Shaking with anger - Kelly Crawford is awful

[rock_girl]

Oh man, I am the first person to make fat jokes, but saying that someone who's overweight and clearly without financial advantages shouldn't eat a good, healthy meal? That's messed up. If you're poor you can't afford to be sick, and a good way to get sick is to live on cheap, salty, processed carbs. That aside, why should someone without money be forced to eat rubbish? It's not right.

Kelly attracts the worst of the worst, doesn't she?

I have to say that I think it's a good thing to pay taxes. When I worked I loved seeing the money deducted from my paycheque each week. Call me weird, but I got a small thrill from being able to contribute something back to society. I think I got it from my mother. She was really happy to have her insurance rebate taken away a few months ago, and argues passionately for dental care being available on the public system. She's also thrilled that she'll continue paying high council rates since it means funding for projects that help the underprivileged in her community. We were both really excited to vote our awesome mayor back in. I wish I knew other people who felt this way :(. Pretty much everyone I know is obsessed with making more money and getting away with paying less in taxes. It drives me batty. We all have to live in a society, so why shouldn't we want to contribute so that it can be as good for the less privileged as it is for those of us who've been lucky?

[DamnPrecious]

I have health insurance and car insurance. After my accident and the insurance companies payed out, we were still left with over 20,000 dollars in bills. If we weren't living with my father we would be fucked, like starving and freezing fucked. I'm still having problems and don't want to go to the doctor because that would be more bills. I don't want pity because it is what it is and we'll figure it. I'm lucky compared to what would have happened had my family not helped.

'Merica fuck ya :roll:

[Irishy]

I don't wish to be dismissive or disrespectful to the USA but when I read things like this I'm just blown away at how hard it must be to be poor in America. The healthcare system (or lack of...) is truly shocking. No child or family cash allowances. Pathetic maternity leave entitlement, and food stamps? Does that mean its for food only? The whole mess just seems to me that there's a very fine line between comfortable life and destitute.

[Zoom]

Fakepigtails, the 30 % taxes are automatically drawn from my salary, so I never really have those money in the first place. I can't really miss something I have never truly had. I'm happy knowing they do not disappear in a black hole somewhere :P but actually goes to the society where it's needed. Whenever I hear that it's going well somewhere, for example if the math results are improving I feel proud: "Hey, I have helped finance that." It feels good knowing that I have been a part of that (a tiny part but that counts for something). So yes, I am a very happy tax-payer.

Me too. But then I live in the same country as Effie ;)

[OkToBeTakei]

I don't wish to be dismissive or disrespectful to the USA but when I read things like this I'm just blown away at how hard it must be to be poor in America. The healthcare system (or lack of...) is truly shocking. No child or family cash allowances. Pathetic maternity leave entitlement, and food stamps? Does that mean its for food only? The whole mess just seems to me that there's a very fine line between comfortable life and destitute.

It is the healthcare that scares me. But that is because living where I do I do not have to worry about it. I really cannot imagine living with the fear that a long term illness could mean penury. Or that you have to make a choice between health and other expenses which some have said here they have done.

The nasty socialist NHS as the fundies like to call it has not contributed greatly to economic hard times in the UK, that began with George Bush and his sub-prime mortgage debacle. There has been changes, problems not all good, but despite that, it is a system that does not care how rich you are. Just how ill you are.

What of the elderly in the USA? I know Irishy the system you have in Ireland far surpasses ours. But what of this group in the USA? Do they receive a state pension? Free healthcare, prescriptions? Do they receive help with fuel bills in the winter?

My parents are affluent, but they still qualify for all this, free podiatry, hearing aids, they were offered 50% rebate to replace their central heating in order to improve efficiency, cost and environmental factors. They have free bus travel. Free rail travel. The list goes on.

I am more than happy to pay my taxes. For many reasons. Yes some abuse the system, but to me looking after the vulnerable members of our society far outweigh the negatives this causes.

[Irishy]

I wonder about this too. The elderly here (over 65) have a state pension approx 230 euro per week, free travel, rail, bus etc, medical cards (ie no medical expenses whatsoever even prescription meds, gp, dentistry, immunisations), fuel allowance to heat their homes, nursing home care (if required) is free. There are private options available obviously and this will get you bumped up a list or a nicer room, but the point is, you don't have to depend on it.

Edited to include pension amount.

[Deleted03]

A key thing to remember about the US is that we *can* afford those things. Socialism is not always an effective plan in countries that don't have enough to go resources around. You end up taking food from one person's mouth to put in someone else's.

