You Know Who We Really Hate?

-By Jake T. Snake

I have had a ringside seat to the economic downturn this year. It is not an abstraction to me. The folks at the bottom are always the first to feel the pinch, when it comes. Clients of the agency I work at come through our doors every day requesting assistance with basic necessities like food, clothing, shelter and medications. As the year has progressed and New York State has chosen to repeatedly victimize its most vulnerable citizens, it has become more difficult to help people meet these needs. I have visited food banks with empty shelves, been told clients were ineligible for help when I knew they were and had to challenge these decisions. I have sat with clients while their applications for public assistance were reviewed by fraud investigators at social services. Our local social services department actually hired fraud investigators at the same time that it was laying off child protective workers demonstrating conclusively where our values lie and how genuinely mean spirited we are as a people. At the federal level Social Security routinely denies people eligible for benefits in the hopes that they will not reapply. Many people who receive benefits must hire a lawyer before social security will concede that they are indeed eligible. As the resources have become more limited, the level of scrutiny and inhumanity has risen accordingly.

I have, of course read about the rising unemployment numbers and the ensuing uptick in applicants for public assistance and food stamps nationwide like everyone else. It seems the chickens of Bill Clinton's (Best moderate Republican president ever)welfare reform are finally coming home to roost. We always knew that the flaw of his plan was an economy without jobs and here we are. The reform has no provision for an unemployment rate like we are experiencing now. Once again, our policy in practice serves to punish most harshly children and the elderly. Perhaps, it is time to repeal the child labor laws and begin allowing them to work 12 hour days again.

For nearly 30 years we have done our best to dismantle the safety net for the poor and struggling among us. I keep praying that we have reached the end of this folly. At 42, these policies are what I have known my entire work life. I dream about social service programs and rules that would treat people like human beings, rather than as an undesirable applicant to be culled out. I want so badly for us as a nation to stop punishing people for being poor, or elderly or a child of poor people. This holiday season was hellish as I watched scores of our clients navigate the realities of a holiday with nothing but further grinding poverty. Some days I am just weary from the strain of witnessing the suffering that goes on around me. It takes a toll that is more than physical, it eats away at the soul to see people ask for so little and receive far less.

As I contemplate how to pry a few dollars from these systems designed to humiliate and degrade my clients, already struggling with being social outcasts, chronic illness, drug addiction and mental illness I sigh audibly. I read of billion dollar bailouts and disappearing pallettes of cash as I ponder how to help a family with $400.00 so they will not be homeless in three days. I am so very tired.

Comments

[DrDick]

This is the inevitable consequence of 40 years of unrelenting and largely unchallenged (at least in the media) Republican propaganda and 30 years of Republican political domination. They are the party of greed, avarice, and selfishness who do not believe in the concept of the public good.

What they have done during this time is to turn the public discussion away from the pursuit of the public good to the pursuit of private virtue. We no longer publicly acknowledge the social costs to all of us of the gross disparities in wealth, discrimination, and the other social ills that we sought to end in the 1960s. Instead we blame the victims as not virtuous enough or say that we should rely on the virtue of private individuals and groups to alleviate these problems.

[Swift Loris]

Some days I am just weary from the strain of witnessing the suffering that goes on around me. It takes a toll that is more than physical, it eats away at the soul to see people ask for so little and receive far less.

Almost Invisible Silver Lining Department:

There's one potential source of nourishment for
your battered soul that you may not be recognizing. They are most definitely getting at least one thing from you that they need: you're treating them like human beings, with respect and compassion.

No, it doesn't fill their kids' stomachs or put shoes on their feet. But it sends a bit of warmth to their hearts, and you can at least allow the reflected glow from that warmth to ease your weariness.

[Diva]

This post made me cry. I hope you know that caring people like you are all we have right now. We need so many changes, but we do need to start with the most vulnerable among us. BHO should read this post.

[Gary Ruppert]

The fact is, people who are poor should work harder and stop asking for handouts.

[Ali]

Thank dog for people like you, Jake.

Have you read "In the realm of hungry ghosts" by Gabor Mate? Highly recommended. It's about his work as a physician with the poor and addicted in Vancouver. He shares many of your opinions.

[John O]

Bless what you do, and what a kind human being you obviously are.

You should be tired. But hang in there. You're needed very much.

[Lisa]

I was a social worker for two years, and even then (this was six years ago) the gap between the haves and the have-nots was widening. Many of my friends suggested, as one commenter does above, that poor people should simply "work harder." Virtually every family I worked with had two parents employed--and working hard--and while they usually had enough money for food, they didn't have health care or dental care and if their car broke down, there was no money to fix it & they would lose their jobs.

