Current welfare system ruining our economy

College graduates are having a tough time getting a job because Obama has allowed so many work VISA's to educated foreigners and giving the employer a tax credit for hiring them over American born citizens.

 

Obama has always been a globalist. He may not be helping fight wars much but he has hurt the American people to fight the worlds war on poverty.

 

I think a lot of the problem with the welfare system is that we're just throwing money at the problem. Back in the 60's and 70's, we had a more comprehensive strategy for fighting poverty - not only to give people public assistance, but also to give them a means by which they could get out of poverty themselves. We spent the money on effective job training programs and community & regional development, so that they'd have the skills they needed to find work and we invested in re-vitalizing their neighborhoods so that private investors would actually locate their businesses there. Give people a hand up, not just a hand out. We went down this road and managed to reduce the poverty rate by about half between 1959 and 1979. When Reagan came into office, we squeezed these programs to almost nothing and just put money into traditional public assistance hand-outs. Here's a chart I've done up showing how much we've spent as a percentage of GDP from 1962-2015:

View attachment 42674

Notice how spending on Community & Regional Development (green), Job Training (blue), and Social Services (yellow) get squeezed out and eaten up by the increased spending in Public Assistance (red) during and after the Reagan years? Today, we're spending the same relative amount on anti-poverty as we did the 70's but we're not getting the same results in poverty reduction because of the way that money is being spent. We're just throwing money into public assistance without a comprehensive program to actually get people out of poverty. I think we'd get far better results to take a "tough love" approach to the problem and cut public assistance by about 1/4 to 1/3 and invest the balance back into those Job Training and Community & Regional Development programs we gutted in the 80's. Get people out of there and help them to become productive members of society - make them taxpayers instead of tax-eaters.

 

Ask yourselves...

- What does the average black have to show for 50 years of loyalty to the Democratic power elite?
- What did the tax payer get for their investment to help the poor?

 

I believe we should solve simple poverty in the US on an at-will basis in our at-will employment States. We should be lowering our tax burden and improving the efficiency of our economy at the same time.

 

Which party is willing to give back our Statue of Liberty, to the French?

 

This isn't a racial thing.... 2/3 of people in poverty are white. As for taxpayer return on investment, it's not how much you spend as where you spend it that gets results. I think it's a handy rule of thumb that every dollar spent to address a problem should be tied to another dollar to fix the problem. We've gotten away from that philosophy over these last 30 years.

 

Yes there are plenty of white poor people too. So why do Democrats constantly blame white people and call it racism? Get it?

So what result did we get for our investment. We got people who demand more!

 

I don't know what you're talking about... from my perspective you're the only one injecting race into this debate. This isn't a black vs. white thing - it's about getting people out of poverty. Of course we've gotten people who demand more... who doesn't want more? This shouldn't be about more vs. less... we ought to focus on better vs. worse. If you want to make welfare spending better then spend it in different ways - ways that have gotten proven results in the past. We could double welfare spending and not get any better results if we just keep throwing money at the problem.

 

There is too much obstruction on the right to spending money on aid and the left digs in its heels and refuses to change programs that are no longer effective. There is no interest in addressing poverty. It is just another red herring at this point.

 

LOL, yet your so closed minded to see that I bring this example up because we have a Democratic president who promised "Hope & Change" what ever that means and he did nothing to help solve the problem and made it even worse. You're right, it's not a black or white thing. but it proves the promises didn't pan out.

Stop being so sensitive. Blacks and white are people who want to live a decent life. My point is to stop believing politicians who make promises too good to be true. Instead realize you are on your own like everyone else. I'm tired of being the piggy bank and they waste it.

The difference is they are demanding more and want me to pay for it. That's greed. If they want more, then they need to pay for it. Yes, we all want more.... I'd like to keep MORE of the money I work hard to make. How that became a bad thing is because people think they are entitled to the money I worked hard for. For what?

 

I Wasn't aware that the Statue of Liberty immigrated to America illegally. Thanks for the information, I am passing your revelation on to Trump who I am sure will deal with it appropriately.

 

I know it is.... and everybody knows it as well. That's why Trump has caught on the way he has....because if you don't look too far beneath the surface, his promises sound like common-sense solutions. As long as you're willing to suspend disbelief, he can be whatever you think he is.

 

I'm really not seeing your point here.... if you want to make the system work better you have to change it. My point is that you can't keep on doing the same thing and expect different results.... if you want to make positive change you have to look at what worked in the past and then try to adapt that to the present. Do you disagree with any of that?

 

Pass this along too; “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” it is on our Statue of Liberty. I guess we can claim it was too difficult.

 

LOL, yes obviously be self supporting isn't in these days. It's better to be a dependent.

 

I've got news for you... unless you're off in some cabin somewhere living off the grid - which you're obviously not, since you're posting on the internet - then you're not entirely self-supporting.

 

Pass this on to free loaders.... "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."

 

Uh... yes I am. Oh and here we go.. you use roads and bridges bla.. bla.. bla.. Same ole idiot rhetoric that doesn't make a damn bit of sense.

Yea, and I pay taxes to do so. If you really want to get in the weeds. How about I use them as much as my "share" pays and you do the same. lol, I guess you won't be using them much then.

 

Morals from the Age of Iron in modern Information Age times?

Solving for socioeconomic phenomena is, actually solving the problem.

 

WPA 3.0 - I think the War on Poverty was WPA 2.0.

 

I was going to respond to this post, but then I realized you didn't really say anything... so I guess it's only appropriate to say nothing in response.

 

Your proposal would most likely result in the deaths of thousands of people if not hundreds of thousands. Cutting benefits is not the answer; instead the creation of well paying jobs is a more viable solution.