I think guilt tripping is part of it in the US. Here (Europe) we just apply for the stuff that were eligible for.

The programs are there for a reason. Don’t listen to idiots with an IQ lower than the number of M&Ms that come in a Halloween serving.

Do you feel guilty when you are paid for your work?

No. You are an employee and you work and you are entitled to payment for your work.

Same goes for government assistance. You are a citizen and you are entitled to that assistance. It’s literally no different. Our democracy set that assistance aside for you. It’s yours, and until Congress changes the rules, you are entitled to it.

Don’t ever feel guilty for doing exactly what every last plutocrat and “entrepreneur” would do in your place.

(Do feel outraged that the richest country on earth still demands we work or beg if we don’t want to starve to death.)

I never did - I have two hands and a brain to support myself, usually.

That being said, if I was unable to work for whatever reason, I would apply and I wouldn’t feel guilty for it.

At the end of the day I paid taxes for number of years to contribute.

Trust me, in 6 months your tune will change when they make you submit that form again to prove that you’re still broke. It’s such a tedious process that often gets fucked up by the office after you turn it in, you’ll feel like you deserve even MORE than they’ll give you.

That’s a common feeling. Frequently people are too proud to ask for help when needed. That’s one more way UBI is superior to qualified welfare programs.

You paid your tax benefits before and you’ll pay them for the rest of your life. Get what you paid for.

As long as you are trying your best, don’t feel bad about using them. Just make sure you are doing your best to improve yourself and your income; assistance programs are not meant to be permanent, they are there to help you get on your feet when you fall down.

I felt guilty every time I signed up for the EI I paid for. I knew it was irrational and the product of generations of propaganda making me feel that way but god damn if it didnt work.

No. They are there for a reason.

Will some people grift the system for free money? Maybe, but the benefits to those who really need it outweighs the people misusing it, in my opinion anyways.

You know who the biggest welfare queens in the States are? Corporations who deliberately limit worker hours so that they'll never get benefits, and who deliberately underpay workers relative to their value and the amount of profit the company makes, and who deliberately arrange to underpay their taxes.

All of these things increase pressure on the worker and their desperate struggle to have just a little breathing room - and the government cheerfully goes along with all of this.

If any part of society was working as it should - if government represented the people instead of the corporations, if minimum wage had kept up with inflation, if corporations and the wealthy paid back into the system that has so vastly benefitted them - if any of that had happened, then you wouldn't be under the stress that you're under.

Go. Sign up for SNAP. Check with your county and see what other resources are available to you because you're on SNAP - maybe you qualify for reduced heating, or a free phone line, or seasonal credit at your local farmers market. Anything that you qualify for, take advantage of, because each program will get you a little more space in your life for yourself.

That’s what your tax dollars are for.

Take your entitlements - you’re entitled to them.

Please, do not feel guilty.

There are endless wealthy people and big businesses that take advantage of every tax break and loophole imaginable.

No but the rules for eligibility have changed drastically. I hope you get the assistance you need as long as you need.

You exist, therefore you’re worthy.

Nope. Used them for years. Now I pay a fucky amount of taxes with my high paying job to support them. Use them. We live in a society.

Do you want those taxes going to your food or for more corporate bailouts and fancy military hardware milk them as much as you can.

I would rather my tax dollars go to you than the fragmented bomb shells in a Palestinian city.

I paid into this, even if you did not, if you qualify, then you must take advantage of it. This is my gift for you.

When I got out of the military I didn’t filed for disability when I got out, because I didn’t want to be a “leach on the system.” I was stupidly very libertarian back then. I completely regret it now. I’m 45 years old with the hearing and back of a 65 year old. Plus the $10k I’ve had to spend because of how bad they fucked my teeth.

The systems are there to support you. But jackasses like Reagan made us all not want to be “welfare queens” just so he could line his and his buddies pockets while they go off and be pedophiles. So get what support you need. There is no need to feel guilty for something you qualify for.

The people I know personally who act like it’s so terrible to be helping someone else have all received significant assistance from the government and their communities.

Please accept the assistance. That’s what you need.

I don’t care if it’s forever. Everyone deserves to eat and a place to sleep and everyone deserves to know that they will still have food and a safe place to sleep later. Just don’t try to keep it from others once you’re back on your feet.

Fuck no

Every paycheck for twenty plus years, I calmly and without complaint saw taxes and fica taken out of each check because that’s how you have a social safety net.

