I am under or over qualified for simply because they’re receiving a glut of applicants.

I blog, that’s my only paying job, and I know blogging sounds like a ridiculous profession, and I certainly didn’t seek it out, but this happens to be the only thing that allows me to pay rent.

Again, food stamps aren’t truly welfare, and if you yourself get laid off, chances are you will qualify for them. They are like social security and unemployment, something you pay into with your taxes while you work, and when you find yourself out of work, you have a right to use those benefits.

I don’t plan to use food stamps forever, but they are really helping me get by for now. This is only temporary. If I have a broken leg, even if it’s not permanent and my cast is sturdy, I still need that handicapped space. It’s only wring if I continue to use it after my leg has healed.

If you did have a health problem, people would be more understanding.

But the reality is, the welfare system is a necessity that was set up to help those who are destitute, unable to work, frail….those truly at the end of their rope with no skills or means.

You have all of it. You’re young, healthy, smart.

You have a 120k education, all paid off by your parents. And if they could afford that, they could likely have inheritance for you, so you won’t be so bad off forever. You’re very intelligent, I can tell by your writing. But use that intelligence wisely. Use it to do everything you can to either gainful employment. Or, I’m sure that 120k worth of education must have taught you how to be resourceful and inventive so you can earn a living. You can even join the military. And if you’re against that, the coast guard. Or try out to be a fireman. Sanitation.
Or don’t work at all, and blog. But then don’t accept food stamps.

You have to understand that, while people can empathize with you, it’s incredibly hard to condone using food stamps when you do in fact have many other means that you have yet to exploit. It’s like breaking your leg and parking in a handicapped space, because you technically (or legally) qualify.

Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer manufacturing jobs in the US. Factory jobs are some of the most coveted in this country, unless you’re talking about sweatshops, in which case that wouldn’t pay more than a crepe shop.

I spent $10 on a rabbit once to feed myself something I enjoyed because I was sick of chicken, which I buy for $1.99 per pound at the halal market. I’m worried about diabetes, which is why I don’t want to subsist on pizza, ramen, rice, and pasta. I wish real food wasn’t considered extravagant in this country.

The money for food stamps is already allotted in Obama’s stimulus plan, so the money is spent, and even in this recession, a large portion of the people who qualify won’t apply because of the stigma. I’ve paid taxes my entire working life, so I can’t understand the argument that I am taking benefits away from someone more needy. I legally qualify, and that’s the long and short of it.

I live as frugally as possible, believe me. I seriously am not being choosy with my work, but there really really honestly are no jobs around. I wish you could really just spend a day living my life. I’m not asking for pity, I’m just saying times are tough for everyone, even people who grew up with as many advantages as I’ve had. My mother busts her ass every single morning, getting up at 4am to decorate ice-cream cakes at Baskin Robbins locations all over the tri-state area. I help her sometimes when she needs it, but she doesn’t have enough business to warrant hiring me on a permanent basis.

What else can I do? I’m trying the best I can, as I’m sure you are.

I never, EVER considered myself a candidate for foodstamps, much less $10 rabbit ($10 would’ve been a king’s meal.).

Not judging. Just sayin. Maybe give up the welfare for someone more needy, who’s not young and healthy. Don’t get a job ‘making crepes’. Get a job that pays…in a factory maybe. Something with sweat. Trust me, you’ll appreciate it.

I do enjoy your writing, and I hope you’ll land back in your preferred career.

I know I’m lucky. I’ve said so repeatedly. I’ve never claimed to be going through anything that anyone else isn’t going through, and I never claimed to have it worse than anyone else. I happen to legally qualify for food stamps, and I’ve been making the best of them.

I don’t buy organic salmon. I’ve never seen such a product in the store, and if I did I would view it as something meant to dupe people out of money. I buy sardines and salmon in a can ($2.49/can).

I try to eat healthy. I try to know where my food comes from. I don’t buy processed foods or pre-prepared foods, which means I have to cook every single meal.

Please don’t take the original article at face value. Don’t assume for a moment that I don’t know how good I have it compared to 99% of humanity. But the point of my response on Salon was that if even a fortunate person such as myself can find himself out of work, with no savings, and qualifications that make it difficult for him to get even a job at a coffee shop, maybe there’s something all of us have in common, and maybe there’s something all of us can do together to get through this recession.

a lot of people have less than even the guy who wrote this lost at e minor article… you’re definitely not as low as it gets, so consider yourself lucky.
that’s all i’m sayin..

