Drug test for welfare recipients

[RHRanch]

I may have missed something or I am just uniformed, but I can not for the life of me see how people on welfare or food stamps have any effect on how much money you have to feed you own family. If you believe that the elimination of welfare and/or food stamps will increase your take home pay, then you live in a different country then I do.

Here is a breakdown someone did of the spending we do, you can see that its not really how people think we spend, and like i said, a large % of the poor receiving "welfare: of some sort are seniors. http://www.ourdime.us/102/budgetinfo/how-much-do-we-spend-on-welfare/

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

I may have missed something or I am just uniformed, but I can not for the life of me see how people on welfare or food stamps have any effect on how much money you have to feed you own family. If you believe that the elimination of welfare and/or food stamps will increase your take home pay, then you live in a different country then I do.

Yep, not like cutting cutting welfare will get you a bigger tax refund. It may give some politician a higher pay though.

 

[chickened]

Well the short answer is enabling people does not help in the long term but creates dependance. Entitlement means you did not earn it and for that re-read Oregon Blues post.

Being poor and living in the streets is a very good motivator.

Seeing how divorces are handed out like candy I would say staying married and trying harder to make things work may be the only answer for a single mom. Or re-marry but then again most young ambitious men do not want used goods and the better older men are held onto by women that know their value.

The U.S. government does not OWE anyone a living... period, seeing as I am the government. For those that are truly in need I agree then we should give out of our abundance.

Unemployment is actually insurance that you buy and use while looking for a job it is not supplement income that is why Congress has to keep funding it because people are abusing it just like welfare.

Human nature is the unknown factor in any entitlement program and as always they rely on integrity which you or I may possess but not everyone has honor.

How exactly would you prevent people from cheating the system?

Why would that not work here? If it works in other places, it could work here. Just because it has not been done here does not mean that some form of this could not be done here. It seems to me that aside from letting the poor live in the streets and get nothing, you are unhappy with just about any other solutions that are presented to you. If you want them to work, it makes sense to supplement their (underemployment) like part time work so they can have a roof over their head verses not helping them until they get more $ from not working at all, which is the current system we have here. Lots of people are underemployed, meaning part time work at lower wages - underemployment is a way for employers to avoid the additional cost of benefits, but it does not pay enough for most to live one. I know people working 2 or 3 of these part time jobs and they can barely afford to rent a room. If you have kids and are a single mom, how are you supposed to care for your kids and support them in a job like that? If you work 2 or 3 of these jobs, you couldn't afford even the childcare in most cases to cover your time at work. I mean, the struggles that people who get welfare or assistance are dealing with are often a bit more complex than "just get a job".

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

How exactly would you prevent people from cheating the system?

Stop taking peoples word about where the money goes...Require receipts to go along with the yearly financial report that is currently required.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Or here's a interesting concept.... If you do not qualify for SSI or SSDI then you need to work for it. Throw out welfare an food stamps. Then hire a bus driver an a day care person. If someone wants government money they can sign up an the bus will come get them at 7am an take them to dig a ditch or paint a wall or what ever that county needs done that day. They work 8 hours they get payed for 8 hours($40 or $50) an community projects get done. If they are not at there bus stop at 7 they get nothing...

 

[Matthew3590]

I like that idea but then what if there are 200 people there.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

If there is 200 people in that community wanting a government check then there is probably enough work for 200. An I am sure most people are ok with spending $10,000 to get a road repaved or what ever else you need done as opposed to just giving away $10,000 to 200 people for siting home watching TV.

 

[86121]

I am 100% for the pee test!
My DH works for privet security, and one of his job sites was at the welfare office...
He told me a story of this woman who came in with a line of kids, he was disgusted. Not at the amount of kids, but at the fact that he watched her drag them threw the doors and then snap, "Hurry up, Mama needs her crack!"

Yeah, I think the pee test is a very good idea.

 

[86121]

Stop taking peoples word about where the money goes...Require receipts to go along with the yearly financial report that is currently required.

x2

 

[newfoundland]

Well said RHRanch. There is also the fact that in many places, my neck of the woods included, there are 50 people chasing 20 jobs. There are just not enough to go around. I do include lowly paid jobs such as working in McDonalds. When a branch opened a few miles from here, there was a queue of people from the early hours of the morning. Many people as you say can only get part time work in these difficult times. If someone can't see that it is cheaper for the state, and the tax payer to supplement a person's income, rather than pay it all, they have serious problems! Also and very importantly, the person has the dignity of paid employment, and whilst already in the labour market a much higher chance of finding full time employment.