In the US, there is a huge and growing underclass of working or want-to-be-working people who have no health care, bad roads, zero police protection, shitty schools, and are struggling just to keep a roof and food. There is an upper class that is growing in wealth but not in numbers, people who are using their fortunes to legally screw more people out of more money. Then there is a middle class sandwiched between, people who aspire to the upper class but could easily end up in the lower classes with a single bad decision or blip in the economy.

The middle class and working class do not exist merely to prop up the ultra-rich. We are people, with needs, and we deserve some of the benefits of the fortunes we are helping to create for the ultra-wealthy.

Venezuela can afford it. But the problem is that the government has been transitioning to a dictatorship, with widespread corruption, and limitations on opposition's voice.

Brazil manages to have free health care for anyone (yes including immigrants! no papers asked), Venezuela with its oil revenues is able to deal with it too. It is simply done in a non-democratic way, and actually not very universal coverage either.

[BoomerLynn]

What of the elderly in the USA? I know Irishy the system you have in Ireland far surpasses ours. But what of this group in the USA? Do they receive a state pension? Free healthcare, prescriptions? Do they receive help with fuel bills in the winter.

My grandmother lives on Medicare and a Social Security check that she recieves each month. The apartment she currently lives in is income-based and that is the only reason she can afford the rent. She is in early stage Alzheimers, which is progressing rapidly. We are currently looking to place her in a nursing home so she can recieve around-the-clock care. The problem here is that all the nursing homes in our area that accept Medicare have waiting lists. My family cannot afford to pay out-of-pocket at all for her placement. My father is in poor health as well and barely able to pay for his prescriptions along with his other bills, as he is retired on disability and his insurance will change next year when he turns 62. I used to work in a pharmacy and many of our elderly patients would spend anywhere from $300 to $500 per month just for the medications they needed to stay alive. I would watch many of them have to choose between their heart medications or their diabetes medications each month. It broke my heart. Our pharmacists would try to help out by advancing them a couple days' worth of one or the other until they could try to borrow some money to pay for it. The way our elderly are treated in this country is appalling.

[Irishy]

My grandmother lives on Medicare and a Social Security check that she recieves each month. The apartment she currently lives in is income-based and that is the only reason she can afford the rent. She is in early stage Alzheimers, which is progressing rapidly. We are currently looking to place her in a nursing home so she can recieve around-the-clock care. The problem here is that all the nursing homes in our area that accept Medicare have waiting lists. My family cannot afford to pay out-of-pocket at all for her placement. My father is in poor health as well and barely able to pay for his prescriptions along with his other bills, as he is retired on disability and his insurance will change next year when he turns 62. I used to work in a pharmacy and many of our elderly patients would spend anywhere from $300 to $500 per month just for the medications they needed to stay alive. I would watch many of them have to choose between their heart medications or their diabetes medications each month. It broke my heart. Our pharmacists would try to help out by advancing them a couple days' worth of one or the other until they could try to borrow some money to pay for it. The way our elderly are treated in this country is appalling.

Well there is no excuse for that. The elderly do not abuse the system. What are they supposed to do? Rely on the church for handouts Kelly? What. Retirement to look forward to...

[lilwriter85]

Whenever I hear fundies suggest that people in need rely on churches, I always roll my eyes for different reasons. Some churches can't afford to be constantly helping out people. There are churches that put a time limit on how much help they give to members depending on their situations. I remember crazy Latisha/Jessica once suggested that women who become widowed not work but seek help from their churches. I don't think churches will support a widow and her kid for several years. Churches do hurt in bad economies and there are churches that still have debts from construction, maintenance, etc.

To BoomerLynn, I really feel for the situation your grandmother and family are in. I know a few families that are in similar situations. My parents are friends with a couple in their 70s and the husband has Alzheimers and they too have him on waiting list for a nursing home.

[Mommy22alyns]

Apparently these fundies seem to not realize that birth control actually improves the quality of life. :roll:

[Effie]

Apparently these fundies seem to not realize that birth control actually improves the quality of life. :roll:

They think birth control kills babies... for real. Their knowledge in biology is... non-existant.

[emmiedahl]

I don't wish to be dismissive or disrespectful to the USA but when I read things like this I'm just blown away at how hard it must be to be poor in America. The healthcare system (or lack of...) is truly shocking. No child or family cash allowances. Pathetic maternity leave entitlement, and food stamps? Does that mean its for food only? The whole mess just seems to me that there's a very fine line between comfortable life and destitute.

Food stamps are for food only.