I didn’t choose to leave those publishing jobs. I was laid off. I don’t claim to be experiencing harder times than anyone else. I honestly have been trying to find another job. Today I am talking to a lady about making crepes at a crepe shop. I’m not waiting for a dream job, I’m waiting for any sort of regular job I can find. Luckily, Baltimore is a much cheaper city than New York, which is why I moved here after I lost my jobs.

In the end, please just understand that the original article was shallow, incomplete, sensationalistic, and it didn’t give you any insight into my life. I seriously don’t claim to have it worse than anyone else. In fact, I think I’m remarkably lucky for having a good family, good friends, a good education, and all the opportunities that have come my way over the years. I just happen to find myself struggling a little right now, and I legally qualify for food stamps.

I ask that you not judge me without knowing me.

The problem is, most of us don’t think Gerry has “fallen on hard times.” Rather, we think he’s content living off the government while he waits for a very specific job to just fall in his lap. The world doesn’t work that way. He had jobs in publishing, the article says. The article also implies that he left them at some point to move to Baltimore with no prospects other than a part time blogging job. That’s not “falling on hard times,” that’s just being irresponsible.

It doesn’t really bother me where you buy your food from. The problem is you’re able to get the food stamps at all. The story says you’re a part time blogger. Great. The thing is, our generation (I’m a little younger than you) think we’re entitled to our preferred job – in the field we planned to go into. We’re not. Sometimes we have to just take a crap job, even if it sucks, so long as it pays the bills. If that means mundane jobs like filing papers somewhere, so be it.

I went to Chicago for grad school, and I refuse to believe that you can’t find a single job (regardless of what it is) with a Chicago degree. Nancy Pelosi recently explained a supposed “benefit” of their health care bill is that it would allow “struggling artists” and the like to do what they want without have to worry about getting a job for the benefits. I don’t know if you’re a “struggling artist,” but the others discussed in the story are, and that is why most people are pissed. I’d *like* to play baseball or be paid to travel or something similar, but life doesn’t work that way. So I some temp jobs and internships after college where I stuffed envelopes and did data input. It sucked, but it paid the bills until I was able to find the job I wanted.

You say you employers care more about what you’ve done in the last 10 years. That’s part of the problem. What HAVE you done? Employers are going to be more willing to take a chance on someone who worked hard and got good reviews in dumb clerical or admin jobs at other companies than they are with a “part-time blogger.” (No offense.) The article says you were in publishing for a while? Why’d you leave? There’s NOTHING in the publishing field that you can do, even if its just making copies or something until someone notices that you’re a hard worker and take a chance on you? Have you gone to the local random companies and office parks near you, offering to take whatever they had? Hell, even a job somewhere like a bookstore? You have to understand why people are pissed off that their tax dollars are going to you while you wait for something to come from your (probably) very narrow and limited job search, and get even more pissed when you act like you’re entitled to their tax money and groceries. And tuition/loans is not an excuse – lots of people have them.

University of Chicago was and is one of the most expensive schools in the country, as expensive as any ivy league or other private university at more than 30K a year back when I was enrolled. I qualified for some loans and small stipends from various sources, but my parents paid my way. I am no longer in debt, nor is my family, for which I am supremely grateful. Other friends of mine are still paying off their loans 10 years later.

I don’t regret anything about my education. I couldn’t have gotten half of the jobs I’ve had without my degree. If I were to do it over, however, I might choose a school that taught me harder skills and gave me more concrete career guidance. The U of C is a highly intellectual school that doesn’t place a premium on practical education – it is assumed that the prestige of the degree alone would guarantee work.

Ten years after graduating, I feel my degree is almost worthless now. People looking at my resume care more about what I’ve been doing recently. A lot of my peers are going back to school to extend the value of their educations, but I choose not to go into massive debt based on a gamble – some of my friends are emerging from masters programs only to find the job market to be no less competitive and harrowing. My friends who are career academics are faring much better, though.

In general, I feel tuitions are massively inflated in this country. As the value of an undergraduate degree plummets, schools are getting more expensive. It makes no sense. Many schools also don’t equip their students with the tools to truly function in a cut-throat work environment. Schools like U of C still operate under the assumption that all you need is an intellectual mind to succeed in the world. Even art school can be a more pragmatic choice than a liberal arts education, contrary to the sneering comments some people have made about artists.