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I agree with you about helping those that are truly in need. There are two categories of people that truly need assistance.
1.) People that are legitimately disabled and are unable to work. Such as people with brain damage, missing limbs, etc. However, there are countless fraudulent claims with the most common one being "depression" since it is extremely difficult to prove whether someone really has depression or not.
2.) People that are legitimately and actively looking for work, but honestly can not find one. There is a lot of fraud going on here too.
- I have never met someone that legitimately could not find a job if they were actually looking and willing to work. They manage to find minimum wage blue collar jobs at the very least. If you don't have a job, you should be willing to take any job, if you don't then you are making a decision to not work and should not be entitled to any hand outs.
- On the other hand, I have met plenty of people that are refusing to work until they find a cushy high paying office job because they think they are entitled to one even though they don't have the education, experience, nor work ethic to get one.
then you don't live in california!
a few years ago i was unemployed, and it was during the 2008 economic downturn. and guess what? i had to leave california. i had to go back home, and believe me, i would have taken ANY job. it is possible for a person to want a job and not be able to find one. i am back in california and i am now working at a donut shop. i took whatever i could find. so things are better- at least i am working.
but i am disappointed to see people STILL focusing on welfare recipients as the "problem". corporate welfare is far more pervasive, wasteful, and worth people's anger and ire than some woman in the inner city with 10 kids. get a grip people. choose your enemies a little more wisely. you are focusing on a very small minority of people. there is a VAST amount of corporate waste going on. HUGE.
1 - those groups aren't mutually exclusive. Sadly, it's possible to work full time in the US and still earn so little that you need/qualify for means tested assistance. When groups are not mutually exclusive, you can't compare them based on size alone.
2 - the number of people receiving means tested assistance includes children and the elderly, which makes the comparison meaningless. About 25% of the US population is under the age 18. I'm willing to bet that the proportion is higher among those receiving assistance since many means tested programs have age restrictions. So at least 25% of those receiving assistance are not legally eligible to work full time. Another 13% are over the age of 65, and it's very likely that they did work full time for many years but need assistance now because they either weren't able to save enough over the years, or their savings disappeared when the markets crashed.
Isn't it just a tad ironic that the OP has been unable to find employment for something like 10 years now but, through the auspices of SSDI, other benefits he collects and living off his parents' benevolence he's apparently managed to accumulate a veritable master collection of top of the line electronics/computer hardware and software and a huge wardrobe of women's clothing which I believe he's valued at something over $100K? Pot and kettle analogies are swarming.
Assuming the stats is true rather than look at the person who is poor as the problem look at whether the country is the issue. America is not what she once was. When many people are on welfare it is easy to blame them but when you hear that 100 new children are homeless in your city each year or other stats if you look into it it can be a bigger statement about our country.
Going back to the poor black people, it is ironic that N. America imported all these slaves that a segment of years later are the children's children of the poor black people. Many feel reparations should be paid to native Americans but not black Americans. I think we should at least consider seriously reparations for black people. What we (Americans) have done to them is beyond inhumane and at least as bad as the Indians. I say we even though my ancestors only came here in the 20's so my ancestors did not bring the black people here.
I agree these things do contribute. Did you say Romney said this? Interesting.
The military is the elephant in the room though. Have you seen the little chart that the One Minute For Peace group sends out? It hits you like no other stats! At least it hit me that way.
It shows where the money goes in a long strip....57% of our budget goes to Dept. of Defense, that dwarfs everything else.
Vets get 5.5%, Education 6%, Government 6%, Housing and Community 5.5%, Health 5%, Int'l Affairs 4%, Energy and Environment 3 %, Science 2.5%, Labor 2.5%, Transportation 2% and Food & Ag 1%.
If you took 1/5 of the military's budget and put it in these others or 2/5 we would go back to how we were 10 years ago probably.
Wow what a concept using the money for the people.
About 5% of federal spending goes to people who theoretically could work, but don't. A lot of those people simply cannot find jobs, but let's say 1/2 of them are outright slackers, or welfare queens as you say.
That means that 2.5% of the budget is wasted.
If you earn $50k, are married, have one kid, and no deductions, your federal tax bill will be $2023. Most people will pay less than that.
The 'wasted' portion of 2.5% comes to $51.00.
I am perfectly willing to waste $51/year to make sure that other, legitimately hungry people, who through no fault of their own are unemployed, get a decent meal.
If you earn less than $50k, your contribution is even lower.
Wow are you stalking the OP STT Resident? You seem to have collected lots of data on him.
Responding to a post with a comment on a forum to which I regularly contribute is "stalking"? Is remembering details which a poster has openly divulged several times over several years something to be frowned upon?
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When will we stop falling for the BS? Most people on these programs need it because they can't find the adequate employment needed NOT to be. 
