Times are getting tough out there guys

[kidman232]

I came home from lunch today to walk my today and package up some silver I had made a trade on when I noticed a person that lives in the building right next to mine was getting evicted it looked like. saw workers coming out in waves carrying out boxes, dressers, air beds etc. There were 2 sheriff's cars there two. Now rent where I live is right around $1500, so not cheap, but not crazy high either. when i was in the grass with my dog I saw one black guy sitting with the stuff talking on a cell phone. I went back to work and got home about 30-40 mins away and now there are four or five of them out there (men, women, and a baby). They have basically set up shop over there in the grass. Have chairs set up, dressers, 40 or so bags, mattresses etc. The two older women have shower caps on, as it was starting to sprinkle when i was walking my dog again and think its suppose to thunder storm tonight

[Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay]

That is very sad.

When my folks had rental property, we had to evict one family. It was terrible. The man had earned an eviction. He striped the house of all mirrors attached to the walls, striped pipes out. He even took the light bulbs. Good thing we got him out when we did. Still it was terrible to put his family out on the street.

[neilgin1]

what came to my heart:

"Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, 'Here I am.'
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.
And the LORD will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail.
And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to dwell in.

Isaiah 58:6-12

[natsb88]

...Now rent where I live is right around $1500, so not cheap, but not crazy high either....

Yeesh. In my neck of the woods, I could buy a decent house on a couple acres with a 15 year mortgage and still pay less than $1500 a month...

[kidman232]

$1500 does not buy much bang for your buck in maryland. Where I live now would go for $700 or so back in the midwest. The county I live in now has one of the best public education school systems, so that drives up the price, plus the whole coast factor

[Treetop]

Id never get a 30 year loan, i hate paying interest... but if I did I could build a modest dream home on 50 acres or more where i live for that kinda cash.... i got my place on a 5 year loan for 385 a month. Its another topic but its nearly paid off and nearly all i put into it is retained. So i can then cash out and move up to a better place, with probably 85 percent of my money or more retained..... (or rent this place which Im debating)

Im also seeing more wandering homeless folks hanging out by our wal mart doing their begging stint.... I always offer them food. you might be surprised that most wont take it.... I never got that. Sealed stuff and all so its not like they are likely to be afraid i did something to it.

[Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay]

Im also seeing more wandering homeless folks hanging out by our wal mart doing their begging stint.... I always offer them food. you might be surprised that most wont take it.... I never got that. Sealed stuff and all so its not like they are likely to be afraid i did something to it.

I have stopped offering all together.

Too many will not "work for food", will not accept food, and just want money to blow on booze and drugs. I even gave rice and beans with a crock-pot to cook it in and the couple said they had to have meat. Then there was the lady who said she could not feed her kids on paper plates with plastic forks and that if I was a real Christian I would give her money so she could take her kids to a nice restaurant.

The topper was the lady who complained about how she has maxed out all the gov. handouts she and her husband get and she can make more money begging than holding down a real job. It's a racket.

[alpacafarmer]

When managing a restaurant in Indy we hired a guy with a will work for food sign that was set up every day at the off ramp. To my surprise he did work well for 3 weeks. Then he came to me with tears in his eyes and said he had to quit. When I asked why he told me that he loved having a job but could not afford to work. When the Gov. found out he was working they told him he had to quit or loose all his support, free housing, free medical, food stamps and to top it off he told me he made more money in 4 hours of begging than he did in 8 hours of work. This is the problem in the USA. I am all for helping someone that needs help but why the Gov. refuses to let people help them selves is just wrong. There is no reason why a person that can but won't work should have a higher standard of living than someone that will work.

[Treetop]

There is no reason why a person that can but won't work should have a higher standard of living than someone that will work.

unless that reason is counter intuitive...

[gilpo]

It's very frustrating knowing that I've been paying my bills and struggling with income but I 'make too much' to get any government assistance of any type when work slows down. Seems like you are punished for doing the right thing. And now the government is getting ready to force BofA to lower the principal on mortgages that are in or about to be in foreclosure. What about the rest of us that lived within our means and bought a sensibly priced house and have made every payment on time and are now struggling because of the economy? Willy Wonka said it best: "You get nothing! You lose!"

Now me and my wife want to have a baby but can't afford insurance. And again we are told we make too much money because they don't take credit card payments and other debt into consideration. We've had to use credit to pay bills the last 2 years and are tapped out. Yet every worthless, no-job out there is poppin' out babies left and right and never pay a dime and actually make money from the government for doing it.

[neilgin1]

i undertand what you guys are saying about some homeless not wanting to work for food and just drug seeking; and i'm not making excuses for anyone. BUT, the common denominator in all of us is pain avoidance, any kind of pain, and people do have different thresholds...and i've been around the homeless, the hobos, the bums, all my life, and what i've noticed is this, that their percieved path in life has become so darkened and obscured to them, they feel they have NO HOPE, and once a person gets to that point, the pain is SO absolute, the only thing a person wants to do, is make the pain STOP...and though it be a wrong path, and a path that leads to death, they seek drugs to make that daily pain stop.

as the LORD leads me, they are not to be scorned, (nor enabled) but to be shown mercy and love...and that might mean getting in the trenches, and being relational with people you have nothing in common with, EXCEPT the fraility of our own flesh. Homeless ministry is not just hit and run dropping off food, or a "tract"...its being a brother, and in that, expect dissapointment and grief, because i have buried many a man, who i embraced as brother, and brought both resource and my ear to listen to. and if it seems i boast in myself and my "goodness", not so, i boast in the LORD,. coz He was the One Who called me to do that.
..and now i'm in a new season, He took me out of that Ministry, yet i call still see all their faces...and in their faces, i see mine, which is why i quoted Isaiah 58...the chapter that rung my bell a few years back.

