i allways hear folks say.." i dont wanna pay taxes so poor folks can have food stamps and welfare." would you rather see starving people and children die on the streets? i dont think so.
You say this with the conviction of someone that believes it is an either or relationship; socialism/welfare or starving children in the streets.
Since the "war on poverty" began until now, the rate has remained relatively unchanged. In otherwords welfare programs have simple taken wealth from the taxpayers without changing the situation. There are other areas where the case can be made that welfare has actually increased the misery.
Our ghettos are full of people that have effectively shunned work and personal initiative to embrace sucking money out of the wallets of those that do work. They WANT to live this way. In reality the real tough guy gets up and goes to work every day.
Exactly, it's far too easy to game the system, and proof that the system as-is does little to nothing to alleviate poverty.
Welfare ideally is supposed to help people who fall on hard times....laid off from a job, injured and can't work, a sudden expense, death, ect. It's to provide assistance until they can get back on their feet, not become a lifelong ticket to laziness.
This summer I was a conveneince store in line, there's this huge lardass lady in front of me with an armload of chips, candy, frozen meals, and sucking on one of those half-gallon fountain drinks. Goes up to the register and don't you know it, whips out that EBT card to pay for it all. Then if that wasn't enough, she has to get 2 packs of cigarettes, paid for with her own cash since EBT won't. Sure, I can pay for her junk food to get even fatter, while the money she actually has gets put toward cigarettes to give her cancer, that I will later pay the healthcare for. I wanted to knock her right the fuck out.
Again, if I was president....
Welfare applications are actually reviewed based on need. You must provide proof you had steady income within the last year to be considered, and provide reasons why that income is no longer sufficient or was lost entirely.
Random drug testing is mandatory for anyone receiving government aid. You have to pass one to make money for yourself, but don't have to in order to receive a handout? Should you fail, aid is revoked for at least one month, until you test clean.
You are expected to continue working if you have a job and find one if you don't. If you do not get one on your own in 6 months, the government will find one for you. People like to whine there's no jobs, can't find work. BS. Maybe it's not work you're used to, or a job you want, but look on craigslist.....there's pages and pages of jobs out there. McDonalds is always hiring. People are just waiting for some cushy, high paying job to fall into their lap, then complain when that doesn't happen. If you don't accept or go to the job the government gives you, aid is revoked.
Baisically, welfare should be a crutch, not a wheelchair. You still need to put in effort to better yourself. If you don't, you lose it. Too bad, so sad. I find it very difficult to feel sorry for people who take and take and take, obviously gaming the system to leech off people who work since they just can't be bothered to.
Same thing for medicare. Tired of paying for all the lardasses and smokers out there. People that are sick by their own hand. Well, Judy Fatass needs assistance to buy a power wheelchair since she's too fat to walk more than a few yards, she can't afford her diabetes supplies, and needs food stamps to go buy more junk food and TV dinners.
The government will assign Judy assistance, on the condition she works with an assigned dietician/trainer to lose weight and improve her health. If the trainer reports she's cheating, not following the program, or otherwise leeching, the aid is yanked out like a carpet. Too bad. Did it to yourself, aid was offered, you failed to accept it, so you're on your own.
Heaven forbid you expect people who are receiving free money, that came from hardworking taxpayers, to actually do anything to improve themselves. A surprising amount of "poor" people receiving welfare have more money to themselves than you'd think....to pay for the luxuries they're used to like cigarettes, drugs, and even stuff like snowmobiles, motorcycles, and payments on high end cars.
I know someone who plays the system like this, I know it's possible. He drives a brand new Silverado that cost nearly $50k, just bought a recent used bike(another $6k), owns two snowmobiles, a trailer, and spends buckets of money modding the truck and bike. He is completely able-bodied, but has diabetes. He has a mediocre job that in no way supports his lifestyle, in fact it just barely covers the payments on truck and bike. He pulls a check in from the government to pay for his diabetes supplies, and something he calls "debt hardship assistance"....all the payments for his toys, and the high-interest credit cards he buys everything on. He thinks it's great, how he gamed the system and actually brags about it to people, which then immediately and correctly label him as an asshole. Yet the government sees him as "poor" and eligible for assistance.
As for seeing people die on the streets....this happens every day. There's no reason for this to happen other than that person's sheer lack of motivation to better themselves. I'm all for aid to people who genuinely need it, that fell on hard times. And better aid...not just a check, but education to get a better job, "investments" in that person so they can be better off than before. Not just blindly passing out taxpayer money to druggies and leeches that want a free lunch ticket to coast through life on the backs of others.
