The Myth of Welfare’s Corrupting Influence on the Poor

According to your opinion, there are very few long term unemployed (no welfare). And that's just wrong. Or have you not seen all of the posts on this board from fight wingers raving about the increase in long term unemployed?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The "kid" had some funny notions, didn't he? When one of my granddaughters was in second grade, she aspired to be a hotel maid. We've re-adjusted her sights. Many years ago, my then little brother announced that he wished to convert to Judaism. After mom and dad picked their jaws off the table, they asked why. Simple enough, he says, you get presents at Christmas and Hanukkah. Such a deal.

 

The richest 1% of people have almost all the money, and many of the richest 0.1% of people do not pay tax.

The little money give to the poor is not a issue.

 

So what? Take a good look around and you'll find a LOT of couples and even those with kids living together without benefit of marriage or on welfare.

This is another misleading statement from Heritage, a right wing group that plays fast and loose with facts, at least in the sense that there are all of these single moms out there with no man in the house. Ain't so, and here's where we shoot down another myth - the supposed "absent fathers" are not absent to what many imagine. In fact, most of them are there for the kids:

Your opinions are duly noted.

 

So you think lying about the percentage of black families on welfare (actually about 37%) somehow makes your point? Sorry, that isn't so:

Myth: People on welfare are usually black, teenage mothers who stay on ten years at a time.

Fact: Most welfare recipients are non-black, adult and on welfare less than two years at a time.

Now, go learn something and knock off the silliness.

 

This is along the lines of what I might say. There are places where multi-generational dependance on assistance exist. They are statistically few, but walking into suburbs where they make up the majority is an experience I think few have had. It has a way of making you doubt the system. The problem is more complex than either side wants to face.

Curious about your last statement though. Do you consider blue collar workers to be the same as welfare dependents? Intelligence is partly knowing what you want and achieving it. The most successful people are seldom the most intelligent, they are the most driven (or the luckiest). Some intelligent people really enjoy making money for its own sake and are willing to give up a personal life for it. But someone who constantly pursues what society tells them is success, and gives up the things they really care about for it, is a tragic character no matter how much they might achieve. A fact obvious to many of those intelligent blue collar workers you mention I'm sure.

It seems like there is a movement to demonize or degrade anyone who lacks all consuming ambition and/or talent. I think people should work and feel productive, and I also think they should be able to have a choice of lifestyle. To me that seems more like freedom than everyone having to grind out their lives for some inhuman ideal.

 

"Statistics can prove anything, sometimes even the truth"

Unknown author

 

But if the kids are being fed in school the obvious answer is to give the kids packaged food on a Friday so they eat a healthy meal over the weekend and stop the food stamps. The kids need food to eat but the parents are being given money in the hope that they will actually spend it on food.
This would stop a major part of food stamp fraud and drug dealers will not accept food as payment for meth, so it's a win win for the kids and the taxpayer.

 

Absolutely. A statistic from the government is already under suspect, because it is being used to distort the facts to establish conformity to a particular agenda. This is why these figures should always be taken with a grain of salt.

Numbers don’t lie, but they can tell you a lot of half-truths. The government realizes that blurring of the line between the number and the quantity has left us vulnerable to the ways in which statistics can deceive us, and deceiving us they do. By poorly defining or incorrectly defining numbers, citizens who have no way of determining if the information they are given is true can be manipulated into thinking opinions are fact.

 

The only thing welfare is supporting is inner-city drug use, gangs and violence. And, it is promoting dependency.

http://youtu.be/fOZ-Etb0k0Q

 

Thank you for proving my point, that psuedo Christian conservatives almost always refer to the poor as "lazy" and many conservatives are most certainly greedy.

Newsbreak: When Jesus was on earth....there most certainly was such a thing as "money". Er, Jesus wasn't in America, so no, he didn't know about the dollar....in fact, there was no dollar in America.....in fact, there was no America....however, things weren't free in the area where Jesus lived and preached, so let me give you a little lesson you apparently are desperately in need of. Believe it or not, they even had Taxes.....something most conservatives hate and ignore Jesus' command to pay them without so much serious whining.

So, speaking of trolling.....you'll have to do it somewhere else.


Prior to the system of coins, bars and rings of gold and silver were used as media of exchange by the Jews. The values of these bars and rings were determined by a system of weights of which the standard was the shekel, which was equal to 224 troy grains. In Palestine gold coins were rarely used — values were based upon silver. The coins mentioned in the four gospels are Syrian, Roman, and Jewish [Muirhead, 1907, p. 48].
http://www.accountingin.com/account...taxation-and-publicans-in-the-time-of-christ/




Question: What Does the Bible Say About Paying Taxes?

Did Jesus pay taxes? What did Jesus teach his disciples about paying taxes? We will see that the Bible is very clear on this issue.

Answer:

First, let's answer the question, "Did Jesus pay taxes?"

In Matthew 17:24-27 we learn that Jesus did indeed pay taxes:

After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, "Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?"

"Yes, he does," he replied.

When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. "What do you think, Simon?" he asked. "From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own sons or from others?"

"From others," Peter answered.

"Then the sons are exempt," Jesus said to him. "But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours." (NIV)
http://christianity.about.com/od/faqhelpdesk/f/biblepayingtax.htm

 

Hey, watch yer mou...er...fingers. Mertex is NOT a troll, swamp man! Say it again...I will come spank you and you better not have a tiny switch or I will bust out my whip.

