Just yesterday, I completed an application for snap benefits. That’s all I wanted and needed assistance with. Because I’m a part-time worker, my finances at times get strapped because I’m paying off a loan from a bank and it makes my working budgets feel a little compressed. I need some breathing room here.
I hope I get them but I never intend to be on it forever, I just need some financial security and resource assurance. I’ve always tried being a person who looked to things like this and only go to them when I needed them, not because I wanted them and mooch off from them.
I think guilt tripping is part of it in the US. Here (Europe) we just apply for the stuff that were eligible for.
In the UK, too. The whole process seems designed to be as intrusive, dehumanising, and shaming as possible.
Because it is.
As The Clash say in “Know Your Rights”:
Bingo. They save money when people don’t apply for benefits they deserve or have “earned” in the US.