An important thing to know about the US is that very few people want the poor to be comfortable. I bold this because it is a huge cultural thing that we rarely discuss, but it is pervasive on both sides of the aisle. People who can afford a minimum amount of food are denied food stamps, and the amount of food stamps given to the extremely poor who qualify is enough to keep food on the table and little more. Liberal people support giving poor people healthcare, homes and food, but very few support giving them enough money to budget and procure these things for themselves. If you are uncomfortable, you will do whatever you can to get out of the situation; the US system is designed so that poor people are uncomfortable. People who have no options for getting out of poverty are generally blamed for the bad decisions that led to the situation, so that few people want to make them comfortable.

The result is that a poor person is usually dealing with 15 different agencies. I have to fill out one application every 3-6 months to get food stamps and have follow-up appointments; my children receive Medicaid and that is another set of appointments and paperwork every six months. I am on the waiting list to get energy assistance and have been for a year; I have to renew my application every six months or I lose my place in line. I live in subsidized housing which is around $900 a month for a small apartment and this requires that we be re-approved and have a home inspection every six months (more appointments). I am on the waiting list to get rental assistance from HUD and this requires renewing an application at regular intervals as well. I get WIC and that means a monthly appointment.

There are private charities that give out free (used) clothing and such, and others that give presents to children at Christmas. Others that give the food to prepare a special dinner on Thanksgiving. Most of these receive government money, so it is more taxpayer expenditure. You can meet most of your needs with a combination of charity and government assistance once you are in the system long enough to know where to go and who to ask, and long enough to get through waiting lists that can be even a decade long. However, this would require knowing where they are and what they give, in addition to more paperwork. And then you are a "welfare queen" and everyone hates you because you are not adequately uncomfortable for a poor person. There is no central place that tells you what is available and how to get it. You have to actively seek them, which takes time that a working and/or going-to-school person does not have.

Not only does this require a huge amount of time that could be spent getting out of poverty, but a huge amount of government employees and infrastructure. Certainly much more than it would be to give an adequate amount of cash aid and let the person budget. But very few people trust the poor to budget, and there may be good reasons for that. Most Americans will happily pay twice as much money to let poor people schlep all over town on the bus asking here and there for help, slowly and steadily piecing together a minimal lifestyle. Or just doing without.

This system will not change because the idea that I be able to go in and deal with one agency is preposterous to a lot of Americans. The idea that someone just give me money and allow me to pay bills and make priorities; that is just crazy talk. If you complain about it, you are viewed as ungrateful.

[Funtimental]

"An important thing to know about the US is that very few people want the poor to be comfortable." So true.

Sometimes I think that this is the result of having a country founded by religious zealots and/or people who wanted to get rich quick. It's the worst of all worlds.

[ems]

Maybe I'm nuts, but I'm one USAdian who does not begrudge paying my fair share of taxes. I'm just an office worker, but my income falls in the top 20%. I'm a single empty-nester, with no one to support but myself. Maybe there's something wrong with me that I want to support things that don't benefit me directly at this point in my life (public schools, social welfare safety nets), but I've always believed that people should help one another.

And, putting the social safety net aside, doesn't everyone LIKE having safe roads, water, bridges, and traffic lights? And who wouldn't rather rely on our local departments of public works, police, and fire departments instead of having to wait for BRADRICK! to deign to show up?

I get what the poster was saying in that the "human nature" parts of me don't really enjoy paying taxes. I certainly don't begrudge paying them, though, and am proud that they go to benefit the common good and those in need.

I think this (sign from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's Rally to Restore Sanity) pretty much sums up my feelings:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-100- ... ore-sanity

Scroll down to image 13 because I don't know how to link a pic :(

[valsa]

That's a very well thought out and very accurate view of the relationship Americans have with the poor, Emmiedahl.

But very few people trust the poor to budget, and there may be good reasons for that.

There are indeed, unfortunately, some good reasons for that. Poor people do think and budget in ways that non-poor people don't (which has been scientifically studied), mostly due to the feast-famine cycle that plagues government assistance.

People who are retired or disabled or even who get food stamps typically get one lump sum at the beginning of the month. So come the beginning of the first month on assistance, they're flush with cash/food stamps and spend it like, well, an average American. And that's okay for the first two, maybe even three, weeks. But towards the end of the month they're flat broke and have very little money left to buy groceries with, so they're reduced to basically eating scraps or going without. Then, suddenly, the first of the month rolls around and they have an abundance again. And believe me, that gourmet steak you know is a stupidly expensive purchase looks much, much more tempting after you've been eating ramen three times a day for a week straight. And buying expensive things at the beginning of the month to self-medicate for deprivation at the end of the month, of course, just exacerbates said deprivation.

