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I don't want to see these people's lifelines completely cut off. I actually care for them. I know that poor people, the learned helplessness people, will always exist with or without welfare. What I'm proposing is we use the resources that is used for welfare and divert them to teaching the poor necessary life skills and proper work ethics. Not meaning to sound like a broken record, but my family's formula worked wonderfully for us. It brought us from extreme poverty in another country to coming here with nothing to all of us in the upper middle class within 20 years. Why not look to immigrant groups like ours that have shown a good track record of success and teach the same formula to the intergenerational poor?
You might care about them but you don't understand them. It is like building shelters for the homeless but they won't stay there because they do not want to live by the rules.
Your immigrant formula seems to be based on family cohesiveness, support and teamwork. Many people do not have that, and were born into horrible family circumstances. They are damaged and cannot be taught to not be damaged. They have poor education and no family support, except for gangs and bad influences from day one.
Then some people just have a "taker" mentality. If they don't get government money they will get it through some nefarious means, or begging.
You might care about them but you don't understand them. It is like building shelters for the homeless but they won't stay there because they do not want to live by the rules.
Your immigrant formula seems to be based on family cohesiveness, support and teamwork. Many people do not have that, and were born into horrible family circumstances. They are damaged and cannot be taught to not be damaged. They have poor education and no family support, except for gangs and bad influences from day one.
Then some people just have a "taker" mentality. If they don't get government money they will get it through some nefarious means, or begging.
And that's exactly what I'm proposing we teach them. We teach them values like family cohesiveness.
Here is the biggest cultural difference between us and the poor here. You know how there is a saying in America that you never lend money or do business with family? Our family will only do business and lend money with family. Over the years, I have lend money to some people. The only people who have reliably paid back have always been family. Because of this, I have lost thousands over the years.
PS you have my permission to call me a dumbass for giving loans to people not my family in the past.
One example - EBT cards instead of the old fashioned Food Stamps ..... which of course were never "stamps" at all - they were a Coupon book and the coupons could only be used for certain items.
They were "changed" because it was embarrassing for people to use the coupons and because the stores spent a lot of time making sure the coupons were only used for the correct items.
Food stamps were "changed" not only to make transactions easier for the grocery stores, but also to cut down on recipients selling the coupons for cash.
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Originally Posted by stremba
I realize that there are people on welfare because of disabilities
People with disabilities receive Social Security disability income, not welfare.
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Why not make some type of work a condition for receiving welfare? We could have them pick up trash, paint bridges, etc. It would develop a work ethic and a sense of responsibility -- you either show up for work at the appointed time or you don't receive your benefits. It's at least a start toward being able to go out and get a private sector job and getting off welfare, which should be the goal.
Who's going to foot the bill for the administration, oversight, implementation, etc. for these welfare-work programs?
I agree there are many people who take advantage of the welfare system but, many DO work and do not make enough money in today's society to afford everything. They get food stamps and medical.
We need to address wages and stop the corporate welfare we give.
Many people who work for places like Walmart & Amazon have wages so low they are eligible for medical benefits and food stamps. This is wrong. We shouldn't have to support Walmart, etc. by using taxpayer dollars to help their workers.
Education and training should be a must for one who needs help from the system.
The original intent of welfare was to be either a temporary assist for when unemployed or for a supplement for those who are mentally or physically unable to earn a living and don’t have someone to help them (like family). As a kid in the 70s we received “commodities” box. This was a box with government cheese, government butter, powdered milk, dry beans, dry rice, a tub of oatmeal, canned fruits and vegetables, and sometimes canned meat (tuna, chicken, Spam).
In my day if you were able to hold a job (mentally and physically capable) but you were relying completely on welfare it was a source of shame and motivation to get off the welfare. If the best job you could get wasn’t enough it was still enough to reduce your reliance on welfare until something better came along. For some people their pride comes in how much they can take from welfare. They master the system to use every trick of the system to get everything they can out of welfare. They can take home more money through welfare than the low income jobs they can barely qualify for because of their poor education and lack of job skills. The problem is two prong. First is culture and second is the welfare system. No solution will ever come from the government. The welfare system has become a legal form of vote buying.
And what is the solution to corporate welfare? The government spends more on that than welfare to people! Republicans never address this topic...
It's always ignored.. It purely amazes me that we spend billions to big conglomerates out of our OWN tax money yet complain about it when poor people are on money and pick that apart. We should be picking apart the corporate welfare tons and wondering why on earth we do that then when that is addressed go to this aspect more with citizens
Hard to teach that man to fish when you need money to ask the government's permission to fish. Easier just to take the hand out.
Exactly. Once endless regulations are removed, people will not only have more job opportunities, they too can pursue a business idea.
I have so many business ideas that I don't bother with because it'd be a nightmare to ensure compliance with the million regulations there are. So I'm just a boring office worker instead.
It's always ignored.. It purely amazes me that we spend billions to big conglomerates out of our OWN tax money yet complain about it when poor people are on money and pick that apart. We should be picking apart the corporate welfare tons and wondering why on earth we do that then when that is addressed go to this aspect more with citizens
Providing some measure of government assistance, like through tax breaks, should be limited to newly formed businesses just starting out and limited to a particular time frame (like the first five years). As for the rest of corporate welfare, free market should decide. If a corporation is failing then there’s a reason why. If it’s because the product or service is no longer viable then let it fail. If the reason for the failure is poor management then when the corporation fails then other similar companies will expand to fill the void.
Here is a flaw in your statement and why it's simplistic. When you get money from the government it's your money and you have to choice but to spend it as wisely as possible becuase it is a limited amount. People who work spend their money foolishly too, some not all.
Some people love spending other people's money. I know one person who loves spending their father's money, not that he has a lot but they don't hesitate to ask him for it and spend it foolishly when it's given.
Look at how our government spends billions of our dollars foolishly because it was given to them. So in some aspects your point is true but not in all.
I've never been on welfare, so I can't speak to that, but personally when someone gives me money, I spend it even more carefully than my own money. I'd feel bad and greedy squandering money that someone else was kind enough to give to me. Whereas with my own money, I don't think twice (well I'm still frugal, but you know.)
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