In the national debate about cutting out “entitlements” to trim the deficit, over and over I keep that “welfare bums” are the ones bleeding the country dry. Well I decided to ask a “Welfare Bum” who has drawn unemployment and food stamps how much he really makes. The following is an interview with Michael Baranick, a college student who worked his way through school working as a retail manager before having to draw unemployment.
1. Thanks for coming Michael. The first thing I think we have to bring up and the real reason we’re all here is the Cam Newton scandal–no I’m kidding—but if I mention him more people will read this.
Michael: It’s good to be here. I am here to confess I paid him the $200,000 to come to Auburn.
2. We’re going to be discussing economic issues, but I have to ask first: What do you make of our generation in general, in terms of where we’re headed? This is probably the least politically active generation in decades and much less than the 60’s or 70’s. Does it frustrate you that more people our age aren’t taking an interest in larger issues than “new” facebook? It seems like the only way to get a protest going is when Mark Zuckerberg changes the page design
Michael: Yeah it is somewhat frustrating. It’s sad when you just see younger people just going along with their parent’s beliefs or just with the norm rather than becoming actively involved in the political process and learning the issues and how a certain issue will affect them. One example is the health care bill. It helped a lot of people our age but they were all up in arms about it because the older generation was opposed to it.
3. Speaking of “Obamacare” we have seen the Alabama State Legislature say they’re going to overturn it in this state and so many people here voting Republican in 2010 because of it. Do you think they even know what is in the bill? I love it because it allows me to get back on my parent’s insurance when I wasn’t insured at all before. The same is true for a lot of young people who actively hate the bill even though it benefits them.
Michael: I know most of them haven’t read it. I mean the biggest argument most people had was it was rushed through congress without it being read, but I bet most of the ones arguing for its’ appeal, haven’t read it yet. If they did, they would see that it is a very good bill, with a few flaws that have been admitted by President Obama and will be worked out. But overall, there’s no way anyone can honestly believe we won’t be better off in 10 years under it, compared to the old healthcare laws.
4. They say they disagree with the tactics used by the Democrats in passing it which is bullshit. Every major bill goes through a similar process and this was no sneakier. I’ve heard from several hardline conservatives that the bill is fascistic or socialism in some way, but if something is really big brother or the federal government over stepping its bounds wouldn’t it be the creation of Homeland Security and domestic spying?
Michael: Absolutely, I mean look at the PATRIOT act that was passed after 9/11. The federal government could tap your phone calls, emails, chat messages, and anything else they wanted to. They could enter your home without a search warrant and search through whatever they wanted and you couldn’t say a word about it or you could be arrested. If that’s not socialistic then tell me what is?
5. If a white President from “Texas” (really Connecticut) whose dad was the director of the CIA before he was President starts a false war, creates Homeland Security, does domestic spying, and tortures people somehow it’s all for safety. When a black President tries to get people a better rate on healthcare, he’s a socialist dictator [laughter]. If it was a Republican’s bill (and I’m asking you to entertain the wildest of hypotheticals) do you think Alabama would be friendlier to it?
Michael: Yes, if you look at the average family in Alabama and compare how they will benefit from it with how it would be before, it’s a no brainer. Then given the fact that Alabama is such a conservative state, if it were passed by a Republican, they would look at all the positives and think it was the one of the greatest bills ever.
6. I’ve heard people complain about the most nitpicky things in the bill, but I asked this guy the other day if he liked that his daughter–who’s taking forever to find a job post college–could get back on his insurance. He said “Now I do like that part of it.” Then I asked if he liked that he couldn’t be denied coverage anymore even though he’s a smoker who’s already had a heart attack and he said “Well now I really like that part too.” Basically, he liked the bill but hated it because it was Obama’s. He never came out and said it but Obama’s race was clearly on the tip of his tongue the whole time. Isn’t part of the healthcare debate a reaction to people in the South just really loathing the idea of taking orders from a black guy?
Michael: I think so. I mean i hesitate to bring up race because any Republican will turn around and say that’s all Democrats harp on when it comes to President Obama. But it’s clear that some people can’t get over the fact that a black male is the most powerful man in the world. We’re just 50 or so years removed from the civil rights movements and all the bombings and shootings in this state and others around us. It’s clear that there are still some segregation issues in the state, whether people want to admit it or not and I think having a black president just makes those issues more evident.
7. I don’t think it’s as pronounced as some people outside the South might think–where their only exposure is In the Heat of the Night episodes or Mississippi Burning–but it is there in a hundred subtle ways. Obama saying “You need to buy health insurance so the whole cost of the system goes down” bristles some white people who have never been in that position before. Until now, it has always been them going into black neighborhoods and telling them where to live, how much to pay rent, where to send their kids to school, what their lives were going to be like really. It’s the first time ever the shoe is on the other foot and it’s driving them nuts.
Michael: Absolutely.
8. So when you were unemployed, how much money did unemployment pay per week?
Michael: It was $250 a week and that was the maximum amount you can draw.
9. When you were the manager at a retail store how much was your weekly check, approximately?
Michael: We got paid bi-weekly and my check was around $900-950. We also had monthly bonuses which were available for sales goals and contests and such. I hit my goals every month as a manager so I earned about $500 more a month for those.
10. So unemployment didn’t cover even half of the checks you were making before, and if you had made twice that sum the rate still would have stayed 250 dollars a week?
Michael: Yes. Any salary over $30,000 would draw $250 a week for a single individual. I believe an extra $50 or so per dependent is awarded if you have children but I’m not positive on that since I don’t have children. However, with the minimum wage change twice since I last drew unemployment I believe the amount went up some, but again I’m not positive on that either. I just know the information from when I was drawing.