I think there's also a mind-set that when you're poor that you try to put off what you have to pay for as long as you absolutely can (this is not scientifically studied, this is just what I’ve observed in my job that puts me in contact with a lot of people on retirement or disability), even if it ends up costing you more money in the long run. I’ll sometimes talk with several people a day who complain about getting charged late fees or extra fees on bills that are due at the end of the month (when they don’t get their retirement or disability check until the beginning of the following month) They seem completely shocked when I point out to them that if they get paid on the 1st or 3rd of the month and their bill comes out on, say, the 8th or 9th of the month- they can pay it on the 8th or the 9th and avoid getting a late fee. It seems to, literally, never have occurred to them to pay it right away, long before the due date but when they do have the money, and avoid the extra fees.

[GolightlyGrrl]

What an entitled bitch. As if we didn't already know that from her behavior after the tornado, but that remark takes the cake.

I just out and out loathe this woman.

[Irishy]

That the poor are never comfortable. That is certainly the impression I have always had of the US system. Yet for some, there are few ways out of poverty. Crime is a big one. This must contribute to the enormous prison population. I'm guessing the military is another way out.

I live in a country where there's just one agency for all assistance. There's a community welfare officer for times when you've really run dry. For when you need to attend a funeral/job interview or if youve lost/gained some weightand need a clothing allowance. If you are in receipt of social welfare there's a back to school allowance to help with books/uniforms. EVERY parent (or set of parents) receives child benefit regardless of income. 10k or 500k, no matter. It's 150 euro per child per month paid to your account. Triple for twins. This is designed to protect children and ensure that wherever the is a household with a child in it, this basic amount can always be relied upon. There is no such thing as stamps. You spend your social welfare as you see fit. You may be on a list for a long time for housing but in the meantime there's rent allowance which covers almost all your rent. Once you are housed, it's yours for nominal rent till you die. As long as you behave and don't get booted out for antisocial behaviour etc. if you are a lone parent/widow, you get further assistance. Believe me, often these seemingly generous benefits are not enough but there is always a safety net. There is abuse. Of that there is no doubt. It can become a generational lifestyle choice but really, I believe education is the key to break that cycle. However, that is a small price to pay for the benefit of knowing that should I ever need it, it's there. I can't imagine choosing to become a 'welfare queen' in America. Seems akin to choosing to sleep on a bed of nails. Hardly the easy route.

[Guest Anonymous]

A key thing to remember about the US is that we *can* afford those things. Socialism is not always an effective plan in countries that don't have enough to go resources around. You end up taking food from one person's mouth to put in someone else's.

In the US, there is a huge and growing underclass of working or want-to-be-working people who have no health care, bad roads, zero police protection, shitty schools, and are struggling just to keep a roof and food. There is an upper class that is growing in wealth but not in numbers, people who are using their fortunes to legally screw more people out of more money. Then there is a middle class sandwiched between, people who aspire to the upper class but could easily end up in the lower classes with a single bad decision or blip in the economy.

The middle class and working class do not exist merely to prop up the ultra-rich. We are people, with needs, and we deserve some of the benefits of the fortunes we are helping to create for the ultra-wealthy.

This. And adding even more to the billionaires' stockpile is taking money out of the economy permanently. No one can convince me that someone like Mitt Romney even NEEDS the money he's making every year, yet we've got politicians wanting to eliminate the capital gains taxes he pays. If you keep adding grain to silos and never cycle it, it's going to go bad and then no one will benefit. Only think about that as dollars in his foreign bank accounts.

The working class busts butt so that billionaires can get richer while we struggle to make it to the next paycheck. We struggle with bad roads, schools without enough textbooks, and trying to decide which utility we can go without to pay a doctor. I can't pity those on socialized countries who have good schools and roads, enough emergency personnel that a call to 911 goes to a person instead of immediately being put on hold, and who can see doctors without risking their ability to pay for their homes.

I lost my parents because I had to wait on hold for several minutes until there was a 911 operator available to take my call. There was so much blood, and it was hold music when I called 911. There's a movie, I think Princess Diaries, where a nun calls 911 and said to the other something about being oh hold. It's funny until it happens and by the time help arrives, you get told a few minutes sooner and there as a chance the outcome could have been different, only you were on hold longer than that.

