Thursday, January 19, 1984

The State of Massachusetts has offered a one-time only amnesty for tax cheaters, and has collected $400,000,00.00, That's big of them, since all the governments, from township to federal, are the ones who encourage cheating. The cheating on Under-the-country services for cash is rampant. The government makes you choose whether to declare your heat and soul to Uncle Sam or buy toilet paper. Guess which side wins, after trying it Uncle Sam's way.

John Block and his family went on a food stamp budget for one week not long ago. Why didn't they try it for eight months, since I have read that was the length of time an average person is unemployed. Personally, I wonder if that isn't the average time the unemployment benefits are exhausted, and they are expelled from unemployment to ADC and food stamps, township welfare and food stamp, or part-time employment. Anyone who has had to try to exist on food stamps knows it is impossible to exist on them. Mr. Block, the Secretary of Agriculture, get a failing grade from me. I wonder if they bought everything, including staples like salt, sugar, flour, cornstarch, baking soda, vinegar, etc., the way everybody else has to every month, because the people on food stamps run out of food stamps quickly, and eat many pancakes out of flour and water, etc., before they are rationed to food items less delectable. There's a lot of 'dumpster-divers ' here.

I wish someone, who is a heck of an organizer, would hold a fourhour vigil on underemployment and unemployment. If every person, who is unemployed or underemployed (ex: only working part-time although full-time is needed) would just stand in front of their residence (if they have one) holding a large sign stating whether they are unemployed or underemployed for a designated hour hour period on a designated day, perhaps the people who are working full-rime would do something. The average worker could volunteer to teach someone, who is unemployed or underemployed, his job. When his job was learned, he could volunteer to take four hours a week off, and be replaced by the person he trained. If the regular worker got sick or went on a vacation, it wouldn't be a problem to the employer, who already has a trained worker to take his place, and it wouldn't be a problem to the worker, because he would know someone was taking care of the store the way he would, because he trained his four-hour replacement worker. The workers of this country could go to their employers voluntarily and ask that someone be hired for four hours of his forty or forty-eight hour work week. Whole groups of employees, who work for a particular company could do it. How much could a $10,000.00 a year and more worker be hurt by it, when they consider there are people living and trying to exist on $1,728.00 welfare and $960.00 for food stamps, a yearly total of $2,688.00. It would also qualify that four-hour a week worker for unemployment benefits in the future. If fifty percent of the population is working, the worker could be trained for two different jobs; if seventy-five percent of the population is working, the worker could be trained for three different jobs. Is anybody out there listening?