*Goes to dig out her leathers*

 

OK, angry one, you have to consider the inverse. All the extras are available in the instance that YOUR kids need them.

 

You're citing a minute example. There will always be people who game the system, any system.....corporations game the system, and yet Republican/conservatives seem to be blind when it comes to corporations....some mythical misconception that somehow corporations are sacred and not helping them will result in Karma coming back to bite us.

The Welfare system was revamped during the Clinton administration. Nobody is allowed to stay over 5 years....they must show some proof of trying to get work, unless, of course they are disabled, and who with any heart or conscience would deny those the very little they get from the government?

We would probably have enough money to support all the needy with welfare comfortably if we reduced the amount of corporate welfare we provide to so many psuedo ranchers, farmers and corporations, but alas, that would be something the Republican party would never agree to.

 

Great statistics! In some cases, they do make more money on welfare than people who work full time.

 

Apparently you misread what I posted, I said SINGLE parent. Not couples living together.

The Daily Kos never gets near the facts.

 

So much misinformation... The 5 year limit is BS. First off it mainly pertains to adults. Children still collect money, and the cut off is for cash, it doesn't include Food stamps, housing, or medical.

AND the problem shouldn't be solved by creating a way of shuffling money from one failed program to another. Corporate welfare should not be allowed to begin with, since it is a clear case of crony capitalism that shouldn't have ever been allowed, and welfare shouldn't be give to anyone who is capable of working, period.

 

Percentage wise blacks dwarf the number of whites on welfare. And thats 37% of the people on welfare are black not 37% of blacks are on welfare as you claim
Even thats wrong as there are more blacks

Now figure out what 40% of the welfare recipients is and compare that to the black population and the 70% figure is probably closer to the truth

 

Just look at the Welfare costs as they have continued to rise in spite of this silly idea that a single mother should also start working after the kid is in school.
The cash she loses encourages her to make sure her kid gets Special Education which pays her $450/month even back in 2000.
It is probably way higher now.

Then the schools must raise Taxes, because Special Ed teachers have half the class size.
Any supposed savings is nonsense, right there.
But even ignoring that, the cost for 2011 AD was $ 1 Trillion dollars.

SENATE
'Welfare' spending topped $1 trillion in 2011, study shows
Published October 18, 2012
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/10/18/welfare-spending-topped-1-trillion-in-2011-study-shows/

 

He forgets that Black families are 10% of the population.
38% of the Welfare population are Black people who represent only 10% of the nation.

Not only does 73% of the Black families receive Welfare, but their fatherless kids suffer great Child Abuse, and as adult bastards they do 70% of all violent crime.

 

If the woman in that relationship had a baby, it would be considered a birth to a single parent.

The facts are there and not from Kos. Your rejection based on the source is invalid.l

 

It never stops, if one thing is limited or reduced 2-3 more programs slip money to them in another way. That is any and all welfare including the corporate kind.

 

As usual, most conservatives don't know what they are talking about.

In passing the landmark welfare reforms of 1996, Congress set a strict, five-year lifetime limit on cash payments from the federal government, arguing that the loss of benefits was the only way to motivate poor parents to get jobs.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Welfare-clock-running-out-As-5-year-limit-on-2824772.php

Geez, you really don't know what you are talking about. Children don't get welfare, the parent(s) are the ones that do. Of course, you probably would want children to go to work....

You care to link that with some credible data? You have to meet the requirements set for low income in order to get any of those things, they don't give them out willy-nilly to anyone just because they want them. And, the parent(s) have to prove they are looking for a job. And, who other than greedy conservatives would begrudge a poor family food stamps or medical help?

Well, I don't see too many conservatives whining about corporate welfare, but they sure do a lot of whining about welfare to the poor....and FYI, anyone that is capable of working is required to show proof of looking for work. Of course, those that work at Wal-Mart, they still need to be on welfare because Wal-Mart doesn't pay them enough to go above the cut-off of low income.....but Wal-Mart still makes enough to provide their CEO's with millions of dollar bonuses. Let's see some of you whine about that.

 

Its not a myth. I used to be on the welfare system---and you become very dependent on it. I think it makes more sense to study the families here in the US that spend a lifetime on welfare and then passes on the welfare way of life to second and third generations. Truthfully...it irritates me when people hurt people due to their ignorance.

 

What a load of crap. There is a 5 year limit on welfare. If you stayed on longer you must have found a way to game the system. There are genuine poor people on welfare that can't work.....maybe they are able to stay longer, but anyone that is able to work is cut off in 5 years. Subsidies to rich farmers and land owners are not cut off as long as these farmers and land owners are able to continue to lie that they will not grow any crops on their land which they had no intention of growing in the first place. You don't see too many conservatives complaining about that.

 

I don't know what states you are talking about that are generous with welfare benefits. In Arizona you are lucky enough to just get under $200 in food stamps and Medicaid, long waiting list for housing and seldom cash assistance. Most people would rather work but because of NAFTA and outsourcing there are very few good paying jobs available. During the recession according to the Bureau of labor stats we had 146 million working, today we only have 118 million.

We simply do not have enough jobs for a growing population.