And then the costs of dealing with that, the ambulance bills I got stuck with because insurance doesn't always cover it and I was the one who called and so am considered the authorizing party, funeral stuff that was still a lot even with cremation, it sank me. My husband and I are still struggling to get back on our feet. Only a year ago we got out from under the mountain of debt that didn't even go on our credit as stuff with monthly payments (but not paying would have gone on there), and then got sunk with an ER bill and now the costs associated with an autistic child. Child care for one autistic child so I can get a job would cost more than I'd make.

In a county like Sweden my family would have support, but instead I spend a lot of mights crying because I don't know what we're going to do a lot of day, and now I don't know what to do about Christmas because we can't afford a tree, and I have to try to make myself feel better by remembering that there are millions of people in this country worse off, and then that makes me sad and angry because our life is hard enough that I feel bad for those worse off, and then I get very angry at the millionaires and richer wanting to cut what services the poor can get that is rarely enough so they can pay less taxes.

People in countries with good schools, health care, paid maternity leave, mandated paid employee vacations, medical care, and a system that is just plain more solvent than the US who want to complain about it really make me furious! Come live in my shoes for 3 days, just 72 hours, and then tell me having support is such a bad thing.

I'm really in a bad mood because I just found out that it's been decided that we make too much for financial help for some testing our autistic one needs. Our government has such low limits and really thinks $8 an hour is a living wage when their rich buddies bleed people for rents. We don't have the $500 for the testing, and the school won't pay for it. Because of her age, without the testing which is stuff to back up that her autism isn't caused by any medical disorder instead, she'll still get some services geared toward general developmental delays, but not the specialized help she needs. It would sure be nice to understand what our pre-schooler is trying to tell us. But because we don't have so much socialism, she gets to languish until we can figure out how to carve $500 out of the budget that's already right enough we can't do a single thing for our kids for Christmas.

Welcome to America. Quit complaining about how socialism and health care for all is a bad thing. Look what life is like without socialized health care.

[Guest Anonymous]

My Argentinian friend was floored to see the health state of people around here in the NorthEast. he said that he never seen that in Argentina. No the US did not do it well. Just look at the numbers and the expense of health care is much higher with such a small return in the US.

That's what happens when someone with a mild condition has to wait until it's an emergency to go to the emergency room where payment up front isn't required and insurance is all in the hands of for-profit companies and many hospitals are for-profit.

[Guest Anonymous]

I have health insurance and car insurance. After my accident and the insurance companies payed out, we were still left with over 20,000 dollars in bills. If we weren't living with my father we would be fucked, like starving and freezing fucked. I'm still having problems and don't want to go to the doctor because that would be more bills. I don't want pity because it is what it is and we'll figure it. I'm lucky compared to what would have happened had my family not helped.

'Merica fuck ya :roll:

I hear ya. I wouldn't be so angry about my own situation if there weren't kids suffering with us. I could go camping for the rest of my life and be happy, but the kids need stability, and we're never more than a few dollars away from not being able to provide that. I'm so ashamed of our home that we've never had company. It's sucking for the kids. And it's all because of death and medical bills that a socialized health system would help with.

[Guest Anonymous]

I don't wish to be dismissive or disrespectful to the USA but when I read things like this I'm just blown away at how hard it must be to be poor in America. The healthcare system (or lack of...) is truly shocking. No child or family cash allowances. Pathetic maternity leave entitlement, and food stamps? Does that mean its for food only? The whole mess just seems to me that there's a very fine line between comfortable life and destitute.

It's not dismissive or disrespectful. You hear all the time about this country being the richest in the world, but that's as a whole. The top 1% in America have most of the money in this country. Up that to the top 20%, and there's really not much left. That leaves 80% of the people to fight over the remaining 7% that we're estimated to have among us, and what's even more troublesome is that every day some of that 7% is ending up in the pockets if the top 20% with most concentrating to the top 1%. Buy a pair of shoes, and the already-rich store-owner will be making a personal profit, meaning more money for the rich, less to circulate among the 80%.

Since 1979, the average income for those of us in the 99% group have seen our income decrease by nearly $1,000 a year and the 1% have had an increase of several hundred times more than the average family income has shrunk. For a period of 15 years starting in 1992, the 400 top had their already vast wealth increase by almost 400%, while their taxes went DOWN. For the rest of us, our income shrank and we paid a higher percent in taxes.

Since the recession started in 2007, the median household income among the 99% dropped by over 36% (and you can bet rents didn't go down - they went up as former homeowners became renters!!). The top 1% dropped about 10%, but I'm not going to pity someone making $15mil a year suddenly making only $13.5 mil.

