Comments on: Assembly speaker proposes extension of child care subsidy

By: Irene

Irene — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 03:07:18 +0000

To Gabriela: I agree 100% with you Gabriela. The legislators originally DID NOT cut subsidized child care to those on welfare and attending school. BUT they did cut subsidized child care to the very low-income working mothers. My daughter was one of them. She works full-time for the government, attending college full time taking college classes on-line as well as in the evening towards her B.A. She also volunteers in the local Senior Citizen Centers as well as providing counseling services to the juveniles who are participating in the government’s victim-witness program. She also has 4 young children and is a widow. She does NOT get FREE child care. She has to pay $600 per month and the gov’t subsidizes the rest. She wasn’t planning on staying on subsidized child care until the children reach the age of 18. Her goal is to be promoted by the government to a higer paying position where she can afford to pay for her entire costs of child care. She is working very hard at finishing her B.A. while working full-time as well as volunteering. She’s carrying 18 units. I am extremely proud of my ambitious and hard-working daughter. She loved her young husband very much and he was killed by a selfish, murdering drunk driver who will never have to serve a day in jail. She’s still grieving for her husband and father of her 4 children and still continues with working, school and volunteer work while also caring for her 4 children. I’m not worried about her anymore. She’s going to succeed at meeting all of her goals. I was ONLY saying why couldn’t the budget continue providing help to the WORKING MOTHERS with subsidized child care? Why keep the subsidized child care for those mothers on welfare and are NOT WORKING? Most of them don’t attend school so why do they need free child care? A lot of them say they’re going to school but are not. How do I know this? I too worked for the government and have seen the facts on this. I tell you. The more I hear about cuts throughout everywhere in government paid services and education, the more I want to get up on top of my house rooftop and shout out “LET’S JUST IMPOSE A NEW TAX AND GET THIS COUNTRY BACK ON TRACK?????!!!!!!!!” Why don’t we?!!

By: Nextset

Nextset — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 17:22:24 +0000

Well the CA votes are in. The state budget can now be passed by a simple majority (ie: democratic party writes the budget all by themselves).

However taxes AND fees cannot be raised without a supermajority. So Jerry Brown can either sell the Bay Bridge or will be forced to impose historic cuts to state spending. Draconian cuts are coming. Hello Greece…

By this time next year these child care cuts will be the Good Times. Just like my (democratic party) politician friend warned me. THESE are the good times.

Cuts in higher ed, cuts in civil service pay and pensions, cuts in public school districts, cuts in public health, cuts in road maintenance, cuts in law enforcement, fire, public safety/public health, cuts in the parks – historic & draconian cuts. And JERRY BROWN will administer them. Which is actually kind of appropriate. I like Jerry – he’d be great to party with. I actually trust him to cut – no-one known what Meg would have done to us (any particular constituency).

The rich will get richer and the poor will get children (and diseases/disorders).

Brave New World.

By: gabriela

gabriela — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 16:43:18 +0000

people who dont work and leaching off from welfare dont deserve to keep the child care, im working i dont have any welfare not even free healthcare,arlold is just rewarding people on welfare,

By: Irene

Irene — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 20:03:45 +0000

You are the ignorant one for calling me a socialist, capitalist. You sound like one of the soviet followers who refuses to help those in need of help in this country. My daughter is a community volunteer who has helped the senior citizens of our community as well as the juvenile delinquents in guiding them to make better choices in life. She doesn’t charge for her assistance. Yes, my daughter has applied for Social Security for the children. But she still has to pay for rent, food, clothing, PG&E, water, garbage pick up, gasoline, telephone, etc. She will try to live on what she gets from Social Security for the children but that will hardly pay for everything so that she can pay for child care and continue to work. No, this isn’t anyone else’s problem but my daughter’s and mine. Which is why I am helping her. I wouldn’t turn my back on my children. She refuses to apply for welfare and will not. I will have them move in with me so they will have a warm bed to sleep in and food on the table. They will get by with help from Social Security and me. She did not plan on becoming such a young widow and will make ends meet somehow. I just do not see why the State Budget could not extend subsidized child care and cut out less needed services. We all pay our taxes and have earned our rights to freedom of speech and I am just exercising my rights with the comments I have made. Thank God my daughter and grandchildren have me to count on. I won’t turn my back on them and they do not expect help from the Welfare Dept. which my daughter sees as a hand out. She would rather work and earn a living and I will see to it that she gets that chance. I can see those who do not have children in need. They are quick to judge and persecute the needy of this country. Why don’t you put yourself in her shoes. Then, and only then, will you see how hard life can be.