So, I just wanted to say, you do the good work, and it's totally understandable that you're burned out. I couldn't keep doing it, myself.

[Jake T. Snake]

Gary,

Your team lost. Sit down and shut up.

[rageahol]

jake:

gary ruppert is a nom de plume, a parody-troll from sadlyno.com

i salute you and your efforts. whatever the inexorable conclusion happens to be, we are careening towards it at a breakneck pace. i am lucky to be applying to school this year, and not next, with even more applicants and competition for a basically static number of slots.

[flory]

That's heartbreaking. And inexusable.
How the fuck could we waste hundreds of billions on a fucking unneccessary war while this kind of obscenity is occurring in our own communities?

Bless you for trying.

[KFC]

Oh grow up. Obama isn't going to solve any of this either. Ever stop to consider why these programs haven't solved any problems? Could it be that the government cannot "fix" poverty? Atlas will shrug one day.

[evagrius]

The fact is, people who are poor should work harder and stop asking for handouts.

Ever stop to consider why these programs haven't solved any problems? Could it be that the government cannot "fix" poverty? Atlas will shrug one day.

Way to go guys!

Some insights are really, really deep.

Some are merely surface.

Figure out which type you guys have.

[The Oracle]

Hopefully, President Barack Obama's administration will "get it," unlike the greed-mongers in the outgoing Bush administration.

Any economic recovery, if there is to be any hope of success and another Great Depression averted, has to be mainly from the bottom up (FDR), not from the top down (voodoo Reaganomics).

There is only one way this will work, a way to stop this vicious cycle of foreclosures, bankruptcies, rising unemployment, foreclosures, bankruptcies, rising unemployment. (And I'm including in foreclosures and bankruptcies not only home owners but also small businesses, retail stores, mom-and-pop companies, which in facing a shrinking clientele are experiencing lower revenues, leading many to layoff workers, which swells the ranks of the unemployed, which exerts even more downward revenue pressure on both small and large businesses, making economic matters much, much worse).

1) Of the $350 Billion still left in the Reaganomics-inspired initial corporate bail-out appropriations, this money should be largely divided among all 50 states, proportionally, with more taxpayer money going to more populous (more workers) states versus less populous (less workers) states, with most of each state's share going into shoring up unemployment insurance and the rest going to keeping as many state and local employees as possible off the unemployment rolls. The last thing we need right now is a whole lot of state and local government employees losing their jobs, hamstringing state and local governments in the process). Note: I'm not a government employee.

2) Income tax rates for the wealthiest in our society should be immediately raised to pre-Reaganomics levels. The ones responsible should be the ones footing a major part of the bill for this economic recovery. (I know, this won't happen, especially with greed-mongering Senate Republicans blocking any legislation daring to raise income tax rates on their fellow greed-mongers).

3) As long as Democrats in Congress don't hand corrupt Bush officials the remaining $350 Billion in bail-out funds just days before the Bush administration leaves office next month, then President Barack Obama will have this money at his fingertips...maybe...unless Senate Republicans block its disbursement...just as they will probably block any Democratic-sponsored Economic Stimulus Package, no matter how large. Democrats in Congress, but especially in the Senate, will have a choice as economic conditions rapidly deteriorate next year, change Senate rules about filibusters or let the corrupt Senate Republicans block efforts to direct taxpayer money into the lowest tiers of our economy, with as few strings as possible attached. I'm not optimistic.

Corrupt Republicans/conservatives got us into this mess. Corrupt Republicans/conservatives have made things worse. And corrupt Republicans/conservatives will no doubt stick to their warped and twisted ideology to the bitter end...of us all.

[Mike]

So sad that some can read this heartfelt article and respond with the same tired, anti-government rhetoric. Atlas cannot shrug. He does not exist. A myth propagated by greedy, self-serving, incompetent bores. Government can fix poverty by providing a level playing field where all have access to education, healthcare, afforable housing and jobs that pay a living wage. Government can fix poverty by assuring that those that reap the greatest benefit from the social contract that allows the enjoyment of those bebefits pay accordingly. Government can fix poverty by assuring that unethical, greedy individuals are not allowed to bankrupt companies while being paid obscene bonuses. Government can fix poverty by spending on needed social programs instead of illegal wars designed to enrich the wealthy and powerful. Ad infinitum.

[eastriver]

Government can't fix poverty. It can simply alleviate some of the misery of those that don't have.