11. 12,000 dollars a year is hard to live on if you’re a young guy but it would be impossible if you had a family which brings us to your mom. How much money does food stamps pay you every month?
Michael: We get $82 a month.
12. Carved up per week that’s twenty dollars and fifty cents a week. I bet you get damn tired of Ramon Noodles [laughter]
Michael: Absolutely. I mean it really is a joke to think that $82 could feed a family of 3 for an entire month. I mean I recently decided to go buy some items to make sandwiches. By the time I had got the meat, cheese, bread, and waters, I had spent $30.
13. People always make it sound like “Welfare bums” are the ones sponging off the country and creating this massive deficit. But twenty dollars and fifty cents per week split three ways is 6 dollars and 83 cents, which is 98 cents a day per person for food. That sounds like one of those third world charity commercials. “For only 97 cents a day you can feed an Alabama resident.”
Michael: It’s not even enough to buy a dollar hamburger from McDonalds. Food stamps of course can’t be used at fast food restaurants, but still. Saying “welfare bums” are creating the deficit is an absolute joke. They should take a look at some of the defense contracts and the cost of the war. Welfare programs don’t even make up 1% of the budget.
14. It’s 82 dollars a month to feed your family living below poverty line and it might take a defense contractor twenty seconds to overbill the government that amount of money for a fighter plane that doesn’t even work
Michael: Exactly. Obviously someone in that other party needs to re-calculate some figures.
15. You mentioned McDonalds, which is the other side of this. Fast food is just much cheaper than fresh food at the grocery store so a lot of poorer people buy less healthy foods because healthy grocery stores like Whole Foods are nicknamed Whole Paycheck. Obesity is increasingly a lower class problem because of the higher cost of healthy food. But of course bad food is also partially subsidized by the government because of corn subsidies and corporate welfare that takes care of food conglomerates. Does it make you angry they give corporations hand outs to make you fat but think they should draw the line with giving it directly to you?
Michael: Yes of course. I mean I would love to eat healthier foods but when you go to buy them in a grocery store, they are 3 times what you can get something like a frozen pizza for. And of course when you spend that $82 in food stamps, food has to be paid for out of your pocket so it’s going to be easier to go buy a dollar hamburger than buy a pound of hamburger meat for $7.
16. Internationally, China and Brazil have been success stories in the last decade. Conservative economists credit this solely to China exporting cheap crap to Wal-Marts in the USA and Brazil exporting their natural resources to China. That’s part of it but a lesser known (but much more important) factor is that China and Brazil have started giving checks to their lower class citizens. This has made rural China more modern and lifted the slums of Brazil into middle class territory raising the entire countries up. This policy is technically “giving handouts” but it worked.
Michael: Yeah exactly, I recently read an article about US companies that have begun selling in China and they have seen higher sales in China than they did in the US. GM is one of those companies and they said that the middle class is what’s driving their sales in China and that could be a direct result of what you were saying. It’s also proof that the middle and lower class is what is going to drive a country and not the most wealthy higher class people.
17. Right, I think Egypt is proof positive having a huge income divide is disastrous long term. I know you’re a Christian pretty active in a church. Why do you think Jesus’s core message of anti-greed and giving to the poor has been air brushed out of the new right wing agenda? They seem preoccupied with denying people the right to marry, but the new right wing tea party movement cringes at the idea of higher taxes going to help the poor
Michael: If you were to look at the Bible and the beliefs of Christianity, it doesn’t exactly line up with some of the Conservative’s beliefs. There was a rich man in the Bible that wanted to become a follower of Jesus and wanted to know what to do. Jesus told him to sell everything that he owned and give the money to the poor. That should tell you who Jesus targeted. He also dealt with prostitutes, murderers, and pretty much everyone that wasn’t the rich and wealthy. It’s funny that the Conservatives tend to overlook that part and just focus in on parts that benefit them the most.
18. The profit motive isn’t in the Ten Commandments [laughter]. Final question, in our county in the 2010 midterm election 24 out of a possible 25 races went Republican. We had people that never, ever would have won under any other circumstance. The whole blog is about being blue in a red state but blue states aren’t as blue as we are red evidenced by The Governator in California, Guiliani as mayor of New York City, Mitt Romney coming from Massachusetts, and Ted Kennedy’s senate seat falling into the clutches of a Republican. Is the level of red in Alabama at toxic levels? And am I the only one to be concerned for a democracy when so many people just vote a straight ballot and even stuff like county races–where the party doesn’t matter much but you have to declare anyway–are unwinnable for Democrats?
Well first of all you are not the only one concerned about that because I’m right there beside you. It’s ironic that you asked that question because I was reading a thread on a website that asked which was worse: a conservative living in a liberal state or a liberal in a conservative state. The overall consensus was being a liberal in a conservative state was a lot worse. One person said that it was like being stuck in a straight jacket and not being able to do anything. I completely agree with that. Seeing some of the things that happen around here is absolutely crazy. It’s like people are content staying in the 80’s or 90’s and don’t want anything to change. There a ton of possibilities that could be tapped that could make this area boom but that’ll never happen as long as people here are so blinded by the ridiculous message the Republican Party is feeding them.
Interesting read
Well I thought this was an outstanding interview and completely agree with you guys! Keep up the good work! I wouldn’t mind seeing more from Michael.
WELL ILL TELL YOU WHJAT HIS DAMN PROBLEM IS. THIS MAN IS JUST OUT THERE ON WELFARE TAKING UP ALL THESE HANDOUTS WHILE SOME OF USS HAVE TO GO OUT AND WORK FOR A LIVING. THEY WONT LET ME SIGN UP FOR NO CRAZY CHECK BUT I SEE IT ALL THE TIME WHEN PEOPLE JUST LAY AT HOME ALL DAY AND EAT1. BUBBA WDE
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