• Too Little Too Late

    "I gave mine to my mother, who used it to buy food. How else is someone supposed to survive these days on a $1,200 a month social security widow's benefit check? I would have rather the government use the combined payout to ease the cost of fuel for all of us so that we wouldn't need a token "stimulus" payment to ease their pain."

    Lisa
    La Mesa, CA

    13th Jun 2008 in Other | Discuss (12) |

Comments

  • omg you're SO sweet!!

    Posted by: steve Jun 13th, 12:46

  • I agree that you're a sweetheart for what you've done with your stimulus (and also, really cute) but I must say that in the short term, neither Congress nor Bush have very much control over gasoline prices. I despise Bush, but it's true. We really need to invest in alternative fuels. Which unfortunately costs money, Congress needs to pass more bills encouraging alt fuel research, probably funded by gas taxes. I understand gas taxes are not very popular, but they're maybe 10% of the cost of gas...

    Posted by: Poopyhead Jun 14th, 01:12

  • That was very sweet of you!

    Posted by: Isabel Sepulveda Jun 16th, 12:59

  • What a hottie!

    Posted by: Ryan Jun 16th, 19:36

  • Yes, I agree, the author is teh hawt.

    Posted by: Poopyhead Jun 16th, 21:30

  • not to be cynical, but...maybe you should be thankful that she gets that much? i work a full-time job and make less than that a month. seems like she has it pretty good to me, that's quite a bit to get for free.

    Posted by: justagirl Jun 19th, 19:12

  • Another one whining and ungrateful. YOU REALIZE YOU GOT THIS MONEY FOR DOING NOTHING? YOU SHOULD BE THANKFUL THAT YOU RECEIVED SOMETHING THAT HELPED YOUR MOTHER OUT THIS MONTH.

    Posted by: UNREAL Jun 24th, 12:41

  • I understand your feelings. My Mom gets 600 a month social security and is short on everything by the 12th day in, never gets to vacation, has no car you name it. I work on getting her food and helping wherever possible but don't make enough to at this point. When I had my daughter, I had to cut back alot on what my husband and I helped her with. You are adorable. You look like a young Annette Funicello. Maybe she could move in with you, that may save on alot of expenses. Also check www.sco.ca.gov and see if they are holding any funds for you or her. They are free to claim and come from a wide variety of sources.

    Posted by: Karen Townsend www.womensave.org Jun 26th, 22:03

  • Uh, to justagirl...this lady did not get the money for DOING NOTHING, as you so blindly point out. It is money that by all rights, BELONGS TO HER FOR WORKING, and that our government takes from us in the form of overtaxation.

    And, to poopyhead, the widow's payment is entirely deserved, since this woman's mother came from a generation of women who were EXPECTED to remain home and raise the kids, and who were actually DISCOURAGED by many employers from working after having children. For example, for years in the early to mid-1900s, many school districts would not let women continue to teach school upon getting married and starting a family. So, I am sorry that you earn less than $1,200, but this mother's work within the home during those years of marriage were no less valuable than those of a woman working outside the home. She earned it.

    Posted by: Lisa King Jun 30th, 10:17

  • Hello everyone, I am the author of this post. Thanks for all your comments, even the ones I disagree with, but especially to Lisa King and Karen Townsend. I appreciate your suggestions and well-reasoned, intelligent retorts. Also, Annette Funicello? :) Well, all that stuff was unexpected and I admit made me blush a little. Thanks for that too!

    However as to those who have either the caps lock stuck in the 'on' position, (you know who you are) or their heads stuck somewhere else, (you should know who you are) I ask you to remember a few things: Governments do not have their own funds earned through their own labor or ingenuity like you or I. Governments are funded off the sweat of the governed, i.e., taxes paid by hard working individuals and industrious corporations run by individuals. Therefore, the money we received was not for "doing nothing." It was precisely our "doing" that created the fund from which the stimulus package was paid in the first place. I'll break it down for you, "UNREAL," they paid us with our own money. Ah yes, and then the dawn...

    The amount of the stimulus "payment" we all received was based, in part, upon the income we earned, the # of people we support, and to a larger degree the amount of taxes paid into the system. Returning to me what was mine in the first place is not an act which deserves my gratitude. I would be grateful for insightful, equitable, strong leadership from my government which made a token, very politically driven, stimulus payment unnecessary.

    Moreover, my dear "poopyhead,"(your user name is cute, btw), returning to my mother - in the form of widow's benefits - money automatically removed from my father's paychecks until he died is, respectfully, NOT something she is getting "for free." My parents had no control over these required deductions. THEIR money was used and held interest free for decades before social security kicked in. BOTH my parents worked very hard all of their lives to earn the money she is receiving now. Think about it, if you loaned someone your hard-earned coin and 30 years later they paid you back - a little bit each month - without interest would you think you were getting something for nothing? Of course not!

    Don't misconstrue my point. Of course it is nice to get an unexpected check in the mail, especially from such an unexpected source. However, the stimulus payment was not Manna from Heaven, and doled out individually was not enough to "stimulate" anything except endless discussion, apparently. Thank you government for allowing me to help my very deserving mother with my own money. But I would have rather seen the collective total of the stimulus package utilized to make some concerted impact for the benefit of the collective, whether it be at the pump or in the produce isle, if it was otherwise impossible to avoid our current condition entirely. Then again it's not every day you get to upgrade your Ipod.

    Too Little, Too Late is the title of my post, and I stand by it.

    Posted by: Lisa from La Mesa, CA Jul 12th, 13:51

  • CORRECTION: My comment contained in the paragraph which starts "(m)oreover, my dear "poopyhead"...) should have been directed to the sad, but aptly named, "justagirl." I apologize to Poopyhead for the error (although your screen name really does crack me up! Thanks for all of your comments too :).

    Posted by: Lisa from La Mesa, CA Jul 12th, 13:55

  • Generous of you to support your mom but your mom could have funded her own retirement account years ago when she was probably purchasing plastic toys for you and/or your siblings.

    Another one of these "How are we supposed to survive on X amount?!" The answer is you aren't. The answer is you should have thought of this sooner and saved/invested in your youth to support yourself in your golden years.

    Posted by: Kudos Jul 20th, 16:44

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