[Mossy]

1500 per month. "Not crazy high".

(ahem) That's how much I pay per year for moorage, water, garbage, and electricity.

Of course, I technically make less than the poverty line, but still have money to buy PMs. (So long as I cook my own meals instead of eat at McD's.)

Most of the people I see begging are well fed and not in rags. Few look like they slept rough the night before, as people will have to if they are actually in need. No money for them.

[kidman232]

they were gone this morning, only some trash, broken cabinets, and a mattress by the dumpster left

[justj2k78]

Now rent where I live is right around $1500, so not cheap, but not crazy high either.

I have a 3 bedroom, small town, middle-class house, with a decent sized yard. $1500 would pay my mortgage, property taxes, school taxes, water, sewer, electric, garbage, internet, dish-tv, phone, and then I'd probably still have enough left to pick up an ASE!

[Hades12]

When I was in GA, Evicted Stuff was "Free Game" someone sits on top of it or it was all gone in a few hours.

[slickeast]

$1500 pays the mortgage, power, water, cable, internet, cell phone, car insurance, gasoline, and groceries every month.

Small town in S.C. has its benefits.

[barrytrot]

When managing a restaurant in Indy we hired a guy with a will work for food sign that was set up every day at the off ramp. To my surprise he did work well for 3 weeks. Then he came to me with tears in his eyes and said he had to quit. When I asked why he told me that he loved having a job but could not afford to work. When the Gov. found out he was working they told him he had to quit or loose all his support, free housing, free medical, food stamps and to top it off he told me he made more money in 4 hours of begging than he did in 8 hours of work. This is the problem in the USA. I am all for helping someone that needs help but why the Gov. refuses to let people help them selves is just wrong. There is no reason why a person that can but won't work should have a higher standard of living than someone that will work.

This is not the first time I've heard a similar story. All welfare should be focused on betterment of the individual and society.

Clearly if someone is pulling themselves up by their boot straps the government should be happy about that, not punish the individual!

This is why two simple welfare changes would solve 85% of the welfare problem.

1. Every able bodied welfare recipient now works full time for the Government solves 80% of it. If they don't come in to do their job at bettering society (trash detail, etc.) then they don't get a check.

2. Any time a company wants to hire someone on welfare and the person accepts, 70% of the salary up to the amount the government was paying is covered by the government. Why only 70%? Because otherwise people would set up fake companies to allow the LAZY to become LAZY again for a small cut.


The handicap or those wiley enough to fake it correctly don't have to work, but this guy and around 1 million others would have to! Imagine how much less trash you would see if an extra million people were picking it up.

[slickeast]

Barry, I agree. Put them to work doing government jobs. We are paying them already.

[Rosco]

It Seems that keeping my BP high is a Job

[cesariojpn]

Im also seeing more wandering homeless folks hanging out by our wal mart doing their begging stint.... I always offer them food. you might be surprised that most wont take it.... I never got that. Sealed stuff and all so its not like they are likely to be afraid i did something to it.

I have stopped offering all together.

Too many will not "work for food", will not accept food, and just want money to blow on booze and drugs. I even gave rice and beans with a crock-pot to cook it in and the couple said they had to have meat. Then there was the lady who said she could not feed her kids on paper plates with plastic forks and that if I was a real Christian I would give her money so she could take her kids to a nice restaurant.

The topper was the lady who complained about how she has maxed out all the gov. handouts she and her husband get and she can make more money begging than holding down a real job. It's a racket.

I got you beat.

I offered a homeless guy outside of Home Depot one day to something at Burger King after he asked me for a $10 bill. The ungrateful bastard began to accuse me of being a part of a Government Conspiracy to slowly poison the homeless folks with processed crap so that it'll kill off the dregs of society.

I just walked away and went into Borders to pickup Top Gear magazine.

Now me and my wife want to have a baby but can't afford insurance. And again we are told we make too much money because they don't take credit card payments and other debt into consideration. We've had to use credit to pay bills the last 2 years and are tapped out. Yet every worthless, no-job out there is poppin' out babies left and right and never pay a dime and actually make money from the government for doing it.

Or wasting unemployment checks on crap. And then complaining over minor things.

[Delawhere Jack]

More Trouble Everyday.....

[Mossy]

I offered a homeless guy outside of Home Depot one day to something at Burger King after he asked me for a $10 bill. The ungrateful bastard began to accuse me of being a part of a Government Conspiracy to slowly poison the homeless folks with processed crap so that it'll kill off the dregs of society.

Oh, I just bet he only buys organic foods.

Is there an "organic" wine on the market?

[TXTim]

If you're willing to work hard, can pass a drug test and can relocate, get your ass to south or west Texas.
Boom times and big bucks. Billboards everywhere seeking workers in the oil patch.

[justj2k78]

I offered a homeless guy outside of Home Depot one day to something at Burger King after he asked me for a $10 bill. The ungrateful bastard began to accuse me of being a part of a Government Conspiracy to slowly poison the homeless folks with processed crap so that it'll kill off the dregs of society.

Oh, I just bet he only buys organic foods.

Is there an "organic" wine on the market?

Sounds Schizophrenic to me. Likely the reason he's "homeless", too.

[Oakair]

If you're willing to work hard, can pass a drug test and can relocate, get your ass to south or west Texas.
Boom times and big bucks. Billboards everywhere seeking workers in the oil patch.

Any clue you know the pay?

Whats the cost of living over there?

Id jump on a decent paying job like that in a second...I may have to look into it