ascott said:I also do not think though that a family has to sign their home, auto's and anything else of monetary value over to the state in return for benefits on a temporary basis....again, this is money that comes from taxpayers, and if a person has a steady work history....they should be able to save what they have worked all of their life for.
Again, just playing devils advocate here.
By your example, let's say that a family owns a home valued at $750,000. They have a mortgage for $200,000. They have three cars that are payed off. A classic corvette that the father had from the time he was sixteen that he has restored. Value of the vett for this example is $50,000. They also own two other cars that are payed off valued at $20,000 each. In essence, this family has roughly $640,000 in equity between their home and their cars.
In this example, should this family get government assistance? They have worked hard to obtain this house and these cars. The father had that corvette for almost 30 years! Now they have fallen onto hard times and they cannot make their mortgage payments. Their home is about to be foreclosed. They cannot make the payments to the two private high schools and the private university that their children attend. They are on the edge of being kicked out of their country club.
Should this family receive government assistance? They might only need it for a year while dad gets back on his feet. Or should they sell their home and sell their cars, pull their kids out of private schools, have their oldest transfer to a community college and start over. With $640,000 they could still live a lifestyle better than most, but is it fair? They worked hard for that lifestyle and it isn't anybody's fault that the father lost his job.