There will always be poor and needy people. Times like these help to make new poor and needy people.

Keep up the good work, Jake.

I would never suppose to give you any advice, but I'll throw this out there: Take care of yourself. Find ways to comfort and nourish yourself. Take a long, quiet walk now and then. Listen to comforting music while doing nothing but listening. Carve out some moments to actively daydream and fantasize. Read a good book.

Keep giving to others. But also give to yourself. It will make your giving better.

Rock on.

Rock off.

[deang]

A friend who works in social services left the US several years ago for Japan, a country with actually functioning social services and no trace of the sociopathic right wing that leaves hateful comments like those from Gary Ruppert and KFC above. My friend works with children and, like you, grew tired of the increasingly sadistic US social service estasblishment, which is increasingly staffed by people raised in the post-1980 era you reference who treat those in need as parasites who should be driven away.

Americans should be aware that the rest of the world does not pride itself on cruelty to those in need the way a substantial portion of the US population does post-1980. Hell, before Reagan, such attitudes were unthinkable in the US, too. Now, we have a generation raised in an environment where that's considered the norm.

Government does work to reduce poverty, but only if those in charge of it and working within it work in good faith to do so, as they did before Reagan ruined the country.

[KFC]

"sociopathic right wing that leaves hateful comments " Huh? We've really lowered the bar on "hateful". Sheesh, don't wet yourself - I was simply stating a fact. As for the degenerate who say I lack insight - well, what's YOUR solution? You think another 30 years worth of social programs will net anything different. "People" like you operate on feelings and it's a very effeminate, ineffective way to live.

[KFC]

"
Way to go guys!

Some insights are really, really deep.

Some are merely surface.

Figure out which type you guys have."

Feel free to wow us with your intellect at any time.

[themomcat]

May the Goddess bless you. You are not alone. I have worked in emergency medicine for nearly 30 years in some of the worst places around the world and some of them are right here in the US. I know I can't help or save everyone but when I do make a difference it makes my day. Don't give up, because without people like you who would care.

[Thers]

Jake, ya got trolled by Gary Ruppert: as blog-standards go, that's a WIN. It is, frankly, to be celebrated: Moron Internet America knows you exist! Huzzah! It's like passing a gang initiation ritual. And you got off light compared to what we did to Ripley!

(KFC is just garden-variety stupid, sorry, no points for him.)

Anyhow, thanks for the post, Jake. People need to hear this stuff, and if all we have is blogs to say it with, well, then let's say it on blogs.

[KFC]

"Jake, ya got trolled by Gary Ruppert: as blog-standards go, that's a WIN. It is, frankly, to be celebrated: Moron Internet America knows you exist! Huzzah! It's like passing a gang initiation ritual. And you got off light compared to what we did to Ripley!"
If you can't argue or debate, just be quiet. You are amusing, though!

?

[PortlyDyke]

Thank you for this post. I was a social worker for ten years in the 80s, in the midst of Reagan's systematic dismantlement of compassion.

There were a few years where I felt like my spirit was just being broken, along with the spirits of my clients. I agree with those above who say that YOU make a difference, no matter crappy the system. I remember when I left social work, that I said that I was tired of trying to do my job in spite of the system.

As to the Ayn Rand fanboygirl above, I'll say what I say to all of them: *pat pat pat on the head* "Don't worry. You'll grow out of it."

[KFC]

"As to the Ayn Rand fanboygirl above, I'll say what I say to all of them: *pat pat pat on the head* "Don't worry. You'll grow out of it."

Awww. Thanks. Great to hear that from someone who clearly lives in reality! You couldn't handle your job so you gave up on your clients? Nice! Dorothea Dix you ain't. What a waste of humanity.

[PortlyDyke]

"You couldn't handle your job so you gave up on your clients?"

No, actually, I moved on to a job where I could help them more directly. But thanks for trying. Your effort to diminish my spirit by calling me a waste of humanity simply will not work.

I hope you find whatever healing your heart needs.

[KFC]

"No, actually, I moved on to a job where I could help them more directly. But thanks for trying. Your effort to diminish my spirit by calling me a waste of humanity simply will not work."

Pat pat pat - you'll be ok.

[rougy]

"Instead we blame the victims as not virtuous enough or say that we should rely on the virtue of private individuals and groups to alleviate these problems."

Very well said.

The cons want the rule of the jungle because only the strong win those kinds of games, only the rich, only the powerful

[MarkOfOhio]

We can see the wreckage of failed conservative ideas all around us: the Iraq War, Katrina, the economic collapse. Reagan started America down the road to hell and we are well along it now.

