That is why I do not think Welfare should be given to able bodied people.

I caught a sweet deal on a 15" LED HDTV ($99) that i can take with me to Japan (caught the deal online on Thursday), but i ended up getting sick on Black Friday (almost threw up on the ride to the mall, so we turned around and left). Fortunately my parents always want the same gifts from me every year, so my dad went out for them and i'll just owe him

The only thing that remains is a gift for the roommate...

In my defense, I don't owe a penny to any credit card or loan company or anything.  I payed off everything I owed (except my house and car) a couple of years ago and I live by the philosophy that if I can't buy it with money I've saved, I probably can't afford it.  I only use my Visa debit card (which only uses money from my bank account) for those credit card only situations.  Luckily, after some really smart moves and managing my money, I can actually pay every bill I have with a single paycheck (paide every two weeks) and have the rest of the month to do what I want (savings, video games, hookers, charity, hookers named Charity....).

Buying 1000 dollar on electronics is leeching while on welfare, it doesn't matter if you waited an entire year to spend it.. it's not like doing volunteer work makes it any good... I work, pay taxes so people like you can live, do volunteer work at the disabled place where my mon resides and help some non european childeren intergrate in the dutch society.. but that doesn't make me any more special.. doing volunteer work is something from the heart not an excuse to spend others people hard working tax dollars on games, movies and electronics.. other people ,maybe with children, on welfare could have used that money to survive the month.. I hope you find a job soon and continue to do your volunteer work

Well first off let me clarify I am on disability not welfare. I am also not on disability by choice my psychiatrist ordered it and my doctor and social worker put the paper work through before I even knew what was going on. I was going to get off right after I found out I had been accepted but then I got sick starting with severe Insomnia and then an infection. I lost two jobs due to being sick and my medical bill alone was over 2k a day according to my doctor. I tried working I had a toe infection and was a security guard I worked I was told to stop and I told my doctor I couldn't I needed to keep working. The toe was bleeding every day to the point my shoe began to ooze, eventually I got hospitalized 4 hours a day and was pulled from work because the infection spread to the rest of my foot, I was told it might have to be amputated.

Guess what my dang employer did, he told me after two weeks of hospitalization that I had 12 hours to get back to work. I told him my foot might need to be amputated and I was in hospital and he said that the company had a two week sick policy and that I had gone over my alotted sick time. By the end of the third week I was fired.

Another thing out of people with Aspergers Syndrom the employment rate is 12% of that twelve percent very few live above poverty level. We may be extremely intelligent at times and appear mentally capable. But there are many problems that prevent us from working full time. When I was younger I had a mental break down I worked a full time job and by the end of the year was on anti-depressants and finally when my employer slapped me in the face I went ballistic and quit. When I was younger I dealt with depression so bad I attempted suicide multiple times. Also I suffer from severe anxiety and such.

In the end I work as much as I can, when I am not working I try to contribute as much as I can to society. But I did not choose to have Aspergers and I do my best to contribute just as much as everyone else. As do the friends I have also on disability as well as the disabled people I work with when I volunteer.

I do not see why my quality of life should be so severely low because of something completely out of my control, at least in Canada or North America.

Like I said I only have 500$ dollars spending money each month and after bills its nearly half that. What I chose to eat or do to save money so I can buy a movie or two every month. Or if I chose to save that money for months and buy a shit ton for 1/3rd the price.

It seems a lot of the people on VGChartz who are against social services whether it be welfare or disability all have money. You have jobs and your not incapable of or unable to find work. But if you couldn't find work do you really think your quality of life just be lower then a convicted murderer?

I volunteer in Prison and the prisoners I volunteer with get everything I do and more. I eat once a day sometimes only Mac and Cheese but these guys get three full meals. A gym but my gym pass was to expensive to pay, they get theater night each week where they can watch a theater movie, I pay for mine. They get HD-TV's yes not big screen but they do get I think up to 22 inch's or what ever. They can own music CD's and DVD's. Yes there are jobs in the prison to help them earn but you can also get an allowance.

While I live in a shitty two room apartment I share with my dad, we have a bed bug infestation the management won't deal with. I have water leaking through my roof and I'm on the second floor. It smells like urine and the sinks barely drain but I can't get a plumber in, I tried hiring one myself but management said they need to hire them.

Look those few movies and games I get on Black Friday and Boxing Day, yah I get 1,000$ worth they last me most of the year. They are the one thing that makes life not completely miserable. I honestly don't see how anyone can think poor people in Canada or the US should be forced onto the streets or given a worse life then a convicted murderer.

