I am for limited assistance of no more than one year unless there are extenuating circumstances such as an illness that prevents a person form working. Legitamate debilitating illness or old age would be the only reason for an extension.
Unfortunatly, in today's America, many Americans have the misconception that if they can only afford pasta and sauce or hamburgers and generic veggies, they are impoverished. We Americans need to look around the world to see true poverty. Children in Africa, who have lost their parents due to AIDS, and are living with an elderly grandparent in a fly blown hut with one meal a day (provided by the US) are living in poverty. Many of the people that live in Haiti in their tin shacks are living in poverty. People who live in squalor in some of the South American countries, without running water or electricity, are living in poverty. We (for the most part) do not live in poverty. In many countries, the poor are living on less than a dollar a day. We are in poverty if we are a family of four and living on $20,000 a year.
Our poverty is relative. We look at others around us and see that we have much less. The government gives statistics that tell some of us that we are in poverty. They get this information by doing comparisons between the various strata of haves and have nots. This gives the government one more reason to exist. There was a time during my life when we had TRUE poverty. In the 1960's we had people in the south and in Appalachia who had no running water or electricity and lived in hovels. This is no longer the case. I think many of the people living in TRUE poverty, elsewhere in the world, would give their teeth to come to the US and live in what is considered poverty here. Their lot would be better right off and they would also have a better chance of improving it even more.
Our problem is that we take for granted the government will never let us go hungry, and we will have a place to sleep at night (even if it is a shelter or a car). There are many people who rely on assistance for a period of time when calamity hits them, these are not the people that I am talking about. They will be off assistance within a year and back on the road to a better future. I am concerned about those who make a career out of living off the system. I KNOW two people in their late 20's that are getting SSI because they have ADHD. They will be getting this assistance for the rest of their lives and they do not have to work! I have a problem with that because they are able to work! I also have a problem with those who do not even bother to get a High School Diploma when their education is FREE! A child from Africa, Haiti, or South America would cry for joy if they had that opportunity.
We need to stop with the pity party that we Americans are throwing for ourselves and take a look around. Many of those who remain in what we call poverty are their because they have not done enough to get themselves out. Get an education, dont have kids until you can afford them and have a partner to help with the work and cost, do positive things to improve your chance of getting a better job such as dress for success ( no tatoos visable, pants not drooping, clothes that are not too revealing and ditch the piercings) Dont limit your job search to only a few areas and positions, there is an old saying " the more mud you throw at the wall, the more likely that some will stick". There are many who have learned how to "work the system". The Government loves this because it gives them a purpose to exist. I, for one, believe they need less reasons to exist!