Reading this thread, I am just as heartened by the compassion expressed by most posters as I am dismayed by the blockheaded, out-of-step hostility of this KFC character, who seems to have a chip on his or her shoulder.

Bag it, KFC. If I want Hannity, I'll turn on False News.

[actor212]

We always knew that the flaw of his plan was an economy without jobs and here we are.

Nonsense. The plan allows five years of welfare, cumulatively. If you mean to tell me that, in the past fifteen years, someone has actually gone thru this benefit, then that's their get-out, I'm sorry.

[cmhmd]

Very good post, Jake.

You should send it in as an op-ed to your local or regional newspaper..

And to the Rand-ers: You realize that yours is the only philisophical school on the planet that embraces selfishness as a virtue rather than a vice, don't you?

Bill Moyers on Friday showed a terrific documentary illustrationg the broad commonalities of the world's religions, finishing up with all the variations on the Golden Rule. I highly recommend it.

Cheers,

[franski34]

I just graduated with my msw in September from Hunter. I have not been able to find a job within the child welfare system. Many of my school mates are also having difficulty finding jobs. Now I understand why.

Fraud investigators? The trolls on this thread have obviously never spent a day at a social service agency as either a worker or client. As someone who grew up in the foster care system I can only say that there are not enough workers like Jake out there.

Jake-I don't know how you have been able to maintain your sanity working within a system as flawed as this one is. I am putting this page in my favorites and hope to read more of your thoughts.

[Donna]

""People" like you operate on feelings and it's a very effeminate, ineffective way to live."

Effeminate. I see you are revealing your misogyny in addition to your callousness.

[Donna]

"Instead we blame the victims as not virtuous enough or say that we should rely on the virtue of private individuals and groups to alleviate these problems."

For many CONservatives, private charity is just another way to make a buck.

[feckless]

People need to realize that the Republican party is anti-christ.

A country that gives $700 Billion for the millionaires to buy up other banks with but lets the poor go hungry and cold knows nothing of the teachings of Jesus Christ.

In 21st century America the working class (gasp unions!) and the poor, if you weren't born Donald Trump then its your own fault and you should be condemned.

Republicans and their corporate conspirators have erased the concept of the common good. As a result we see the rise in the common evils of the 3rd world - corruption, ignorance, violence and hunger.

GOP "christians" as a block vote and advocate for offensive war and temporal damnation of the poor.

All while these money lenders in their mega churches cash their federal subsidy checks.

Robertson, Warren et al. have a bit of a vested interest in seeing secular services fail, and the horrible inadequacy of private charity only illuminates the need for further subservience to their angry version of God.

[Wednesdays]

"Oh grow up. Obama isn't going to solve any of this either. Ever stop to consider why these programs haven't solved any problems? Could it be that the government cannot "fix" poverty? Atlas will shrug one day."

And, as Ebenezer Scrooge said, "Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?"

[Gus]

Why in the name of christ would anyone engage a troll like KFC. "Atlas will shrug"? Jesus, that's just sad.

[Katz Freedman]

If we were not giving more than 9 Billion per year to Israel, and another 5 Billion more to Egypt to keep it from going after Israel, and another 5 Billion to Jordan for the same,

WE WOULD HAVE PLENTY OF MONEY TO TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN.

[Paul the Spud]

Another social worker here Jake, and I'm right there with you. I work with HIV+ clients, and I thank the maker that there are some additional benefits available for people afflicted with this disease, otherwise I have no idea how I'd help keep them fed, housed and clothed. The recent bailouts have been making me tear my hair out in frustration.

[Evan]

Why do we have poverty? Because we give money to foreign countries (like Israel) before we take care of our own. Also, we fight for wars (for Israel) which deplete our economy. Cui Bono? Only Israel benefits from handouts and these endless Middle East wars fought by American soldiers. As the U.S. commits war-crimes abroad, that same gov't commits treason at home by eliminating habeas corpus, using the judiciary to steal private lands, banning books like America Deceived (book) from Amazon, Facebook and Wikipedia, conducting warrantless wiretaps and engaging in illegal wars on behalf of Israel. Soon, another false-flag operation will occur (sinking of an Aircraft Carrier by Mossad) and the US will invade Iran. Then we'll invade Pakistan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, then ....

[DrDick]

Why do we have poverty?

Capitalism. This has been another edition of .....

[irspariah]

The end of a gun barrel might not cure this, but the satisfaction exacted is incomparable!