I sure as fuck didn’t pay in because I could afford it, I paid in because it’s mandatory.

So you, me, whoever, is 100% justified in using the social safety net we all paid and pay into because that’s what it’s for in the first place.

Never, ever feel guilty about it brougham.

“Guilty” isn’t the right word, more like “I don’t wanna be ‘made an example out of’” by the media as “Immigrants living on welfare”, since I’m foreign-born.

No. I pay taxes while using none of those programs and those programs are there to give people a hand up who are struggling. You deserve a roof over your head, a warm & safe place to sleep, clean water to drink and bathe, and decent food to eat. You are human and trying to meet your basic needs. People who have more can support those who have less. Simple.

That’s just the capitalist brainwashing we’re all subjected to. Do you think that the pedo parasite class feels bad when they get billions in taxpayer funded subsidies kickbacks and tax breaks to build up their corporate empires while they privatize all the profits, get rid of labor laws, regulations and social safety nets so they can leech even more taxpayer money at our expense?

No, I paid for those benefits. I got laid off once and even though my company paid me severance I still signed up for unemployment benefits. While employed they took money out of my check every pay period for that purpose.

As for snap, your employer should feel guilty for not paying you enough. No employed person should be on food stamps.

Government assistance is simply the replacement for what society took from you, the option to sustain yourself by foraging. Society as a whole decided that they WANT people to not starve on the street. Get what you deserve.

Rich people have their hands out 24/7.

Look at all the government money Musk took.

Ronald Reagan got rich by making sure he was always the poorest guy in the room. He sucked up to his bosses at General Electric [then one of the biggest companies in the USA] and got to invest in sweetheart deals.

George W. Bush was given a US major league baseball team.

Take every penny your qualify for.

Nope. I got laid off over a year ago, then diagnosed with cancer. I feel guilty for being detered by how complicated some of them are and for not taking full advantage of the programs while I’m at a point where I really do need them and qualify for them. I’m on the mend now, and as soon as I can find a job again, I’ll be glad to be paying back into those programs.

Fuck no

No fucking way, give me what’s mine by right of being a citizen and paying taxes. Fuck guilt.

No one should.

Think about how much you’ve paid in taxes in your life. What could possibly be wrong with trying to get some of that money back?

I will say, as a tax payer, if you are eligible for them, FUCKING TAKE THEM! Take every ¢ you can make reasonable use of!

I pay into the pool to provide a safety net to everyone. I’ve bounced off it myself, when I was younger. I want to know that it is doing its job for those that need it.

Proviso, I’m based in the UK. I’m quite sure a lot of tax payers, world wide, feel the same and would also give you “permission”.

I had to go through all of this so many times when struggling with a failed life and business.

I had ONE good agent who helped me and reminded me that I pay for all these programs, and the agent’s job is to help us qualify for them, not to judge nor moralize any part of it.

All the other agents judged and moralized to a degree that I eventually let my SNAP funding expire because I couldn’t keep going in there and facing the people scouring my business receipts for some implied wrongdoing.

Despite that, it’s still your right, you still paid for all of it, even if you don’t pay income tax, there is tax on anything and everything you buy and do, so you’re not doing anything other than collecting what you’ve loaned to the government. Hold your head up and look them in the eye if they ever challenge you, and apply for every goddamn program you’re eligible for, and if anyone gives you shit about it, you talk to their manager, and if they don’t help, talk to that person’s manager.

(One agent who was openly hostile and lectured me about “looking capable of working” and had a bad attitude through the whole process actually got fired because I complained, the manager of that DES office actually called me to let me know and to tell me they felt bad about it and that it’s not their job to be judgemental or invalidate others.)

Once upon a time I felt guilty and didn’t apply to a government assistance within the required window.

I almost lost everything.

Always apply and take everything they will give you.

No. They were put there for a reason in order to help me out.

Fuck no. The only thing needed to cure this shame is glancing at last year’s tax return.

No lmao. I’m fighting them right now for that money. I paid into the system, the system bankrupt me, now the system pays out. Social insurance.

They’ve literally structured our economy around paying you enough to qualify for it. Not your fault our leaders are morons.

Im more annoyed I have to spend so much time micromanaging the things which keeps me from looking for work or picking up substitute teaching.

Billions of dollars given to corporations and the 1% and they don’t feel guilty about it. Don’t blame yourself, just do what you have to.