In fact it costs more then 500$ a month to house an inmate.

Anyways your money is not going to luxurious living if it goes to me at all. A. Your money gives me the bare necessities to live and the few movies and games I buy make life bearable. That's putting it simply B. The money you pay that does help poor people goes straight back into the economy paying for your job and those of everyone else, really how much of that money is actually lost? C.The money that helps out the poor keeps them from resorting to crime, not that I would ever resort to crime but I know many who do. Including people on this site who pirate and have more then enough money to legally acquire the movies and games.

Edit I thought I'd give a link to another discusion that where I talked about welfare and not my actual position in life. Welfare and disability are both necessary to keep society going! If you had worked in law enforcement been involved in politics and or worked at the welfare office and such you'd realize just how important welfare is. And the 500$ or less many on welfare make only 350$ helps keep society going!

Where I live, that was far from the case. I went to the 10PM release (mass chaos btw), and everything that I saw that was on sale had a sticker that said "promo" or was sitting a case that said "sale." I got Batman Arkham City, Deus Ex HR, Prison Break season 1-4, Inception, Supernatural season 5, and Skyward Sword.

Which store?

Man I wanted Prison Break 1-4 but Walmart didn't have all four seasons only one or two and they weren't clearly marked. I did see a copy of Killzone 3 on my way out lying on the ground with a little round sticker think it was blue. But in all honesty I dunno what the heck that sticker meant only that it is likely on sale. Was tempted to grab it and see how expensive it was, but decided I was only going to buy stuff I already intended to buy.

Meaning I wasn't going to buy anything I didn't hold off on buying. Since I don't buy stuff often new I wait for Black Friday and Boxing Day to buy them. Try not to get carried away and buy stuff I didn't already plan to buy at full price and held off.

Oh and one final thing. Every dime I get from Social services was really paid for by me anyways.

When I said I worked you must realize I am only allowed to keep 500$ of what I make when I work.

Since I was 14 I have always had a job for at least part of each year. I haven't had a single year go by completely unemployed. Since I was 18 and put on Disability I haven't been unemployed more then a year and a half combined.

But example when I was working last my first Security Job lasted about a year. During which I made between 1,000-1,200$ a month but 700$ or so the Government seized and it went straight back into social services. During Christmas I made up to 2,200$ a month for at at least two months November and December.

The problem again being I was let go due to my infection and Insomnia. Its the only job I lost other then based on my Autism every other job I have lost due to my Autism. Including a job I lost because my employer (Welfare) found out I had a mental disability, they told me they didn't want me working for them anymore the day they found out I had Aspergers, I was their security. My super visor later explained that it was a conflict of interest for someone with a disability to be in charge of protecting the welfare office. I don't really by this because I wasn't allowed to protect the other Government buildings either. I didn't get written up once and never got in trouble my super visor said it wasn't my fault at all it was a technicality and conflict of interest.

So yah I'd say over the years if you count the three to four years I paid up to and over 700$ a month into the welfare system. i do deserve the help I recieve from them and the money I recieve likely came from the money they seized to begin with, not yours. I'm not going to speak for everyone on welfare but I do not deserve to live worse then a convicted murderer!

Joe, again, it's not wrong to be on social services, good luck with all your problems and troubles, but where you spend the money on.. your smarter then that.. spending 1000 dollar on games, movies etc isn't a smart thing to do, thats like 2 videogames a month, even I don't buy 2 a month. you could have saved it to improve your living with your dad or something like that.. I'll probably (hopelfully) see none of my (tax) money spend into the  system back personally, it's not my money anymore, it's for the people who need it more then someone who spends it on videogames. you shouldn't compare to immates but to that single mother of 3 children who is on welfare. be wise where you spend the money on in the future.. that's all we are saying.

As for Black Friday being a "trick", I had a long explanation planned but it's been a long day. I'll just say that people go shopping the day after Thanksgiving, anyway. The Black Friday sales are just a store's way of getting people to come to their store to spend some of that money. It's the day that they try to get back into the 'black' after being in the 'red' all year long.

Stores give massive discounts on some items, even to the point of taking a loss. They hope that people will be in the buying mood and buy some things that aren't on sale, too. This year, some price cuts were so big that many retailers may still be in bad shape or make minimal profits.

I didn't go this year but last year, every store I went to had everything clearly marked--even going as far as to set the Black Friday items in bins and stacks in the aisles with the price written on them.