[Rmj, Xmas Theologist]

And, as Ebenezer Scrooge said, "Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?"

Clearly there aren't enough. I've been saying for years the government should do more to crack down on the poor and homeless....

[cripes]

The number of private charities (who mostly exist to enrich themselves) is not a measure of the society in which they thrive, but the measure of that society's economic and social injustice.

Obama's answer? Privitize government services!

[pnguine]

Oh come on - "the cause of poverty?" - greed. and to nurture greed we have - inheritance. and the precursor to that - "I own this piece of the universe because I got here before you did." Maybe Genesis was right (the bible not the rock band) - we did all inherit the same defective genes.

[teknikAL]

I live in a liberal upstate NY city. I am very familiar with NYS DSS and how difficult and heartbreaking it is, even with a liberal proactive workforce working within this system. We are very fortunate in our community to have a great amount of cooperation between the state agencies, the county, city and not for profits. There is a local "211" organization that helps bring all these agencies' info together in an easy to follow folded business card format. There are many not for profit organizations that can help fill the gaps left by the current system. I am sure you may be familiar with some.
If I am not too forward in suggesting that you can get support through networking with these people to help offer options for your clients.
Seek support for yourself as well. Sometimes sharing and talk will help, as I am sure blogging does. ;~)

Bless you.

[teknikAL]

I must add to my comment that even with all the cooperation, it is still dreadfully inadequate.

[Ibod Catooga]

Poor people are stupid.

[SteveB]

Nonsense. The [Clinton] plan allows five years of welfare, cumulatively. If you mean to tell me that, in the past fifteen years, someone has actually gone thru this benefit, then that's their get-out, I'm sorry. - actor212

Wow. I'd really love to understand the mathematics behind this "thought." Having required some assistance for five of the past fifteen years somehow renders you undeserving. And if we have this same discussion five years from now, and those same families have used public assistance for five of the last twenty years, they're still undeserving, right?

Some people will say anything to defend the Clintons, I guess.

[Fledermaus]

I was simply stating a fact. As for the degenerate who say I lack insight - well, what's YOUR solution?

I propose that we give $700B to rich investment bankers. That'll solve the problem.

[Bitter Scribe]

I know an anecdote doesn't prove much either way, but I just have to speak up and say how efficiently my brother's SSI application was granted. This was especially gratifying because he's a high-functioning autistic who had been misdiagnosed for most of his life.

Of course, I realize that was just the luck of the draw; we happened to get a caseworker who was a human being.

[Anansii]

Ouch. Reminds me of Leslie Fish's "The Paper Sea":

I went to work for welfare in hopes to help the poor.
The staff showed me a desk and introduced me to the war.
They warned me that the battle started right outside the door,
And they fought it on the paper sea.

They were thirty social workers, forty-seven clerks,
Twenty-seven managers all gumming up the works,
Three inspectors from the legislature excersizing perks,
Barricudas in the paper sea.

There were countless regulations, rulebooks by the score,
Explaining every policy and system tried before.
The money spent on paperwork left nothing for the poor,
Abandoned on the paper sea.

There were seven hundred forms could be applied to every case
To account for every penny, number, name or date or place.
The clerks were working overtime but never keeping pace
With the waves upon the paper sea.

Why these endless papers, administers, and more,
All to guarantee there was no cheating by the poor,
While for every dollar saved we spent a hundred on the chore
Of adding to the paper sea.

Outside in the hallway, the poor folk had to wait.
The line stretched down the block, coming early, leaving late.
Maybe one poor soul per hour ever made it through the gate,
Past the boundaries of the paper sea.

First came in a man who didn't have a cent.
I filled out twenty forms to guarantee his check was sent.
By the time it reached his address he was gone for lack of rent,
Well serviced by the paper sea.

Next came in a mother, abandoned by her man.
She said, "Get me some daycare, and I'll find what work I can."
But daycare was to controvercial for our family plan.
We marrooned her in the paper sea.

As I walked in one morning, I stumbled on an arm
Attached to some poor body who had clearly come to harm.
While waiting for his Medicare, his heart had bought the farm.
We had drowned him in the paper sea.

I told my supervisor. He said, "Let's be discreet.
Just stick the body out the door and leave it on the street,
And then it's not our problem, but the cop's out on the beat.
Let's dump him in _their_ paper sea."

I tried to make the system work, I tried to help the poor.
I struggled through the paperwork and might have taken more,
But that's the final straw that sent me screaming out the door,
Sent me running from the paper sea.
I'd had it with the paper sea