A poor mother: My child's worth tax credit, too

Houston Chronicle ^ | July 8, 2003 | Margaret Gaffin

[Criminal Number 18F]

Your baseball game analogy is not quite on here. This lady didn't even go to the game, but she's demanding a refund anyway.

Welfare leech.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Paul Atreides]

"Giving back to the community" is one of those phrases that I am really sick of hearing. It usually carries with it a liberal socialist notion that, if you are successful and have one dollar more than your neighbor, you are supposed to somehow give it away. The tax money that goes to support deadbeats and the like is more than enough "giving back to the community."

[vollmond]

Your concept is called re-distribution, comrade.

Normally I don't respond to comments other than to address the issues, but the "comrade" jibe was uncalled for.

It doesn't matter what path your money takes to get to the government. The working poor are hammered by non-income taxes just like the rest of us. Everytime they buy food, gas, or other basics, their pocketbook takes a hit to cover corporate taxes, employee-matching, sales taxes, tarrifs, and whatever BOHICA taxes the government thinks of next.

The tax credit in question may be claimed through the income tax system, but isn't really an income tax refund at all. Everyone that pays income tax doesn't get it, only those with children.

Are you saying that taxes paid through the income tax system are more noble, and more worthy of being given back, than taxes paid via tariffs, charges, hidden taxes, or fees? It's all money that flows from the individual to the government, and it adds to the power the government has over the individual.

If you'd get off your hate-the-poor kick, you might see that taking less of their money from their hands will increase their quality of life, thus requiring less income redistribution, and reduce the power of government. Until taxes of all types are cut down, the easiest way to do that is to return some of what they're paying now.

[Paul Atreides]

One of the best shows on today, that showcases the brazen attitude/lack of humility, is Judge Judy. It is amazing how some people will come to her courtroom, admit to destroying the plaintiff's property, and then proceed to tell JJ that it is the plaintiff's fault ("sure I totaled her car, but it's her fault for loaning me the keys," "sure I invited people to their house when they said not to have anyone over, but the people who came to the house are responsible for the damage). As you say, people never cease to amaze me.

[lelio]

I too am sick of that phrase in the way they imply. To me, you give back far more to a community by starting up a business and employing people. Inspire them to make the most out of the company.
Instead what you have are people that want to become a cog in the wheel of poverty.

[ApesForEvolution]

So you support Constitutional taxation and oppose laws that are repugnant to the Constitution?

If so, do you vote the same way?

As for 'hate the poor', I don't 'hate' people that have needs. I hate the way many poor view their own personal responsibility in handling their plight and always blaming someone else.

Funny how so many 'poor' people have a car, a tv (or 2 or 3), a refrigerator, plenty of flesh on their bones, subsidized health care, plenty of cigarettes, booze, etc., etc.

The world's poor so wish to be 'poor' in America.

[ApesForEvolution]

It's maddening.

America fell to communism a long time ago, and no 'compassionate conservative' is going to get us out of it.

Too much pandering for votes goin on out there...

[ApesForEvolution]

"requiring less income redistribution"

And, btw, where does it say income redistribution is 'required'? Like I said, comrade.

[DoughtyOne]

Slums don't appear or disappear based on government funding. They appear or disappear due to lethargic people who have decided not to do for themselves.

We have spent something like four or five trillion on welfare, but poverty has gone up if anything.

Take a look at the projects. They are trashed within a short period of time.

If you want to see an area go downhill, start placing rent subsidized people in the building. It will be destroyed. The area will be destroyed.

Welfare should be phazed out totally within 18 months.

Churches should be encouraged to help those down and out, and those down and out should be encoraged to contact them.

When I say help them, I mean a very subsistance of help geared toward getting them back on their feet ASAP.

Register these folks. If they try earnestly to better themselves fine. If they don't, then other churches and agencies should know who they are and not play along if they show up after abusing those who helped them in another area.

We have molly-coddled these folks too long. We should have known better from the very beginning that giving away something for nothing would create a teete sucking class, and expand it's size, but the powers that be didn't.

[DoughtyOne]

Your giving back comments were right on.