By: Gordon Danning

Gordon Danning — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 07:03:59 +0000

My understanding is that the majority of those on welfare in Calif. are children, and that Calif’s welfare numbers are high because it is one of only a few states which provides welfare to children, even when their parents are no longer eligible.

By: Sara

Sara — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 06:16:01 +0000

Irene, your daughter’s children get monthly social security payments until they are 18. Your daughter gets them as long as she is making less than 14,500 and if over that, it is prorated. So I don’t see how she can be so penniless. The childrens’ social security should be enough to pay for daycare until they can go to school.

By: JR

JR — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 05:38:03 +0000

Nextset,
Don’t dictate to someone who runs a business, pays taxes and does something useful for the community on top of that. There is nothing wrong with giving a hand up, not a hand-out. Do me a favor, go to your bank, withdraw some, and count it over and over until you can smile. I answer to a higher authority, and its not some man made government or ideal. Keep your socialist, capitalist, humanist ideas to yourself, they all have one thing in common they control the ignorant sheep.

By: Nextset

Nextset — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 01:36:06 +0000

Irene: I read your post. What I fail to see is how you can believe the taxpayers have any obligation to provide for your grandchildren because their parents failed and neglected to buy life insurance for the breadwinner. And where is the social security income for the grandchildren from their dead father anyway? Social Security is a Federal Welfare program passed without constitutional authority that should have provides income that would have prevented your daughter from being “penniless”. Please explain your daughter’s complete lack of income to us.

JR: “needy and deserve halp” does not equal the moral authority to write checks on the treasury that all others have to pay for. You don’t get to take from others because you “need and deserve” it. That kind of thinking is Socialism or worse. If you want to live in a socialist state, and many do, good luck. No such state survives long. The USA is 200+ years old and it would have been nice if it survived another 200 years. Socialism means poverty and decay ala Soviet Union and all the similar experiments.

By: JR

JR — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 23:24:19 +0000

Irene,
As I have already said, those that are truly needy and deserve help should get it, but if California has one third of the total welfare recipients in the whole country then there is something wrong. This system is rife with waste,fraud and abuse that needs to be cleaned up. The numbers have shown that when people get too deeply dependent on the system, the odds are that most people will never regain their independence from the system. We have 2nd,3rd generational poverty pimping going on and it is not good for the country, as we are witnessing. I hope your daughter can regain happiness once more.

By: Irene

Irene — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 20:37:41 +0000

I don’t believe my perspective is biased nor warped. My daughter was married with a 2 income family. They had enough money to pay their bills and live comfortably. Then her husband was hit by a drunk driver and killed, leaving her and their children without a husband and loving father. The drunk driver got away with just a slap on the hand. They were young and did not think to buy life insurance so my daughter and grandchildren with left penniless. My daughter has been struggling to support her and her children with my help. She qualified for 4C’s and received subsidized child care and then it was cut out of the budget. Now she is forced to quit her job and stay home to care for her children as she does not earn enough money to pay $1,700 a month child care as well as rent, food, etc., etc. This is not her fault. She did not plan on being a young widow left to support her family with just her paycheck. She has never been on welfare and does not want to apply for welfare. So she will stay home collecting nothing from the government while I support her and my grandchildren on my limited income. She has applied for a training position and she will learn to become a life insurance salesperson. But who will care for the children so she can work? You don’t sound like you have children nor any financial problems. I hope you never find yourself in the position my daughter is presently in. It’s no fun when you go to school, get an education so you can support yourself and your family and then one day you wake up, and it’s all been taken away from you. My daughter is blessed with her beautiful children which she will not be able to provide anything extra. What she can provide to them is her undying and unconditional love which she has plenty of. Now you think about that.