Entitlement Experiments...CDN 70's study

Well....I can't say I posted this expecting a "civilized" conversation...
In fact, my preference is just as it is....politically incorrect.
Frankly I expected moar
"RARRR!!! HANDOUTS! MY MONEY! SCUM OF SOCIETY! BURN ALL WELLFARE FOLKS!!!"
But clearly nobody read the article and a few folks here think that living on fixed income is some big lavish party. The people in this study were given a little over 1/2 of what was considered "living in poverty". Enough to pay rent and buy basic groceries. I highly doubt any were driving new 4x4s, fishing and target shooting all day drinking beer and eating steak every night. If you actually read the article it clearly states that the majority of people who stopped seeking work were mothers wanting to raise their kids and students still in school.

THAT is why I found it interesting in the first place.

If it's even possible to get back on topic....

 

Best quote in the whole thread.
Real men are driven to be productive.
It is in their nature.
It is in their spirit.
It is their purpose.

When reading that article I can't help but wonder how different everyone would be if they simply did not have to worry about a roof over their head and food in their fridge.

I know some people would rise up and garden like crazy....
I know some people would hunt, fish, hike, study, write and most importantly THINK FOR THEMSELVES.

I know this for a FACT because it's what I did when I was off work this part summer.
The first week I did very little (partially due to meds) but got bored pretty quick....
Doctors orders where to get as much exercise as possible so I shoveled out a bigger garden than usual, fished more in 3 months than I have in 8 years prior, tore down a barn that should have been done years ago, studied stuff I had on the backburner and a multitude of other little things
It helped me heal while at the same time keeping my mind off the medical issue that put me in the situation in the first place. I learned a ton of stuff aboot gardening that I never knew before, got 60 liters of home brew wine on the go, gave away tons of kale, tomatoes, peppers etc when I went back to work and generally am very glad I had corporate insurance that paid %70 of my wages during the down time. Granted, I paid into that insurance for 8 years so I don't feel it was a "hand out" and had no government involvement whatsoever. It certainly wasn't a "vacation". The meds were awful, therapy sucked, doctors visits twice a week, blood tests, dental surgery and so forth....

Truth be told....I could have stayed off work and collected that insurance for the next 28 years and then retired. (with 3% adjusted for inflation raise every year)

Why didn't I? I was ENTITLED to....

 

Yup! The first month waiting for surgery for my leg I was none weight bearing as well as a month after surgery. Another month of partial weight bearing gradully increasing.. I was damn glade to be up and going. The only down side is I am not allowed to stay in the mountains this winter. Doc did say I couldn't hunt, But that I will ignore... Going up sunday and have a young fellow to fetch the dead kritter..

I had read the article, and I had lived on very moddest income. I fully understand living in a house that had a snow drift stretched across the floor from the cracks in the walls. I have eaten my share of rice and beans with a small piece of meat for flavoring. I hung around and picked at a man until he hired me just to get some work.

It was a good article and I for one am greatly apriciative that you took the time to post it.. I had the sense most comments where a reflection of personal expiriance.

 

Well, I may have got things rolling with my first post. I was flippant.

 

They blew the budget they had set for it and it clearly wasn't going to ever roll out nationally in Canada....
Still...I can't help but think that with all the technology and know-how we have today that we as a society should be working LESS to maintain the basics like roof and food. I'm really not into gearing the world for entitlement living....but 9-5 for life so you can have a small house paid off when you retire isn't exactly "freedom" either.

 

What would you do when the freezer was full?
Keep fishing and start filling a family or friends freezer?
Start teaching the neighbors kids to fish?
Still productive....and much happier?

 

Buy another freezer.

 

I wised up. Was living a little better than hand to mouth and decided that I needed to get to school and do something more. That associates degree has served me well.. I work two sixteen hour shifts and a eight hour every week and it does give me pleanty of time off to get a broken leg in..

 

This is American greed at its finest.

 

You think so? then why bother being a prepper at all?

 

Sounds like self sufficensy and good prepping ..

 

STILL...productive....expanding your knowledge and skills.
I spend a few years in a town of 600 people...there was NO WORK.
Nothing.
It really shouldn't be that way....small tribes should be able to THRIVE much easier today than in the days of the founders of their town....just from knowledge and technology alone.
Saddly...this is not the case because of the profit motive greed we have today.
Nobody would say that a land grant in the early days of Canada/USA was an ENTITLEMENT HANDOUT!
It was a CHANCE to make your own way and not depend on government.

 

Balance.
When you have surplus, barter, trade or if you have true abundance...share freely.
Food rotting on the shelves in America because nobody could afford it while people starve elsewhere is.....well.....
GREED.

*edit*
We're no better in Canada.

 

You are right, it was something you had to work for. It had to be brought up to a certain standard, or you would lose it. You had to "prove" your claim. As for not depending on Government, Government was using YOU to push back the edge of the wilds. Many Government projects were advanced by Homesteading.

 

Poking? No, stating a fact. If I gathered more frozen food than I could store properly, it is time for more freezer space. Grinder calls that greed. I call it self sufficiency.