[PleaseNoMore]

I have a dear friend who, like this woman, is a single mom (she has TWO boys). She found herself single after her marriage failed. She knew that the only way to make it and be successful and prosperous was to go back to school and get her Bachelor's degree. She managed to live off of her college loans ( around 6,000.00 - 7,000.00 or so a year I believe ) and the 40.00 per week child support from her husband for TWO years. She did without the extras. She forsook cable, nice clothes, a new car, trips to McDonalds, etc. She bought the basics when it came to groceries and still was able to give her boys treats. She didn't get her nails done, she cut boys hair herself saving money that would have otherwise gone to the barber or stylist.

She always had her rent money, never lost her electricity or phone service for non payment, etc. Debi NEVER once asked for a handout. I even suggested that she go to Social Services to apply for assistance with heating bills and Food Stamps. She flatly refused.

Today she is the owner of Premiere Mortgage Funding in Holly Springs, NC. She has a thriving business and has EARNED everything she has and NEVER asked for handouts from ANYONE. I am damned proud of her. I admire my dearest friend for her willingness to sacrifice things that she would have loved to have had in order to make her life and the life of her kids better. She is one of the most honest people I know and a damn fine businesswoman.

This girl could sure use some lessons.

[Paul Atreides]

Isn't it interesting how low-income housing, when new, looks new, but it isn't long before it looks like a pig pen? How much does it cost to treat a piece of property with care? I'm not saying that all middle/upper class people aren't snobs, but it is telling that a person can spot low-income housing a mile away.

[Paul Atreides]

Here is a lady who has a show on Food Network:

Paula Deen of The Lady & Sons Restaurant Is Georgia’s Small Business Person of the Year — Revenues Reached $2.5 Million Last Year Contact: Jim HIghtower, Georgia Office, U.S. Small Business Administration May 30, 2003

Savannah, Ga. – Paula H. Deen, who parlayed her southern cooking skills into a small business empire, has been selected the 2003 Small Business Person of the Year in Georgia by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Ms. Deen’s restaurant, The Lady & Sons, posted sales of nearly $2.5 million last year, and her culinary ventures now include a TV show on the Food Network Channel.

“Paula Deen’s achievements in the food and restaurant business have truly been remarkable,” said SBA Georgia District Director Terri L. Denison in announcing her award. “Starting with only a small catering business, she and her sons have grown her restaurant into one of Savannah’s top attractions with a local and national reputation for quality, southern-style food.”

Deen used an investment of $200 in 1989 to start her home-based catering business, mainly for corporate customers who were too busy to take lunch outside the office. A couple of years later, she rented space in a local Best Western motel and opened “The Lady” restaurant. Then in 1995, with the help of an SBA guaranteed bank loan, Deen risked everything to open “The Lady & Sons” in Savannah’s City Market district. Since then, her local customers have been joined by thousands of tourists in enjoying her signature cheese biscuits and other country recipes.

Growing up in Albany, Georgia, Deen learned her cooking skills from the women in her family. Southern cooking was her heritage and this would now serve as the bedrock for her future business success.

The charts on Deen’s business all point upward. Sales have grown from $795,000 in 1997 to nearly $2.6 million by 2001. The number of people employed by The Lady & Sons has grown steadily. In 1997, she had 15 employees. Today, she has a staff of about 60, a 400 percent increase in the last five years.

The Lady & Sons will be moving later this year to an even larger, 10,000 square-foot facility a few blocks from its current location on West Congress Street. Deen purchased and is renovating a three-story building in the heart of historic Savannah, with an opening date set for early September.

Deen has authored three cookbooks based on her prized recipes, and became the Number One selling cookbook author for Random House during 1999. Her first best-seller was “The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook.” Her most recent cookbook, “The Lady & Sons Just Desserts,” was published in 2002.

“Paula’s Home Cooking” program was launched on the Food Network on November 16, 2002. The show debuted to rave reviews and now is seen several times a week on the national television channel.

In 1999, USA Today named The Lady & Sons restaurant with its “International Meal of the Year.” In the summer of 2002, Deen was guest on the Opray Winfrey Show, an appearance that triggered hundreds of letters from women viewers who saw her as a potential mentor to improving their own lives.