So while we are the richest country overall, that's like saying France when Marie Antoinette was queen was a rich country based on the assets of the rich. We peasants aren't worthy of good food, medical care, good schools for our kids where there are enough text books for kids to get to take them home and study with them (that's right, a lot of schools don't have enough for kids to use at home even overnight), or anything else, even though it's because of our labor that the rich are as rich as they are.

And also the ~$43k per capita that's used for while we're the richest is flawed too. If you have 10 people, and 1 has a $1,000,000 and the other 9 have nothing the per capita is $100,000. But those 9 don't benefit from this and are still hungry, even though the per capita says they're rich.

[Guest Anonymous]

Well there is no excuse for that. The elderly do not abuse the system. What are they supposed to do? Rely on the church for handouts Kelly? What. Retirement to look forward to...

Die. They are supposed to hurry up and die since they are no longer useful. They did their part paying into the system for decades. They are supposed to just hurry up and die. It's sarcastically referred to as American population control.

[BlueChair]

This. And adding even more to the billionaires' stockpile is taking money out of the economy permanently. No one can convince me that someone like Mitt Romney even NEEDS the money he's making every year, yet we've got politicians wanting to eliminate the capital gains taxes he pays. If you keep adding grain to silos and never cycle it, it's going to go bad and then no one will benefit. Only think about that as dollars in his foreign bank accounts.

The working class busts butt so that billionaires can get richer while we struggle to make it to the next paycheck. We struggle with bad roads, schools without enough textbooks, and trying to decide which utility we can go without to pay a doctor. I can't pity those on socialized countries who have good schools and roads, enough emergency personnel that a call to 911 goes to a person instead of immediately being put on hold, and who can see doctors without risking their ability to pay for their homes.

I lost my parents because I had to wait on hold for several minutes until there was a 911 operator available to take my call. There was so much blood, and it was hold music when I called 911. There's a movie, I think Princess Diaries, where a nun calls 911 and said to the other something about being oh hold. It's funny until it happens and by the time help arrives, you get told a few minutes sooner and there as a chance the outcome could have been different, only you were on hold longer than that.

And then the costs of dealing with that, the ambulance bills I got stuck with because insurance doesn't always cover it and I was the one who called and so am considered the authorizing party, funeral stuff that was still a lot even with cremation, it sank me. My husband and I are still struggling to get back on our feet. Only a year ago we got out from under the mountain of debt that didn't even go on our credit as stuff with monthly payments (but not paying would have gone on there), and then got sunk with an ER bill and now the costs associated with an autistic child. Child care for one autistic child so I can get a job would cost more than I'd make.

In a county like Sweden my family would have support, but instead I spend a lot of mights crying because I don't know what we're going to do a lot of day, and now I don't know what to do about Christmas because we can't afford a tree, and I have to try to make myself feel better by remembering that there are millions of people in this country worse off, and then that makes me sad and angry because our life is hard enough that I feel bad for those worse off, and then I get very angry at the millionaires and richer wanting to cut what services the poor can get that is rarely enough so they can pay less taxes.

People in countries with good schools, health care, paid maternity leave, mandated paid employee vacations, medical care, and a system that is just plain more solvent than the US who want to complain about it really make me furious! Come live in my shoes for 3 days, just 72 hours, and then tell me having support is such a bad thing.

I'm really in a bad mood because I just found out that it's been decided that we make too much for financial help for some testing our autistic one needs. Our government has such low limits and really thinks $8 an hour is a living wage when their rich buddies bleed people for rents. We don't have the $500 for the testing, and the school won't pay for it. Because of her age, without the testing which is stuff to back up that her autism isn't caused by any medical disorder instead, she'll still get some services geared toward general developmental delays, but not the specialized help she needs. It would sure be nice to understand what our pre-schooler is trying to tell us. But because we don't have so much socialism, she gets to languish until we can figure out how to carve $500 out of the budget that's already right enough we can't do a single thing for our kids for Christmas.

Welcome to America. Quit complaining about how socialism and health care for all is a bad thing. Look what life is like without socialized health care.

Hugs to you. It's completely mentally and emotionally exhausting to be continually caught between a rock and a hard place with no viable way out.

[Irishy]

LisaM, all I can offer is good thoughts to you. I'm so sorry for the trauma you've endured and the shitty predicament you find yourself in. I don't know what I can say that will not sound trite and useless. Just... I'm thinking of you. I cannot BELIEVE you were billed for paramedics. That is beyond fucked up.