Earlier this year, Deen received another accolade when she received the annual Georgia Women Entrepreneurs (GWEN) Award from the Georgia Small Business Development Center. The award was presented at the annual GWEN conference in Savannah.

Even though her business takes up most of her waking hours, Deen still finds time to contribute to her community. In 2002 alone, she provided sponsorships and donations of money, cookbooks and other services to a variety of community groups and causes.

Her rise to the top of the restaurant business is an inspiration to others. When Deen started her catering business, she was near the end of a 20-year battle with the nightmare of agoraphobia, the fear of even leaving her home. This condition developed when a bank robber held a gun to her head as she worked as a bank teller in Albany. During this same time, her husband’s car dealership was folding and their marriage was coming to a close.

But with the support of her two sons, Bobby and Jamie, Deen took control of her life and discovered that her talents and skills could lay the pathway for her inspiring success in the world of business.

Deen was nominated for the SBA Award by Lynn Vos, Savannah Area Director, and Connie Edwards, Business Consultant, at the Small Business Development Center in Savannah.

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

I began reading the various forms of 'family assistance' statistics available, both nationally and then specifically in the state of Ohio. As I needed something on which to focus my attention for a time, I kept reading.



Anyway...

For the heck of it, I am posting some of the material I came across.

Here are some statistical breakdowns regarding the state of
OHIO'S CHILDREN 2003 (cached by Google)

This has an abundance of information on the Ohio
Welfare to work program (PDF version)

And in case anyone is still interested, this final one provides
A monthly review of Ohio public assistance statistics for March 2003
(categorization of avarage welfare payments *per recipient* can be found in Table 8)

[jern]

for later.

[L.N. Smithee]

I'm going to school full time to complete my associate's degree. This means I bring home $5,600 a year, since I can work only part time. Student loans help pay some expenses, but it still is not enough.

It hurts when my 8-year-old daughter wants to go to the movies or even have a meal at McDonald's and I have to say, "No, Mommy can't afford it." If I had gotten a tax cut, I would spend it on the mountain of bills that face me. Like millions of other working people, I would have put that money right back into the economy.

She's not a good role model for her 8-year-old daughter whining like this.

I was going to ask "Where's Papa?" but it occurred to me -- does she actually say that she's NOT married in this column?

[Kudsman]

We should have known better from the very beginning that giving away something for nothing would create a teete sucking class, and expand it's size, but the powers that be didn't.

If I could suggest, maybe not all didn't but some powerful ones surely did and in point of fact some planned (and continue engineering) it this way. Raw Deal.

Churches should be encouraged to help those down and out, and those down and out should be encouraged to contact them. When I say help them, I mean a very subsistance of help geared toward getting them back on their feet ASAP.

The government long ago ursurped the chuch's role in caregiving of the needy. Pretty powerful message the government sends when it says here is a check, and you don't need to worship God for the charity, worship (and vote for) me (the state). And while your at it just break apart your family and we will throw in another check stolen from someone else. Heck that's just walking around money for ya. Bring us your housing, food and heat/electric bills we will pay them with someone elses money too. You say you need a ride somewhere? Just sit your ass right there we will send a car bought, registered and insured with someone else time, talent and energy. There is no end to what some would have the state do for (to) a citizen to keep them in a state of dependancy. It is a quasi - business in itself IMNSHO. Is it time to cut the safety hammock yet? Whatever would we do with all the welfare state employees? Could we initiate a term of indenture to a parish (of the person's choosing) for services received from said parish? This would provide an incentive for those that are lazy and /or make self destructive choices. I believe it would also result in more aid to those truly helpless to help themselves. It would also provide something wothwhile IMO for folks to do in either case.

[DoughtyOne]

Do you think we could send the welfare state employees to Europe where they'd feel right at home?

[jwh_Denver]

Here lady, perhaps there's hope yet...

Is this the woman in question here? If so that hair do ain't no Fantastic Sam's job. There's probably 30 "Happy Meals" in that.

[ApesForEvolution]

Good post.

I doubt that the majority of government employees tasked with caring for the sheeple would survive long in the real world of work.

From almost all accounts, their service sucks and their skill level, is, well, just as bad.

Which is why they make such good little communists eager to keep the rolls filled...